Evil Allure by Rhea Wilde Read Free Book Online Page A

blush at his sudden flattery and turned my head away. I looked out into the bar and searched for the other waitresses.
    “It’s just a smile,” I said. “Summer… Look at her. Now that’s a beautiful woman. I wish I looked like her.”
    “Why would you say something like that?”
    “Like I said, look at her. Look at how all of the guys are flocking to her. Her face. Her body. Even her bubbly personality. She’s got every man in this bar wrapped around her finger.”
    “...Not every man.”
    I didn’t look back at him but I could feel his eyes upon me. I could feel my face turning red again as I looked down at the dirty bar room floor, sucking in my cheeks to hide the smile forming on my face. I shook my head in disbelief that this was happening. Vaughn was the most gorgeous man in the bar and here he was, keeping me company. It didn’t make any sense to me. I was talking to him and he still remained just as mysterious as he was when he first walked in here.
    “So… Are you just going to sit there all night and stare at me?” I asked him, still not turning in his direction.
    “Will the bouncers kick me out if I do?”
    “Only if I tell them to.”
    “Are you going to, Ariel?”
    I slowly turned to him and the smile on his face was gone. There was a seriousness in his eyes. His focused gaze was even more hypnotizing than I remembered it. I swallowed, trying to clear my throat so that I could speak. Then I slowly started to shake my head.
    The truth was that Vaughn’s company may have been the one thing I needed. The other waitresses were too busy working and sitting alone with my thoughts would only drive me crazy.
    But I couldn’t think of anything to say. The silence between us became awkward when I realized Vaughn had an unwavering interest in me. I looked up at the television, trying to distract myself but I could always feel his presence right next to me as he looked at his half-full glass of vodka. Every now and then we would exchange glances and smiles but there was nothing else to talk about. I would have let him take me right there on the bar counter if the place was empty. I shook the thought of suddenly wanting to sleep with Vaughn out of my head and fought the grin from appearing on my face.
    So we just sat there for the rest of the night, not exchanging a single word. For whatever reason, I started to grow more and more comfortable with him sitting right next to me. I felt free from my thoughts. I felt safe. I couldn’t admit it to him but there was something about having a tall, good-looking man with broad shoulders sitting right next to you.
    The bar was beginning to close and all of the patrons started to exit. May took a seat next to me and leaned up against the bar.
    “Say, Ariel, Chris and I were thinking and…”
    I turned to my friend then at her boyfriend, who was waiting just outside the exit of the bar. That look of lust I had grown so familiar with was tattooed on his face. So much so that I had forgotten what he normally looked like when he wasn’t in the mood to have his way with May.
    “I’m fine,” I said to her. “You don’t need to walk me home every night. I’m not a little girl anymore.”
    “I know,” she said as she smiled and nodded her head. “I just know how uncomfortable you were the other night. I don’t want you to think that I don’t care about your safety or anything.”
    “I’ll be okay,” I told her. “I know how to stay out of trouble.”
    She gave me a hug and I got up out of my seat to help everybody else clean up the remains of a mediocre night at the bar. Vaughn didn’t say anything to me as he got up to leave. He simply gave me this half-reassuring smile then walked out.
    “So, who’s your cute friend?” May said to me after he left.
    “Him? He’s just a customer, that’s all.”
    “Just a customer? You were sitting next to him the whole night.”
    “So? That doesn’t mean anything.”
    “I don’t know why you’re so