Hypnotized (4 page)

I sucked in my bottom lip, but before I could speak, his palm caressed my cheek.

“You’re so cute. Breakfast it is.” He dropped his hand back to his side. I missed the feel of him.

“Why don’t you meet me here…with your bike?”

He smirked and pointed a finger at me. “You’re trouble. Let’s go. I believe you have someone you’re meeting for dinner.”

I was trouble? Me?
Wasn’t he the one everyone told me was trouble?

* * *

So far, dinner was going well with Evan. He’d yet to ask me why I’d acted so odd on the phone. He was busy talking about Pete this and Pete that. Apparently, I was the only one who thought the guy was scum. Part of me was worried about Evan and what road he might go down if he continued to hang out with the guy, but then the other part of me knew Evan and the way he was raised. Surely he had enough sense to make choices on his own.

Evan was beginning to party a lot and loved to remind me that he was young and supposed to be. This was
his
time in life. He was free, and in a few years he’d have to grow up.

“Have you set a date to move in?” he asked as he took a sip from his Coke.

With the thought of possibly dating Gabe, I was ready to rent a U-Haul now. “I’m leaning toward soon.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Why? It’s not like we’ll be neighbors anymore. We won’t have windows facing each other to talk.”

He wiped his mouth with the white napkin. “I miss you.”

“I do believe you keep saying this is your time. Maybe you need to cut the cord from me,” I joked.

“I don’t want to.” He stared hard at me.

Should I be freaked out? No, this was Evan. He’d never shown any interest in me before. Maybe he just felt the need to have someone he’d known his whole life close. I could understand that.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to see what he knew about Gabe before I got in too deep with him. “So why is that Gabe guy so bad?”

“You want to talk about him?” He was irritated.

“I might run into him again.” Like tomorrow morning when we had breakfast together.

“Apparently, he likes innocent girls.”

Had I heard him right? “He what?”

Evan cleared his throat. “You know, girls who are still intact.”

Was Evan talking about virgins? “How can he tell if a girl is ‘intact’ or not?”

Evan shrugged. “Pete says he’s got an eye for them. Guess they were both interested in a girl at the same time or something. Gabe won. Supposedly, he likes to be the girl’s first, then leaves after making her feel like she’s his everything. He went out with Pete’s sister, Kelly, too.”

“I don’t know…”

“I’ve seen the way he looked at you. Stay away from him. You deserve to lose it to someone who loves you.” Evan set his fork down a little too hard.

What was going on with him? “Can we talk about something else?”

I never should’ve brought up Gabe, but it was hard. He was all I could think about, and I hadn’t even known him that long.

“Where’d you go?” Mom asked as I collected my things up from the coffee shop after returning from Paisley’s.

“Out. A friend’s moving in, so I went to see her new place with her.”

“A girl, huh?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I gotta get to work. We’ll catch up soon.” Or not.

Sure, I hung out here a lot, but my parents weren’t here often. They let other people do all the work while they hopped beds with other people.

Putting on my backpack, I walked out of the coffee shop without saying ‘bye. The scent of someone smoking assaulted me. Damn, I wanted a cigarette, but I’d quit, even though I had to constantly remind myself. It didn’t help much. I wanted to feel the smoke entering my lungs and let it out in slow, long breaths.

Damn it. Climbing on my motorcycle, I fired it up, and rode toward work. It was just outside the downtown area of Athens, off a back road.

As I sat in the traffic, waiting on the light, I realized I was right outside Paisley’s apartment. What was it about the blonde beauty that had captured my attention and held on tight? From the moment I saw her in the darkened coffee shop, I’d wanted her. She’d stood there, staring at the menu with one knee bent, moving it back and forth while she studied the coffee selection, as though she’d be tested on it later. Then she looked at me and my world stopped.

I needed to know everything about Paisley, but she wasn’t going to make it easy. I liked a good challenge, maybe a bit too much. But Paisley was one I wanted to win. I wasn’t giving up.

Finally, the light changed and I was on my way. I zipped down the side streets, loving the feeling of the breeze. I pulled up behind the tattoo shop. Another night of work, but at least in the morning, I’d get to see Paisley. And because I was anxious to see her, tonight would drag.

“‘Sup,” a co-worker said as I entered. “We’ve got several appointments already. It’s gonna be a busy evening.”

Good. I needed the distraction.

* * *

The next morning, I waited out front of Paisley’s apartment. I half expected her to come down from the building, so when she walked up behind me, I jumped. My eyes about popped out of my head. She was dressed to…to taunt my fantasies. God, could her denim shorts get any shorter?

“Good morning,” I said.

“Where’s your bike?” She glanced around.

She’d been serious? “At the coffee shop. You really wanted to ride on it?”

She chewed her bottom lip. Damn, it drove me crazy when she did that. “Yeah.”

“Have you ever been on a motorcycle?” She seemed too sweet and innocent.

“Uh, yeah. Of course.”

Reaching out, I rubbed her cheek. I had to touch her. “It’s okay if you haven’t, Pais. I wouldn’t mind being the one to give you your first ride.”

She cleared her throat. “It won’t be my first time.”

I shrugged. “Okay, let’s go get my bike.”

We walked toward the coffee shop, the morning cooler than usual. Paisley took me by surprise when she wrapped a hand around my bicep. This wasn’t what I was expecting. She’d been so shy the last few times, what had gotten in to her? Not that I was complaining. Her hand on me felt right.

When we got to my bike, she released me. I turned and looked at her. “You sure about this?”

I could see the slight hesitation on her face. “Of course.”

I wasn’t quite sure why she was insistent about riding on my bike, but I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to have her hold me tight.

I opened the back compartment and pulled out my extra helmet then handed it to her. After she strapped it on, I noticed the slack around her chin. Reaching out, I tugged on the straps. She stared at me the whole time. Her lips parted. I wanted to kiss her so bad. Taste her to see if she was as sweet as she appeared.

“The helmet looks good on you.” I winked.

She put a hand on her hip, popping it to the side. “You think?”

Laughing, I put my own helmet on. “I’ve never seen a sexier girl.” I climbed on my bike, kicked back the kickstand. “Hop on.”

My gaze stayed on her lower half as she lifted a leg over the seat. Oh yeah, her shorts were short enough I got a slight peak at her white panties.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Hold on.” Her arms wrapped around me as I started the bike. I revved my engine for the hell of it. Maybe it would impress her, or it wouldn’t. Either way, I loved hearing this baby purr.

As I stared down the street, her grip around my waist almost took the air out of my lungs. A glance in the side mirror showed me her panicked expression. As I suspected, this was her first time.

“You okay?” I yelled.

She nodded.

We were only going over to the Waffle House, which wasn’t far. I’d love to hit the open road with her on the back of my bike. She seemed to fit perfectly. I could only imagine how good her tanned legs looked gripping the sides of the bike.

We pulled into the parking lot, and after I shut the bike off, she finally let go of her death grip. Stabilizing the bike, I held my hand back for her to grip as she climbed off. I set the kickstand and as I swung my leg over the bike I came face to face with her and had the urge to kiss her again. Would she let me?

“How was it?” I unhooked my helmet.

“Great. Just like any other ride.” She stared up at the sky as she unclasped her helmet.

As she handed it to me, I decided to let it go. She had her reasons, I suppose, for not wanting to admit she’d never been on a bike before. Who was I to judge?

Inside, we found an empty booth in the back corner. We slid in opposite sides as a waitress hurried over to wipe the table off and grab the tip someone else had left.

“Can I get ya’ll something to drink?” she asked, gripping the dirty rag.

“Coffee,” I said.

“Same.” Paisley paused. “And an OJ.”

“Coming right up.” She spun around and headed back to the kitchen, hopefully to wash her hands before getting our drinks.

I already knew what I wanted, so I studied Paisley as she stared at the menu. After a few minutes, the waitress returned with our drinks and we both ordered.

“How was work?” She sipped the OJ through the straw.

“Boring.” Though one guy had an outline done for a cool tattoo. I couldn’t wait to see how it turned out.

“What do you do?”

I grinned. “I’m a tattoo artist.”

Her eyes got wide. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“I didn’t peg you as a tattoo artist.”

No one ever did. “How come?”

She squinted her eyes. “Aren’t they usually bald with long goatees?”

I burst out laughing. “You’re so cute, you know that?”

Her cheeks turned a light shade of red.

Twirling a creamer between my fingers, I said, “It’s okay. I like not being what you’d expect.”

She shrugged. “How old are you, anyway?”

“Twenty-three.”

She chewed her bottom lip. Did my age make her nervous?

“Am I too old for you?” Leaning back, I drank my coffee.

“Uh, I guess not.” She toyed with a strand of her hair.

“Good because age is only a number. So, how old are you?”

She grinned. “You’re never supposed to ask a woman her age or weight.”

Setting my coffee down, I let my eyes take her in. “I’d guess you’re eighteen and about one twenty-five.”

“You’re right on one of them.” She giggled. “But which one, I’m not telling.”

The waitress returned. “The plates are hot, so be careful.” She set one in front of each of us.

After she left, I stared at my plate, then at hers. Paisley’s looked better than mine, but was she going to be able to eat all of that?

I picked up a slice of bacon. “Have you decided when you’re moving in yet?”

She took a bite of her sausage. “Soon.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Why?”

“Because then you’ll be around more.” I scooped up some hash browns.

Nervously, she asked, “Do, uh. Do you live nearby?”

“Not far. I’m in a condo down the main stretch of road.”

“So, if you don’t live in downtown, and you don’t work at the coffee shop, why are you always there?”

Good question. One I didn’t really have an answer for. “I like the environment.”

“It’s so dark in there. How could you study?”

Was now the time to tell her I wasn’t taking college classes? That I’d tried it and found it wasn’t for me. Here she was so young and new to “adult” life. “I manage.”

Her cell phone dinged and I watched as she typed a message to someone. Probably the guy who’d been all over her at the party. That guy wanted Paisley, but she didn’t seem to know it.

“Sorry about that.” She set the phone on the table.

“It’s no bother to me.”

We ate the next few minutes in comfortable silence. I did the best I could to keep my eyes off of her, but it wasn’t easy. Sure, I’d been attracted to girls in the past, but there was something about her that hypnotized me.

When our plates were practically cleaned, I realized that meant our breakfast was about to be over. Was there a way I could prolong this? Even though I was exhausted and sleep would be a better idea, I wanted to be with Paisley. Stay with her and learn as much about her as I could.

“I’m guessing you’re tired.” She finished her coffee.

“A little. Did you have something in mind?”

“Well.” There she went again, sucking in her bottom lip. I was beginning to see this as a habit. “Maybe we could ride around a bit.”

I smirked. At least her first ride hadn’t scared her. “You want to hit the open roads?”

“It was fun.”

Was it really a good idea to take her out? I almost felt like I was corrupting her. “How would your possessive friend feel about it?”

“Evan?” Ah, I finally had a name. “What’s it to him what I do?”

“All right. Let me go pay for this and we’ll go.”

“Oh. I can pay for mine.” She reached in to her pocket.

I held a hand up. “This is on me. Consider it our first official date.”

She grinned. Damn, this girl was addicting. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get enough.

After paying for the meal, I returned and held my hand out to her. “Let’s go ride. I know just where I want to take you.”