"Dammit Kendra, stop doing that."
"Are you just calling to give me orders Eric? Because if you are then I'm not interested."
"Please stop disappearing on me like that. I said I was sorry I hurt you and then you were just gone. I didn't even get to kiss you. Come back, please, and let me kiss you, and then you can go to work."
"No Eric, I'm not coming back to kiss you. Like I said before I left, if you want to ask me out then call me."
"I'm calling you now, I want to ask you out. Come back here after you get off tonight. Please."
"No."
"No?"
"Eric, we are open until three in the morning and then I'll have to stay and lock up after everything gets cleaned up. I told you to call when you want to ask me out. On a date. Showing up on your boat at four in the morning isn't a date, it's you wanting me to come have sex with you. Sorry, not interested."
"If you aren't going to be available until after midnight for maybe months then how am I supposed to ask you out on a date? I can't take you to a movie after midnight, or to the theater. And you don't eat food so I can't even take you to a restaurant. You aren't leaving me many options here, Kendra."
He was right, time to give a little bit. "My Friday and Saturday nights will probably be open. While I might meet with the decorator or the Realtor on a weekend night, I won't be meeting with the contractor or attorneys. So come up with something on the weekend that we can do after sundown."
"Okay. I miss you. I wanted to hold you, kiss you. Please stop disappearing on me."
If he missed her so damned bad why the hell had he taken so long to want to see her again? But instead of saying that she just said, "Goodnight, Eric."
"Goodnight Kendra, I hope to see you again soon."
She hung up and drove home. She went downstairs and beat on the punching bag they kept in the workout room for a while and then changed her clothes and touched up her hair and went to TBR. A little late, but she needed to get that out of her system so she didn't hurt a customer who might need to be ejected tonight.
Luckily it was a pretty uneventful night. As she was driving home after working all night her phone rang. Eric again. Shit. Days without hearing from him and suddenly he wouldn't go away. "Hello again Eric."
"The community theater is doing a production of Lost in Yonkers, the show starts at 8:00. I'm online now and can get us good seats for either Friday or Saturday night. Which is better for you?"
"Saturday night."
"Okay, I'll knock on your door a few minutes after sundown to pick you up."
"Great, I'll see you then."
"Kendra, that's almost a week away. If you have some time between now and then and you'd like to see me, let me know. Okay?"
She didn't point out that he'd gone six days without contacting her while he figured things out. That would sound too much like she was trying to punish him for making her wait. She wasn't punishing him, she was just busy. But she didn't get why it was suddenly an emergency to see her now when it had not been before. Had he thought she'd just drop everything and come running when he finally made up is mind?
"Goodnight Eric, I'll see you Saturday night."
Chapter Seven
Tuesday night Abbot had warned Kendra that Eric would be at the house on Wednesday night to meet with Josef and the contractor to begin finalizing the security system plans. The inner circle had liked the proposal and now it was up to Eric and Josef and Gavin to actually put the plans into motion. So on Wednesday night she left the house as soon as the sun went down, telling Josef she had a date that weekend and had some shopping to do and needed to get to the mall before it closed, and before she had to be at TBR to work for the night.
Once she was at work things were pretty slow since it was a stormy night and not that many people had braved the weather to go play pool. She talked with the bartenders and waitresses and even accepted an invitation to play a game of pool with what she assumed were some college guys and later found out were part of the University's football team. They were hunks. Self-centered overly macho hunks with egos bigger than their shoulders and chests, but hunks none the less.
And so when Eric walked in that night he saw her cutting up with them and playing a game of pool with them. She didn't see him at first, but she smelled him as he walked behind her on his way to the bar. She turned things up just a notch with the college guys, not really flirting, as that wasn't her style, but having fun with them. She pretended to notice Eric about five minutes later, giving him a smile but not going to him yet. When her game with the football players was over she told the boys she had to get back to work.