by Aimie Grey
“That’s kind of late to go to work at a restaurant. Do you work at one of their night clubs?”
“Yes.” Also not technically a lie. CM owned several dance clubs in the area that catered to college students. If he assumed I worked at one of them, I wouldn’t be correcting him.
“Bartender?”
“Yeah.” Okay, so that was a lie. Only my coworkers and clients knew what I did for a living, and they all thought my name was Lisa. For the past six years, I’d managed to keep that part of my life completely separate from the rest. Even if it hadn’t been my biggest secret, I wouldn’t have wanted him to know. No one had ever looked at me the way he did, and I knew it would change if he found out. Although I’d just met him and had no intention of pursuing him, I didn’t want to lose the feeling I got when his eyes met mine. “How about you?”
Carter hesitated for a moment before replying, “I work on the freeways.” The delayed response made me wonder if he was ashamed of his blue-collar job. There was absolutely no reason to be embarrassed by an honest day’s work. Especially since it was most likely responsible for his muscular body, which I seriously needed to stop ogling. My imagination ran away from me as I pictured him wearing nothing but low-slung jeans and a reflective vest while operating a jackhammer.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he pushed open the door to his new home.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. Haven’t quite woken up all the way yet.” It was the only plausible explanation for the way my brain was misbehaving. Dodging the furniture covering most of the floor, I followed him to the back of the room and put my box on the floor next to his. “Who needs two coffee tables?” The crowded foyer didn’t seem so bad compared to his living room.
“Told you my last place was big. I really didn’t think this through.”
Mommy and Daddy must have footed the bill for his last apartment. There was no way someone with a road-crew salary could afford the rent on a place big enough to hold all of this stuff. I was curious about the backstory surrounding his change in circumstances but was worried if I started digging, he would return the favor.
During a sweep of my surroundings, my eyes stopped on the wall behind the couch. “Seriously? You left piles of stuff downstairs, yet you took the time to hang up concert posters?”
“Black Friday and Ashes & Embers are the best fucking bands in the world. Those are my most prized possessions. They’re signed by all of the guys in the band. Reaper is the fucking shit, and I would totally switch teams for Storm Valentine.”
“You know, I’m pretty sure Storm doesn’t swing that way. I’d hate for you to get your hopes up.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. You know what I meant.”
“I do. I totally do. I cried when Reaper and Harmony got together.” Plans to steal those posters started to take shape in my head. There were more pressing matters to attend to, though. “Well, this place isn’t going to be livable until you get rid of a bunch of stuff, so let’s at least move some of it around to open up a little more floor space. I really don’t need another toe injury today.”
“Good idea.”
We flipped over one of the coffee tables and stacked it on top of the other. Afterward, we each shoved a chair into the corner farthest from the entry and moved a couple of end tables into his bedroom. With a small, but clear, path through the apartment, we got back to work.
Chapter Two
Every muscle in my body cursed my name. It had taken us close to four hours to get everything hauled up to his place—of course, we hadn’t been moving very quickly since we’d been talking most of the time. Turns out we were both only children, we shared a love of the Pacers, and based on a comment I made when I saw the headline of the newspaper his neighbor had yet to bring in, we discovered that our political views aligned well—which surprised me since his mom could afford a decorator and mine couldn’t afford toilet paper. Carter was easy to be around; in fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so comfortable with another human being.
“Let me take you out to dinner,” he said when we placed the final two boxes on his kitchen counter. “I’d offer to make something, but I obviously haven’t done any shopping yet.”
“You cook?”
“It’s one of my many talents. However, I’m also very skilled at reading a menu and paying the bill. What do you say?”
He looked at me with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. It was the kind of thing one might expect to see in the eyes of a little boy as he waits to open the biggest package under the Christmas tree. As powerful as it was to have it directed toward me, that look wasn’t a good thing. Leading him on was the last thing I wanted to do. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just get a snack and then stop at a drive-through on my way to work.” My stomach chose that moment to disagree loudly with my plan.
He chuckled and pointed to my traitorous midsection. “There’s no way I’ll take no for an answer after that.”
“All right,” I relented. “Let me go shower and change first. Meet back here?”
I was halfway across the room when he responded, “It’s a date.”
Pausing when I got to the door, I realized that while I’d spelled it out to myself, I hadn’t been clear with him. “That was probably just a figure of speech, but I need to make sure we’re on the same page. I don’t date. We can be friends, but nothing more.”
A shit-eating grin was the absolute last response I expected. “Challenge accepted.”
My body deflated. “I’m not playing hard to get, and you shouldn’t waste your energy on me anyway. I have nothing to offer you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” His face softened into an understanding smile. “You have so much to offer; you just don’t see it.”
“And you do?”
“I’ve only known you a few hours, and that was more than enough time for me to see how special you are. Please, let me feed you. You’re hungry, and it’s the least I can do to show my appreciation for your help.”
My front teeth sank into my bottom lip as I considered his offer.
“C’mon. No pressure. We can go to the diner down the road.”
In a move totally out of character for me, I agreed. Not wanting to be pressed for time, I hurried up the stairs to my apartment to get cleaned up. After a quick shower, I dressed in a pair of jeans and a fitted tee. Not bothering with makeup, I pulled my damp hair into a ponytail before heading back downstairs. About fifteen minutes after I’d left, I knocked on his door.
“Ready?” I asked as soon as he opened it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman get ready so quickly.”
“I’ll have to fix myself up later for work, so I didn’t bother doing much now.”
“There isn’t a single thing about you that needs fixing. You look so…innocent.” He wouldn’t have been standing there talking to me if he knew just how wrong he was.
Taking my hand in his, he led me down the remaining stairs and out onto the sidewalk. I should have pulled away, but I enjoyed the unfamiliar connection much more than I should. Usually when my body was connected to a man, it wasn’t by something as innocent as holding hands.
It didn’t take very long to walk the four blocks to my favorite little mom-and-pop diner. Most of the restaurants in the area were on Main Street, but this one sat by itself in the other direction. The sun still shone brightly, and the air felt like a perfect seventy degrees. The weather this time of year was usually predictable. “April showers bring May flowers” isn’t just a saying around here; it’s typically a reliable forecast. This particular April, however, was out of the norm. There hadn’t been more than a sprinkle of rain in the past two weeks—not that I was complaining.
Like a true gentleman, Carter held the door for me when we arrived at the diner. “Is this okay? I’ve wanted to try it since the first time I came to see the apartment.”
“It’s great. Thank you.”
A server, who doubled as the hostess, greeted us immediately and gave Carter an
appreciative once-over before leading us to a booth.
“My name is Jill, and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.” Based on the way she eye fucked Carter, I knew she really did want to “take care” of him tonight. Suddenly, I wished I’d taken the time to put on makeup or had at least dried my hair.
Jealousy was an emotion I’d experienced before, so I recognized the symptoms. When I was young, I’d been jealous of other kids who got to go home to a loving family, a hot meal, and a warm bed every night after school. In college, I’d been jealous of the coeds whose parents paid their tuition, sent them care packages, and came to visit.
The unpleasant burning sensation in my chest was completely new. I couldn’t remember ever being jealous over a love interest. Not that Carter was a love interest, because he wasn’t—or that I’d ever had a real love interest, because I hadn’t. Even though I was pretty sure I wanted Carter, I knew there was no point in hoping I could actually be with him. I was stuck in my current situation for a while longer, and he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be okay with my unofficial job description, even after the fact. Maybe the catty bitch who was currently drooling all over my dinner companion could sense I wasn’t good enough for him.
“Babe, do you know what you want to drink?” Carter asked as he covered the hand I’d rested on the table with his.
Realizing I’d spaced out, I turned to Jill, who was now snarling at our physical connection. “I’ll have water, please.” I expected Carter to move his hand when she stormed off, but instead, he threaded his fingers through mine.
“She’s a bitch,” he said. “Don’t let her bother you.”
“She wasn’t bothering me.”
“Even though I’ve known you less than half of a day, I can tell you’re upset.”
“Okay, yes, she pissed me off. Mostly because she automatically assumed we aren’t together, or if we are, you would just ditch me for her without a second thought. I may not be a great catch, but that doesn’t give her the right to treat me like garbage.” It was one thing for me to feel that way about myself, but it was something totally different coming from her.
“I can assure you if anyone in this building is garbage, it’s her. Even without a speck of makeup on your face, you are infinitely more beautiful than she could ever hope to be, and she knows it.”
Men didn’t say things like that to women they barely knew. Well, maybe they did, but they sure as hell didn’t say them to me. This had to stop; I was already too caught up in him. Pulling my hand away, I said, “Thank you for defending me, even though you didn’t have to.” I did my best to give him a friendly smile. “Sorry for getting in the way of a sure thing.”
“I’m going to let that slide because we don’t know each other very well, but for future reference, I’m not the type of guy who fucks random women.” He wasn’t exactly angry with me, but he definitely wasn’t pleased with my comment.
“So, if I asked you to come home with me, you wouldn’t?” I cocked a brow at him, trying to lighten the mood.
“That’s an entirely different scenario. You aren’t random—not to me.” The corner of his mouth tipped in to a cute grin. “Plus, you are extremely hot.”
Flirting with him would have been easy, but it wasn’t the smart decision, so I focused on his more serious claim. “You just said we don’t know each other. How’s that not random?”
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” He must have seen the panic on my face, because he quickly added, “Don’t worry; I’m not saying I’m in love with you. I’m just trying to explain.”
“I guess I believe in lust at first sight.” Although I hadn’t before I met him.
“That’s different. When I saw you doing that little dance on the steps, I knew you’d be important to me; I just don’t know how yet.”
That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. Thinking back to his earlier comment that I’d mistaken for a pickup line, I remembered the familiarity I felt the first time I really looked at him. Perhaps he’d felt the same way and was able to express his thoughts more eloquently than I could.
“Maybe it was friendship at first sight,” I offered.
He abruptly took my hand again the moment before Jill stepped up to the table with our drinks.
“Are you ready to order?” she asked him with renewed determination. The top three buttons of her white uniform blouse had conveniently popped open while she’d been in the kitchen.
“What do you want, baby?” Carter asked me without sparing Jill the slightest glance.
I usually had the grilled chicken salad, but I was pretty sure anything I ordered today would be prepared with an extra serving of saliva. Not seeing a way to avoid it, I went ahead and asked for the salad with the dressing on the side. With any luck, the loogie would end up in there.
“Sounds good; I’ll have the same,” Carter said. I didn’t take him for a salad eater, but I was pleased at the show of solidarity.
When Jill took the menus from him, her fingers lingered over Carter’s hand several beats longer than necessary. “I’ll have it out in a flash,” she said to Carter before turning her back to him and smirking at me. I watched over my shoulder as she walked away, swinging her hips.
“Did you see that?” I turned back around in my seat. “She just won’t give up.”
“I wasn’t looking at her; I was looking at you.” He rubbed the tips of his fingers over my hand. “I have absolutely no interest in her. You, on the other hand, are a different story.”
“Like I tried to tell you earlier at your apartment, I don’t date. If I did, I’d definitely take you up on anything you were willing to offer, but I can’t date. My life is too fucked up.” It would have been so much easier if I could at least convince myself I didn’t want him.
“You said two different things in that statement. You said ‘don’t date’ and ‘can’t date’. You appear to be perfectly capable of dating, which leads me to believe it’s a choice.”
“It’s complicated. No matter whom or what I might want, it would never work. Everyone involved would be guaranteed to get hurt, and I just can’t do it; not to myself and definitely not to someone I care about.”
“Someday you’ll realize you’re wrong. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
“This is a pretty heavy conversation for our first day as friends.”
“You’re right.” He bobbed his head slightly and fiddled with a straw wrapper. “Are you from this area?”
Great. We’d gone from incredibly serious to inane. “I was born in Indy and lived there until about a year ago. I came out here once to visit a girl from work and realized the slower pace was kind of nice. The rent is a lot cheaper here, too.” It was more like I could live in a much safer neighborhood for the same amount of money. “Living in the burbs has its downfalls, like a longer drive to work, but the quiet is totally worth it.”
“Agreed. I lived in the heart of Indianapolis up until this morning.”
The speed of service at the diner had always been so-so, but today, the food flew out of the kitchen. I suspected our friendly neighborhood slut, who obviously couldn’t wait to get back to the man sitting across from me, had something to do with it.
Carter reached across the table as soon as Jill dropped a salad in front of me. “Is it okay if we switch? I’m not a huge fan of those fried crunchy things, and mine has more than yours.”
“Sure,” I said. There appeared to be a fairly equal quantity of tortilla chip pieces in each salad, but I knew the real reason why he wanted to switch.
“Wait!” The panic in Jill’s voice was comical. She snatched my former bowl from Carter’s hand and said, “I just noticed this one is missing tomatoes. I’ll be right back.”
“I counted at least six tomatoes in there,” Carter said after she’d scurried away.
“Thank you. You just saved me from having chicken à la spit for dinner.” I gave him a little smile and then wondered if there was anything gros
s in my water.
He leaned across the table, took one of the supposedly offensive chips from my salad, and popped it in his mouth. “I had a feeling that would happen. From now on, we’ll only eat food we can share, like pizza and Chinese takeout.”
“That’s not exactly the healthiest of diets,” I said. “We’ll have to limit it to once or twice a month.” Maybe if I limited all of our interactions to those semimonthly meals, it would be easier for me not to get any more attached. Who was I kidding? In less than a day, I was already completely hooked.
“Nah, I’ll just go to the gym more often.”
“I need to go more, too. This hot bod doesn’t happen by accident,” I joked. It was true though, and I couldn’t afford to gain any weight.
“That’s something else we can do together.” Carter’s smile could have lit up the whole room, but Jill extinguished it when she brought his new salad. I swear he was disappointed when she told him she’d made it without fried crunchies, just for him. Maybe in the future he’d be more careful when crafting excuses.
“Would you like to switch back?” I asked with a smile. “I really don’t need those calories.”
Carter didn’t even try to hide his excitement as we exchanged entrees again. “New rule. For the rest of our meal, we are going to ignore her and enjoy each other’s company.” Which was exactly what we did. I was having so much fun with him that I was kind of sad when it was time to leave.
I shouldn’t have been surprised Jill’s break time just happened to perfectly coincide with our departure. She followed us outside and put a hand on Carter’s arm to get his attention.
He reflexively jerked away, and when he realized who it was, he tucked me into his side and wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders. “What do you want now?” he asked, clearly fighting to keep his cool.
“You forgot your receipt.” She held out the slip of paper. “I wrote my number on the back.”
“Which is exactly why I left it on the table.” He lowered his arm from my shoulders to my waist and pulled me even closer to him. I didn’t bother to hide my satisfied smile.