With Dauntless Abandon

Chapter 15

He kisses the scar again, smirking against her skin. "Now can I kiss you or do we have to miss the countdown?"

She laughs and pulls him up to meet his lips.

~~~

"Hey gurl."

Tris looks around, confused. "Oh... you're talking to me."

"Yeah, boo! You' the finest woman in the room."

"Thanks, I guess." This is getting very awkward.

"I'd like to take you out, gurl. Show you a good time." The position of his eyebrows suggests that the only place he's thinking of taking her is back to his place.

"Sorry, but I have a boyfriend."

He shrugs, giving her a smile that she supposes is meant to be charming. "That don't really bother me."

"It bothers me," says a flat, dangerous-sounding voice. Tris tries and fails to suppress a smirk as Tobias places her drink on the bar in front of her and folds his arms over his chest, summoning his most deadly expression.

"Who is you, bro? You needa step off, can't you see I'm talking to this sweet thang here?"

"That's my boyfriend," Tris says sweetly, taking a sip of her cocktail. "He's not impressed by guys that encourage me to cheat on him."

"Right," he mutters. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Beautiful."

"Likewise I'm sure," she mutters sarcastically.

Four frowns at him as he leaves, and the set of his jaw suggests that he's still considering taking the douchebag out back.

"Four," she says, getting his attention. "Hey you," she says with a smile. "Forget about him, he was an ass. Not worth losing your job over."

He shrugs, and turns to his tickets, preparing more drinks. "Thanks for keeping me company tonight," he mumbles. "I'm glad you're here."

"Of course. I'm going to be drunk as fuck though, so don't taste too much of that."

He grins. "Copy that. Section three, table two, two frozen margaritas and a double scotch."

The waiter quickly retrieves the ticket he just called and he moves on to the next one. She bites her lip as she watches him. His movements are sure and efficient, with none wasted. He's wearing his usual attire. Dark jeans and a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top button open. He swallows as he works, and his throat bobs a little, and she swallows too. There's that magnetism again...

"I can feel you looking at me," he mumbles as he places a drink on the bar for the person on her right. "I could always feel it, ever since the first time I caught you staring at me."

Heat floods through her and she's sure her cheeks are red.

"I like the way you look at me," he says. "I don't feel weak when I'm with you."

She's hungover the next day. He gives her water and Gatorade and aspirin, and he kisses her and lets her sleep. At noon, he buys her lunch, and she's grumpy as she eats. He kisses her hair and rubs her arm, and she grumbles but she leans into him. He lowers the blinds and pulls the curtains so that her eyes don't hurt. After lunch, she sleeps on the couch.

It is snowing outside. He went outside earlier, and the snow swirled about him in thick gusts, sticking to his eyelashes and eyebrows, and on his coat, and landing on his lips, allowing him to taste them. All around him, white piled around the sidewalks and spilled into the street. He walked for a long time, looking at the city in the winter white and gray. She would love to paint this.