Don't Close Your Eyes (6 page)

"I need my kiss," Jase told me absently as he finished tuning his guitar.

"Oh, you thought I forgot?" I teased with a roll of my eyes and a grin.  Jase argued that he had particularly good nights when I kissed him on the cheek before his shows.  Once, I was too busy, and he felt his performance had been subpar.  Tips were low for the whole band.  Personally, I blame the fact that it was a very slow night that night.  First week of off-season and all.   Since then, the whole band, along with Jase, of course, insisted on that superstitious kiss.  I didn't mind it too much for obvious reasons. 

I walked to Jase's side, leaning in for his cheek.  At the last second he turned his face so that it landed smack on his lips, which opened just enough to pull at mine.  Oh!  Yum!  Holy hell!  I pulled away and smacked his arm as I wiped my mouth. "Seriously, Jase, talk about an elementary school move!  I can't believe I fell for that.  Shame, shame, shame, mister!" I waved my finger at him in playful disapproval.  The guys all chuckled while they buttoned up.

He gave me that stupid grin, so there was no way I could be mad at him.  "Damn, Baby,
that’s
what I’m talkin’ about!” he high-fived Keane.  “How about we do it like
that
from now on!  What do ya say, guys?  Don’t you feel like tonight we might leave here wealthy men now?"  He looked back at the band, and they all heartily agreed.  When they noticed my raised eyebrow, they all had something else they needed to look at just then, scores of throats clearing.

"Uh, huh, that’s what I thought.  Have fun, boys.  And, Jase, this better be your
best
night yet," I turned and smiled sweetly at Keane right before I walked away. 

“Already is, Baby!” he called with a laugh.  I could hear their high-five as I made my way to a table for orders.  I just rolled my eyes and grinned like a school girl.  Pathetic.

I am not that girl that pines for a man's attention.  You know, the one that deliberately attracts attention to herself in order for him to notice that others notice her, too?  Only tonight, that's exactly how I felt.  I am usually very good about ignoring the advances I get throughout my shifts, tonight I let myself absorb them.  When men flirted, I laughed and thanked them with a huge grin and that classic arm slap or flip of my hair.

I admit, Jase
was
very much on tonight.  He was covering Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix, to name some of the biggies, and he was doing a fine job of it.  The dance floor in front of the stage was growing thick with couples, and there were several women who had made their way near the edge of the stage to get a close up view of that lead singer as they mingled animatedly with drinks in their hands, eager for the moment when he might possibly need to change shirts from sweating it out under the lights.  I went back around the bar to make some more drinks, and TDH was there when I turned around.  I involuntarily beamed a wide smile at him.  Again.  Breathe, Kins...

"Hey, can I get you something?  Did you like the Perfect Pour, or would you like something different?"  I had to yell to be heard over Jase and the band.  He leaned in very close to my ear.  My pulse picked up.  He smelled so good.  Obsession and leather from the jacket he was wearing.  I tried not to inhale too sharply, though I wanted to.  Obsession has always been a fave of mine.  My daddy used to wear it at one point. 

His breath was hot against my ear.  "The Perfect Pour was exactly that.  You nailed it."  Sweet!  He pulled back, giving me a rewarding smile.  Oh, his smile was one that you felt down to your toes.  Bright, wholesome, perfect.  My own toes were curling in my shoes at the moment.  He leaned back in, "I will have another if you don't mind.  I'll take it here at the bar, I'd rather watch from here, Miss James."  Did I mention my heart was pounding?  I had the slightest hope that maybe he was hitting on me.

Just then Kayleigh bounced up to my side and beamed her own bright smile at him.  Her blonde hair was pulled back with a black bow at the base of her ponytail, complimenting all that pep nicely.  "Hi!  I don't believe we have met, I'm Kayleigh, Kinsley's friend and lovely co-worker."  She extended her hand, and I noticed he only shook it.  Not the kiss he gave mine.  "If you need anything while Kinsley is busy, I will be more than happy to take care of it."  Her voice was intentionally husky, and she made sure she was leaning down to give him a look at her cleavage as she spoke, alluding to just exactly
what
she would be willing to take care of.   She resumed her peppy persona and walked away, a little extra sway to her hips as she winked at him over her shoulder.

Oh brother, that girl, that was Kay.  She was wild, fun, openly slutty, but somehow you couldn't hate her for it.  Hmmm, come to think of it she was like a female version of Jase!  How funny that I had never put that together before.  You would think that the two of them would be perfect for each other, but they actually couldn't stand to think of one another that way.  Maybe they were too much alike.  Kindreds?

I served him the Blue Label neat in a snifter alongside another glass of ice water and gave him a cocktail napkin as he watched Kay bounce away.  Should've known.  I am just another insignificant woman in a bar that he wanted to flirt with.  Oh well.  I served a few flirty regulars down the way, and my smile was back in place as though it had never left.  Mission accomplished.

When I turned back around to put some more nuts on the bar, Keane was holding the stem of his glass between his middle and ring fingers, swirling the liquor around.  Whoa!  His eyes were traveling my body and were soon glued to my own eyes.  Oh my, like I said earlier, the way a man chooses to drink, and what he drinks, can say wonders about his personality.  My Perfect Pour was a bit of a test to feel him out.  I was now trying
not
to feel this guy so much.  He sipped slowly, holding my gaze as though challenging me.  Like he knew!  Damn!  Once again my heart was pounding, and I prayed like hell that the heat in my cheeks was not outwardly showing.  He was
definitely
hitting on me, and he wasn't even
saying
a word!  Jase's slow, melancholy voice in the background only served to make the moment more intense.  I could read him loud and clear; a guy who liked to take his time in all the right ways.  Nice. 

"Thanks for the drink."  Jeez, sir, any freakin’ time.

He got up from his stool and slapped too much money on the bar.  I had to swallow and force myself to breathe through the thick fog-like feeling I was having right now.  He just smiled knowingly at me.  Damn player.  Jase was introducing Keane for the next song to play the harmonica as he worked his way toward the stage, shucking the jacket as he went, tossing it to a happy female near the stage who looked at him in adoration.  I watched as Keane handed an empty glass to Kayleigh, who was delivering refills, and kissed her on the cheek.  It was a fairly casual gesture of thanks, but he then looked right at me.  Oh, he seemed to be
challenging
me for sure.  I raised my eyebrows and shook my head at him.  I felt my ponytail hitting the back of my arms as I did.  Not fair, all I got was an actual thanks, not a kiss.  Was he trying to pique my interest by making me jealous?  I am
not
the jealous type, but my interest was definitely piqued.  Once he began, I turned, resigned until another time.  Maybe when I knew him a little better?  I still kept the spring in my step and the sweet smile on my face as the two men watched me throughout my shift.  Mine was over before their gig was, so I kissed Kayleigh's cheek and told her I would see her tomorrow night.  I walked over to the stage to throw a few bucks in the super full jar, and I waved sweetly to both guys.

<><><><><>

I woke myself early the next morning.  It was early February, and track season was beginning.  I never really allowed myself to become complacent, but when the season starts, I begin waking up before the sun comes up to go workout on the beach.  My alarm went off at five, and by five fifteen I was dressed in my sweatshirt and track shorts.  I tied my laces in a double knot so they would stay, and I grabbed my essentials before jogging down the stairs to my car.  The neighborhood was nice and quiet, and the air was crisp and chilly.  Perfect. 

I drove the twenty minutes to the beach where there’s a makeshift obstacle course geared for exercise.  I liked coming this early because I didn't have to worry about too many guys flirting with me.  There weren't too many women that used these facilities, so I think it sparked some interest for them.  I liked the variation it gave me by comparison to the plain gym at school.  Could you really go wrong with working out and watching the sunrise over the beautiful waves?  What’s not to love?

I parked across the street, enjoying the sounds of the surf while I grabbed my water and my iPod from my purse, then locked it in.  I jogged across the quiet street and hit the sand.  The ocean was still lit up under the moon, and it was beautiful.  There were street lights every so often to help light the beach, so it wasn't completely dark.  This was generally a very safe place, so I wasn't too concerned about that. 

I did all my stretches before I began the five mile jog that I forced myself to do everyday.  I never really wore my earbuds during this part, this early, I enjoyed the tranquility of the waves hitting the shore near my feet as I jogged.  My legs had to work a little harder than they normally would to compensate for how my feet dug into the sand.  That’s the way I liked it even as I hated it.

When I turned around at the two and a half mile mark, which was ten lifeguard stands, the sun was beginning to crest just at the horizon line on the water.  My favorite part.  There were a few other joggers now as I jogged back.  For my last quarter mile I forced myself to run the entire way.  On the last bit I pushed myself as hard and fast as I could, pulling my famous sprint though it was held back by that same sand that was giving me an extra challenge.  When I made myself slow down after meeting my mark, my heart was pounding super hard, and I had to walk with my hands on my head for a little bit.  Once I was a little less winded, it was time for me to actually workout.  I put my earbuds in as I walked over to the obstacle course.  There were ropes, tires, pull up bars, monkey bars, even a net you could climb that was secured to a tall block wall, forcing you to jump the other side once you reached the top.  There was another bar off to the side that was shorter for women to do chin ups and pull ups on.  To me, that was cheating.  I used the guy bar because I didn't want to be able to touch the ground so that I had to force myself to go all the way.  When it comes to working out, I am very hard core, and I don't mess around. 

Mostly men did this course while enraptured females watched from the side lines.  Another reason to come at this time of day versus later.  Only a few men, and no other females to watch and annoy me.  It was my first time back since before Christmas.  I was rusty.  I usually had a timed routine I put myself through that was worked out to fourteen minutes whenever I was on my game.  I do the course three good times before abs.  Today I anticipated about fifteen and a half minutes to get back into it.  I put on my hard core rock, popped my neck, and rolled my shoulders.  I was off, jogging through the tires, then over to the rope that I climbed until I hit the area that it was suspended from.  I climbed back down and jogged over to the monkey bars, throwing myself across them.  My hands were already beginning to get raw.  Garden gloves and vaseline would be the cure for the calluses I would have after I was done, though I didn’t care about my hands too much.  My mother chided me about lady’s hands though, so I found that was a happy medium. 

The intense music pumped through my veins along with the adrenaline.  I jumped up to the pull up bar and managed to do three successfully.  I would have to work up to four on my next round.  I ran over to the net and climbed it as it rocked all over the place.  At the top, I hoisted myself over the wall, landed on my feet, making my legs soft so that the impact would be lessened.  I ran back over to the tires and proceeded to do my whole routine again.  At the stupid pull up bar, I was only able to do three, damn it.  I climbed the net and was kind of throwing an inner fit at my personal failure.  I am very competitive, so I was frustrated with my rustiness.  When I jumped to the ground this time, there was a guy that was in front of me at the tires.  Dark hair, wife beater, even though it was cold, sunglasses, black workout pants, muscular, all-in-all a very yummy distraction from my personal anger.  His routine was just a bit different than mine, so we didn't bump into each other often, but at that pull up bar he easily pulled himself up about seven times like it was nothing.  Grrr...  I jumped up to it, and I pushed my pride very hard, finally nailing that fourth.  I jumped down and gave myself a brief fist pump with a big smile.  He looked over at me and smiled appreciatively before he ran to the rope while I ran to the net again.  He was fast, because soon he was on the net, and it rocked a little harder as he completely passed me up and jumped easily over the wall, landing gracefully on his feet.  I jumped down right behind him, and he gave me an impressed nod.  Whoop, whoop!  Just for my pride's sake I went ahead and did one more lap.  After all, wasn't it as though this man was challenging me to workout with him?  This time there were two more men on the course.  I had to work hard to get around them.  This was getting a little crowded. 

My pony tail swung against my back as I climbed the rope quickly so as not to get my butt handed to me too badly by these beasts of men surrounding me.  I received a couple of good looks as some more walked by and dried their faces with towels while they blatantly watched, finished with their morning runs.  I ignored them and pushed myself as I slapped the top and shimmied down.  I ran to the monkey bars and followed an attractive torso across. 

I smiled and told myself to focus, but now I dreaded that stupid pull up bar.  The thing was now nasty and slick from sweat and dew since the sun had risen completely, so when I jumped to reach it, my hands slipped right off of it.   Just before I could embarrass myself, I felt hands capture me around my waist, lifting me back up so I could get a firmer grip.  I turned and looked down behind me.  Jase!  I smiled gratefully, and he began doing pull ups next to me.  I did my three and settled for that.  I left him there doing how many, I had no idea anymore.  I had lost count after five.  I exhaled as I pushed that body out of my mind and ran to the net.  I jumped to the ground on the other side, and he landed right behind me.  I smiled at him and walked over the girly bar.  That's what I called that shorter bar for women.  Since it didn't get used very often, I used it for core work.  I pulled my nasty sweatshirt over my head and dried my face with it.  I had a workout tank underneath, and even though the air was chilly still, I was dying.  I grabbed that bar and pulled my legs up to hook my knees over it, dangling upside down as I began to curl up.  My abs screamed at me, but it felt so good.   Yes, I am a complete masochist in the workout department, and I loved the pain.