Another Shot At Love (27 page)

“I can see how you’d fall asleep here. It’s so peaceful,” he said.

His expression was so tranquil, so open and pure that I couldn’t help but touch his cheek. His skin was soft beneath my fingertips, and when he caught my eyes with his, the look I saw there was so tender it nearly knocked the breath from my lungs.

What are you thinking just now?
I would give anything to know.

Nothing made sense. Not these feelings twisting through me, or the chemistry between us that I sensed he was fighting, even though he was here with me. I reached for his hand, but he jerked at the contact, startled from his thoughts. I snatched my hand away.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was just remembering something.”

I frowned before I could stop myself and he noticed, because he tugged me into his arms and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. Making things more complicated. I exhaled a soft breath against his cheek and pulled away.

“Are you getting fresh with me on Lover’s Leap?” I asked with a smile, and he laughed.

“I should have been up here all those times with you instead of with what’s-their-names.” He nuzzled my neck and I gave him a soft shove, when I really wanted to pull him against me.

“
Ew
,” I said. “I would have been in junior high when you were a senior, you perv.”

He caught me by the hem of my tank top and yanked me back. “You would have had such a crush on me, it would have been embarrassing for you.”

I laughed, “Oh, sure.”

“I love it when you do that.” His dimples deepened.

“Do what?”

“Scrunch up your nose.”

“Oh.” I touched my nose. “I don’t even realize I do it. Lexie does it too.”

He was quiet again as he stared into my eyes and I gravitated closer, leaning in closer until his lips were just a breath away from mine. “Your smile…it’s really breathtaking,” he whispered.

And then he kissed me.

Everything about this was intense, heavy, and suffocating. I kissed him back with so much passion, so much fire that I was delirious with the scent of him, the feel of him around me. He smelled of aftershave and it blended with the scent of wildflowers and nature, an intoxicating mix that made me cling to him. He was hard against my leg and suddenly all I could think about, all I wanted, was to straddle him and feel him against me with nothing between us.

We could make love here on this blanket and no one would know.
I tugged at his bottom lip with my teeth and moaned as every nerve in my body went on overdrive.

He startled me by breaking away and I stared at him, dazed. But his eyes weren’t on me, but something behind me. I turned, but there was nothing there.

At some point we’d both risen to our knees and I still had my arms around his neck. When I faced him again, I bumped my forehead against his nose. “Sorry,” I said and eased away from him and dropped my arms to my sides.

He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, the expression on his face soft and amused. “We should eat.”

“Yeah,” I said, still a little dizzy, and disappointed because the kiss had clearly affected me more than him. He’d been able to pull away while I’d nearly torn his clothes off. “Easy for you to say,” I mumbled.

His lips twitched. “There was a hiker over there.”

He nodded behind me in the direction of the path, and my eyes widened. Mortified, I clutched the neck of my tank top. “No.”

“Yes.” He yanked on the bracelet hanging from my wrist, his dimples dazzling. “But he was very polite and walked the other way.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why were you looking around while I was kissing you fantastically?”

He grinned. “Fantastically, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I said, and the pout on my lips was real. I’d packed a lot of punch in that kiss. At least, I’d thought I had.

He set the paper towel roll between us.

“So you can’t hurt me,” he explained, and then he said, “I heard a branch snap and then he cleared his throat.”

Hmm
, and I hadn’t heard a thing.
This is slightly awkward.

I lifted the container of salad. “This is where I change the subject and pretend none of that ever happened.”

Seeing him smile, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with it, the dimples so deep, made me think,
Wow, I did that.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Imogen Mae.” And then he bit into his sandwich, leaving me to wonder if he’d meant it as a compliment…or not.

Chapter Twenty

I punched in another claim, the monotony of it lost amidst visions of hazel, the kind that blurred between green and amber. The kind that stole my breath and made me forget everything else. It was only ten-thirty in the morning and I wanted to hide beneath my desk with my phone so I could text Matt. I didn’t even care how pathetic I was.

“How’s the dirty, sweaty phone sex going?”

I jumped in my seat at the words whispered in my ear. I whirled around and hissed at Roxanna, “
Sssshhh!
We are not having phone sex.”

The word “sex,” coupled with Matt’s name, multiplied the butterflies in my stomach—they’d taken up residence since the first night I met him. I didn’t want them to go away. I couldn’t stop thinking about the afternoon on Lover’s Leap, or the memory of his lips against mine. I was basking in the afterglow of my weekend with Matt and my best friend had noticed.

Roxanna waggled her eyebrows. “
Ooohhh
, then it’s the real deal. Give me details.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because you’re flushed and idiot-smiling.”

There was no sign of our supervisor, so I yanked Roxanna into my cubicle. “He is amazing, Rox. As in perfect.”

She studied me for a few moments before hopping onto my desk, crossing her legs at the ankles as they dangled. “Wait a second, are you falling for this guy?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” I straightened the stack of claims on my desk and avoided her gaze. “We’re just friends. It’s nothing serious.”

“Gennie-pop, you forget I know you like the back of my own hand.” She leaned forward, locking her elbows with her hands clutched on the edge of the desk. “You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”

“I’ve only know him a month.” I gave her an incredulous shake of my head and stacked a few claims on my document stand, avoiding her gaze. I’d never claimed to be a good actress.

“He was supposed to be a rebound. A harmless fling. Two hot people getting down for some much needed you-know-what.”

I sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know.” I plopped my chin into my open palm and leaned onto my desk.

“What are you going to do about him?”

“I don’t know.” I looked at Roxie in some dismay. “He’s twenty-nine, divorced and hasn’t even told me about it yet and I’m too chicken to ask. And me, I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my life. No five-year plan, remember?”

“Five-year plan, shmive-year plan,” Roxanna shrugged. “I’m still working on mine, too. We can work on it together. Besides, we’re young. I doubt anyone would blame a twenty-three year-old for not knowing what to do with their life.”

She had a point. It wasn’t as if I were withering away. Still, I’d feel better if I at least had a clue. Typing in medical claims wasn’t going to cut it for long.

“And I’m pretty sure he’s more interested in what’s under your clothes than in your non-existent five-year plan.”

I slapped Roxanna’s bare thigh.

“Ouch,
jeez
. I was joking.” She rubbed her leg where a light pink mark had blossomed. “I’m just saying. You broke up with Brent in January. It’s been months. You need to start enjoying life. And Matt told you he’s not looking for serious right now. Get on the same page. Enjoy his body or date around and play the field a little. Have some fun. You’re young, hot and single.”

I didn’t feel like a play-the-field kind of girl. I was more of the fall-in-love-and-regret-it-later kind of girl. Like with Brent. And then something hit me. I looked at Roxanne in astonishment. “I’ve never had a casual boyfriend. Every guy I’ve dated has been a serious relationship.”

And they had all ended.

“Exactly,” Roxanna said and squeezed my shoulder. “Just enjoy this moment in your life, the fun part of a relationship before it all gets too serious or goes to hell.”

“You’re right,” I said with a nod. “I’ll keep things casual. No big deal.”

She disappeared around our partition, but peeked over the top. “We’ll talk about Operation Seduction later. I think the two of you both have an itch that needs scratching before you both erupt.”

I was at my desk, typing away when I got a heavy whiff of pepper and pine and something else unpleasant I couldn’t place. It overpowered my nostrils. Turning, I opened my mouth to ask Richard how it was going with the brunette he’d been telling me about, but the sight of him nearly sent me into a coma of incredulity.

The black leather vest hugging his chest was studded; a thin white undershirt revealed skinny biceps. A pair of dark stonewashed jeans fit him like a second skin and they scrunched over the top of the thick-soled motorcycle boots.

Without meaning to, I leaned in for a closer inspection of his greased up hair. It looked as if he’d skipped a few washes before applying gel to stiffen it into spikes.

“Richard…hi,” I said on a gasp. It was all I could manage. Three days ago, he’d been…normal. Excited, even, because of an extensive conversation about video games he’d had with some girl he was interested in. On that day, Richard had been dressed in a pair of khakis and his work smock. Three days ago, he’d been washing his hair.

I wrinkled my nose against the hint of oil under the strong aroma of cologne, in what I supposed was an attempt to mask his newly-acquired bad hygiene. This transformation worried me. I couldn’t take my eyes off his hair.

“Richard, is everything okay?” I asked.

Across the aisle, Tricia pinched her nose, but she didn’t turn away; her eyes were riveted on Richard’s new look. And she wasn’t the only who’d noticed; the rest of my teammates had as well.

He posed with his hand on his hip, the other hand tucked into his front jeans pocket. I was amazed he’d gotten it in there; they were as tight as a pair of my skinny jeans.

“Yeah. I see you dig the new outfit. Thought you would.” He tugged on the vest with his free hand and his chest swelled as he tried for a sly smile. “Took me a while to find some cool biker gear.”

Cool wasn’t the word for it, but I kept my lips pinched together. I wondered if his new look was the product of his IT buddies’ misguided advice. Again. If so, his friends were out of control. Possibly, they needed an intervention. Probably, the only person who could do it with any success was Roxanna.

A real biker would take offense. He looked like he was about to launch into an on-stage biker parody, followed close behind with a biker beat-down that would end in Richard wearing a painful black eye.

Roxanna stood on the other side of the partition, the most peculiar expression on her face. She paused to tuck a piece of long black hair behind her ear before mouthing, “
What the hell?
”

I shrugged my shoulders, because her guess was as good as mine. Maybe there was a really good explanation for his outfit? He couldn’t have done it for me. This had to be a coincidence.
Maybe…

“Are you guys having a theme party upstairs or something?” I asked hopefully.

“Nah,” he answered and leaned into the partition, placing an arm over the top, as if he hadn’t been told already it wasn’t a great idea. The wall bent under the weight and Roxanna delivered a screech she usually reserved for spiders before jumping up from her seat and out into the aisle. The screech rocked the quiet of the data entry department, and when I jumped to my feet, there were faces peeking over their cubicles up and down the surrounding aisles, curious what the commotion was about.

I grabbed the wall before it went down with Richard into Roxanna’s cubicle. He stumbled around, trying to collect his composure and balance, his face burning bright red. Placing a hand on his arm to steady him, I said, “It’s okay. The wall’s fine. Are you okay?”