AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then he was gone, and all I was left with was an overpriced bottle of wine and the unwanted stares of strangers.
I didn’t need Hendrix to sabotage my dates. Apparently, I did a great job of that all on my own. At this rate, I might get laid by the time I was forty.
I left the hundred on the table, added a twenty on top of it, and went straight to the bar.
HENDRIX
Kennedy Shay was a hot mess. I knew it. She knew it. Now everyone in this restaurant knew it. She never committed to anything, which was why she kept insisting on doing this goddamned online matchmaking shit. And the matchmaking shit was why her date just bailed on her before the appetizers were even ordered and why she was walking over to the bar—over to me—with a bottle of wine in her hand.
She said she hated the fact that I watched over all her first dates like that thing onThe Neverending Storythat shot lasers out of its eyeballs at anyone who wasn’t worthy. That’s what shesaid. But I knew deep down she loved it. I was the one who hated it, hated watching her waste her time flirting with all these assholes who only wanted one thing, hated seeing her walk toward me every time it ended badly with that look in her eyes like the one that she had right now.
But I’d gladly do it a hundred times over. I would do anything for her—any fucking thing she asked.
I grabbed my scotch and knocked back another sip. It took everything in me not to follow the prick outside and fuck him up so badly he’d have to burn his suit to keep his dry cleaners from calling the cops. He looked like the kind of guy who got pedicures and bleached his asshole. And Kennedy—she was perfection. She was honest, sweet, funny, with a naughty side that would make porn stars blush. She was drop-dead gorgeous on any given day, but tonight she was an aphrodisiac in a little black dress. Long brown hair hanging down her back in waves and eyes as blue as the deep part of the ocean. Legs for days and a perfect set of tits. Jesus. That fucker was lucky she picked him.
An older lady with jet-black hair pulled into a twist watched with her mouth gaping open as Kennedy slid onto the empty barstool beside me. I shot Miss Priss a wink to remind her that given the chance, she’d walk away from the uptight suit she was sitting with and hop on this dick, too.
“Are you flirting with that woman?” Kennedy asked as she laid her tiny red handbag on top of the bar. “She’s at least ten years older than you.” She faked an all-over body shiver. “Ew.”
She was fucking adorable when she was jealous. Not that she was ever jealous in the way that said she wanted me to fuck her and only her, but Kennedy was like a cat. Cats gave zero fucks what you did when you weren’t home, but when you were with them, they demanded every ounce of your attention.
“You’re not exactly in any position to judge my taste in women when your date rushed out of here the minute he realized the menu wasn’t vegan.” I waved the bartender over to get Kennedy a glass for her wine.
She took a drink straight from the bottle and shooed him away because…fuck a glass. Glasses were for losers. Around here we drank straight from the bottle. “He had an emergency.”
“Yes, it’s called irritable bowel syndrome.”
“Did you not hear the sirens?”
Everyone heard the fucking sirens.
Something told me she would fall for his bullshit, so I placed my cell phone on the bar in front of us and hitplayon the YouTube video. Within seconds, the sound of loud sirens and shouting filled the air. The bartender shot us a look from over his shoulder while he popped the top off a bottle of Peroni.
“You mean those sirens?”
She grabbed my phone and silenced it with a click, then rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to be a dick.”
I belted a laugh. “Me?I’mthe dick?”
She shrugged and tipped the bottle up again. The bartender set an empty wine glass—that she didn’t ask for—on the bar in front of her.
There were a million things I wanted to say right then.It’s time to stop internet dating. If you wear this dress in public again, I’ll bend you over my knee and spank you like you’re mine.The way she was sitting, her entire leg was exposed along with half her ass cheek. I guarantee the guy two stools over got a hard-on the second she sat down.You should have kneed that guy in the balls for walking out on you. Pour the wine in the goddamned glass, Kennedy.
A million things, but I could only pick one. I rested my forearm on the bar and turned to face her, leaning in close enough to smell the essential oil roll-on shit she had me buy her for Christmas because she hated perfume.
“Why do you keep doing this to yourself? You can do so much better than this.” Okay, that was two. Fucking sue me.
Her eyes narrowed. “Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?”
“I’m serious, Ken. What am I going to do with you?”
The bartender walked by and shook his head as she took another long pull from the bottle of wine. then set it on the bar.
“Well…” She looked over at me with those deep blue eyes. “You could always take me home.”
Her voice was low. Her eyes darkened, and she got that look.
Fucking A.
