Heat Wave

“Why? You know why.” I lean in and lower my voice. “We need to talk about what happened last night.”


“No we don’t,” he says, clearing his throat. He signals for the bartender to give him another and then glances at me. “Guess I should have been a gentleman and ordered one for you too.”

“Gentleman?” I repeat. “That’s a stretch.” And when the bartender gives him his drink I put in an order with her for two Longboard beers, sliding a few rumpled bills on the counter.

“You’re not here alone?” he asks, looking around the bar.

“No, I’m with Charlie,” I tell him.

“I see,” he says, staring me dead in the eyes. “And you needed him here so you could talk to me?”

The bartender gives me my beers. “I mean it,” I tell him. “We need to talk. I’ll be right back.”

I quickly squeeze my way past the patrons and find Charlie at his table.

Talking to a girl, of course.

I give her a quick smile even though I have no idea who she is and give Charlie his beer. “I’m just going over there for a minute,” I tell him and point in no particular direction.

I think Charlie thinks he’s busted or something because he’s all wide-eyed as he nods.

I head back over to where Logan is sitting, only to see him heading out the back door of the restaurant. What a fucking sneak!

“Where are you going?” I ask as I burst out of the back door and into the parking lot. He keeps walking, so I run up to him and thump him with my fist, right on his back. It’s like punching a wall.

But it gets him to stop. He whirls around and fastens his eyes on me. “What is your problem? Can’t a man drink in peace?”

I hold my ground as he takes a step closer, refusing to back away. “You’ve had the whole day and night to drink. Is that why you’ve been here? You’re hiding from me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he says with the surliest expression I’ve seen on him yet.

I blink at him, wondering how it’s possible to go from making out with him to being completely aggravated by him in such a short period of time. “So then let’s talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about,” he says, looking away. Even nearing midnight, there’s a rooster strutting along the edge of the parking lot. “It was a big mistake.”

Ow. I feel like I’ve been kicked in the ribs. I know I came here wanting to tell him the same thing, I know it’s what I’d been stewing over all day, but the fact is, it hurts to hear him say it.

“That’s what I was going to say.” The words come out in a hush, distracted by my wrenching heart.

“Good. Then we’re on the same page,” he says, running his hand along his jaw. He looks at me and sighs. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.”

“You did kiss me back, though.”

It was impossible not to.

“Momentary lapse of judgment,” I tell him. “I blame Dan’s punch.”

“I’m your boss. It was reckless of me. I took advantage of you.”

“Whoa, hey now,” I tell him. “You didn’t take advantage of me. I wasn’t that drunk. I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“And yet you still did it,” he says, his tone softer, his eyes searching mine, shining in the streetlights.

“As I said…it was a momentary lapse of judgment.” I avert my eyes, feeling that pull to him, like the waves to the moon. I can’t put myself in that situation again.

I can see him cock his head out of the corner of my eye, studying me. “Do you regret it?”

I swallow. “Do you?”

“I just said it was a mistake.”

I nod. “Yeah. Yeah and you’re right. It was.”

“People make mistakes all the time,” he goes on, his words taking on a silken quality. I can’t help but close my eyes as he comes forward. His fingers trail along my jaw, disappearing behind my ear and into my hair.

Oh, god, not again. This is a test. Stay strong.

I keep my eyes closed.

“Some people never learn from them,” he adds softly.

I suck in my breath as my nerves dance from head to toe. “Why are you doing this?” I whisper.

He exhales slowly, his hand leaving my hair and drifting down my shoulder, my arm, leaving a wake of heightened skin. I supress the urge to shiver.

“Touching you?” he asks.

“Yes.” My voice shakes.

“Because I want to.”

“And you think you just can?”

“Because I know you want me to.”

“You just said it was a mistake.”

“Maybe I’m testing you.” His hand comes off of me. “To see if you’d make the same mistake again.”

Remember everything you decided.

Remember who he is.

Remember what’s at stake.

He leans in, his mouth at my ear. My world smells like coconut and mint and whatever pheromones he has that drive me so goddamn crazy. “Last night was nothing. Not an appetizer or even an aperitif. You have no idea the things I want to do to you. No idea of the way I can make you feel.”