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“The best sex I’ve had in a long time,” I responded. I could hear the wonder in my voice and told myself to calm the fuck down. It was just sex, nothing more.

I pushed against his chest, and he stepped back immediately. I slid off the table, looking around until I found my pants. I pulled them on quickly, avoiding Griff’s eyes. I heard his zipper as he fixed his own clothes.

“Do you want to come back to my place for round two?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. This was obviously a mistake, and we won’t be doing this again.”

“Obviously?” he asked in confusion. “You just said it was the best sex you ever had.”

“No,” I corrected. “I said it was the best sex I’d had in a while. But that’s all it was. You need to go now.”

Chapter 7

Griff

“You need to go now.”

Dawn’s words were like a knife to the heart, until I saw the look in her eyes. Dawn was scared. I knew instinctively that was why she was pushing me away. I considered protesting, but the truth was I was a shellshocked as she was. I’d wanted to get to know her again, but I hadn’t expected that the minute we were alone together we would have what was easily the best sex of my life. I needed some time to think.

“Do you need help with anything before I go?” I asked.

She looked at me in surprise, likely expecting me to argue with her.

“No, I’m fine. You can let yourself out through the front door. Goodbye.”

I leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead.

“I’ll see you later, Dawn.”

She didn’t answer, turning to do the dishes. I left without another word, resolving to do whatever I could to get into Dawn’s good graces again. I heard her sigh deeply as I left.

After a mostly sleepless night, I decided the best way to win Dawn over was to force her to spend time with me. I came into the restaurant for dinner the next three nights. Although Dawn mostly tried to ignore me, I caught her looking at me several times when she thought I wasn’t paying attention. Each night she had someone deliver me a variety of dishes, without asking what I wanted, then seemed to watch to see what I ate.

She wasn’t the only one watching me. On the third night Chloe slipped into a chair across from me, and after looking over her shoulder to make sure we were alone, asked quietly, “What’s going on with you and Mom? I know you haven’t been here every night to see me. You two have got some serious vibes happening, and I see you both watching each other and pretending like you’re not.”

“What did she tell you?” I asked.

Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Nothing. She refused to talk about it. But you two seem different than before. More...flirty or intense or something. Did something happen between you?”

My cock twitched under the table as I flashed on the memory of my interlude with Dawn in the kitchen. I took a deep breath and hoped I was keeping a poker face.

“I’m just trying to get to know her again,” I responded. That was true enough.

Dawn walked by the front of the dining room and, as always, my eyes followed her. Suddenly she tripped over her own feet, letting me know she was aware of my gaze and as affected as I was by being near each other, then glared at me as if I was the one who tripped her.

Chloe followed my gaze and shook her head. “You two are pathetic. You’re acting like teenagers with a crush with those long yearning looks. The entire staff is talking about it.”

She got up and pointed a finger at me. “I’ll tell you the same thing I just told her: you two need to stop acting like kids and figure things out.”

A few hours later I was reading on the couch in my Airbnb when there was a knock on the door. I opened it, surprised to see Dawn. She brushed past me and stalked into the living room. She was wearing the same black pants and striped shirt she’d worn to the restaurant, so I knew she’d come directly from work. Her hair was a bit frizzy from running around. She looked beautiful, even as she glared at me angrily.

“You need to stop coming to my restaurant for dinner.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good business strategy,” I said mildly. “Turning away paying customers."

She rolled her eyes. "I don’t like the way you just sit there for hours and stare at me. It’s creepy. Like you’re undressing me with your eyes.”

“Because I am.”