He smirked, removing his hands from his pockets and rubbing one against the shadow covering his jawline. “On a scale of one to ten, how creepy would it sound if I told you I came to watch you work?”
“A solid ten.”
He took a step forward. “What if I said I came to watch you work because I couldn’t stand the thought of going an entire day and night without seeing you?”
Oh God. Oh God, oh God. “That’d drop it to a six or seven, maybe,” I said, mentally raising my arms and yelling hallelujah when the words came out steady.
Another step. “What if I told you the thought of waiting all night to taste you again was too much for me? That I was going out of my mind remembering what it was like to sink my teeth into that perfect lip of yours while I pulled it into my mouth.”
I inhaled, but it was shaky and did nothing to settle the tingles that had erupted, centering in a very specific spot. “Three.”
He was directly in front of me now, and I was very aware that at any point someone could walk in and see him practically pinning me to the wall. Instead of causing me to panic as it should have, the knowledge only seemed to spur on my arousal, allowing it to practically take over.
“And if I told you I’m half-tempted to sit you on that counter, cover your mouth, and prove to you you’re meant to be mine, one thrust at a time?”
“I’d probably be fired.”
He dipped a single finger into the collar of my shirt and pulled, and like a marionette, I moved with it. “Give me a number, Maddie.”
A number? I couldn’t breathe, let alone math.
His hand rose, curling around the side of my throat. Not squeezing, just resting while his thumb gently pressed on the underside of my chin. “You can pretend all you want, baby, but I know you feel this too.”
He ran his thumb up my chin and glided it over my bottom lip, popping it out from the cage of my teeth. “Your body gives you away, and I can’t resist it.”
He closed the small distance between us, placing a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth, then the other. His teeth gently gripped my lip, and the moan I released was long and husky.
His reaction was instant. He swallowed the sound, one hand cupping the back of my head while the other snaked around to grip my ass.
He kissed me roughly, passionately, stealing my breath while gifting me his own. I never wanted it to stop, wanted to live in the moment forever, but just as quickly as he’d began, he pulled back. His eyes were hooded, and his chest rose and fell rapidly against me.
He didn’t say a word as he leaned forward one last time and brushed a featherlight kiss to my forehead. And then, just like that, he was gone.
I watched him go, incapable of moving for several minutes, drowning in the feral lust still clawing at my core. I couldn’t believe I’d allowed that to happen, but at the same time, my eyes were begging the door to open. For him to come back.
By the time I left the bathroom, I’d been seated. Twice. The waitress I’d asked to find me had checked for me in the back, but apparently that’s as far as her detective skills had gone. Which was probably a good thing considering what she might’ve seen if she’d found me.
I walked the entire restaurant in between orders, looking for my neighbor turned stealthy stalker, but he was nowhere in sight. If it weren’t for my raging woman boner, I’d have thought I’d imagined him.
Watching a new group scoot into one of my booths, I tipped my head back and sighed, ignoring Nate chuckling behind me. I was so ready for this night to be over. I reached into the right pocket of my apron, searching for a pen since my last table stole my other, when a wad of something at the bottom touched my fingers.