Page 3 of Stay With Me

“Hi, Nick. What are you doing?”

He whipped the bike around a tree. “Hey, Mom. Just biking.”

“Then I won’t keep you. Think about coming to dinner tonight.”

The bike careened across a shallow stream. “I’m on the schedule tonight.”

“Nick. You don’t need to wait tables in your own restaurant.”

“Someone needed the night off.”

“Don’t lie to your mother, Nicholas.”

“Mom—”

“Your father and I are not dense. You’re too old to behave this way. You should take one of those women on a real date and then bring her home to meet us.”

“Mom!” He squeezed the brakes and the bike skidded to a stop. “Can we not have this conversation right now? One of my guys caught some kind of virus. I have to work. I’ll come over tomorrow. “

“All right, dear. Be safe on the trail.”

“Will do. Love ya.”

“I love you, too.”

Nick growled to himself after pulling the ear buds out.

He was not too old. Thirty was when life began! Four years of college, two years of the MBA program, and five years of getting the restaurant established and successful. He’d put in more than a decade of tireless work and now it was time to coast. Cruise control. Why else would you work so hard for something if not to be able to enjoy yourself at some point? Life was good and easy and there was no way in hell he’d take on one more exhausting project, such as a serious relationship.

He knew his mother meant well. She wanted him to have the stability and partnership of a lifelong marriage like the one she and his father shared. And maybe he’d want that someday—or maybe not. But definitely not right now. Right now was all about him and what he wanted to do. And what he wanted was the challenge of crunching numbers, the creative control of conjuring up creative dishes that he couldn’t cook—that was the job of the chefs—implementing clever marketing schemes, and the thrill of the trails in his downtime.

All of that and the ladies.

Nick smirked to himself as he jumped back on the bike and pumped up a steep grade to exit the trail.

He wasn’t stupid or naive. He knew his habits were a bit sleazy.Hooking up with customers in his back office. But he was good at … well hisjob.And it seemed to result in stellar reviews for the restaurant so that made it a … pragmatic business approach. Pragmatic. Exactly.

As a result, he had a very comfortable life. What more could you ask for, especially in a dicey economic climate? Even though Austin seemed to be pretty immune to the financial woes the rest of the country was experiencing.

Regardless, he wished his parents would butt out of his personal business.

He wasn’t hurting anyone, and he was successful so why did it matter?

It didn’t. He was happy and that was the point.

* * *

“Are you sure nobody’s going to come in here?” The blonde’s voice squeaked through hitched breaths as she clenched her thighs tighter around his hips.

“Yup,” Nick grunted as he gripped at the minimal flesh of her bony ass. Three deep thrusts and he was finished. Maybe she was too. He hadn’t noticed.

He set her down and assaulted her mouth with his one last time.

She tittered as he disposed of the rubber and adjusted everything.

“Now that’s what I call dessert!” she exclaimed. “Nobody’s going to see me leave, right?”

“Right.”