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I need my head screwed on right.
Nothing has changed.
I’m still Ryan, the carefree womanizer.
I can’t even deny that about myself. My womanizing increased after Gretchen, and it eats away at me. I’m more stained than I was before. I joke and fool around with my family and friends. I flirt with the females who spend time in Kenza and do a lot more with some. None of them have ever appealed to me on a more permanent level. Until recently, it had never bothered me. Being the only McKenzie without a significant other to take to family events has started getting to me—not that I’ll ever admit that to anyone.
Gretchen, though, I see so much more, and I shouldn’t. She’s too sweet to want to be with someone like me.
I run my hands through my hair, cursing, “Fuck!”
“Hey, boss? You back here?” Rob pauses when he sees me.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “Everything okay?”
“I need to take a leak.”
I chuckle. “Go.”
Moving out from my hiding spot, I cast another glance over to where Gretchen was, and she’s gone. My eyes search, but I don’t see the girl.
For the best!
Not having far to look for my brother, I grimace at him and his girlfriend getting it on. “Can you two”—I lean close—“please not have sex on my bar?”
Giggling, Poppy hides her face against Jaxon’s chest.
“You need to get laid,” Jaxon comments.
“And you need to take your girl home,” I say, grinning. “Otherwise, I’ll call Dad.” I wink and move away, hiding how miserable I’m suddenly feeling.
My family would laugh if they knew the carefree bachelor was lonely. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I love babies, I’m in no rush to become a Dad. Thought alone scares me to death—a small baby relying on me for everything. I shudder at the thought. However, having a girl to call my own has started to sound nice. Really nice in fact.
Clearing my throat, I ignore the smirk on Rob’s face as he joins me. “The ladies at the far end have been asking about you?”
My eyes stray in that direction, and on any other night, I’d be over there, sweet-talking my way inside the girl’s panties. Not tonight. Tonight, I’m going home alone.
“You’re not going to go over and talk to her?” Rob questions. “Are you coming down with something?” He presses his hand to my forehead, which I knock away laughing.
“Asshole!” I hiss and give him my back.
I hear him laughing as he moves down the bar to entertain the girls with his version of charm and wit.
Shaking my head, I occupy myself with drying glasses. I may be the boss, but I’m a firm believer in digging in with the rest of the staff. I’d be bored out of my mind stuck in an office all day and night.
As it is, the crowd has thinned out, meaning I don’t need to be involved in the serving of drinks.
Unable to help myself, I cast my eyes over the large room once again and don’t find what I’m looking for or rather whom I’m looking for.
“She’s in the far corner,” Rob laughs when my eyes snap to his. “She’s hot. Don’t blame you for looking.”
I scowl and ignoring Rob, my eyes search the dark corners of the club. My heart flutters when the lights briefly catch her red hair. Since I last saw Gretchen, I’d only have to walk past a woman with red hair and I’d be taking a second glance—hoping it would be Gretchen even though I had no idea what I would have done had it been her.
My cousin, Alexander, would have known how to get in touch with her if I’d only asked. I hadn’t, no matter how tempted I’d been. Gretchen and I, had been at a different place in our lives.
I’d been managing Kenza alone for twelve months, and she’d looked so young—a college student. A clever one as well from what I discovered online. Social media isn’t something she took a lot of time over, but there had been posts now and again. The photos saved on my phone were buried, so only I knew how to bring them up. I’m not a stalker, but I couldn’t help myself from checking her out, seeing what was happening in her life.
It's the first time I’ve seen her in the flesh since the night she knocked me on my ass with such a powerful kiss.
