68

Brandon

A trip to my beach house with Gina wasn’t enough to get her out of my system. After spending that long together, I thought I would have grown tired of her, but when we returned to town, I only craved her more.

I wanted to get to know the parts of herself that she didn’t show to anyone. I wanted to see the things about Gina that made her tick. She interested me in a way that only my wife ever had.

The last thing I was expecting was anyone like her to walk into my life, but now that she has, I know I’ll be lost if she walks right back out.

Maybe that’s why I was at the bar with my friend, Mateo, hoping to glimpse her. But, instead, Amalia told me that they were going out tonight. I knew it was risky to follow them to a bar and hope that I could see Gina, but my slight sense of self-preservation was gone.

“I thought you would be finished with bars after the other weekend?” Mateo asked, handing me a bottle of beer.

I shrugged and leaned against our table, sipping my beer. Mateo was one of my oldest friends and the only one I trusted enough to be my assistant. Of course, he preferred to work from home instead of going to the office, but I didn’t care as long as he organized my life.

“There’s a band playing tonight that I wanted to hear.”

Mateo chuckled and shook his head, looking out at the people dancing. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe that. So does this mean you’re finally ready to start getting out and dating again?”

“Maybe.”

I finished the bottle a few minutes before Amalia and Gina entered the door. Gina’s gaze drifted around the bar, and her smile dropped when she saw me sitting in the corner.

Amalia grinned as she followed Gina’s gaze. I watched Amalia grab her hand and swear a silent curse as she dragged her over.

“Dad,” Amalia said, leaning against the table and reaching for my bottle, scowling when she lifted it and found it empty. “I thought you were too old to spend your time hanging around bars.”

“I’m not that old,” I said, rolling my eyes as she smirked. “Don’t you have something better to do than hang out with your father?”

Amalia looked over her shoulder at Gina and smiled. Gina shrugged, making a point of not looking at me. “That all depends on whether or not you’re going to ruin my night if I try to have a little fun.”

I shook my head and waved a dismissive hand. “Go on. Enjoy your night. You’re more than old enough to make your own choices. Just let me know if you aren’t coming home tonight.”

Amalia nodded and kissed my cheek before taking off. Gina trailed behind her, glancing over her shoulder once at me before disappearing into the crowd. The waitress dropped off another round of beers at our table.

The music pounded through the room, but it cut out as a band took the stage. When the band started playing, I watched Gina and Amalia head to the dance floor, pushing their way near the location to dance.

“Alright,” Mateo said, waving his hand before my face. “Stop watching your daughter like a hawk and let her have fun. She has a good head on her shoulders. I’m sure she’ll chase away any douchebag without you staring at her. Either way, that guy she’s dating is working the bar tonight too.”

I was relieved when Mateo assumed I was watching Amalia instead of staring at her best friend.

“Fine. You’re right. She can take care of herself.”

“Exactly, so that means that you should just relax and maybe find someone to try and go home with tonight.”

I scoffed and reached for my beer. “I doubt that I’m going home with anyone tonight.”

Unless it’s Gina, I’m not going home with anyone.

Not that Mateo needed to know that. The less he knew about the woman I was seeing, the better. He would likely disapprove and insist I ended it before someone got hurt.

The part that bothered me the most would be how right he would be. I should have ended this before someone got hurt, but now, it seemed like someone would get hurt either way.

I tried not to think about that.

For now, I just wanted to have fun and spend time with a beautiful woman who kept me on my toes.

“Hey there,” a brunette woman said, sliding into the seat beside mine as Mateo sipped his beer. She gave me a saccharine smile and leaned a little closer to me. “Do you want to dance?”

“Nope.” I grabbed my beer and sipped, hoping she would get the hint.

“Come on; you look like the kind of man who would know how to show a woman a good time.”

“No, thank you. I have a girlfriend.”

The woman shrugged and got up, taking off into the crowd to find someone else. I could feel Mateo’s gaze as it burned into the side of my head.

When I looked back at him, he raised one eyebrow and his bottle halfway to his mouth. Then, finally, he set the bottle down and shook his head.

“Why is this the first time I’ve heard of a girlfriend?” Mateo asked. “I thought we were here to find you, someone, to take home for the night, but you’ve been holding out on me.”