4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rissa

Even though she’d been exhausted when she got back to her apartment, the raging party going on above her didn’t die down until dawn.

Despite the lack of sleep, she wasn’t able to stay asleep even after the party was over. A childhood full of inconsistency had made her obsessed with being on time as an adult. She woke up every twenty minutes to check the time. By ten a.m., she gave up and started her day. Now it was time to start her new job.

Bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, Rissa opened the door of Sanguine at exactly 3 p.m. The inside looked the same as it did last night except for the lack of customers. There was only Zan standing behind the bar, staring down at a laptop. The open, enthusiastic smile he gave her as he looked up made her freeze in place.

He really was a beautiful man.

“Good morning, or afternoon, I guess,” he said, walking out from behind the counter. The pass-through she’d smashed last night was gone and the hole in the wall was covered with a framed piece of art.

“Hi,” she responded, stepping all the way in.

He was frowning a little as he met her halfway between the bar and the front door. “You look tired.”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. The money he’d given her had paid her overdue rent, but she was still behind on a few bills and couldn’t afford to be sent home.

He didn’t stop frowning, and when her stomach grumbled, his frown turned into a scowl. “Did you eat lunch?”

“Yes,” she answered. Lunch was the last egg in her fridge and the remaining half piece of bread she had after removing the mold.

“Well, lunch was probably a while ago,” he said as he pulled out his phone. “The place down the street makes great food. Let me order us some early dinner. What do you like? I’m friends with the owner, so they’ll put together just about anything for me.”

“Um, that’s okay. I don’t—”

“You’re not going to make me eat alone, are you?” he asked, giving her irresistible puppy dog eyes. “I hate eating alone. It’s the worst.”

“I guess not,” she said, amused by his dramatic words. “I’ll take a club sandwich or hamburger. I’m not a picky eater.”

“I’ll get both, and chips and French fries,” he said, tapping on his phone. “I’ll get some potato salad and a Caesar salad. Oh, and you’ve got to try their cinnamon rolls. They’re so good.”

He was ordering a lot of food, but he probably needed to eat a lot considering his size. When he finished ordering, he looked up at her with another of those brilliant smiles that made his brown eyes sparkle.

“Let me show you around while we wait for the food,” he said.

Sanguine was a small place, so it didn’t take long for him to show her the storage room, small office, and back door to the dumpster in the alley.

“Where does that go?” she asked, pointing to a set of stairs.

“Anatoly and I live on the third floor,” he explained. “The second floor is another apartment, but no one’s living there right now.”

“You guys own the whole building?” she asked. Sanguine was a nice bar, but it couldn’t possibly make enough to pay the mortgage on the entire building. Anatoly was the money guy, and Zan was the sweetheart who spent it.

As he led her back to the main area, a tall guy carrying several bags walked in. “Yo, Zan! I got your order!” He stopped short when he saw her, sniffed the air, then looked over to Zan with a questioning look.

Zan moved past her to take the bags of food. “Rissa, this is Will. He and his, uh, family own The Pack House restaurant. Will, this is Rissa. She’s going to be a bartender here.”

The guy was as big as Zan and maybe even a little more broad. Staying where she was, she raised her hand in a little wave. “Hi.”

Will gave Zan a startled look. “You hired help?”

Zan gave the guy a gentle shove with his shoulder. “Anatoly and I needed someone, and Rissa is perfect.”

“Oh!” Will smiled at her over his shoulder, and Zan nudged him out the open door. “It’s nice meeting you. Give these guys hell.”

Rissa laughed as Zan made a little growly sound and hip-checked Will the rest of the way out the door.

“Damn cheeky wolf,” he muttered as he walked back to her and put the food on the counter. He must call him a wolf because the restaurant was called The Pack House. It was cute.

She sat on one of the stools and watched him unbag box after box of food. By the time all the boxes were out her mouth was watering.

“Where’s Anatoly?” she asked. “Should we be sharing with him?”

“Naw. He’s still asleep,” Zan explained. “He needs all the beauty rest. I’ve never needed that much sleep.”

“Must be nice,” she mumbled, unsure if she was disappointed or relieved that he wasn’t here.

Once he had all the food boxes open, Rissa marveled at the sheer number of items. “Did you order the entire menu?”

“Almost,” he answered cheerfully. “Dig in!”

She snagged one of the boxes with a hamburger and fries and started eating. The moment the food hit her belly, she started feeling better. She was still tired, but at least the shaky feeling she’d experienced when she first walked in went away.

They ate in companionable silence. Rissa appreciated someone who could handle sitting and not talking. The lack of conversation felt peaceful instead of awkward.

When she’d eaten her fill, she sat back and rotated the stool so she was facing Zan. He was still shoveling down food as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. She watched him for a few minutes until he caught her looking and paused long enough to grin.

“Breakfast was a long time ago, and I only had four eggs and half a loaf of bread as toast, then I missed lunch. If you hadn’t agreed to eat with me, I might have starved to death!”

“If I ate like this all the time, I’d be as big as a house, not that I’m tiny now, but at least I’m only shed size,” she joked.

Going still, he slowly turned his head. Gone was his cheerful expression. Instead, his mouth was in a tight frown.

“What did you say?”

“Um, nothing really,” she said, trying to figure out what could’ve offended him. “I was saying you can eat a lot, but you still look really good.” That was the truth. His muscles were straining the t-shirt he was wearing.

“That’s not what pissed me off,” he said. Sitting up, he dropped the sandwich in his hand and cleaned his fingers off on the napkin he’d tucked in the collar of his shirt.

“You can’t be angry at the joke about my size,” she said.

He gave her one slow nod. “Yeah, I’m pissed. You compared yourself to a shed. I never want to hear you say anything like that again.”

“It’s not a big deal, I—”

He growled, cutting her off. “Never again.” Moving in close, he leaned his big body over her. His proximity and scowl should’ve been intimidating, but for some reason, it wasn’t.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said, his voice low and intense. “You’re not the size of anything except perfection. Every curve on your body is a work of art meant to be admired. But I’d never put you in a museum. I want to keep you to myself. I’d touch, lick, and kiss every inch of you.”

He pulled in a long breath, his eyes half closed as if he was smelling something delicious.

“If you’ll let me, I’ll make a deep, detailed study of you,” he said, voice low and needy.

She wasn’t prepared for him to do that, or the way she broke out in gooseflesh when his words seemed to move across her skin. Instead of pulling away after saying that, he leaned a little closer, almost putting his nose in her hair.

“You smell so damn good,” he murmured. She felt hyperaware of how close he was to her. She could feel heat radiating off his body, and his clean, masculine scent filled her nose. The urge to touch him was almost overwhelming.

“I do? I mean… uh… I…” she wanted to say something snarky about it being harder than that to seduce her. Instead, she was reduced to an inarticulate idiot.

“You absolutely do,” he assured her. It only took a slight lean to put his mouth on the skin under her earlobe that made her feel hot. “And you taste as good as you smell.”

He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, and she gasped, then moaned. It was such a simple thing, but it sent sparks shooting down her spine. She could feel her pussy getting wet, and her breasts felt heavy and ached to be touched.

Grasping his shirt in her hand, she made a protesting sound when he straightened up. She even tried to pull him back.

He resisted her tugs and put a hand on either side of her face, holding her still. His eyes were so bright they almost seemed to glow.

“Anatoly got to kiss you,” he whispered, running his thumbs over the skin under her eyes. “It’s only fair that I get to taste you too. Say I can kiss you, Rissa. Please?”

The idea of refusing him never crossed her mind. “Yes.”

Her eyes slid closed as his mouth covered hers. His kiss was just as electrifying as Anatoly’s, but different. The other man had been smooth and practiced; Zan was more forceful from the start. The moment she parted her lips for him, he invaded her mouth.

Heat flooded her system, making her moan again. Her limbs went weak, and she melted against him. He wrapped his arms around her and easily lifted her off the stool and placed her on the bar top without breaking the kiss. Her legs parted for him, and he stepped between them, pressing hard against her.

She could feel his erection straining his pants. Damn, the outline felt huge! It couldn't be real.

Wiggling a hand between them, she palmed his dick through his pants, marveling at the size. He made a muffled choking sound and ended the kiss.

“Rissa,” he said, panting and rubbing his trapped cock against her hand. “Fuck that feels good.”

Then he reached under the loose hem of her shirt and palmed one of her breasts through her bra. Her aching flesh sang out at his touch. When he squeezed, she dropped her head back and gasped.

Before now, she could've sworn she couldn’t be turned on more than when Anatoly kissed her, but Zan was matching the other man. When did she go from having barely any sex drive to feeling like this?

“We could go upstairs,” Zan whispered. “We could—”

“Hey, are you guys open?” a voice asked, making Rissa jerk with surprise. Zan let go of her to turn around in one fast, graceful move.

“What the hell are all of you doing here?” Zan growled, staying in front of her so the new arrival couldn’t see her. Thankful for his cover, she pulled her shirt back down, then peered over his shoulder. There was a group of people standing just inside the bar with expressions of amusement on their faces.

“It’s game day,” one of them said. “We have it at the same time every week.”

One of the women in the group smiled and waved at Rissa. “Hi, I’m Tam, and this is Wes, Ryan, Jennifer, and Jane. We play Catan every Saturday, want to join us?”

“Rissa isn’t interested in playing Catan,” Zan said.

Jennifer shook her head. “Let Rissa decide!”

“I need to work,” Rissa said, enjoying the smiling group despite their poor timing. “But maybe another time.”

“I don’t suppose I could talk you guys into going somewhere else?” Zan said, sounding a little desperate. “The Downward Dog is nice.”

“Zan!” Rissa said, pushing his shoulders. “They’re customers!”

Tam giggled, showing off startlingly long canine teeth. “Downward Dog and the Dapper Dog are both too loud. But we can look after everything if you want to take Rissa upstairs.”

Rissa felt her face get hot at the same time Zan gave a resigned sigh. “Go to your favorite table; I’ll bring your drinks over.”

Turning to face her, he leaned in close. “To be continued,” he whispered before picking her up off the bar top. Instead of simply setting her down, he slid her body the length of his. It was a delicious promise for the future.

“Next time, it’ll be three of us,” Zan murmured when her feet were finally on the ground. “And you’re going to love it.”

Before she could think of an answer, he turned and walked behind the counter, calling out to the people who were setting up some kind of complicated board game on their table.

Shaking herself out of the Zan-induced daze, she followed him behind the bar. It was time to make the big bucks. Or at least the medium bucks, while trying very hard not to think about Anatoly and Zan naked.