Crave: A BWWM Romance Read Free

bar, but he won’t even let you so much as look at a hammer? She’s nice to him. And friendly.”
    “And hot. He just has a thing for her.”
    “Oookay.” Kaila winked and turned to straighten some dishtowels.
    I tried to ignore his drawn out “okay”, but it stuck in me like a needle.
    “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Oh please, you’ve never meant nothing in your whole life.”
    “Fine. Let’s just say, that the only thing that looks hotter than this restaurant is that contractor of yours. And you know it.”
    “No I don’t…I don’t know that.”
    I could feel the blood rising to my face. I hated that Kaila could do this to me. Embarrassing me was her superpower and had been ever since she asked my eighth grade crush if he wanted to go to the Sadie Hawkins Middle School dance with me. Imagine your younger sister, the sixth grader, asking out your crush on your behalf. That was what growing up with Kaila was like. Of course, my crush said no. To her credit, Kaila felt bad and when she was a sophomore, she made Cindy Lambert swap places with me during a game of spin-the-bottle. Cindy was supposed to meet my eighth grade crush in a pitch-black closet for “seven minutes in heaven”. I went instead. I really did think I'd gone to heaven, if heaven was wondering if your heart would explode or your stomach would lurch while fumbling around in the dark with the guy of your teenage dreams. Growing up with Kaila was like that too.
    She did not seem particularly interested in saving me from my embarrassment now. I was a hair’s breadth away from just depositing myself in the walk-in freezer and waiting for her to leave when she took me firmly by the shoulders.
    “Look. I’m going to give you some good, old-fashioned, solid advice. And you know you can trust me because I’m a lawyer and I’m wearing a fancy pant-suit,” She smirked.
    “Oh really.”
    “Yes really. Now my advice is two-fold. One: Get out there and be friendly to your contractor if you want the next two weeks to go smoothly. Two: Stop lying to yourself and get a piece of that ass.”
    “Three: Ignore steps one and two and go home with a carton of Ben & Jerry’s and the login to your Netflix subscription.” I tried to walk away.
    “Fine. Fine . We’ll table number two for now. Let’s focus on one. Invite him and his staff to our party.”
    “Our what?”
    “The dinner party we are going to throw to thank everyone who made this possible.” Kaila spun me around so I was looking at the kitchen again.
    “We’re throwing a dinner party?”
    “Drinks on the house!”
    “I’m really not budgeted for that.”
    “Budget smudget. You can afford to live a little. Besides, I’ll help.” Kaila spun me back around so I was facing the door to the restaurant floor. “Now go.”
    Kaila gave me a shove for good measure and I tripped into the restaurant. I had to admit, it looked good. The sun had started going down, the low light from the windows reaching across tables and chairs on one side. The new lights were on and the stubborn part of me (which Kaila would say is all of me) didn’t want to admit that they worked well. The chrome along the outside matched the décor much more nicely than the antique would have. If Saunders had switched them himself, I might not even have been mad, looking at the way the lights illuminated the space and matched the candle-holders.
    Sonia was still slaving over her bar, probably holding herself to a higher standard than even Saunders would have. It made me smile to see how much pride she was taking in the process. You couldn’t find a more dedicated bartender; it was almost scary. I walked over to her and put a hand on hers, arresting its furious motion.
    “Go home Sonia.”
    “Just this last spot.”
    “Go home Sonia. The sun is almost down and you’ve been here since seven in the morning.”
    “If you insist boss-lady.” Sonia wiped her hands on a rag and made for the bathroom