Episode 40: Gooey Request
Miles rubbed his palms together. “So, where’s a kitchen counter to sit you on? I’m absolutely famished.”
Sugar froze, heat rising at his question. Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at him, although she felt otherwise.
“It’s a joke, honey,” he assured with a chuckle. “Well, it’s a half-joke. I’m quite versatile. It doesn’t have to be a counter.”
“Miles, I have a lot to do.”
“Then why did you let me in?”
That was a damn good question. One she didn’t have an answer to at first until her brain recalled her visit to Sully’s office.
“Because I need to talk to you about something.” She paused for a moment. “My twin brother has invited you to an annual get-together of ours. He wants to meet you.”
Miles arched an eyebrow. “Do you want me to go?”
Sugar exhaled, her shoulders heaving. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“What you want always matters,” he said as he came to her, lifting her chin so she could look him directly in the eye. “Don’t think any different.”
“Then… yes and no.”
The right corner of his lips quirked upward slightly at her indecisiveness. “That doesn’t help our situation much, darlin’.”
She moved away from him, speaking with her back facing him. “Yes, I think I want you to go, but us being there would imply that we’re together as a couple, and we’re not.”
“Would it be such a bad thing if your family thought we were?” Miles questioned, coming behind her and wrapping his strong, tattooed arms around her waist. She melted against him almost immediately.
“But we’re not,” she reminded him. “That was the agreement, Miles. We’re not together. We’re just… us. Two people that get together when we have an itch that needs scratching. You scratch my back. I scratch yours. That’s it.”
The words felt odd in her mouth as if she were telling a lie, but she desperately wanted to believe it.
He dipped his head to brush his lips against her ear. “Well, your scratches are still on my back, honey.”
She closed her eyes, savoring his voice’s smooth, deep southern drawl.
“Miles,” she whimpered.
“How about this, sweetheart? Let’s go to this little get-together and play pretend. You pretend to be mine, and I’ll pretend to be yours. It’ll be our little dirty secret,” He proposed in her ear. “What do you say?”
There was something deep inside her that didn’t want to pretend, but she pushed the urge down. She couldn’t get her heart involved in this. Sully was right. She loved too hard, and the more she thought about it, the more Miles seemed like the kind of man she could fall in love with.
The type of man she wanted to fall in love with.
But her heart—her head—wasn’t in the right space.
“That might be a good idea,” she trailed off.
Charm coated his chuckle. “I’m glad you approve. When is this weekend getaway?”
“We leave June 30 and come back July 2,” she said. “Will you be able to stay away from your restaurant that long?”
“Gizzard, Ethan, and Donna can manage just fine without me,” he assured. “The real question is: will you be able to stay away from your restaurant that long?”
“By then, I’ll have a manager hired.”
Miles shook his head slowly. “That doesn’t answer my question, honey. This restaurant is like your baby. You can never stay away from it too long, even if you had a management staff.”
“I’ll just have to learn to stay away,” she admitted before breaking free from his arms and turning to face him. “There’s something else we need to talk about too, Miles.”
He arched an eyebrow, cocking his head. “Yes?”
“We didn’t use,” she paused, trying to find the right word, “protection any of those times we were together.”
He stroked his beard thoughtfully. “You’re right. We didn’t use condoms. I guess we got caught up in the moment.”
“We were being stupid,” she said.
“We were havin’ fun,” he corrected.
“Having fun like that can have consequences,” she countered.
Miles arched an eyebrow again. “Are you worried about gettin’ pregnant?”
The tone of his question suggested he wasn’t worried—or didn’t care—about that possibility. It was as if he had considered and accepted that potential outcome. That itself worried Sugar, even though getting pregnant was the highest form of unlikely.
“First of all, I can’t have children,” she said. “And second, the consequences I was talking about are STDs.”
She hesitantly asked, “You’re… clean, right?”
“The only thing dirty about me is my mouth, honey,” he assured with a slight grin. “But I can get tested to ease your mind.”
She eyed him for a moment. “I believe you.”
“But do you trust me?”
Sugar bit her bottom lip, considering his question. “I’m… getting there.”
“At least I know I must be doin’ somethin’ right,” he said.
She fought back a smile and cleared her throat. “Are you heading to work?”
“The good thing about being an owner is choosin’ when you want to come in. I wanted the full Sugar Mama experience,” Miles paused, “aside from the one you gave me this weekend.”
She rolled her eyes sharply, though her cheeks burned at his words. “If you want the full Sugar Mama experience, you’ll have to wait outside until we officially open at noon.”
He glanced at his silvery wristwatch. “You don’t want to entertain me until then? I’m easy to please.”
Sugar crossed her arms over her chest. “It depends on your definition of the word entertain.”
“I’ll let you decide,” he said.
She eyed him for a long moment before sighing heavily. “Fine. Follow me. I’ll give you a tour.”
She sauntered quickly out of the lobby and into the dining area.
Miles followed closely behind her and caught her hand, pulling her back to his chest. “Slow down, darlin’. We ain’t in any rush.”
He let go of her hand and gently trailed his calloused fingers up her arm. Goosebumps prickled on her brown skin, and she let go of a tiny breath.
“This is the, um, dining area,” she uttered distractedly.
“I see you have a piano over there,” he said. “Do you play it?”
“Sometimes, when no one is,” she stammered, her concentration wavering as his lips tenderly traced the line of her neck, “here.”
“I want you to play for me,” he murmured, his hot breath making goosebumps prickle her flushed skin.
Sugar pulled away from him, giving a nervous chuckle. “I haven’t played for someone in a very long time.”
“You know my philosophy on being the first,” he reminded her. “On being your first.”
“I know it quite well,” she said, “but I’m not sure if I’m ready to play for an audience yet.”
“How about I play for you first, then you play for me?”
Her eyebrows went up in a pleasant surprise. “You can play the piano?”
“It was the one thing my father and I could… bond over,” Miles admitted.
It all made sense now.
Now, Sugar understood why he had been so curious about what instrument she played when they played that questions game at the jazz club. Now, she understood why he had stared at her fingers for so long when she admitted she played the piano.
Miles Thibodeau was a pianist, too.
She considered his proposal for a moment before nodding. “Fine, I’ll do it, but only if you go first.”
He gestured toward the grand piano sitting on the raised platform in the center of the dining area.
“Ladies first.” Miles winked.
Sugar batted her eyelashes sweetly, sauntering toward the piano. “Such a gentleman.”
However, she yelped as his hand smacked her ass to hurry her along.
“I ain’t that much of a gentleman today, sweetheart.”
