Having no idea how much time he’d wasted there, Levi looked toward his tables, caught some curious stares, and headed to the bar for refills.
“I got your request for time off. Mondays are hard nights to fill. Sure you don’t want a different night off?” Julian asked. Levi hadn’t even seen him sitting there. Papers were spread all over the bar, not that Levi had noticed them either. Man, he was off his game. All he could figure was that he needed some kind of break. He’d been working close to two full-time jobs, and trying to keep his family’s lives together for months now.
Honestly, from the first moment he’d found out about his father’s diagnosis, the worry he’d had for him consumed Levi’s every action and all his thoughts. His father’s memory still did even now. He had to be in mental overload; seriously, that was the only explanation he had for allowing Thane Walker to take up residence in his thoughts.
“Are you gonna answer or do I ask again?” Julian’s abruptness got his attention.
Shit. “What was the question?” he asked, forcing himself to concentrate.
“Never mind. You need the time off.” Julian dismissed him, leaning back over the documents on the bar. “We need to cut him first tonight,” Julian said to Ricco who had grabbed Levi’s pad. He hadn’t even told the bartender the drinks. What was wrong with him? He was going to lose his job if he didn’t pull himself together.
Levi didn’t argue with being cut early. He needed it. Using two hands to hold his now-filled tray, he carefully weaved his way back to his tables, distributing the drinks before gathering the empty glasses and bottles. He paid no special attention to the customers, whether they were talking to him or each other. Instead, his mind focused on that set of deep brown, almost whisky-colored eyes he remembered so well. He wondered about Thane’s ethnicity. Mediterranean? His dark smooth skin, black hair, and well-trimmed beard and mustache almost made him look devilish, but it was the eyes that kept coming back to haunt him. He’d been unsettled since the very moment he looked up to see that intense dark stare focused on him.
Three thousand dollars for one night… Hell, it would be worth twenty dollars for three hours. But what would he even have to do for three solid hours? That was a long time for sex. He’d never lasted anywhere close to that. That morning, while taking the bus into work, Thane’s stamina became another burning question that had driven him to Google all the different ways to pleasure a man for hours. He’d gotten an eyeful in that search and had even expanded the query to find out about Viagra. He was relieved to discover the average sex act only lasted around five minutes. If that were the case, apparently, Levi wasn’t so lacking after all.
“Hey, I need over there.”
Levi looked up to see Chase waiting on him to move, and he didn’t really remember walking to the bussing station to discard the dirty glasses.
“Sorry.” He had to get Thane Walker out of his head.
“One of your tables wanted me to remind you he needed a refill,” Chase said, moving in beside Levi as he took his tray and left the station.
Levi shook his head. He had to pull his shit together. He was panting around Thane like a teenage boy with a stupid crush. This had to stop.
~~~
Consumed was the only way to explain whatever the hell was happening to him. Thane’s fascination bordered on obsession, which wasn’t good. He stood in front of the glass in the office overlooking the man who seemed to have bewitched him, body and soul. Yes, that sounded dramatic, but that didn’t make it any less true. He crossed his arms over his chest, keeping the background check they’d preformed on Levi Silva tightly in his grip.
Levi was younger than Thane had originally suspected, and that said a lot, because Thane’s own age of twenty-nine seemed to take most people off guard too. But Levi was firmly on the younger side, having just turned twenty-six. The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question now was how a second-year medical student, from Thane’s own alma mater, ended up on a completely opposite coast, waiting tables in a club designed to facilitate sexual companionship. What could have happened to cause such a contrasting change of scenery for this rousing guy?
The office door opened, and even if he hadn’t got a whiff of Julian’s cologne, he’d have known it was him. Julian had an air about him. His presence could be felt even before he was seen. Thane was glad the guy ran his club, couldn’t ask for a better manager, even though said manager remained snide about his little defeat where Levi was concerned.