Page 43 of The Billionaire's Commitment

“You can text me later and tell me how things are going. If you get caught up, it’s no big deal. We can see each other some other time.”

“No. I want to see you. I would like you to hang out with me and my friends. What better place than a bar?”

“I don’t drink much,” she said and looked down.

“Neither do we. You can still have fun in a bar and not drink. I can show you,” I said and gave her a mischievous look.

“I’m worried about what you mean by that,” she said.

“You haven’t ever wondered what it would be like to try beer pong?” I asked.

“Do you really have that there?”

“We do in the back. Have you ever played?”

She gave me a look that told me she hadn’t.

“Then let me be your first. Come by whenever you want today. I’ll be around and will make time for you. I want to, and when I say I’m going to do something, I mean it. I wouldn’t have suggested you come by if I was going to be stuck in the office all afternoon doing inventory or talking to a supplier.”

“Okay,” she said.

I hadn’t liked that she thought I would make plans with her and change them. She was important to me, I wanted her in my life, and I wanted her to see that. We had slept together, it was incredible, and I wanted to do it again. I wasn’t going to ghost her because we had, and the look on her face made me think she thought I would.

“How else can I impress you to sleep with me again unless you see my cool bartending skills?” I asked.

“Do you have cool bartending skills?” she asked, clearly not convinced.

“Maybe. You’ll have to come by the bar and see. I should get going, but dang, I really don’t want to,” I said and eyed her again.

She lifted the sheet up and covered herself. I wanted to think she was trying to help me get out the door, not hiding herself from me. I gave her a slow smile and said, “That just makes me want to take that sheet off of you and see all the wonderful things that are underneath it.”

“I’ll have to see how good you are as a bartender and if you earn that right,” she said.

“Wow. That’s how it’s going to be? Okay.”

I leaned onto the bed, and she moved towards me. As she did, the sheet fell away. I kept my eyes on her mouth as I cupped her face in my hands and my mouth went over hers. She opened her mouth, and my tongue dove inside. She leaned up towards me and kissed me as if she never wanted to let me go. I kissed her back just as fiercely. I wanted her to know that I loved last night and wanted to do it again.

It took all my willpower not to roll onto the bed with her and continue what she was promising me. I told myself we would do it all and more later as I leaned away from her. She swayed towards me as I did, and I could tell she was just as affected by the kiss as I was. Her eyes were hazy as she looked up at me.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said and walked out of her apartment.

It was mid-morning, and the sun was high overhead. It looked like it was going to be another great day in the city, and there were already a lot of people out and enjoying the crisp fall weather. It wasn’t a long walk from Zoey’s apartment to the bar, so I decided to walk.

My mind was full of her, of the evening, of what we had done, and how it was going to be when I saw her at the bar later. I had a feeling she, Grace, and Amber would all get along very well. At least, I hoped they would.

As I opened up the bar and started to get it ready for the day, the words she said right before we went upstairs the night before echoed in my mind.“I’m not sure about what is going to happen tomorrow or in the future, but I want this; I want you. I might regret it in the morning, but that is for me to find out.”

I wanted to be optimistic. She had wanted to sleep with me, and she had been a more than willing partner in bed the night before. I could tell she wanted to see me again and to end the night together. I had hoped I had changed her mind about us being anything more than friends, but the way she said that made me think I hadn’t.

We had only been together one night. We might have known each other for years, but this was still new. It was also different, and it was a bit intense. I could understand she wanted to take things slow, and I would, but I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to change her mind.

After being with her one night, I wanted to be with her all the time. I thought I had all the time in the world to get her to fall in love with me. I thought eight months would be plenty, but now I could see that it wasn’t going to be. I wanted more time, all the time, and I wouldn’t settle until I had her in my life permanently. I just had no idea how to convince her that I was the best man for her.

I was still thinking about it later in the day when Eric came up to me. Grace was working with Randy, the new bartender, and Logan and Amber weren’t back yet from seeing her sister. I had gone into the back to get some vodka when Eric stopped me in the hallway.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

He stood in the middle of the hallway, he wasn’t exactly blocking me from going anywhere, but he wasn’t making it easy for me to get around him. He crossed his arms under his chest as he glared at me. He wasn’t going to push me to talk to him, but he gave every indication that he wanted me to.

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