by J. H. Croix
All. The. Time.
He’d been at the salon for a couple of hours, and it was taking every ounce of discipline I had not to stare at him every second. As it was, I’d already almost lopped off an extra inch of a client’s hair, and had it not been for Sarah, I would’ve mixed bright pink coloring instead of red for one of my clients.
I had to get my shit together and fast. Honestly. Jeremy was hot, yes. Okay, smokin’ hot. But I wasn’t in high school anymore, even though having him around kind of made it feel that way. My intense urge to seek him out was the same way I’d felt in high school and college when a guy I was crushing on happened to be around.
A constant awareness he was nearby, a thrum in my veins, flutters in my belly all swirling together to keep my pulse humming along at high idle and my panties damp. That’s right. All the man had to do was exist and he made me wet. Sweet hell. I was beyond ridiculous. As the day wore on, I considered that it had been way too damn long since I’d had sex. That must’ve been the problem. Since I finally dredged up the courage to leave Wesley a few years ago, sex hadn’t been part of my life. At all. Honestly, I hadn’t missed it. It wasn’t as if I’d had much sex with Wesley either. It was fair to say sex chalked up to one gigantic disappointment for me.
Yet now, with Jeremy here making me all hot and bothered, well, I was reconsidering. I also felt like a foolish schoolgirl again, having silly fantasies about a man who likely had no serious interest in me. It was downright stupid for me to be thinking fairytale thoughts tinged with raw lust.
The future held many paths, but a fairytale wasn’t one of them. Yet, no matter how many times I sternly told myself to stop thinking about him, he’d walk by and it felt like a match was tossed into the fire inside of me with each pass.
Not for the first time while I was taking my break, my eyes settled on his muscled figure standing next to one of the big trucks outside. He was talking to some of the other men, a faded navy ball cap pulled over his head.
It’d been a nice morning, but the day had turned into a scorcher. While the sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue and made it seem beautiful outside, I was thankful to be inside where the air conditioning could make me forget how hot it was.
The heat of the day didn’t seem to be affecting Jeremy at all. He never slowed in directing his crew and lugging heavy equipment and building supplies to the back. The only indication he even felt the heat outside was the little tufts of wet hair sticking out from underneath the edge of his cap and the faint reddish hue on his tanned forearms.
Some of the men had lost their shirts and tucked them into the back pockets of their jeans. Much to my disappointment, Jeremy’s white t- shirt stayed on. I was a little relieved about that too, since I was sure that if it came off, every female pair of eyes in the vicinity would be glued to him.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Sarah appeared at my elbow, nudging me as her eyes followed my line of sight and landed right on Jeremy’s tight ass. She winked as a sly grin stretched across her face. “I’d have given a dollar for that... thought.”
“Sarah!” I protested, flushing as I averted my gaze and tried not to think of her implication. It didn’t stop the recollection of his gaze on me and how it made me feel. My cheeks hot, I tried to compose myself before looking back at her.
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, a sparkle in her eye that told me she was up to something that I’d best interrupt. “Is my break over?”
“Almost, but I think you need to take the guys something to drink before you get back to work. That coffee from this morning is long gone and god only knows they must be boiling out there. There’s some sweet iced tea and water in the jugs in the fridge. Be a dear and bring those out to them, would you?”
So that was what she was up to. I almost laughed aloud. Sarah made no attempt to be subtle. Much as I should’ve had enough sense to avoid feeding into my own fantasies, I didn’t. Sense had taken a backseat to desire. Bringing those drinks out meant another chance to get close to Jeremy.
It is mighty hot out there. I would be a monster if I didn’t do it. Barely suppressing a chuckle at my weak reasoning, I bit my lip and nodded. “Sure, I’ll take care of it.”
“Good,” Sarah chirped, winking before she practically did a victory dance back to her station. The woman’s tenacity knew no bounds.
Walking out in the scorching heat from the cool interior of the salon was almost like walking face first into a brick wall. I managed it without dropping the tray of drinks I was carrying. I’d barely set the tray down before Jeremy spun round to face me, his eyes zeroing in on mine like he’d known exactly where I was even before he’d turned.
“I, uh...” My words jammed in my throat at being the singular target of his gorgeous hazel eyes. I swallowed, doing my best to hide the fact my eyes wanted to eat him up. Well, more than my eyes. “I brought some cold drinks for y’all,” I finally rasped, mentally berating myself for sounding so breathy.
There was only empty sidewalk between us, but Jeremy moved to close the distance anyway. In a rare attack of shyness and uncertainty, I started to turn to leave. He stopped me, his voice low and deep. “Wait. Just hold on a sec.”
Pausing, I let my eyes close for a second as I took a deep breath. I wasn’t used to feeling this way, especially not around virtual strangers.
Toughen up, Marie. He’s a good looking guy is all. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been around my fair share of attractive men. Wesley himself had been something of a catch back in the day. There was no reason why Jeremy should put me on edge.
Personal pep talk complete, I lifted my eyes to his and fixed a smile on my face, trying and completely failing to keep my pulse from lunging and hoping like hell my blush wasn’t obvious. “Did you need something else?”
Standing closer to him than I ever had before, I noticed that in between the blues and greens in his eyes, there were brown, almost golden flecks. The faintest hint of dark stubble peppered his chin and jawline. Up close like this, he seemed more human than he had before. Somehow, almost impossibly, that made him even more handsome.
In my mind’s eye, he was still the football hero he’d once been just under a decade ago. An untouchable force that obliterated opposing teams and, unwittingly, the hearts of teenaged girls. I blinked, trying to come to terms with the fact that the man standing in front of me was just that—a man.
A ruggedly handsome man whose features looked as if they’d been sculpted by an artist, but a man nonetheless. One who looked like he had something to say, at that.
Our gazes were locked together, an undercurrent of electricity zipping between us. From the outside, it wouldn’t have looked as if anything was happening, yet it felt like he was trying to dissect me with his intense gaze, to understand me on a molecular level and strip me down to the bone. As it had yesterday when he looked at me, the air hummed to life and need swirled through my veins, my belly fluttering at his closeness.
Perhaps he was simply stripping me mentally. That thought sent a wash of heat to my cheeks. The sensation was enough to bring me out of the desire-laced trance I’d fallen into. Clearing my throat again, I prompted quietly, “Well?”
“No, nothing else. Just thank you for bringing out the drinks. We sure appreciate it.”
I hadn’t spoken to him much, or at all really, but his voice seemed gentler now than it had when I’d heard him speak before. A deep rumble that burrowed its way right into my chest and brought a smile to my lips for its sincerity.
“No problem. Just shout if you need more water. Seems there’s only an old, rusted fence between Cypress and the heat of hell again today.”
Jeremy chuckled softly as I turned to leave. “That’s one way of putting it.”
I managed to put one foot in front of the other and walk back inside, but… Oh. My. God. His laugh was downright dangerous. That low chuckle slipped through my defenses and sent my belly spinning into flips.
The air conditioned salon was a haven when I stepped back
inside, both from the heat and the torrent of strange feelings Jeremy elicited. Sarah tossed me another wink as I pushed my hair behind my ears, then inclined her head to my next client who was waiting patiently at my station.
The woman was another of Sarah’s weekly, bread-and-butter clients. An elderly woman who came in like clockwork each week for a trim, wash and dry. She was a sweet lady with blonde curls who could talk the hind leg off a donkey, which mercifully gave me time to descend into my thoughts while simply nodding every once in a while at what she was saying.
As she told me about some or other parade that should’ve been coming up but had been removed from the roster of town events at least three decades ago, my mind drifted back to Jeremy and our brief exchange.
I wasn’t one to buy into town rumors about people, or the type to believe I knew a person just because I knew of them. Yet, I felt a little guilty for having made certain assumptions about Jeremy over the years. He didn’t seem like the arrogant, egotistical jock I’d had him pegged for in high school, though a lot could’ve changed since then. He also wasn’t the cold, unapproachable island of a man I’d heard people whisper he was.
I couldn’t argue that he had a tough exterior, the man was downright intimidating. But there was more there. A softer side buried underneath all that iron and steel he showed the world. It wasn’t something I’d have expected to find in a man like him, but it was very definitely there.
Interesting. Very interesting. Not that I’d ever be finding out the intricacies that made Jeremy Lovett the man he was. I didn’t have time, nor the inclination to get to know anyone better, least of all someone of the opposite sex and even less in a romantic way. I had other priorities—namely settling into my new job and home and making sure Austin and I were safe from Wesley once and for all.
Jeremy might be the hottest man this side of the Mississippi and my body might be crazy out of control around him, but all he could ever be was a fantasy. He wouldn’t spare me a glance if he had a clue about my messy life, not to mention lust and love weren’t something in the cards for me. I had one priority—a stable, boring life for Austin and me. Boring was a beloved goal when the chaos of a man like Wesley had kept me on edge for too many years.
With that resolve in mind, I pushed Jeremy—my naughty thoughts kicking and screaming—out of mind and smiled at the lady in my chair, refocusing on what she was saying. “You would’ve made for a beautiful princess.”
What the…? Clearly I’d missed way too much of her story, so I nodded and tried to look like I knew exactly what she was talking about when in reality I had no freaking clue.
“Thanks, Wilma. I appreciate that.” My thanks earned me an extra bright smile and kicked her chattering into a higher gear. I didn’t have to say another word until it was time to say goodbye to her.
For the rest of the day, I ignored the compulsion to try to seek out Jeremy. Though I caught him in the corner of my eye every so often, I forced myself to look away and stay focused on my work. He seemed to be doing the same thing, since I didn’t feel his eyes on me as often in the afternoon as I had, or at least imagined I had, in the morning.
Four clients later, it was time for me to call it a day. “Sarah, is it still okay if I leave early to pick Austin up from daycare?”
“Of course,” she answered immediately, waving me off from behind the reception desk. “You have a good weekend, honey.”
“Thanks, you too.”
I didn’t have a lot of things to gather. Within minutes, I retrieved my purse, said my goodbyes and was walking out to my car.
Jeremy wasn’t around as I headed out. For a brief second, I considered finding him to say goodbye but then I realized just how weird that conversation would be. I didn’t know him well enough to find him specifically to say goodbye. That would make me look a bit ridiculous.
The minuscule part of me who didn’t care about looking ridiculous tried to talk over my rational side, if only to see him again one last quick time before the weekend. But I quieted that foolish voice and marched toward my car, simultaneously relieved and disappointed I didn’t run into Jeremy by chance.
Using the short drive to the daycare to clear my mind, I mentally reviewed my first week back in Cypress Creek. I was immensely relieved everything appeared to be moving along as planned. Our apartment was small, but homey. Austin loved his new preschool, and I loved working for Sarah.
There was no sign Wesley had followed us here. For the first time in what felt like forever, I was heading into the weekend without trying to beat back a foreboding sense of apprehension and near crippling fear he would show up.
All in all, I’d call the move a win.
By the time I arrived to pick Austin up, my mood was light, and the unsettling feelings Jeremy had awakened in me were long forgotten. This weekend was going to be a nice, relaxing one for me to spend some quality time with my son.
“Mommy!” Austin exclaimed when I stepped out of the car, launching himself into my arms with a wide smile. “It’s the weekend.”
“I know baby.” I hugged him back and carried him to his car seat, securing him in before I rounded the car to drive us home. “Anything you feel like doing this weekend?”
“Annie told me about a park near here.” Austin’s smile widened, and he was practically bouncing in his seat. “She said there’s a really high slide and a petting zoo next door. Can we go? Please?”
I didn’t know who Annie was, how we would find the park since the only indication Austin gave me was ‘near here’ and the only park I knew of was on the other side of town, and I definitely wasn’t a fan of the thought of a really high slide, but his excitement was infectious.
“Sure. We can try to find it.”
How high can the slide really be? In a town the size of this one, I was also quite confident I’d be able to find a park with a petting zoo next door without too much effort.
Austin beamed, but then his face fell and his narrow shoulders slumped some. “What’s wrong, baby?”
He hesitated before answering, his eyes glued to the trees outside as we passed them. His little teeth sank into his lower lip as he chewed on it. “Are we going to see my dad again tomorrow?”
My heart twisted at the resignation in his eyes and the way his voice quivered with the question. I met his eyes quickly in the rearview mirror, answering immediately. “No, no we’re not going to be seeing him again anytime soon.”
He perked up a little, but it still stung that he even had to worry. Austin didn’t like Wesley any more than I did. He was as afraid of him as I was. He’d also grown used to Wesley showing up out of the blue despite my hope and assurances that he wouldn’t.
As much as it hurt, Austin knew I couldn’t control his father, or his impulses to check up on us. The difference now was that I was relatively certain Wesley didn’t know we were here yet. That was the very reason why we’d moved.
“You don’t have to worry about that, little man,” I told him, making sure to keep my voice strong and even. “We don’t have to worry about him anymore. Not again.”
Relieved, the tension in his narrow shoulders disappeared and his smile returned. “Okay.”
Mentally crossing my fingers and shooting up a quick prayer that for once I’d be right, I returned his smile and changed the subject back to the park.
Chapter Eleven
Jeremy
The sun was brutal this morning, its rays stinging my skin as I hacked away at a hedge I’d been threatening to get rid of in my garden for weeks. I was out front, rivulets of sweat dripping down my spine and from my forehead as I worked.
A dark blue van with black tinted windows driving past caught my eye. It was the third time I’d seen it in less than an hour. Normally, I’d think nothing of it. Yet, the third time it drove by, my father’s warning flickered at the back of my mind. Even though I tried to shake the worry away, I made a mental note of the license plate. Someone driving by more than once could easily be innocuous. Eve
n so, if I saw it again, I would stop it and find out what was going on.
Turning my attention back to the hedge, I hacked off the last of the roots keeping the gnarly hedge in place and gave a mental roar, on the inside of course, when it came tumbling down. The sound of an engine droning behind me drew my attention back to the road. Instead of the unknown van, it was my brother’s black truck rolling to a stop in front of my house.
Sonny hopped out of his car, looking relaxed in a pair of bright blue shorts and white and blue t- shirt. He waved, grinning as he approached me. “What’s up, Jeremy?”
Wiping sweat from my brow, I straightened, dropped the hedge clippers on the lawn and went to greet him. “Finally got rid of that monstrosity with the smelly pink flowers. You?”
“Not much.” He whistled when he saw the remains of the giant hedge lying on the grass. “I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch, now I’m thinking we wrestle that thing onto the truck and take it by the dump on the way to lunch. Then I’d have earned a cold one or two on you.”
I wasn’t a fool. The hedge would be a bitch to move by myself. “I can get behind that plan. Let’s load it up, then I’ll grab a quick shower and we can get going?”
“You got it.” Sonny reached for the back of his shirt and pulled it off, hanging it over the rail to my porch before he moved to the side of the hedge. “Let’s do this.”
Together we managed to move the thing to his truck with only a small amount of the obligatory grunting and complaining that came with yard work on days as hot as today. Both of us managed to escape without so much as a scrape or a drop of blood spilled.
“Job well done, bro,” Sonny told me. “Go shower. I’m adding another beer you’ll owe me for each minute you make me wait out in this heat.”