Her Only Dream

Chapter Eight

    He took my hand again and lifted my chin with his other hand making me look him in the eyes, and leaned in, kissing my cheek.  I just stood there looking at him, my brain still making sense of what he had said.

    "You really want me to..." I paused, still a little lost.

    "I don't just want you to introduce me that way, I'd really like to be in a relationship with you.  That is generally why you ask someone out after all."

    "It's just....I don't see why you'd be interested in someone like me, I thought you were just being polite and not taking back the offer after finding out about my daughter."

    His laughter came quickly and unchecked, almost echoing in the parking lot, I felt my cell phone go off, a sure sign that my friends were wondering if I was coming tonight or not, but I couldn't bring myself to check at the moment.

    "Kat, I told you already, I love kids, so that is more of a bonus to me than a deterrent.  I hope that one day you will let me meet your daughter, and I am very interested in you, so I will just agree to disagree with you there, but I think we do need to get inside because you are starting to shake and I'm sure your friends are wondering where you are by now, so you wanna lead the way?"

    I nodded, heading into the back entrance that we all used that skipped the restaurant and casino part of the building, heading back to the corner where I knew my friends would be waiting, most of the time, Jake had held my hand as he followed behind me, dropping it when I heard someone calling my name.  This was going to be the odd part for me.  My ex had brought me into this group, and while they had stayed by my side through the break up, I had been the only single one in the group for some time, and I had been the last one added to the group as well.  There was Jill and Jason, engaged and together for years, Mike and Kelly, married for a few years, and then there was also Sandy, who was married, but her husband almost never came out with us.  Jason was the first one to have spotted me, wrapping me in a bear hug and lifting me up, before setting me down, and as was his nature, slapping my butt.  Jill knew he did it, he was a harmless flirt and he did it to all the females in the group, but tonight I had been prepared, the tips I got that were change had all ended up in my back pocket, on the same side I knew he always slapped, and when I heard his exclamation of pain I knew my plan had worked.

    Jill came over at the noise, looking at Jason's hand, which I could see had imprints of coins on it, and I just smirked a little as he shook his hand.  Last week he hadn't been paying attention and had actually gotten me hard enough that it actually hurt me a little, so I figured a little protection this week wouldn't go amiss.

    "What the hell have you got in your pocket woman!"

    "Ooops, forgot that I put my change from tips in my back pocket today."  Jill just laughed, as she knew from my tone that I wasn't really all that sorry for what I had done.

    "So are you two gonna just sit there and laugh at me or you gonna introduce us to this guy that seems to be following you?"  Jason looked over at Jake that was standing close behind me, and had to have witnessed this entire thing.

    "Well I would have introduced you if you hadn't gone ahead and started all the drama over your hand."  I turned my body towards Jake, reaching out my hand a bit, hoping that what he had seen still didn't change his mind about this, otherwise I was about to make a complete fool of myself in front of my only friends.  Jake closed the distance, grabbing my hand, a hopeful look on his face as he took it, moving right to my side, which caused Jill and Jason to both give him a look that screamed confusion.  I hadn't explained who I was bringing, and while they had heard stories from the cafe, I tended to avoid talking about him, even when Jill had occasionally come in while I was working, if he was there, I didn't talk about him much, and Jill had mentioned once or twice that he was nice eye candy for while I was working.

    "Jake, these are Jill and Jason, my best friends, though Jill seems to be more like my sister than my friend.  Jill, Jason, this is Jake, my boyfriend."  I felt Jake's hand tighten around mine, his free hand reaching out to shake theirs, Jason and Jill both giving me that look that I knew meant I would be chatting with them later about this.

    "Boyfriend, huh, well nice to meet you Jake."  Jason smirked a little, and watching them, I knew he was flexing a little to make some kind of point, but Jake didn't seem to react at all aside from a slight smile, though Jason lost a little of the smirk he had.  They were almost the same height, but Jason was bit bulkier than Jake, and I was used to Jason playing bodyguard chasing away anyone that he didn't deem suitable, but I hadn't seen Jason act quite like this before.  Jill on the other hand just looked at me and then looked back at Jake.

    "Pretty sure I've seen you around the cafe where Kat works.  Aren't you the eye candy that just sits in a corner reading?"  Jill was in an interesting mood and evidently, the world seemed to be focused on embarassing me.

    "Well, never heard myself described in such a way before, but thank you.  I do go there on breaks a lot, it's a nice place to sit and read or to just enjoy a great view."

    I found myself blushing again, as Jake had looked down at me with that last comment.  Jill and Jason both looked shocked as they hadn't really seen me blush before, Jill laughing while Jason grinned and the two started to relax some.

    "So where do you work if I can ask?"

    "Well, I've actually got two jobs, I work over in the car dealership in the shop across the road from the cafe, and I'm in the Reserves."  I tried hard not to hide my surprise here as I'd only ever seen him in his clothes from the shop, I didn't know that he had anything to do with the military, though it did increase my respect for him.

    "So you know how to actually work, unlike some other people we know.  Well, you might be allowed to stay around, but just so you know, military or not, you hurt her, we will hurt you."  Jason said with a smile, patting Jake on the shoulder.  "So want anything to drink?  Kat I'm assuming that you want your normal?  No tequila for you tonight."    I loved them, but sometimes I hated how they would treat me like a child that had no choice in my own life.