Zeke (The Powers That Be, Book 2) (6 page)

“Scarlett,
this is my brother Gable. Gable, Scarlett.”

Gable held his
hand out to me across the counter. When I took his, he leaned down
and kissed the top of mine.

“Watch it,”
Zeke warned which made Gable chuckle as he let my hand go and stood
straight. Zeke looked around. “Scout working tonight?”

“Nah, but
she’ll be in to pick up her check in a bit. I think she’s just
using that as an excuse to come see me, though, because I could
just bring it to her after I get off work. Guess she can’t stay
away too long ‘cause I’m irresistible, you know.” Gable grinned,
and, damn, these Powers guys were just something else. I hadn’t
gotten a good look at Ryker, but I’m sure he had a panty-melting
grin too.

“Irresistible
in the way shit’s irresistible to flies, maybe,” Zeke muttered.

“Fuck off,”
Gable said back, but he was smirking and when I looked at Zeke, I
saw that he was too. God, guys were so weird. Gable set some
coasters in front of us and looked at Zeke raising an eyebrow. “The
usual?” At Zeke’s nod he looked at me.

“Big Sky Moo…”
I started.

“Big Sky Moose
Drool? Hell yeah, Scarlett!” Gable said with a grin and a nod. Then
looking at his brother he said, “This one…” he nodded toward me,
“she’s a fucking keeper.” He raised his eyebrows at Zeke in an “I’m
serious” way then turned to get our beers.

And of course
my face was now burning hot with embarrassment.

“Well, you’ve
got his approval… which isn’t all that hard to do,” Zeke muttered
with a chuckle as he flipped his coaster over in his hands a couple
times.

Now wait a
minute. Was that an insult to me or his brother? Since I couldn’t
tell, and I felt the comment was kind of mean to either of us, I
blurted, “Oh, well, since he approves of me, I guess that gives me
an option of which brother I’ll be leaving with then.”

Oops. Had I
just said that? But what he’d said was a tad shitty.

But it clearly
didn’t faze him. He gave me his half-grin and asked, “Yeah? You in
for a threesome?”

And I froze.
Oh, no. He had to be kidding. Please let him be kidding. I frowned
and pushed away from the bar, standing. “I, uh…” I needed to leave.
No way in the actual fuck was I going through this shit again. No
fucking way. God, men were dicks. I knew I was probably
overreacting, but that stuff tended to stick with you if you’d had
it happen
three damned times
. When I glanced at him I saw
the concern on his face at my response, so I checked my anger and
taking a deep breath asked where the restroom was. He pointed to
the right, and grabbing my purse, I left him sitting there probably
completely confused.

I calmed
myself as I walked, telling myself he was probably kidding, but,
really how did I know for sure? I also chastised myself for
agreeing to this in the first place. Stupid. Once inside the
bathroom, I pulled my phone out and called Jayla.

“How’s it
going?” she answered excitedly.

“I can’t do
this, Jay.”

“Do what,
Scar?” I now heard the disappointment in her voice.

I knew this
was stupid, knew Zeke had hopefully been teasing, but, God, what
he’d said had caught me off guard. “I’m a mess. I don’t know how to
do this shit anymore.”

She chuckled
and I think I heard relief in her voice when she spoke. “You’re
fine. It’s a date. That’s it. Just a silly little date.” God, she
was right. I was making this into something way bigger. “Look,” she
continued, “he’s not gonna propose. You’re having a drink. What’s
the big deal?”

“You’re
right.” I sighed knowing I needed to get over myself. “It’s just
that his brother works here and Zeke said something about a
threesome with him, teasing about it, I’m sure, but I guess it was
a trigger that just set me off,” I explained. At her “Oh, shit,” I
went on. “I didn’t go off on him or anything. It’s really not that
big a deal I guess. I just needed a moment, so I left to go to the
bathroom.” Then I threw in, “Men suck.”

“Only if
you’re very lucky.” She did her donkey cackle which made me smile.
I guess I was being overly dramatic about everything. “So has he
been nice?”

“Very
nice.”

“Has he been
respectful?”

“Utterly
respectful.”

“Then I see
there isn’t a problem. So get your ass back out there,” she
commanded. Then her voice got soft. “Not every guy’s a dick like
the ones you’ve gone out with. You’ve got this, Scar.” When I
didn’t say anything, I knew she was fed up with babying me when I
heard her drop an F-bomb. “You listen to me, Scarlett O’Rourke.
It’s time you let someone bust down the fucking walls you’ve built
around yourself. You deserve to be treated well. You deserve
everything. But you’re not gonna get it if you’re hiding in a
goddamned bathroom! Now stop putting every guy in a tidy little box
labeled ‘Douchebag’ with Lance and the other idiots. Not all men
are bad. I mean, look at your dad. He’s a good guy. There
are
some good guys out there, you know.”

Boy, when Jay
got started, she really went all the way. She’d make a good mom
someday. A bossy one but a good one. “Okay.”

“Thatta
girl.”

“It still
doesn’t mean I’m going to date him. This is just a drink then I’m
back on track.”

“Good
enough.”

Then I thought
of something and cringed. “Oh, no,” I groaned.

“What?”

“When he
mentioned the threesome, the way I got up so quickly probably made
him think I’ve had one and was embarrassed or had a bad experience
or something. Great.”

Jay snorted.
“Well, if he’s like Dex, I’m sure you have his attention now. You
know men and their fantasies.”

“Yeah. All too
well.” I looked in the mirror and ran a finger under my eyes. “Tell
me again why I’m even here?”

“Because he’s
a good guy. Because he obviously likes you. And because he’s sexy
as hell. Good enough?”

“It’s gonna
have to be. Again, it’s just a drink. Nothing more. Thanks,
Jay.”

“Welcome. And
let yourself have fun. ‘
One hour of right
down love is worth an age of dully living on
.’”

“I can’t
believe you’re quoting literature to me now.”

She chuckled.
“Nothing’s getting done with you hiding out in the bathroom. Now go
show him how amazing you are.”

We hung up and
after checking myself in the mirror again and giving myself a
“Stick to your original plan and don’t screw things up by sleeping
with this guy tonight, or ever for that matter,” I walked back out
to the bar to see Zeke looking worriedly at me as I approached.

“You okay?” he
asked, his eyes moving over me as if he were checking for wounds.
He wouldn’t find any, of course, because all my wounds were
emotional. Yay.

I nodded then
sat down next to him and seeing that my beer had been delivered, I
wrapped a hand around it and took a chug. Okay, that was better. It
reminded me of Dad. He wasn’t an alcoholic or anything, he just
liked this brand. And now it was time for me to let my guard down a
little.

Turning to
Zeke, I divulged, “You’re a really good guy.”

I saw his head
jerk back a bit then his eyes crinkled around the edges. “I am.” He
nodded in agreement which made me smile. Then I saw his eyes get
heated as he looked back at me. “I’m
really
good.”

Oh, boy.

I sucked in a
breath as I felt a dip in my womb. Wow. He
was
good.

He brought his
hand up to cup my face and leaned in close, his eyes still locked
with mine. “I’ll prove it to you sometime.” Then he leaned in and
touched his lips to mine. When he pulled back, the smolder in his
eyes had died a bit but the message was still there.

Holy damn.

Then he took a
drink from his bottle and all was back to normal.

“So, you gonna
tell me what happened earlier?” he queried.

I took another
drink then staring at my bottle laid it all out for him. “A couple
years ago, I had a boyfriend. We were gonna get married. But he
cheated on me then asked if I wanted to have a threesome with the
woman I’d caught him with.” I looked at him and shrugged. “That’s
why what you said startled me. Every boyfriend I’ve been somewhat
serious with has cheated on me… then asked for a threesome.” I
couldn’t help but chuckle. It
was
kind of funny in a weirdly
fucked-up way.

I could see
the muscles in his jaws jumping before he took a drink. Then he
turned to me. “Let’s get a table.”

He grabbed his
bottle and got up then helped me off my barstool and taking my
hand, led me to a small table for two, pulling my chair out for me.
Man, if I ever met his mom, I’d have to thank her for instilling
manners in him. After we were seated, I saw him jerk his head at
Gable. A moment later Gable brought us both another bottle then
left and Zeke looked at me.

“Now, let’s
get this clear, Scarlett. I’m not like those bastards you dated.
I’ve never cheated on anyone and I don’t plan to.” I could see him
sizing me up, and I braced for what he was going to tell me next.
“I had… some… threesomes when I was younger, but not with anyone I
cared about. I don’t have anything against them. It’s just that I
don’t like sharing when I find someone I’m interested in.” His eyes
bored into mine so erotically it made me suck in a breath. “And
you’re someone I’m interested in.”

Well. As long
as we got that cleared up. And, my God, he looked at me as if I
meant something to him which made my breathing speed up. No one had
looked at me like that in a very long time.

But then my
rational side reared her judge-y face to convince me that I still
wasn’t sold. I couldn’t be.
Stick to the plan,
I heard her
whisper in my head, making me shut down my emotions once more as I
geared up to tell him this thing between us would go nowhere
because I knew what would come next was him pursuing the topic of
us dating.

“Now, tell me
about your family,” he said casually as if five seconds before he
hadn’t flashed his bedroom eyes at me.

I stared at
him for a moment because he’d surprised me then I burst into
laughter. Wow. First of all, how conceited was I thinking he was
going to beg me to date him? Secondly, he really had a way with
putting things out there, one moment being so intense it completely
took my breath away, the next appearing as easygoing as they come
which was totally knocking me off my axis at all times. Damn.

“What?” he
asked with a wink which made my heart flutter.

Smiling, I
shook my head. “You.”

“What about
me?”

It was my turn
to size him up. “You’re just so different. Every time I think I
know what you’re going to say, you surprise me. And you’re just so
take-charge. You’ve got that whole alpha male thing going on.”

“And I think
you like it,” he countered as he brought his bottle to those
perfect lips. Then setting his bottle down, his eyes met mine and
held them. “I think you like
me
.”

Oh, I liked it
and
him. Probably too much.

I shrugged.
“Maybe.”

He narrowed
his eyes. “Maybe, she says. Excuse me if I’m wrong, Scarlett, but I
think that was pure lust I saw in your eyes at the weight room
earlier.”

Hoping I was
coming off as nonchalant—when in reality, if I didn’t think I’d
hate myself in the morning, I so wanted to fuck his brains out
right then. I mean, those stalls in the women’s room had been
rather large and would be damned accommodating for a quick tryst
with him—I shrugged again. “You’re a good-looking guy, Zeke, which
I’m sure you know. A woman would have to be blind not to look at
you with lust.”

“So where does
this leave us?”

“I don’t know.
But I need to let you know that I don’t have time to date anyone
right now. I’ve got to focus on my future, starting up my business,
getting my family out of debt.”

He nodded. “I
understand. What’s this business you want to start?”

Totally.
Knocking. Me. Off. My. Axis.

Most guys
would’ve gotten mad and called it a night knowing they probably
weren’t going to get laid, but not Zeke. He looked like he really
wanted to know about the bakery I planned on opening. So with a
surprised chuckle, I told him and he seemed genuinely happy for me,
asking all kinds of questions as if he was truly interested in my
future. When I asked about his major, which was finance (which I
knew because Jay had told me this morning that he was president of
the Finance Club), he told me he’d like to be a bank president
someday but if his NFL career took off, he’d put it on hold. I next
asked about the NFL and he explained about the combines and how
players got drafted, which I found fascinating. I found everything
he had to say fascinating. He was so charming and humble which I
found totally disarming that before I knew it, we’d talked for
three hours straight which was when my phone buzzed with a call
from Lane.

“Sorry, I need
to take this,” I told Zeke as I got up from the table walking to
the women’s restroom again. “Hey, what’re you still doing up?” I
answered my phone.

“Just
wondering when you’re coming home?”

“I’ll be there
in a bit. Did you do the dishes?”

“Yep. Grammy
tried butting in but I finally told her you were gonna pay me, so
she only helped a little,” he said.

“By a little
do you mean she did them all?” I knew Grammy liked things done her
way.

“Well… I
cleared the table and put away everything. I saved a plate for
you.”

Zeke and I had
split a plate of nachos, so I wasn’t hungry but I thanked my
brother anyway.

“So where are
you?” Lane asked.

“I’m out.”

“With
who?”

“God, nosy. If
you must know, I’m having a couple beers with a guy named Zeke
Powers.”