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GreenEyedKing96:What was he like?
GoodGirlKay:So far so good…
Ben would take that, all was not lost. Maybe he could make his online best friend his best friend in real life too.
*
Chapter 5
Kayleigh headed into the bar the next morning with a bounce in her step that had been missing for a long while. Her new clothes had turned up by the time she got home yesterday, and she was loving her trendier style. There wasn’t exactly a lot you could do to be rebellious in a small town, Kayleigh would take what she could at this stage, and that meant a brand-new look.
She had a nice chat with her King last night and was excited for Taylor to see her outfit today. And she was excited to see Ben’s reaction to her outfit too.
When she arrived, Taylor let out a loud wolf-whistle that had Kayleigh flushing to her toes. She had never been the recipient of a wolf-whistle before.
“Dang, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I like peach-haired, leather-wearing Kayleigh,” Taylor whooped. Kayleigh laughed, smoothing a hand self-consciously over her white lace crop top and leather pants.
“Don’t be shy. Own it, sweetheart, you’ve let your she-wolf out and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.” Taylor winked at her, her grief forgotten for a moment. Then Kayleigh saw her eyes dip, her shimmer fade away, and she squeezed Taylor’s arm in support. Taylor offered her a small smile, patted Kayleigh’s hand and then left to go into the office.
Kayleigh had the morning shift, and she knew that Ben would be in later to work the afternoon and evening so they would cross over for a couple of hours. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t chosen her outfit with him in mind: she wanted to impress him.
He intrigued her, and she couldn’t deny the little thrill she got over the idea of seeing him later. He seemed like everything she wasn’t, from so confidently talking to someone he didn’t know, working the bar like a pro despite it being the first time he’d ever worked in one, right down to the smooth way he removed her bulky bike from his car. If that had been her, there would have been a lot of awkward fumbling and apologizing.
Well, not anymore now that Kayleigh 2.0 had the wheel. She had been Googling fun things to do in the area and making a list of activities to check out and goals she wanted to achieve. Because nothing said cool and spontaneous like list-making. Towards the top of said list, right underbegin your writing career, was the pole dancing class. It seemed like an easy one to tick off, except when she grabbed her phone and tapped in the number, she couldn’t bring herself to actually press the green ‘call’ button.
She figured she needed baby steps first, that was all. She’d changed her look, gotten new clothes, and there was finally someone in town who was new. Who hadn’t gone to school with her. Someone who didn’t know everything about her, who didn’t have preconceptions about her. She could start fresh with Ben and the thought excited her. Would he take her up on the offer to show him around town? She really hoped he would.
She bustled around the bar for a few hours, restocking liquor, checking on Taylor every now and then, as she sat seemingly just staring at the chair across her desk. It was a pretty slow morning, but it allowed Kayleigh to get some basic jobs crossed off. Then she heard the door to the bar open and flicked her eyes up to the mirrored wall that ran along the back of the bar and spotted Ben entering.
She fixed a sexy smirk on her face and turned to greet him.
*
“Kayleigh?” Ben choked out, hoping she didn’t notice the strangled quality to his voice. He took in her white lacy top that didn’t quite cover the red bra strap that peeked out. She turned around but not before he caught a glimpse of her perfectly sculpted ass in those tight leather pants, and his own pants had tightened in response.
She quirked her scarlet lips at him, all confidence so sexy that he half-expected her to stub out a cigarette and say,“Tell me about it, stud.”Heat suddenly flared through him followed by an extreme sense of awareness.
She popped her hip to the side and placed her hand on it, her nails painted a deep red that matched her lips. “Yeah?”
He finally found his tongue. “Just didn’t recognize you, that’s all,” he replied dumbly, heading over to stand next to her at the bar. He thought he saw something flash in her eyes, but she turned away.
“Well, now you know it’s me.”
“I sure do,” he muttered.
Taylor came out from her office and greeted him. She raised her eyebrows at Ben and gestured towards Kayleigh. Ben looked at Kayleigh then back to Taylor, not understanding what Taylor was doing. Taylor rolled her eyes then mouthed something at him he couldn’t make out, forming a heart shape with her fingers. “What?” he asked.
“Huh?” Kayleigh spun around.
“I, uh, decided now we have a little team, we should do team meetings. You two grab a booth and I’ll get a notepad,” Taylor said, glaring daggers at Ben who had no idea what just happened.
“Team meetings?” Kayleigh asked, but Taylor had already darted off.
“After you.” Ben gestured to the booth and Kayleigh walked over and dropped down on one side. He figured it would be weird to sit next to her, so he slid across to the seat opposite. There was a moment of palpable tension as their eyes connected over the table, then Taylor joined them.
“Now, this is our first official team meeting, whoop!” Taylor smiled and Kayleigh giggled, her dimples deepening in her cheeks and Ben struggled to tear his eyes away. “I want to open up the floor to, firstly, welcome Ben to the team, hopefully all the drama hasn’t scared you off?”
Ben shook his head.
