by Fine, L. J.
Shoving to her feet, she ran after him before he could leave the building.
“Wait,” she called out and he turned toward her. “I’d really appreciate a ride home, if you don’t mind.”
That killer smile returned and he shook his head. “I don’t mind.”
“Okay. Just let me tell Chloe,” she choked out.
He laughed. “You’d be better off texting her. I doubt you’ll get a word in edgewise if you try to interrupt them right now.”
Glancing back at the quarreling lovers, she saw that they were so absorbed in their argument she doubted they would notice a freight train coming at them. “Maybe you have a point. Let’s go.”
With that, she followed him out of the gym. Chloe would more than likely be ecstatic to learn that she had left with Tyler anyway.
They made their way to his sleek black Lexus through the mostly empty parking lot and as she slid into the passenger’s seat the luxury of the car impressed her. Actually, she didn’t know what she had expected him to drive. She didn’t pretend to herself that she knew anything about him. Well, beyond his superior fighting skills and the fact that the way he carried himself caused a flood in her panties. The occasions when she did let her mind wander to what he might be like in his everyday life, his finances never entered into it.
He tossed his bag into the backseat before sliding in next to her behind the wheel. “Where to?”
She rattled off her address as he started the car, the first few minutes of the ride shrouded in awkward silence. Or at least she felt awkward, but that was pretty much par for the course. She just couldn’t for the life of her think of anything relevant to say to this man, who had been the object of her secret fantasies for months.
In the end he saved her from her internal agonizing. “So how do you know Chloe?”
Oh good, a simple question. She could handle a simple question. “I work with her at the bookstore.”
“That makes sense.” He glanced at her and her expression must have given away her confusion because he decided to elaborate. “I just mean that I’m surprised a girl like you would show up to these fights all the time.”
“A girl like me?” And shit, he had noticed how often she attended? Did he also notice that she wanted to trip him and beat him to the floor every time she saw him too?”
“Yeah, sweet, shy. Not for nothin’ but you looked like you were gonna faint the first time I cracked a guy’s nose open.”
Damn, he was definitely a lot more observant than she had given him credit for. “It takes a lot more than a little blood to have me blacking out.”
“So it would seem.” He inclined his head as if to concede her point. “Still, it was surprising. Kind of a nice change of pace, though.”
To that she had no response. Wasn’t even sure she fully understood what he meant. She had seen the women who frequented these fights and she didn’t exactly fit the mold. Most of those women were much sexier, possessing a kind of swagger that could only come from supreme self-confidence. But wasn’t that what men were attracted to? Come to think of it, that was more than likely why he had noticed her at all. No doubt she stood out as a bookworm among all the sexy amazons. Chloe included.
Just like that all her jittery energy turned inward to attack her and she felt deflated. Well what kind of impression did she think she had made on him anyway? Inwardly she scowled. Her fleetingly misplaced optimism was pathetic.
But he didn’t let her dwell in her self-recrimination for long. “What about these bloody beat-down sessions is so fascinating to you that you keep coming back?”
Crap. Like she was going to tell him that it wasn’t the blood and carnage that kept her coming or even the gambling. It was him.
“I find the fighting - for all its brutality - to be elegant, even peaceful, believe it or not. So out of the realm of the everyday mundane and restrained.” Okay, so that wasn’t exactly a lie but it wasn’t exactly the whole truth either.
It obviously wasn’t a response he expected as his eyebrows quirked up toward his hairline. Then he barked out a laugh, the sound making her insides tingle. “You must have some serious repression issues.”
She blew out a breath. “Oh you have no idea,” she said before she could stop herself. Her eyes flew up to meet his. Once again, his expression darkened but there was a heated undertone there now that she couldn’t read.
“What about it fascinates you? Why do you do it?” Her voice sounded small in the car but this was something she often wondered. Never thought she would ever get the opportunity to ask.
He smirked but neither his eyes nor his expression gave anything away. “Maybe you’re not the only one with repression issues.”
Rolling her eyes, she couldn’t help it, she smiled back. “Think you have me pegged, do you? I might actually surprise you.”
Holy hell. Where had that come from? Like she would ever get another opportunity to speak to him, let alone surprise him.
“I’ll look forward to it.” His smile widened and while she was dazzled by the pretty, the car rolled to a stop. With a start, she realized they had arrived in front of her apartment building and that their very brief conversation had reached its end. The one and only time she had gotten to speak to him and the conversation had revolved around her. How utterly disappointing.
“Thanks for the ride. I would have been sitting there forever otherwise,” she said, hoping to stall a little.
“Anytime. You have an early shift or anything tomorrow?”
“No, thank God. I don’t go in until noon.”
He nodded and started tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. It seemed her time with him was up.
“Well thanks again,” she murmured as she reluctantly reached for the door handle.
“You’re welcome again. See you around, Mina.” His warm smile had her juices trickling along the seam of her sex but she somehow managed to get out of the car without falling on her face. He waited until she safely made it inside the building before pulling back out into traffic.
Once in her apartment, she leaned against the door and expelled a long, pent-up breath, the first time all night she felt as though her airways weren’t constricted and it felt good to let it all out.
She had actually spoken to him! And much to her relief she hadn’t sounded like a complete imbecile either, which was a surprising turn of events. She knew that tonight didn’t change anything, except that now she knew he was a nice guy on top of everything else. Like she needed another reason to obsess over him.
Even knowing that a single ride home did not equate any sort of relationship, she could still feel the warmth of his smile tingling through her veins, fractionally thawing her out. A beautiful, if unfamiliar, feeling and she didn’t stop smiling until she was snugly wrapped under her covers and drifting off to sleep.
Chapter Two
It seemed as though a never-ending stream of customers flooded the bookstore since the time Mina arrived for her shift at noon and she spent the last three hours doing nothing but ringing people up. Finally the store quieted down during a lull, so she grabbed a stack of pre-ordered books and made her way over to the phone to call the customers they belonged to.
Finishing up her first phone call, she felt the prickly sensation of someone staring at her. Her overactive sense of paranoia had her lifting her head and instantly a wave of heat rushed over her, making her cheeks burn. Tyler stood on the opposite side of the counter watching her, amusement tilting the corner of his mouth.
Mina parted her lips to say something. Nothing came out so she blushed harder, cleared her throat and tried again. “Hi.”
Good grief. Why couldn’t she spit it out?
“Hi.” He leaned forward to brace his elbows on the counter. He said nothing else, just stood there watching her with that impish smile on his face and a strange light in his eyes.
Apparently the possibility existed for her anxiety to spike and he proved it as his intense scrutiny caused her to fidge
t.
“Um…do you need help with something?” What an awesome opening. Way to come across as annoyed to be bothered.
But his smile only got wider. “I just wanted to see what your natural habitat looked like.”
“You’ve never been in a bookstore before?” she squeaked with a raised eyebrow. Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe he was an illiterate Neanderthal, too vapid and self-absorbed to bother with the written word. He would definitely lose points if that was the case and the thought had her relaxing a little. Reaffirming how completely incompatible they were would make this easier on her.
“Actually I love bookstores. Something about the way they smell. And reading’s maybe my third-favorite thing to do. I’ve just never seen you in a bookstore before or outside of the gym, for that matter.” He shrugged. “What can I say? I was curious.”
That comment once again secured his place on that absurdly high pedestal. Her crush just kept getting worse the more she spoke to him, not better.
“Glad I could help satisfy your twisted idle curiosity,” she said with more bite than she intended, annoyed with herself for being so hopeless over this man.
Again he shrugged, completely unfazed by her sharp reply. “My curiosity is pretty twisted but obviously not so idle.” His smile faltered slightly around the edges but his words had her coming up short. What the hell does that mean? “Maybe you could help me sort some of it out. Do you have a break coming up soon?”
For a moment she stood nonplussed, completely unable to register what he had just asked her. “Let me get this straight. You’re here because you find me curious and now you want to what, sit and have a cup of coffee or something to try to figure me out?”
“I think you’re with me so far.” His eyes brightened as his smile regained a few megawatts. Her pulse spiked.
“Glad we’re on the same page,” she said, though she doubted they were even reading the same book. “I have a break in about ten minutes. I could meet you at the cafe next door.”
Nodding, he stood to his full height and she tried to avoid salivating or gawking at the play of muscles under his black t-shirt as he moved. “See you in ten.”
With that he sauntered away and she had to stop herself from panting over his loose walk and the way his jeans hung off his lean hips in the most delicious way. The dizziness of arousal that this man inspired her to feel was going to be the death of her.
A group of ten minutes strung together had never been so agonizing. She had no way of knowing his endgame, so apprehension settled right on top of her overwhelming nervousness. His seemingly innocuous request for her company had to be suspicious in origin. It disheartened her to think that he might have an ulterior motive but for the life of her she couldn’t fathom why he would be interested in her on any level.
For the better part of those painful ten minutes she fussed with her appearance in the mirror behind the register. She tugged at the plain gray sweater and baggy black pants she had thrown on that morning, cursing herself for not taking more time to get ready. Her mother had lectured her incessantly about how she should take pride in her appearance and always look her best when leaving the house. Mostly, though, she would rather spend the time sleeping in the mornings instead of getting up early to primp. But in this case, she hated to admit, her mother had been right.
She couldn’t decide whether to leave her hair up in a ponytail or take it down. In the end she decided to leave it up. It was the way he had seen her earlier and she didn’t want to give him the impression she was so affected by him that she would try to alter her appearance to please him. Even though she was affected by him and she suspected he already had an idea of how much if his amusement at her expense was any indication.
While she fidgeted the whole way over to the small cafe next door, half of her expected that he wouldn’t even be there. That it was all some sort of misunderstanding and he really wasn’t that curious about her anyway. But as soon as she stepped inside, there he was, sitting at a table and patiently awaiting her arrival. He looked sexier than sin just sitting there.
When he saw her, that mischievous half-smile graced his all-too-kissable lips. She wanted to run right back out the door and into the relative safety of the bookstore. Maybe she could hide in the break room until he went away.
As if sensing her skittishness, he stood and made his way over to her, effectively squashing any wayward thoughts of escape. “Do you want something to drink? Or maybe to eat if this is your lunch break?”
The butterflies in her stomach currently ran through, what felt like, an obstacle course, making the thought of food abhorrent. “I’m not really hungry but I’ll take a small mocha.”
“Okay, sit down. I’ll be right back.”
Wait, is he buying? Well if he was going to interrupt her otherwise insipid day, making her simultaneously wet and uneasy as hell, it was the least he could do. So she complied and took up a seat at the table he had vacated.
She watched as he ordered their drinks, all warm smiles and light banter with the barista. If Mina were anyone other than herself she might even say he seemed approachable. The differences between the Tyler of her fantasies and the Tyler of real life once again struck her. She had a hard time reconciling the man thoughtful enough to give her a ride home and buy her coffee with the lethal fighter who spit blood and beat his opponents into oblivion.
Left to her imagination she would have thought him abrasive, disinterested and, to be honest, just flat-out mean. She never would have pegged him for the personable, considerate type but so far she saw none of the ferociousness he displayed in the ring.
He came back to the table and set her drink down before taking the seat opposite her. Taking a sip of his coffee, he eyed her over the rim of his cup. “What were you thinking about just now?”
“Nothing really. Why?” She could feel her eyes narrow on him. This was going to be a difficult conversation if he wanted to be privy to her every thought.
“You were staring. What was going on behind those hazel eyes of yours?”
That impish smirk reappeared and she almost chocked on her mocha. But his blunt question gave her a clue as to why they were sitting across from each other right now.
He knew she was attracted to him.
Surely, with his ridiculous good looks, the novelty of the way women reacted to him had worn off by now. What did one more matter, especially someone as unappealing as her? Did he honestly need the validation or did he find her crush on him amusing? Neither option could account for why he had been so nice so far, though. Or why their every conversation, however few and brief they were, revolved around her. So she found herself back at square one trying to work out this man’s confounding personality.
She realized she took too long to answer and when she finally did she decided to go with the truth. What, at this point, could it really hurt? “Honestly? I was thinking that you’re a bit of a conundrum.”
Cocking his head to the side, he gazed at her quizzically, clearly not expecting that answer. But what did he expect her to say? “How so?”
Dipping her head, she played with the cardboard sleeve of her cup, looking anywhere but at him.
“In your seeming duality,” she said softly. “I’m trying to reconcile the two sides of you I’ve witnessed so far. How you can be so hardcore - and frankly, terrifying - in the ring and then be sweet and playful outside of it.”
“Listen to you. My duality.” He laughed bringing her eyes up to land on him. “So basically you think I have split personality disorder. And you think I’m sweet?” Oh there went that sexy lopsided smile of his. And there went her heart yet again but she refused to elaborate on his last question.
“I’m just marveling at your multifaceted character.”
“And that means you think some of my facets are disingenuous?”
“I like that word, disingenuous. At least that means you were being honest about reading being a favorite pastime of yours.” She couldn't’ help but giggle at his
darkening expression, lightening the tone of her comments. “Listen, I don’t know you at all so I’m not judging one way or another. Maybe I find you as confusing as you seem to find me. Just trying to piece the puzzle together. That’s all.”
“I’m not that mystifying. You spend any kind of time with me and you’ll find that out. Besides, you’re the puzzle that needs to be put together. Not me.” He smirked into his cup as he took a drink.
“But turnabout is fair play, yes?” She couldn’t believe how easily the banter between them came. It usually took her a while to warm up to someone before she could tease them like this.
“True, but since I hauled my ass here to see you I think it’s only fair I go first.” His eyes danced with mirth as he leaned forward and braced his elbows on the table. “Deal?”
Once again, her eyes narrowed as she considered his proposal. Eventually she shrugged. It couldn’t hurt and hadn’t she been longing for the chance to get to know him just last night? “Okay, deal. But I’ll warn you now, I’m not that interesting. What do you want to know?”
“For starters, it’d be nice to know why you think you aren’t interesting.” He frowned.
“And I’d like to know why you find me so intriguing all of a sudden,” she said with an eye roll but she only half meant it. Part of her feared that her earlier assessment of his vanity might be correct and she didn’t want to hear him say it out loud. She enjoyed their tête-à-tête too much and she didn’t want the bubble to burst so soon.
His lips lifted in a slow, sensuous grin and she had no doubt he knew very well its effect. As it was, he had her squirming in her seat and not all because of his uncomfortable line of questioning. “We’re not talking about me right now, remember?”
Sighing, she conceded his point and tried to remember what he had originally asked her.
“I just think my life’s pretty boring, that’s all. I get up in the morning, go to work, come home, make dinner, read a little before I go to bed. Rinse and repeat over and over. I think the most exciting things in my life are what happens in the books I read.” She smiled, fondly remembering some of her favorite stories. She could get lost for hours in the written word. “Then there are the fights that I go to every week, but at first that wasn’t exactly voluntary.”