Page 59 of Good Girls Beg

"Of course, honey,” the server said sweetly before she headed back to the kitchen, returning a minute or two later with a big slice of cake covered in raspberries and strawberries.

"There you go." She set the plate down in front of me and gave me a wink. Evidently she approved of me living my best life, in spite of my lunch date walking out and leaving me here.

"Thank you." I picked up my fork and started to eat. Held back a moan of appreciation.

I had to admit, Heartbeets made the best, creamiest cheesecake I'd eaten in a long time. It was almost as good as the one Pop made. Admittedly, that bar is high. He could have set up a cheesecake shop instead of a bar and made a killing, but he preferred to keep his baking as a relaxing hobby, not work.

Besides, Dad and I would eat the cake before he got to sell it to his customers. I didn't need to be an expert on business to know that would hamper its potential for success.

While I ate my spite cake, I watched the other people in the restaurant.

A guy sat off to one side by himself, his gaze on the window. He rubbed his hand over his stubbled chin and sipped his drink. Lemonade by the look of the hints of pulp floating in it. He seemed to be gazing in the direction Oak went. Had he seen him leave? The whole place probably had. How long until word got around town? I’d give it an hour. Two tops.

I stuck my fork into a raspberry. Was I pretending it was one of the men's faces? No, but I was reflecting on what I might be missing out on while living with them for a year. I could be meeting a nice guy instead of spending my time being fucked around by them.

Think of the money, I told myself. Maybe I should get that on a T-shirt. That might be my mantra for the next handful of months. Relax, take deep breaths, focus on work and study and think of the money. I ignored my clit, who suggested I think of orgasms too. She’d gotten us into enough trouble as it was.

"Hey."

I looked up to see the guy who was sitting by the window. He placed his half-empty lemonade down on the table and sat opposite me.

"You don't mind me joining you, do you?” he asked. "I saw your date walk out. Is he out of his mind? If I was here with you, I wouldn't walk out.” He spoke so quickly, that was almost one sentence.

"You might," I said. "You don't know why he left.” I might ask this man a couple of the wrong questions and he'd stomp off too.

"I don't need to know," he said with a slow smile. "He walked out leaving a gorgeous woman by herself. His loss is my gain. Victor.”

He cocked his head, waiting for me to give him my name, reminding me of a puppy hoping for a piece of cheese.

"Theodora, but everyone calls me Teddie," I said.

"A cute name for a cute woman," he said. "You're a local, right? I've seen you around before. Would you believe I've been trying to get up the courage to talk to you?” That was also spoken in a rush.

"No," I said honestly. "You don't seem like the kind of guy who's short on confidence."

He rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger and looked at me from under the heel of his hand.

"Beautiful and smart, and willing to call me out." He smiled. "I knew you were my kind of woman.”

"You seem nice," I said carefully. Letting him down gently seemed like the kindest thing to do.

He lowered his hand to the table and pouted. "Beautiful, smart and about to reject me. Am I wrong?”

"It's not personal," I said. "My life is complicated right now."

That was an understatement. As attractive as Victor was, I didn't want to drag him into my crazy world. Would I be interested if I wasn't living with three intense, difficult men? I don’t suppose it mattered much. I wasn’t. For now, anyway.

“I’m a good listener,” he said, placing his hands in his lap like he was settling in for a long stay.

“It’s not really things I can talk about,” I admitted. “I’m not even sure why…”

“Why that asshat left?” Victor offered.

“Yeah, exactly.” I didn't want to dump all of my problems on him either. No, that wasn't quite accurate. I could have told him and he would have sat and listen, sympathized. Then what? He'd end up on the wrong side of three men I wasn't even sure I could trust. For some reason, that made me uneasy as hell.

“I really shouldn’t say anything.” I sighed. I surprised myself by how much I wanted to. Those guys were really really doing my head in, that I wanted to spill everything to a total stranger. “Actually, I should probably get out of here myself.”

"I get it." He stood and picked up his lemonade. "I'll leave you be then. Wait, one question.”