J-

Darla had not been happy about my move to the dining room. She wanted me on the course. She also wanted me overseeing Jisoo. According to Jisoo she wasn't seeing Bobby anymore. She'd met him for coffee because he'd called her twenty times that afternoon. She told him if she was going to be his dirty little secret then it was over. He'd begged and pleaded but refused to acknowledge her to his circle of friends so she dumped him. I was so proud.

Tomorrow was my day off and Jisoo had already come looking for me to make sure we were still on for the honky-tonk. Of course we were. I needed a man, any man to get my thoughts off Lisa.

I followed around Jimin around all day. He trained me. He was attractive, tall, charismatic and very gay. The members of the club didn't know this though. He flirted with the women shamelessly. They ate it up. He would look back at me and wink when one would whisper naughty things in his ear. The guy was a playboy and a good one at that.

Once his shift was over we headed back to the staff breakroom and hung up the long black aprons we had to wear over our uniform. "You're going to be brilliant, Jennie. The men love you and the women are impressed by you. No offense sugar, but girls with hair as beautiful as yours normally can't walk a straight line without giggling."

I smiled at him. "Is that so? I take offense to that comment."

Jimin rolled his eyes and reached out to pat my head. "No, you don't. You know you're one badass chick bombshell."

"Already making a move on the new server, Jim?" Mino's familiar voice asked. Jimin gave him a cocky grin.

"You know better than that. I got a specific taste," he let his voice drop to a sexy whisper as he trailed his eyes down Mino's body.

I glanced back at Mino who was scowling uncomfortably and I couldn't help but laugh. Jimin joined me. "Love making the straight boys squirm," he whispered in my ear, then slapped my butt and walked out the door.

Mino rolled his eyes and walked further into the room once Jimin was gone. Apparently, he was aware of Jimin's sexual preference.

"Did you enjoy your day?" he asked politely.

I had enjoyed my day. Immensely. It was a much easier job than sweating it out in the heat dealing with leering old men all day. "Yes. It was great. Thank you for making it possible for me to work in here."

Mino nodded. "You're welcome. Now, how about we go celebrate your promotion with the best Mexican food on the coast?"

He was asking me out again. I should go. He would be a distraction. He wasn't exactly the working class type I was looking for but who said I was going to marry him and have his babies?

An image of Lisa flashed in my mind and the tortured expression she'd had last night. I couldn't bring myself to date someone she knew. If she really meant what she said then I needed to keep her world at arm's length. I didn't belong in that world.

"Can I take a rain check? I didn't sleep well last night and I'm exhausted."

Mino's face fell some but I knew he would have no problem finding someone to take my place.

"There is a party tonight at Lisa's, but I guess you knew that," Mino said, watching me closely for my reaction. I didn't know about the party but then Lisa never warned me about them.

"I can sleep through it. I've gotten used to them." That was a lie. I wouldn't go to sleep until the last person stomped up the stairs.

"What if I come? Could you spend a little time with me before you go to bed?"

Mino was determined. I would give him that. I started to tell him no when it dawned on me that Lisa would be screwing some girl tonight. She'd take girl up to her bed and make her feel things she would never allow me to feel. I did need a distraction. Lisa'd probably already have a girl in her lap by the time I got home.

"You and Lisa don't seem very close. Maybe we could hang out a bit outside down by the beach? I don't know if it's a good idea for you to be in the house where she can see you."

Mino nodded. "Okay. I'm good with that. But I have one question, Jennie," he said watching me closely. I waited. "Why is that? Until the other night at her house, Lisa and I have been friends. We've grown up together. The same circles. Never had an ounce of trouble. What set her off? Is there something going on between the two of you?"

How did I answer that? No because she won't allow it and it is safer for my heart if we keep it only friends?

"We're friends. She's protective."

Mino nodded slowly but I could tell he didn't believe me.

"I don't mind the competition. I just like to know what I'm up against."

He wasn't up against anything because all he and I would ever be was friends. I wasn't looking for a guy in his crowd. "I'm not and will never be part of your crowd. I don't intend to seriously date anyone that is a part of your elite circle."

I didn't wait for him to argue. Instead, I walked around him and out the door. I needed to get home before the party got too wild. I did not want to see Lisa wrapped up with some girl.

It wasn't a wild ragger. It was just about twenty people. I walked past several of them on my way to the pantry. A couple of them were in the kitchen fixing drinks and I smiled at them before stepping into the pantry and then my backroom.

If her friends hadn't known I slept under the stairs they did now. I changed out of my uniform and pulled out an ice blue sundress to slip on. My feet hurt from being on them all day so I was going barefoot. I shoved my suitcase back under the stairs and stepped into the pantry to come face to face with Lisa. She was leaning against the door leading into the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face.

"Lisa? What's wrong?" I asked when she didn't say anything.

"Mino is here," she replied.

"Last time I checked he was a friend of yours."

Lisa shook her head and her eyes quickly scanned my body. "No. He isn't here for me. He came for someone else."

I crossed my arms under my breasts and took the same defensive pose. "Maybe he is. Do you have a problem with your friends being interested in me?"

"He isn't good enough. He's a sorry ass fucker. He shouldn't get to touch you," Lisa said in a hard angry tone.

Maybe he was those things. I doubted it but maybe he was. It didn't matter. I wasn't going to let Mino touch me. His nearness didn't make my stomach do flips and the ache between my legs start up.

"I'm not interested in Mino that way. He is my boss and possibly a friend. That's all."

Lisa ran her hand over her head and the silver flat ring on her thumb caught my eye. I hadn't seen her wear it before. Who had given it to her?

"I can't sleep while people are going up and down the stairs. It keeps me up. Instead of sitting in my room alone wondering who you're upstairs screwing tonight, I thought I'd talk to Mino out on the beach. Have a conversation with someone. I need friends."

Lisa flinched like I'd hit her. "I don't want you outside with Mino talking."

This was ridiculous. "Well, maybe I don't want you screwing some girl but you will."

Lisa pushed off from the door and came toward me backing me into my small room until we were both inside. One more inch and I would be falling back onto my bed. "I don't want to fuck anyone tonight," she paused then smirked, "that isn't exactly true. Let me clarify, I don't want to fuck anyone outside of this room. Stay here and talk to me. I'll talk. I said we could be friends. You don't need Mino as a friend."

I put both my hands on her chest to push her back but I couldn't make myself do it once I had my hands on her. "You never talk to me. I ask the wrong question and you stalk away."

Lisa shook her head. "Not now. We're friends. I'll talk and I won't leave. Just please, stay in here with me."


L-

She glanced around and frowned. "There isn't a lot of room in here," she said, her hands still flat on my chest. I wondered if she could feel my heart beating. It was hammering so hard I could hear it pounding in my ears.

"We can sit on the bed. We won't touch. Just talk. Like friends," I told her. Anything to get her to stay in here away from Mino.

She relaxed and sat down on the bed, her hands leaving me. I wanted to reach out and grab them and hold them against me. "Then we'll talk," she said, as she scooted back on the bed and crossed her legs.

I sat on the bed and leaned against the other wall. We weren't far apart, but it was as much as this room would allow. The situation made me laugh. "I can't believe I just begged a female to sit and talk to me."

"What are we going to talk about?" she asked, studying me. I could tell by her expression that she expected me to bolt at any moment.

"How about how the hell you're still a virgin at nineteen?" I said, before I could stop myself. She was just too damn beautiful to be that innocent. It made no sense to me.

She stiffened. "Who said I'm a virgin?" she asked, sounding upset.

I'd known she was a virgin from the first time I had caught her checking me out. The blush on her face had been all I needed to know. The girl was innocent. "I know a virgin when I kiss one," I told her instead.

She relaxed again, then shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. When it was a fucking huge deal. I didn't know nineteen-year-old virgins who looked like her. "I was in love. His name is Kai. He was my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first makeout session, however tame it may have been. He said he loved me and claimed I was the only one for him. Then my mom got sick. I no longer had time to go on dates and see Kai on the weekends. He needed out. He needed freedom to get that kind of relationship from someone else. So I let him go. After Kai, I didn't have time to date anyone else."

What the hell? She loved this dick, and he left her? "He didn't stick by you when your mom was sick?"

She tensed up again and fiddled with her hands in her lap. "We were young. He didn't love me. He just thought he did. Simple as that." She was defending him. Fuck that. He needed an ass-kicking.

"You're still young," I told her, but I was trying to remind myself more than anything.

"I'm nineteen, Lisa. I've taken care of my mother for three years and buried her without any help from my father. Trust me, I feel forty most days," she said. The weariness in her voice hurt my chest. I was wanting to beat some unknown kid's ass when this shit was my fault. My gut twisted and reminded me of how I had played a part in her pain.

I reached for her hand, because I needed to touch her somehow. "You shouldn't have had to do that alone."

She didn't say anything at first. The frown line in her forehead eased before she lifted her gaze from my hand on hers to my face. "Do you have a job?" she asked.

I laughed. She was changing the subject and directing the questions at me. Smart move. I squeezed her hand. "Do you believe everyone must have a job once they're out of college?" I asked, teasing her.

She shrugged in response. I could tell that yes, she did think that. My life was something she wasn't used to.

"When I graduated from college, I had enough money in the bank to live the rest of my life without a job, thanks to my dad. After a few weeks of doing nothing but partying, I realized I needed a life. So I began playing around with the stock market. Turns out I'm pretty damn good at it. Numbers were always my thing. I also donate financial support to Habitat for Humanity. A couple of months out of the year, I'm more hands-on, and I work on-site. Summers I take off from everything that I can and come here and relax."

I hadn't meant to tell her the truth—or at least all of it— but I did. It just came out of my mouth. She put me at ease. Women never put me at ease. I was always on guard for their ulterior motive. Jennie didn't have one.

"The surprise on your face is a little insulting," I told her. I was teasing, but it was also the truth. I didn't like her thinking I was a spoiled brat, even though I'd been pushing that idea on her the whole time she'd been living under my roof.

"I just didn't expect that answer," she finally replied.

I needed distance. I could smell her again, and holy hell, she smelled good. I moved back to my side of the bed. Touching time was up.

"How old are you?" she asked.

I was surprised she didn't already know. All she had to do was Google me. "Too old to be in this room with you and way too damn old for the thoughts I have about you," I replied.

"I will remind you that I am nineteen. I'll be twenty in six months. I'm not a baby," she said. She didn't appear nervous at all that I had just admitted to fantasizing about her.

"No, sweet Jennie, you are definitely not a baby. I'm twenty-four and jaded. My life hasn't been normal, and because of it, I have some serious screwed-up shit. I've told you there are things you don't know. Allowing myself to touch you would be wrong." I needed her to understand that. One of us had to remember why I needed to keep my hands off her.

"I think you underestimate yourself. What I see in you is special." Her words made the ache in my chest catch on fire. She didn't know me. Not really. But damn, it felt good to hear her say she saw something other than the rock star's daughter.

"You don't see the real me. You don't know what all I've done." Because when she did know, moments like this would just be bittersweet memories that haunted me the rest of my life.

"Maybe," she said, and leaned toward me. "But what little I have seen isn't all bad. I'm beginning to think there might just be another layer to you."

Holy hell, she needed to move back. That smell and those eyes. I started to say something but stopped myself. I wasn't sure what to say to her. Other than that I wanted to strip her naked and make her scream my name over and over again.

Something she saw made her eyes go wide, and she moved even closer to me. "What is in your mouth?" she asked, with a touch of amazement in her voice.

I was wearing a barbell in my tongue tonight. I didn't always wear something that could be seen, because I had outgrown the piercing, or at least I felt like that at times. Females, however, enjoyed it. I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue so Little Miss Curious could see. She had already angled her head to peek inside my mouth. If I didn't show her, she was going to climb into my lap to get closer.

"Does it hurt?" she asked in a whisper, still inching closer to me. What the hell? She was gonna get a real personal view of it when I licked her damn neck if she didn't back up.

"No," I replied, keeping my tongue in my mouth for fear that she was going to actually touch it and make me lose my mind.

"What are the tattoos on your back?" she asked me, moving back some. Her smell still clung to me. I was inhaling more frequently than necessary just to get her scent inside of me. It was pathetic. Focus on something else. Answer her damn questions, and stop thinking about her skin. And her taste. Tattoos . . . she wants to know about my tattoos.

"An eagle on my lower back with his wings spread and the emblem for Slacker Demon. When I was seventeen, my dad took me to a concert in L.A., and afterward he took me to get my first tat. He wanted his band branded on my body. Every member of Slacker Demon has one in the exact same place. Right behind the left shoulder. Dad was high as a kite that night, but it is still a really good memory. I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with him growing up. But every time I saw him, he added another tat or piercing to my body," I explained.

Her eyes instantly went to my chest. Fuck, she was wondering about my nipples. Cold shower. I was going to need a very long cold shower. Or maybe hot, with some damn baby oil and my fist. God knows her smell and the view I had down her shirt were enough to send me over the edge.

"No piercings there, sweet Jennie. The others are in my ears. I put a halt to the piercings and tats when I turned nineteen," I assured her. She needed to take her eyes off my damn chest. Now.

She looked unhappy or worried. What had I said? Fuck, I hadn't verbalized my shower plans, had I?

"What did I say to make you frown?" I asked, touching her chin to tilt her eyes up so I could see them.

"When you kissed me last night, I didn't feel the silver barbell thingy." That was what was making her frown? She was going to kill me. I couldn't take much more of this.

"Because I wasn't wearing it," I said, moving closer to her. Her scent was pulling me in.

"When you, uh, kiss someone with it in, can she feel it?"

Holy fucking hell. Showing Little Miss Curious was so tempting. She wanted to experience it, and I sure wanted to show her. "Jennie, tell me to leave. Please," I begged. It was the only way to keep from kissing her. "You would feel it. Everywhere I want to kiss you, you would feel it. And you would enjoy it," I whispered in her ear, then pressed a kiss to her shoulder and inhaled her deeply. Fuck, that was good.

"Are you . . . are you going to kiss me again?" she asked, as I ran my nose up her neck, soaking in her scent. Damn smell was intoxicating.

"I want to. I want to so fucking bad, but I'm trying to be good," I admitted.

"Could you not be good for just one kiss? Please?" she asked, moving closer to me. Her legs pressed up against mine. One more inch, and she'd be in my lap.

"Sweet Jennie, so incredibly sweet." I was losing it. My lips were touching every smooth inch of skin they could as I fought with myself not to touch her. She was innocent. She was too good for me. This was wrong.

I tasted her skin with the tip of my tongue, and my cock throbbed. She was delicious. Everything about her. I kissed a trail up her neck, and when I reached her lips, I stopped. I wanted them. I wanted her. More. Always more. But she was my . . . friend. I had caused her pain, and she didn't even know it. I had to stop this.

"Jennie, I'm not a romantic person. I don't kiss and cuddle. It's all about the sex for me. You deserve someone who kisses and cuddles. Not me. I just fuck, baby. You aren't meant for someone like me. I've never denied myself something I want. But you're too sweet. This time, I have to tell myself no," I said, more to myself than to her. I needed to remind myself just how out of my league she was.

She whimpered, and I jumped up, moving to the door. I wouldn't do this to her. I couldn't.

"I can't talk anymore. Not tonight. Not alone in here with you," I said, and left before I lost myself with her. I could never have Jennie.