AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What were you going to do if she had? Foot the bill? On your measly salary?” He laughed, shaking his head.
Well, that was a douche thing to say.
Heat ran up and over my face. “Well, if she hadn’t paid it, one of us would have had to.”
He slammed the last of his beer, set it down, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Um, no,” he said with a furtive glance around. “I’d just leave. They’re so busy here, they wouldn’t know for hours.”
What?
“You’d just walk out on the bill?”
He looked like I’d told him the Earth was flat. “Well, you don’t have to put it like that. I mean, it’s not something I’d do anywhere else besides here in this dump.”
“Anyhoo.” He slid closer and put his hand on my thigh. “Have I told you how cute you are, Saff?”
A warning stirred over me, however weak. Seemed the beer had dulled my bullshit detector. It wasn’t completely out of order, though.
“Thanks,” I said, looking down at his hand, which had just made itself home further up my thigh. As I tried to figure why he thought he could touch me, and what I might do about it, he smashed his lips against mine. I yanked my head back in reflex.
He leaned closer. “C’mon Saff. You can’t deny there’s an attraction between us.”
“Um. I don’t know, Tom.” I looked around the bar to make sure everyone from the office was gone. I had hoped Tom would like me, but had not expected it to start out like that.
“I think I’d better head out. Gotta catch my bus.” I stumbled as I stood, whacking my knee while extricating myself from the picnic bench. He stood, too.
“Ouch.”
“Hey, careful there,” he said, making no effort to help me catch my balance. Nor did he wait for me before heading to the door.
I hustled to catch up. I’d not given up yet.
“Well, beautiful,” he said, turning to me out on the sidewalk. “Guess I’ll see ya tomorrow. Maybe you can help me with fact-checking that big profile piece I’m doing on the mayor. That would be fun for you, right?”
Ugh. Fact checking. Shit job of all shit jobs.
“Uh, yeah, sure, Tom.” I looked up the street and saw my bus coming. I could make it if I ran. “I gotta—”
But before I could get the words out, his lips pressed against mine once again. This time I kissed him back, letting his tongue tease my lips and explore my mouth. If he hadn’t reeked of beer, he might actually have smelled good. But his hand on my breast snapped me out of my trance.
“Hey…” I said.
“Well sweetie,” he replied, unfazed, zipping his jacket. “See ya tomorrow.” He smiled and strode off, as if he kissed his colleagues all the time. Maybe he did.
Like a dipshit, I stood there on the curb as Tom disappeared around the corner.
The bus!
I turned to sprint for it, but was too late. Half a block away, its doors slammed shut, and it drew away from the curb, engines gunning in preparation for the climb up the steep San Francisco street that lay ahead. Figured. And there wouldn’t be another bus for twenty minutes, so I got comfortable in the urine-scented bus shelter and watched the traffic go by. The evening wind was picking up and the fog blowing in, which sent all kinds of flotsam and jetsum blustering through the street. Included in the frenzy was a torn business card, which wedged itself under a corner of my black pump.
I wouldn’t normally touch street garbage, but the word “erotic” caught my eye. Erotic what?
I picked up the tattered paper using my fingernails.
Club Silk
San Francisco’s most exclusive, erotic—
