He nodded. “Yes. Take away a foot of floor and the stairs would come out in the seating area in front of the bar, and then you could go either way.”
“And it wouldn’t impact the access to the storeroom, coatroom, or restrooms?”
“No, ma’am. If you put the bar along this wall, it’ll actually be easier access for staff.”
“Perfect. Put the bar here”—I pointed to along the wall—“the main seating area here”—I circled the area in front of it—“and the dance floor here. But make sure there’s a space to access the restrooms without having to go through the dance floor. And while we’re here, could you put a minibar in upstairs? I believe Mr. Sands wants it to be VIP and special occasion only, so they’ll want their drinks served separately.”
“We can fit a corner bar in here.” He tapped the paper. “It’ll be big enough for one member of staff only.”
“That’s great. Can you start the new plan tomorrow?”
The builder confirmed that they can and got back to work. I breathe out a long sigh and looked around.
Maybe I was cut out for this management malarkey after all.
Two hands grasped my hips and pulled me backward. I gasped as I slammed into a hard body and hot breath fluttered over my ear.
“I’m disappointed in your lack of amenities. I was hoping for a Blow Job,” Ivan murmured into my ear, his fingers digging into my hips.
“I’m sorry. We’re not serving yet. You’ll have to try again when there’s, oh, I don’t know, a bar, maybe?”
He laughed low and buzzed his lips along my jaw. “Or I’ll try again later today. What do you think my chances are?”
“Considerably higher if you start with saying hello.”
He spun me effortlessly and clasped his hands at my lower back. I placed my own against his chest and looked up at him. The bright-yellow hard hat was lopsided on his head, and his dark eyes were shining with both heat and happiness. His lips twitched twice before tugging into a smirk.
“Hello,” he said simply. “You’re very sexy when you go all bossy. Are you aware of this?”
“Hello. I am now.” I smiled as he dipped his head and covered my mouth with his.
“No, I mean you’re very sexy.” He nudged my back with his hands. My hips pushed into him…and his very obvious erection.
“You’ve been in here five minutes and you’re already ready to go? Are you a teenage boy lying to me about your age?”
“No, luckily for you. They don’t have the best stamina.”
“Word,” I muttered. “You’re back early. I wasn’t expecting you to call until later.”
“Couldn’t sat away,” he replied honestly. “I was up at the fucking ass-crack of dawn to get back here.”
“Why, Ivan Sands, did you miss me?”
He brought one hand up and cupped my jaw, pulling my face close to his. “Missed what’s inside your pantie.”
I smacked his chest. “Asshole.”
He tried to kiss me, but I jerked my face to the side and he ended up grinning against my cheek. “Hey, fiestypants. My cock missed what’s inside your knickers. I missed you. Just you.”
“I should hope so. I’m very missable.” I let him kiss me this time.
“I didn’t miss your sass though.”
I smacked him again and stepped back. “Oh, romance me.” I rolled my eyes and placed my hard hat on some planks of wood by the door.
He did the same and followed me outside. “Oh, I have.” He grinned and grabned my hand. His Mercedes was parked outside, and he pulled me toward it. He let go and opened the passenger’s side door then grabbed something from inside it.
“Oh my fucking god.”
I stared at him blankly. The roses and handcuffs thing? Yeah. He really was deadly serious.
He grind like the fucker he is. “There’s actually a tie, too. I didn’t know if you’d still be in a handcuff mood today.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling. “You are something else, Ivan.”
“Will that get me a blow job?”
I coveres my mouth with a hand as an old woman walked past and stared at us wide-eyed. I waited until she turned the corner of the street to look at Ivan. He was shaking with quiet laughter.
“I wasn’t aware that I had a choice in the matter,” I finally said, still fighting my smile.
His eyes lit up and he dropped the roses back into the car. “That’s right,” he muttered, stalking back toward me. “You don’t, do you?”
“And here I was thinking you were going soft on me now that we’re in this relationship situation.”
“I could never go soft on my bitch.” He cuppee the side of my head, his fingers sinking in my hair, and pulled me into him. “In fact, tonight, I plan to go very, very hard on you.” He tiltes my head back, his mouth by my ear, and added, “On both your mouth and your pussy. I hope you’re ready.”
“That depends. Are you buying me dinner first?”
“McDonald’s does not count as dinner.”
“You said dinner. You didn’t say you wanted a restaurant dinner, or a Chinese dinner, or a sushi dinner, so we’re having a McDonald’s dinner.” He grinned at me.
“But it’s not dinnertime. It’s lunch.”
“It could be breakfast as long as I get a blow job.” His grin widened and he leaned over to speak into the mic. “Hi, can I have a large Big Mac meal with a Coke and a Quarter Pounder bacon cheeseburger but without all the gherkins and onions and a strawberry milkshake?”
My half-amused, half-annoyed stare turned shocked. “How the hell do you know what I order at McDonald’s?”
“I don’t. I took a lucky guess that you order exactly the same as Dayton.”
She’s my best friend and marrying his cousin, but it bugged me that he knew her better than me.
Is that irrational?
Fuck. It was.
I mentally slapped myself. Pull your shit together, Brenda.
My phone rung as we drove to the next window and Nana’s name blinked onscreen. Um?
“Nana? Is everything okay?”
“You said you were going to call me, and then you didn’t, you wombat!”
Wombat? “Okay, one, it’s only been, like, three days, and two, you told me not to call you because I’d just piss you off!”
Ivan looked at me with raised eyebrows and a half grin.
“You know what pisses me off? You not calling when you said you would,” Nana replied.
