“Fine. Then go. You’re wasting time. We have things to do,” she ordered, pointing toward the kitchen as if I didn’t know where it was.
With a sharp nod, I headed that way. No reason to stay in her presence any longer than necessary.
Captain
Nothing was running on schedule. We should have been closer to opening than we were, but I’d waited too long to hire the full staff. That mistake was on me. But now I was beginning to question my choice of employees. Fixing what was wrong with a restaurant was one thing; opening a whole new joint was another. This wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and I was questioning how much effort I wanted to pour into this place.
I was done with my past, but facing the future wasn’t proving to be easy or promising. Maybe I needed a new direction. Once this place was up and running, I’d leave it in someone else’s hands to operate and go find a fishing town somewhere with a bar on a pier that I could buy. Running a bar for a bunch of local fishermen seemed more my speed.
Getting this place open and running successfully had to happen first. Not just because I owed it to Arthur Stout, the owner, but because I always finished what I started. What Arthur was paying me would allow me to find that bar on a pier so I could finally enjoy the easy life.
“We need to fire that redhead. She’s not cut out for this,” Elle announced, as she walked into my office.
I didn’t have to ask her who she was referring to; I already knew. Rose Henderson was petite, with curves that could stop traffic and the face of an angel. The cute pair of glasses she wore didn’t hinder her looks, either; they just made her eyes stand out. That only made Elle hate her more. She didn’t like competition, and I could tell she saw Rose as a threat. Not because I’d given her any reason but because every male who worked here clearly noticed Rose. She was hard to miss.
“Which redhead would that be?” I asked, not looking up from my unfilled orders.
“The short one. The one who can’t do shit. I told her to put those bar glasses away, and she complained to you. I’m head server, Captain. She can’t go over my head.”
I’d hired Elle as head server because she’d come highly recommended by someone Arthur trusted. I agreed to it soon after meeting and interviewing her. Fucking her in my office the next day hadn’t been planned, but she’d come on to me hard, and she was hot. I didn’t see an issue with it. I liked tall, willowy women. She fit the bill. But she also confused the fact that she was sleeping in my bed with having some kind of control over me, and I needed to fix that.
“We didn’t hire Rose, Elle. I did. And we won’t be firing anyone. She didn’t go over your head. She couldn’t reach the shelves. She was going to fall and break something. I gave her something else to do.”
Although I wasn’t looking up at her, I could feel her frustration building. She didn’t like my answer. Elle had a bit of a control problem. But she gave excellent head.
“I don’t want her here.” She pouted.
Finally, I looked up at her. She had her full lips puckered out like she was going to cry. It would have looked ridiculous, but she knew how to pull it off in just the right way. Pushing back from the table, I patted my thigh. “Come here, Elle,” I demanded, keeping my face serious.
She moved slowly around my desk, slipping her bottom lip between her teeth. Excitement flared in her eyes. That was the one thing I could count on. If I needed to calm Elle down, sex would do it.
“If you want to use that sexy mouth to turn me on, then you need to use it to get me off,” I told her when she stopped in front of me.
“Where do you want me?” she asked breathlessly.
“On your knees,” I ordered. She went down quickly and began to unbuckle my pants.
I wrapped a strand of her dark hair around my finger and let the silky texture tease me while she tugged my jeans down, then my boxers, until my cock was in her hands.
“As far down your throat as you can take it,” I told her, as I started caressing her exposed neck.
She made a whimpering sound that went straight to my dick. Bending her head, she pulled me into her mouth like a fucking vacuum, and I tilted my head back and groaned. I needed this today. Best stress reliever there was.
“That’s it, baby, suck it hard,” I encouraged her, placing a hand on the back of her head and pushing her gently so that I slid farther down her throat.
The gagging noise only made me hotter. I loved it when she choked around my dick.
“Good girl. So fucking good.” I praised her, knowing she’d only get better with the praise. “Suck that dick. Deeper, baby. So good.”
A knock on my office door caused her to freeze, but I held her head still so she couldn’t pull away.
“I’m busy. Go away,” I called out.
When the person said nothing, I patted her head for her to finish. Which she did.
• • •
An hour after Elle left my office, I headed to the kitchen to see if Brad had gotten everything in his order. My stress levels were down, and Elle seemed more secure and less anxious to get rid of Rose. Reminding Elle that she was the one I was fucking had done wonders for her attitude.
Laughter was the first thing I heard when I walked into the kitchen, Brad’s deep chuckle followed by a feminine one. I followed the sound to the back of the kitchen and found Brad covered in what looked like flour, while Rose held her stomach and laughed to the point of breathlessness. Rose turned to look at me.
A tightness in my chest hit me as her eyes danced with laughter. The clear blue of them was familiar, but it was more than that. It was as if I’d seen her laugh before. Heard her laugh. Watching her made my chest ache in a way that didn’t make sense. As if I . . . missed her. But I didn’t even know her.