Page 100 of South Beach Bodyguards

Fighting the urge to laugh, I pursed my lips briefly to get myself under control. “Remember when you told me not to overthink it? I think you should take your own advice.”

“I’m better at telling other people what to do.”

He was very cute when he was being irrational. “What would you normally do with a guy friend on a Friday night?” I didn’t want him pretending to be something he wasn’t in order to meet my alleged expectations for dating. I didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted to get to know him. I wanted to feel like I had a glimpse into his life.

He’d been inside me. Now I wanted inside him.

“I don’t know. Play poker. Go for some hot wings and a beer. A Heat game if they’re playing and we can get tickets.”

“Then let’s do that. Let’s just go get wings and a beer.”

He looked doubtful, like the dating gods would strike him down with lightning. “What do you like to do with friends?”

“We go shopping or to the movies. Hang out at a bar by campus. When I’m not working, that is.”

“Where do you work?”

“I’m a bartender a few blocks from here actually. I like it a lot. Shifts go fast.”

He looked surprised. “I didn’t picture you as a bartender. That’s cool.”

I guess being a drink slinger gave me street cred. The thought amused me. “I took the whole week off to stay with my sister. That was a waste. I could have used the money. But I can’t get my shifts back so it is what it is.”

“Do they serve food at your bar? We could go there. I’d like to see where you work.”

That sounded unappealing to me but at the same time Wester was much more relaxed. He was being normal and I wanted to keep it that way. “Sure, if you like fried foods. Also, be forewarned, by nine o’clock karaoke starts and there is a huge contingency of singers in Spanish.”

“I speak Spanish so that doesn’t matter to me.”

“You speak Spanish? Are you Latino?”

“I think I’m everything.” He grinned. “My grandfather was Haitian, my grandmother Cuban, my father white. Maybe a few other things along the way. But yeah, I speak Spanish.”

One more reason he was sexy. Because now I was imagining him whispering words I couldn’t understand into my ear. I picked my hair off my neck and fanned the back of it. I was suddenly hot. “I’m game to go to the bar if you are.”

“Let’s do it.” He reached out and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “By the way, you look gorgeous tonight. I love you without makeup but this… this is sexy as hell. Red lips are hot on you.”

I flushed. I couldn’t help it. I had kept my outfit casual with jeans and sandals and a low cut top, but I had amped up the makeup with a cat eye and some red hot lipstick. “Thank you.”

“So I’m really not allowed to kiss you?” He had moved closer to me. Dangerously close.

I shook my head. “No. You would never do that to a girl you just met, would you?”

“You want to bet? I did it to you, didn’t I?” He looked amused, but mostly he looked masculine, strong.

He had a point. But I stepped back. He could wait. “Follow me. Unless you’re afraid to walk a few blocks.”

“Of course I can walk a few blocks. I can walk a few miles if you need me to.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t. But come on.” And I did something I knew would blow his mind more than any kiss.

I slipped my hand into his and led him down the sidewalk.

Wester looked more pained than he had when he’d been shot.

twelve

Olivia had done it on purpose. Grabbed my hand. I mean, not that anyone held someone’s hand unintentionally, but she had done it to fuck with me. Get me rattled. At first, it worked. Holding hands was for middle school and old people. I felt ridiculous strolling down the sidewalk like that.

---