From One Night to Forever (10 page)

“Oh, thanks for that,” Sabrina said with sarcasm.

“Hey, you’re the one who told me school comes first. I’m only a part-time manager.” She leaned over to kiss her mother’s cheek. “If you all need anything, I’ll be in the back.”

Her gaze swept the table again. Her eyes halted briefly on Aaron before she walked away. Sabrina and Reggie started talking. Aaron watched Kacey go. She didn’t look back. She gave him no extra-long glances, no secret smile, no indication at all that she’d completely turned him out the night before. Her ability to act as if last night hadn’t happened only made him want her more. He wasn’t sure why, maybe because he was having a hard time not staring or grinning at her like a fool. Was pretending nothing had happened as hard for her as it was for him?

Aaron tore his gaze away from her swaying hips and sipped from his beer. He wasn’t foolish enough to press and find out and end up ruining a friendship and potential business deal. Women were plenty, a fact that had kept him from acting foolish over one woman for most of his life. He’d remember his night with Kacey with absolute wonder but move on. That was the smart thing to do.

Kacey
knew
he watched her walk away. She could feel his gaze on her back, pressing between her shoulder blades, daring her to turn around and look at him. She wanted to look. Was
dying
to look, but she wouldn’t.

No distractions.
She didn’t have time for distractions. Not during her last, and most crucial, semester of school.

Then there was Reggie. Not that she really cared what Reggie thought about who she dated. If she really thought what had happened between her and Aaron would turn into something, she’d tell Reggie to shove his prehistoric ideas high up his rear end and get over it. But there was nothing serious between her and Aaron. He was a trucker. And even though the logical part of her brain knew that all truckers weren’t scumbags just trying to take advantage of women, what had happened to her, the existence of her sister Ashlei, and the endless stories her brother used to tell about his life on the road before he met Camila kinda overrode any logical thoughts.

Kacey strolled over to the bar, where Monique was swiftly cutting up lemons. Monique looked at Kacey and shook her head.

Kacey looked around. “What?”

“Nothing, just you, here again. You were taken off the schedule for tonight.”

“I make the schedule. I can come whenever I want.” Kacey slid on to one of the bar stools at the end of the bar near Monique. There were a few customers sitting there. All had full or nearly full glasses before them. Three of the four had food in front of them. Kacey wondered if the fourth was waiting on food.

“You really need to learn to enjoy your days off.”

“School’s started, I’m out of days off. Besides, I’m not here to work the bar, or sing, I’m just going to go through the deposit slips and finish up this week’s schedule.”

“I’ll be so glad when school is done and you can finally let loose that tight-as-hell ponytail of yours and have some fun.” Monique scooped up the cut lemons and dropped them in a plastic bowl for later. She wiped her hands on a towel, then came over to lean a hip on the edge of the bar.

“Soooo,” Monique said, sliding the words out through pursed lips. “Guess it’s a good thing you didn’t go home with choke me, spank me, pull my hair guy over there.”

Kacey laughed and shook her head. Monique sure had a way with words. “His name is Aaron.”

Monique shrugged as if that were insignificant. “Whatever. I didn’t want to know his name last night, just the location of every birthmark on his body.”

“You know Reggie is going to pop a vein if he hears you talking like that.”

“And both you and Reggie know I don’t care.”

“Yes, we do.” Kacey frowned. Would Monique tell Reggie to shove his opinions where the sun didn’t shine and go for Aaron? Kacey definitely, from the bottom of her heart, did not want to see them together. Would Aaron be enough of a scumbag to actually sleep with her sister?

Umm, he’s a guy and your sister is stacked.

Kacey straightened in her seat. “Hey, Monique—”

Monique’s cell phone rang, and her sister pulled the bedazzled case out of her apron pocket. Her eyes lit up, and she pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

“I’ve got to take this call.” Monique hurried around the bar. “Watch the bar for me.”

“What… I’m not working the bar!”

Monique waved a hand and hurried to the kitchen door. Then she answered the call with a hushed “hello.”

The doors to the kitchen swung back and forth for several seconds after Monique disappeared through them. Okay, maybe she didn’t have to worry about Monique going after Aaron. The only time her sister got that excited was when she had a new guy in her life. Kacey slowly rose from the bar stool and went around the back. She checked on the customers, refilled drink orders, and verified that the fourth guy was not waiting on food. If he had been, she would have given Monique hell when she returned for abandoning her station with customers waiting.

She turned to where Reggie, Sabrina, and Aaron sat. Aaron’s hair was a riot of curls and those bedroom eyes of his were wide and full of amusement. She found herself smiling, even though she had no idea what he was saying. He just looked like he could tell a good story, the way his hands were moving and the expressions that crossed his face. He wore carefree and happy as easily as she wore her Momma’s Kitchen uniform.

His gaze flicked her way and stayed for a second. Her heart pumped wildly, and currents of awareness flowed down her arms. She was still smiling, she could feel it in her face, and his smile seemed to change, almost become some secret smile—a curve of the lips that said he remembered all the things they’d done the night before. A smile that was just for her.

The door to the kitchen opened. Kacey blinked and looked away from Aaron.
A smile that was just for her?
She was definitely going crazy. Caught up in a moment that didn’t really mean anything.

Monique strolled back behind the bar. “Thanks for watching things for me.”

Kacey nodded. “No problem.”

Monique checked on the customers and then refilled a drink. She didn’t look at Kacey, or start gushing about the latest hottie she’d snagged that had her so anxious to accept a call.

“Who was on the phone?” Kacey asked when Monique finished with the customers.

Monique waved a hand and started rinsing the dirty glasses at the sink behind the bar. “No one.”

“You didn’t act like it was no one.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Monique. You were excited about taking that call. So tell me, who is he?”

“Why does it have to be a guy?”

Kacey chuckled. “Okay, is it a girl?”

Monique rolled her eyes so hard her fake lashes fluttered. “It’s none of your business.”

Kacey’s smile fell away. “Really, you aren’t going to tell me?”

“No, I’m not.”

Kacey didn’t like that answer. Monique never hid who she dated. She didn’t care about people’s opinions that way. The only way she would possibly care was if she was with someone she shouldn’t be. Like the time she’d hooked up with one of Reggie’s employees who also happened to be dating Camila’s friend. That had been a difficult secret to keep, and Kacey had hated the entire situation. That was the first and only time, as far as Kacey knew, that Monique had dated a guy already in a relationship.

Kacey stepped over to Monique. “You aren’t messing around with Julio again?” Julio was now married to Camila’s friend.

Monique glared at Kacey. “Seriously?”

“I’m just asking. You don’t usually keep secrets.”

“Well, maybe I just don’t want my family all up in my business this time.” Monique snapped a towel off the counter and wiped her hands. “Jesus, Kacey, you always jump to the worst conclusions.”

“Hey, I’m sorry. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” Monique snapped.

Kacey instantly felt guilty for assuming the worst. “I mean it. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working on the books?” Monique said with a strong undertone of
chick, get out of my face.

Kacey sighed and stepped back. She wouldn’t get into it with Monique. When her sister was ready to tell her what was going on, she would. And in the meantime, she’d pray it wasn’t Julio.

“Fine, I’m going to the office if you need me.”

Monique spun back to check on a new guy who’d just sat at the bar. Kacey wished she could take back the entire conversation. She glanced quickly at Aaron, who was once again making her momma and brother laugh. She wanted to laugh, too, but the books needed to be done, the schedule made, and there were countless other things she’d find to do while she was here. She tore her gaze away from Aaron and went to the back, thinking of her one-night stand, Monique’s affair with Julio, and wondering what was it about certain men that made the women in her family act so crazy.

One week into her final semester, and Kacey wanted to bash her head into a wall. In fact, bashing her head into a wall was considerably more appealing than working on the thesis project her professor had ripped to shreds. After giving Kacey grief for using a personal goal for her project, the woman had thrown out nearly every source Kacey had spent the last semester gathering.

“Why so much research into fast-food chains? You’re working on building a family restaurant. Start over,”
the woman had said, her red pen scratching out half of Kacey’s literary review. Then she’d scoffed when Kacey defended her actions, using the rags-to-riches stories of how other famous chains had started with one location and the owner’s dream.

Kacey tried to take some comfort that the woman hadn’t recommended she find a new topic. But Kacey still felt as if she was starting from square one, and she begrudgingly admitted that even though her professor was a hard-ass, there were some nuggets of good advice beneath the pile of suggestions she’d dumped on Kacey. But now Kacey’s plan to fill several sections of her thesis with research she’d done in previous semesters was out the window. Her final semester had just gone from hard to excruciating.

She reached into the bag of Twizzlers next to her laptop on the kitchen table and chewed one strawberry-flavored end. Twisting her head in a useless attempt to get the kinks out of her neck, Kacey sighed and stared at the blank space and blinking cursor on her computer screen after the words “
Literature Review
.”

Sighing, she clicked on the Internet icon and navigated to the school’s online sources for business journals. If she had to start looking for new information, she might as well start now.

Three sources in, a frantic knock on the door interrupted her. Swearing, she saved the journal article she’d been reading to her hard drive and went to the door. She swung it open, fully expecting her brother on the other side. Reggie tended to check in on her a few nights a week since she was a single woman living alone so close to him. She swore her brother would’ve fit perfectly in the Victorian age.

Her mind became as blank as her computer screen when she met Aaron’s deep, soulful eyes. That sexy grin of his lit up his face, combined with slim-fitting jeans that molded to long, lean legs and a Spider-Man T-shirt clinging to his perfectly muscled upper body, made him more appealing than an A+ from Professor Hateful.

“Are you watching?” His voice rang with enthusiasm.

The words took at least two seconds to penetrate her brain. “Huh?”

“The match? The Coroner is beating King Rhames in a cage match for the title. It’s crazy.”

Another two seconds for comprehension. “You’re talking about wrestling?”

“Yeah, I thought you were a fan. Tonight’s match is great.”

She
was
a fan. A huge fan, but she only watched on Sunday afternoon when she allocated three hours of the day to catch up on the shows she’d DVR-ed. There were too many to watch in that short time frame, but she watched based on importance. Wrestling usually sat up high on the priority list. Her biggest guilty pleasure: hot guys in skimpy outfits fighting in a ring. What wasn’t there to love?

“I’m recording it.”

“No, you’ve got to see this now.” He stepped through the door and marched inside as if he belonged there.

Part of her considered telling him to get the hell out. The other part was too busy ogling his ass in those jeans.

As she’d suspected, she now knew that if she tried hard enough, she could easily ignore him…for the most part. Between work and class, she’d only seen him in passing over the past week. Those fleeting glances were enough to make her wish she was clutching something else at night instead of the teddy bear she’d owned since kindergarten. Particularly a certain guy who looked pretty darn good in a pair of jeans.

“If the Coroner wins, he’ll be the new champion.” Aaron plucked up the remote and turned on the television.

“I’m studying and can’t get caught up in this right now.” Kacey followed him into the living area.

The room filled with the sounds of fans screaming in the arena and the commentator’s play-by-play of the action. Kacey marched over to snatch away the remote and kick Aaron out of her place. The Coroner took a metal chair and whammed King Rhames in the face. She gasped and scowled at the screen.

“No, he didn’t!” Kacey said. Her eyes narrowed when one of the Coroner’s flunkies distracted the referee so that the other could punch King Rhames in the corner of the ring. “They’re cheating!”

Aaron’s eyes were glued to the television screen. “When does the Coroner ever fight fair?”

“Never. That’s why I can’t stand him. He always wins his titles by cheating.”

“He’s cunning.”

“He’s sleazy.”

Aaron sat on the couch, and Kacey plopped down next to him. “Come on, Rhames, get up and fight.” She cheered for her current favorite wrestler.

“Rhames isn’t out just yet. He always gets a second wind.”

“I really should be studying,” Kacey said, her attention riveted to the six-foot-five-inch wrestler with long black hair and bulging muscles beneath tan skin.