Page 116 of Gin and Lava

“Actually, that’s not true,” Naomi jumps in. “The overall aesthetic is different, of course, but you both sell fancy alcoholic drinks with an undertone of sex.”

My chest feels tight. Did Naomi just defend my restaurant to Arie, the food snob of all food snobs?

“I didnotget a culinary degree to be compared to Mason,” Arie hisses.

“He doesn’t cook as well as you do,” Naomi agrees, not rising to Arie’s anger. “But in essence, you sell the same thing. Your restaurant is just more romantic.”

“I don’t know if romantic is the word,” Connor jets in. “Hedonistic maybe.”

Naomi gestures to the chalk board full of inappropriate drink names. “If a Give Me Head Hunter isn’t hedonistic, I don’t know what is.”

Arie frowns. “Mason’s cock must be huge,” she grumbles, “because I don’t know what’s happened to you, Naomi.”

My Viking Princess glances at me with a blush.

“Really?” Arie balks, glaring at me in disbelief.There’s no way Mason has a unicorn cock.

“I don’t wear phallic shirts for nothing,” I assert.

“Connor,” Arie grabs her boyfriend’s shirt. “You knew Mason was packing and you never shared that information?”

“Uh,” Connor’s eyes go wide. “I don’t look at Mason’s cock.”

“But you knew.”

Connor shrugs. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I told you.”

“Holy shit,” Arie shakes her head. “The world has gone bonkers. Give me a drink, Cock-boy, before I make you whip it out and show the whole bar.” Arie snaps her fingers in my face, indicating I better start pouring.

Trifecta doesn’t like this turn of events, a scowl etched permanently onto his pretty doctor face. I don’t like it either. Would Naomi really accept a ring from me because I’m good in bed? If she did, that’s just sad. But that’s exactly what everyone’s thinking right now. Did Trifecta break Naomi enough that she’d settle for any asshole with the big dick—only six months after they broke up?

We’re a ticking time bomb, and everyone’s already making imaginary bets …

We won’t make it to the alter.

We’ll break up before the end of the week.

If we actually tie the knot, it’ll be a divorce in waiting.

This is why being good in the sack is a bonus—it’s not long-term material. Naomi needs a real man: respectable, rich, hot, someone everyone would be happy to see her with. She needs a man who’d refuse to wear a penis-covered Hawaiian shirt.

Naomi will end up with Trifecta—or someone like him. That’s the truth of this world. I’m a pitstop. I’m someone you slum it with when you need an easy pick me up (or an easy orgasm. After all, that’s what Naomi came into my office begging for).

That’s what I am.

A big dick.

A good orgasm.

Naomi will get tired of me, and it’s back to life slinging drinks in Single Town.

I know who I am.

But this is the first time it feels like shit.

36

NAOMI

---