I choked back a happy sob. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I framed his face with my hands. “Thank you Vance. Really. I would’ve never dreamt any of this was possible if you weren’t around.” I stood up on my toes to kiss him. He responded by parting my lips with his tongue, slowly thrusting into my mouth. This felt so right, nothing like my experience with Tanner last night. I felt like I belonged here, with this man and no one else. I didn’t know if it was just the high from my newfound abilities, but I felt a void when he pulled away.
He kissed the tip of my nose and smiled. “Have a good night at work Karli. I’ll see you soon.”
**************
I showed up for work with a spring in my step, ready to conquer the world. Leo came up to me with a curious look upon his face.“Good evening, my love. What may I ask is responsible for painting that beautiful smile on your face?”
“Am I smiling?” Damn, my cheeks hurt. Guess so.
He frowned. “Yes, my sweet you are. Quite a bit. What have you been up to these past few days? I’ve missed you.”
“Um, not a whole lot really. I went out with Erica and some friends last night, otherwise, I’ve just been at home learning some new……uh, spells and stuff.”
He raised an eyebrow in disapproval. “Really Karli? Spells and stuff?”
“Yeah, you know…like witchcraft?” He started walking away from me, throwing off some major wounded puppy vibes. “Leo, wait!” I said as I was chasing after him.
He took me by the arm and pulled me into a corner. Looking around, I could see that we were drawing too much attention to ourselves. In a hushed tone he said, “Karli, I thought we were making progress. I understand if you feel the need to omit certain truths about yourself, because you doubt my trustworthiness, but please do not lie to me. I can sense it from a mile away and quite frankly, it hurts me. I have been nothing less than completely honest and trustworthy with you and I simply do not deserve it."
“Leo, I---”
He held his hand up. “Don’t Karli. This is neither the time nor the place for this conversation. If you really want to discuss this, we can do so after the bar closes.”
I stared at my feet, too ashamed to look him in the eye. “Okay.” Walking away I added, “If you need me, I’ll be in my usual spot.”
The night went by in a thick fog. Leo had one of his men stationed at his table while he stayed in the back the entire time. Jesus, he couldn’t even be in the same room as me? I was on autopilot mixing drink orders, avoiding conversation as much as possible. I was on the verge of breaking into tears so many times that I had to keep running to the bathroom to pull myself together. My tips sucked, as expected, making my night even worse.
After closing, Roxy came up to me and whispered, “Hey Kar, are you okay? You’ve been really out of it all night.”
A tear fell which I quickly wiped away. “Um, thanks for your concern Roxy, but I’ll be fine. I’m just having a bad night.”
“Does it have anything to do with Leo?” She asked.
“What? Why would you think---”
“Shh,” she warned. “He’s coming out of the back.” She jerked her head in his direction.
I involuntarily looked his way and averted my eyes as soon as the guilt sucker punched me. “Did yo
u need something Roxy?”
“Um, yeah. I was just going to ask if you’ve seen my cell phone. I haven’t been able to find it since I was at your place.”
“No, I haven’t, but I wasn’t really looking either.” I answered.
“Would you mind if I dropped by tomorrow to check?” She asked. “My life is in that phone and I really need to find it.”
“Yeah, sure. I should be home until five or so. Drop by anytime.”
“Thanks Kar. I appreciate it.”
I sank into a booth as Leo let everyone out. “Are you coming Karli?” He asked.
What? Did he change his mind about talking? “Um, I thought---”
“We can talk upstairs.” He growled. I stood up and trailed behind him silently all the way up to the penthouse. He shut the door behind me and started pouring himself a drink from the wet bar. “Karli, would you like one?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you’re having will be fine.” He handed me a scotch. “Thanks.”