He looked away and back at me. “Is that what you want?” His eyes lit up with mischief. “A nice guy?”
The look he gave me nearly disintegrated my panties—completely confident, almost cocky, with a tinge of jealousy.
In any other scenario, I would be left speechless.
But flirting with William emboldened me. It gave me a voice I never knew I had. “The grumpy Scotsman wasn’t available.”
Luckily, William cracked a smile. He brushed his fingers across my chin to wipe off a splash of my drink and held my chin between his thumb and forefinger. He grabbed my empty glass to put it back on the table, and the back of his tattooed finger brushed against my hard nipple. I shivered, not sure whether he did that on purpose or not, but his eyes blazed with desire.
Just then, Luke rejoined the table, and I was reluctantly pulled out of our lust cloud.
“Nairie, want to dance?”
Chapter 8
William
I watched from afar as Luke live streamed himself dancing with Nairie and some of the other female patrons. My patience was wearing thin with this twat. Maybe they could sell the jukebox and use the profits to pay off some bills. They could also sell Luke’s organs on the black market.
The song “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star played, and I watched Nairie attempt to leave the dance floor. Luke pulled her in for a slow dance, their bodies getting closer together. My stomach tightened seeing her curves wrapped around someone else. Luke slid his hand to the small of her back, and the fire within me crackled.
Why Nairie was seeing Luke to begin with was beyond me. Did she truly not realize she deserved so much more? That she was the most beautiful woman in the room and that she could have anyone she wanted. Me included.
“Are you listening, Will?”
Elspeth was showing me their stock of inventory and going over their delivery schedules, but I hadn’t heard a word.
I cleared my head. “Sorry, let’s go over that again.”
Elspeth continued to show me around the bar, but I kept one eye on Nairie up until she walked out the door with Luke.
I never thought I’d be jealous of such a vapid pussy, but I was. He got to hold Nairie, lead her on his arm, build something meaningful with her, and he didn’t deserve her—not one bit. I felt helpless, and it frustrated me to no end. I spent the rest of the night in sulky silence as I finished closing the pub with Elspeth. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything, and we drove back home.
But to my horror, Nairie still wasn’t there. It was nearly two in the morning.
“Does Nairie usually spend the night with Luke?”
Elspeth dropped her purse on the couch and started up the stairs to get changed for bed. “No.”
“Aren’t you worried?”
“She’s a grown-up, Will. If there was a problem, she would have texted me. I’m not her mom.”
I huffed indignantly. “Well, it’s fucking late.”
Elspeth smirked and continued walking up the stairs. “Don’t wait up too long.”
I paced the living room and went to fill myself a glass of whisky. If Nairie stayed out all night, I didn’t know what I would do. Showing up at Luke’s place would definitely be overkill, but it would make me feel better dragging Nairie out of there like a caveman. I’d never felt this way about anybody before, and it was unnerving. I flipped on the TV to try and distract my thoughts of murdering Luke with my bare hands and landed onLove Is Blindon Netflix. As long as the cat was out of the bag, I would enjoy trashy reality TV without shame.
I was in the middle of the first episode when the front door lock clicked. Nairie walked through looking as beautiful as she did at the pub, which was a good sign. No signs of disheveled hair or puffy lips.
She looked at me in surprise. “You’re still up?”
“Wanted to make sure you got home okay.”
Nairie smiled and sat next to me on the couch. The smell of her eased my jealous heart, and I relaxed back into the cushions.
Without looking at her, I asked, “So, how was the date?”
