17. Michael

Michael

A s I made drinks for Olga, her boss, and his wife, I chastised myself for acting like a jealous asshole. I had no claim on her, although God knows I wanted to.

Seeing Olga come in talking and laughing with the guy in the designer suit had sent me into a jealous rage, which was weird, because I’d never been in a jealous rage in my life. It was a good thing the wife had come in, otherwise I might have been tempted to punch that smug asshole in the face and carry Olga out of the bar over my shoulder.

“Manuel, can you run the bar?” I asked the employee who was coming on shift.

“Yeah, boss, sure.” His eyes lit up. Tips at the bar were always higher than waiting tables.

“Just call me if you get backed up.”

Even though they hadn’t ordered food, I put in an order for Olga’s favorite appetizers: a platter of nachos, spinach artichoke dip in a bread bowl, and some asparagus fries. Then I took over their drinks as well as something for myself and slid into the booth next to Olga.

“Mind if I join you?” I asked.

“Of course not,” Olga said.

I passed out the drinks, then turned to Olga. “I ordered your appetizers.”

She gave me a huge smile that made me feel like a million bucks. “Thanks.”

The next two hours flew by. I learned that Olga and Mark were celebrating closing some big real estate deal, and while I didn’t know the details, it sounded like it had been complicated.

“What are you going to do with your bonus, Olga?” Mark asked. “Finally buy a house?”

My head whipped in her direction, but she stared down at her drink. “I’m going to put it in the bank for now,” she said. “I hate to make any fast decisions.”

Mark looked like he was ready to argue, but Lainie put her hand on his arm, silencing him.

“You’ll get a house when you’re ready,” Lainie said.

Olga gave her a grateful smile. I knew Olga hated people telling her how to live her life, even if it was something she respected like her boss.

We had a second round of drinks, and then a third, along with some additional appetizers. Mark wasn’t a big guy – he was about an inch shorter than Olga – but he was fit and could put away food with the best of them.

“We’d better go,” Lainie said as they polished off the last of their kobe beef sliders. “If we stay any longer I’ll have to have another drink, and then I’ll be good and drunk.”

“Okay sweetheart.”

Mark got up. “I’ll settle the tab.”

“I got it,” I said.

“Oh no, I insist,” he said. “I promised Olga to take her out to celebrate, so tonight is on me.”

“In that case we should order another drink,” I teased Olga.

To my surprise, she agreed. I needed to take a piss, so I stopped at the bar and asked Manuel to send us another round on the way to the bathroom. When I got back, Mark and Lainie were gone, but I slid back into the booth next to Olga anyway.

“Are we those people now?” she asked, raising one eyebrow at me.

I loved it when she did that.

“What people?” I asked.

“The people who sit on the same side of the booth even though no one else is at the table.”

“Yeah we are.”

We stared at each other, electricity arcing between us, then Olga licked her lips. My cock twitched, and I leaned forward to kiss her.

“Here you go, boss. Two dirty martinis made with vodka.”

I sighed as Manuel interrupted our almost kiss.

“That keeps happening to us,” I said to Olga as we both took big gulps of our drinks.

“What?”

I knew she knew, but I said it anyway. “Every time I try to kiss you, some asshole interrupts us.”

Her hand went to her heart, as if she felt a strong emotion at my words, then she slid it down to touch my thigh, giving me a little squeeze through the fabric of my pants.

“Maybe we should continue this conversation at home,” she suggested.

“Maybe we should.”

She slammed back the rest of her martini, and I did the same, jumping out of the booth and grabbing her by the hand.

“Manuel, I’m leaving. Call me if there’s an emergency,” I shouted as we raced past the bar.

I didn’t even wait for him to respond. Olga was giving me the green light, and I didn’t want anything to keep me from finally kissing this woman.

We didn’t live that far from the bar, but there was a taxi letting out people right in front of Sweet Cocktails, so I pulled Olga inside, desperate to get home as quickly as possible.

I gave the guy our address, then pulled Olga under my arm, holding her close. She rested her head against my chest, one small hand on my thigh, just like she did when we were watching movies on the couch. We got home in about five minutes, and I tossed some cash at the driver before dragging Olga through the lobby and into the elevator.

The instant the elevator doors closed I turned on her, walking her back against the wall and putting my hands on her hips. Slowly I lowered my head, pressing just the ghost of a kiss on her lips. I wanted to do more, but it was a quick ride up to the sixth floor.

The door opened, and then we tumbled into the apartment, much to the displeasure of Nutella. He started hissing at me as soon as I opened the door.

“Don’t go anywhere,” Olga said.

She picked up her cat and took him down the hallway, shutting him inside the bathroom before she jogged back to me. Behind the wood, Nutella yowled in outrage.

“How drunk are you?” I asked, wanting to make sure she was able to give consent to anything that happened tonight.

“I’m Ukrainian,” she said. “We practically drink vodka in our baby bottles. It takes a lot more than three drinks to get me drunk.”

“You had four,” I reminded her.

“It takes a lot more than four drinks to get me drunk,” she amended.

“In that case, I’m going to kiss you now.” I walked her backwards until her back hit the wall behind her.

“I wish you would,” she sassed.

“Hopefully we won’t get interrupted this time,” I said.

I lifted my palms, slamming them against the wall so I caged her in, and her eyes widened. For a long moment, I just stared down at her, desperate to kiss her, but also desperate to prolong the anticipation.

Then she licked her lips, and it was game over.