“No, I left an hour ago.”
“Hilarious. Go call the night guard and ask what the hold-up is,” I suggested. “You definitely sure you can’t come out Saturday night for Seth’s birthday?”
He shook his head in answer. “Definitely. I have family over. Next time though, for sure.”
I nodded absentmindedly as I glanced up at Rosie. She was frowning down into her purse. “I’ll catch you later, Rick.” I walked over to Rosie, glancing over her shoulder and seeing that she had just over four dollars in her purse. “Ready?” I smiled.
As she jumped and looked up at me, her frown left her face and a teasing smile graced her lips. “Actually, I can’t. I’ve just remembered that I have to go and wash my hair. Sorry.”
Brush off number four, why the hell do I like this? “Baby, I’m going to have sex with you tonight, so you might as well be there.” I smiled at her and tried to go for the confident look that told her I knew how to show her a good time. I’d definitely never had any complaints before.
She laughed, shaking her head and wrinkling her nose in distaste. “That’s not happening, sorry. Thanks for the offer and it was nice to finally meet you.”
Her sneakers squeaked on the polished floor as she spun on her heel and walked off. I stared after her in shock. Rejected, five times. This was getting a little worrying, but the annoying thing was, I was actually starting to like it. I’d never really had to try to get a girl before and Rosie’s disinterest was actually proving to be quite fun. Most guys complained about having to chase girls, but in reality, having it handed to you on a plate was boring after a while. This was all totally new to me, and certainly enjoyable.
A smile slipped onto my face as I ran to catch up with her. I wasn’t willing to admit defeat yet.
She didn’t look at me as I matched my pace to hers, keeping my eyes straight, purposefully walking a little close to her side but not touching her. I ignored her completely, trying desperately not to smile as I saw her glance at me quickly, obviously wondering what I was doing by walking so close to her and not speaking. We walked silently down the corridors, working our way out of the building. Every couple of seconds she would glance at me slyly; she actually looked a little worried.
“Which way are you going?” she asked, as she stopped, frowned and stepped away from me slightly. I was obviously encroaching in her personal space and making her uncomfortable.
I pursed my lips, pretending to think. “Not sure yet, I’ll let you know.”
She scowled at me and clutched her purse closer to her side as she walked off. I grinned and matched my stride to hers again; we were almost at the main exit now. She stopped just inside the door and gestured for me to go through first.
“Ladies first.” I shook my head and pushed the door open, standing there, smiling politely until she sighed and marched through it, turning right towards the street. I quickly caught up with her, again walking that little bit too close for comfort.
She stopped and scowled at me. “What the hell are you doing?”
I shrugged casually. “Stalking you.”
A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth and her eyes softened slightly. “How’s that working out for you?”
I scrunched my nose up. “It’s a little boring actually. You think maybe you could do something to liven this up a little?” I asked, trying to keep my expression serious.
She burst out laughing and I smiled proudly. “Are you gonna leave me alone?” she asked when she had calmed down somewhat.
“Not until after we’ve eaten.”
She sighed and shook her head. “I really can’t.”
“Come on, Rosie, I need to celebrate the fact that my best friend in the world just had a baby. Don’t make me do that on my own. I’m buying. You can order the most expensive thing on the menu just to spite me if you want,” I offered.
Come on, say yes. One little word. Y.E.S. Just say yes! She didn’t look like she was going for it, so I decided maybe I’d try and make her go for it. There were a few people around, smoking and talking outside the hospital.
I dropped down onto my knees and grabbed her hand before she even had a chance to react. “Please come out with me. Please, I’m begging you, please! Don’t leave me hanging like this in front of all of these people,” I begged dramatically, gesturing to all the people who were now watching me make a complete and utter dick out of myself.
A blush rapidly spread across her cheeks.
“Please, Rosie, I’m begging you to give me a chance! I can’t sleep because I’m always thinking about you. I can’t eat. I don’t even see other girls any more; all I see is you. Please, you’re killing me,” I continued, getting louder. I turned to the middle-aged woman standing staring at us, shocked. “You think she should give me a chance, don’t you? I’ve been in love with her for the last ten years, and she won’t give me a shot. Why, Rosie? Why?” I wailed dramatically, fighting to keep the smile off my face. The gorgeous little brunette was now a bright shade of red as she tugged, trying to get her hand out of my grip.
The lady watching put her hand over her heart. “Aww, honey, give him a chance. If a handsome man begged me like that I’d sure as hell give him a shot,” she gushed, nodding in encouragement.
Rosie shifted on her feet uncomfortably, ducking her head in embarrassment. “Get up!” she hissed.
I raised a challenging eyebrow. “Oh no. This continues until you agree to come to dinner with me,” I whispered. “Please, Rosie, PLEASE?” I begged, loudly.
She winced and looked around quickly with a horrified expression on her face. “Fine, just get up!”
I jumped to my feet, grinning triumphantly. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I gloated. I turned towards the people who were watching the scene in shock and amusement. I held my hands up above my head in celebration. “She said yes!” I shouted excitedly for the benefit of the crowd. Some of them cheered, a couple applauded; I smiled and gave a little bow as Rosie practically ran away from me in the direction of the parking lot.
I caught up to her easily and winced as her purse slapped me in the stomach. “That was so freaking embarrassing!” she groaned, slyly glancing over her shoulder to see if the crowd of people was still watching us.
I threw my arm around her shoulder. “Oh, you loved it.”
“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath. “I’m so ordering the lobster.”
“Yeah, me too,” I joked, winking at her when she looked up at me. Judging by her playful and amused eyes, she wasn’t angry with me for making a scene. When her elbow jabbed into my ribs warningly, I let my arm slide off her shoulder and grinned. “I actually like it a little rough,” I joked, rubbing my side as she rolled her eyes at me. This was the most fun I’d had with a girl for a long time. She reminded me a little of Anna – spunky and game for a laugh.
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” She raised one eyebrow in warning.
“No way, muffin. I can’t wait to embarrass you in the restaurant too,” I teased.
She closed her eyes and groaned as I closed my hand over hers and pulled her in the general direction of my car. On the way to the restaurant, she barely spoke to me. I purposefully chose a fairly nice one so she could put a dent in my credit card like she obviously wanted to as payback for the little scene outside the hospital.
“So, where do you live? I’ve heard Anna mention you’re a couple of hours away?” I asked curiously, as we scanned the menus.
“Barstow, San Bernardino,” she answered. “But I’m moving to LA next week for my job.”
“Yeah? What’s your job?”
“I’m a teacher; well, I will be a teacher when I move here anyway. At the moment, I work three jobs to pay the rent.” She shrugged easily.
A teacher? Wow, there certainly weren’t any teachers that looked like her at the school I went to.
“You’re going to be a teacher? What grade?”
“Second,” she answered, shrugging.
> “That’s good. I felt sorry for the poor kids for a minute then, having to try and concentrate with a hottie teacher. I guess in second grade they won’t be daydreaming about what colour panties you have on instead of listening to your lesson.” I smirked confidently as she laughed and shook her head at me.
“You really are a flirt. I give you ten out of ten for the attempt, but seriously, if you’re expecting me to sleep with you then you’re going to be really disappointed.” She looked at me challengingly as she sat back in her chair.
“Oh, now I get it. You’re a lesbian,” I replied, trying to look serious.
Her hard exterior cracked and she burst into laughter. “So you think the only reason that a girl would turn you down, is because she’s a lesbian?”
“Hell yeah, no girl can resist me,” I replied, only half joking, she was actually the only girl that had ever turned me down. Hopefully she actually was a lesbian and then I could relax, safe in the knowledge that my sex appeal was unquestioned.
“I’m not a lesbian and I can resist you, trust me. You really aren’t my type,” she stated, looking me over in a disinterested manner.
“Not your type? What the hell does that mean? What’s wrong with me?” I asked, genuinely wanting to hear what she’d say.
“I don’t go for cocky, overconfident guys that care more about how they look than whether they have anything interesting to say. Players just don’t do it for me.” She shrugged taking a drink of her water, her amused eyes not leaving mine.
“I have plenty interesting to say,” I countered.
She leant forward in her chair. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
Fuck it. What the hell do I say to that? I frowned, wondering what she would find interesting. I needed to actually think of something that she would be impressed with. Panic bubbled in my stomach as nothing sprung to mind. Thankfully, the waiter came over and took our order, so I got a few minutes reprieve. Surprisingly, she didn’t order anything too expensive like I thought she would.
When the waiter walked off, I smiled and decided to change the subject. “Cameron’s so cute, isn’t he?”
She smiled. “Nice diversion. And yeah, he was incredibly cute, but then again with parents like Anna and Ashton, the kid’s going to be good-looking.”
“Yeah, I guess he’s got good genes,” I admitted. “Our kid would be hot too.” As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn’t. Another comment about us sleeping together. Clearly I couldn’t take a hint or a rejection.
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” she commented, rolling her eyes.
“Not around you by the looks of it. So, what three jobs are you working now then?” I questioned, trying to change the subject.
“I work in a restaurant as a waitress at lunchtimes. I have a cleaning job, and I’m a maid in a hotel.” She shrugged turning her nose up.
My ears pricked up at the last one. “Oh yeah? You have one of those little French maid outfits?” I asked, grinning as I started to imagine her in one.
She sighed and a smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. “Those are just for sexual dressing up, Nate, so no, I don’t own one of those.”
“Oh. Well, don’t worry then, I’ll let you borrow mine,” I joked.
She chuckled. “You’re actually quite funny.”
I smiled at the half compliment. “So, how come we’ve never met before? You definitely weren’t at Ashton and Anna’s wedding.” They’d gotten married just over four years ago; we’d all gone to the Maldives to see them get married on the beach. At the time, it was only close friends and family invited, but if this was Anna’s best friend then surely she would have been asked to be a bridesmaid or something.
She frowned and shook her head. “No, I couldn’t go to the wedding.”
“How come?” I pressed.
She blew out a big breath and looked down at the table. “I had a lot going on at the time and it made it impossible for me to go. I’m sorry I missed it, it looked so beautiful.”
“Yeah, it was a nice place. So, what did you have going on at the time?”
“My, we are nosy aren’t we!”
Deciding to change the subject because she clearly wasn’t going to tell me, I leant forward and grinned wickedly. “So, what do you want me to do to embarrass you in the restaurant?” I teased.
Her smile fell off her face immediately. “Nothing.”
“How about I get down on one knee and propose, then pretend I’ve lost the ring?” I suggested.
She chuckled uncomfortably. “If you do that, then I’m going to say no, and announce to everyone that I’ve been sleeping with your brother and that he’s ten times better in bed than you are.”
I loved her come back. “Okay, two things wrong with that statement. One, I don’t have a brother, and two, no one’s better in bed than I am.”
She suddenly looked serious. “Nate, please don’t embarrass me. I hate being the centre of attention.” She looked at me pleadingly, giving me the most adorably cute puppy dog face I’d ever seen. Holy crap, did I just think that a girl looked cute? I meant sexy; yeah, sexy is a lot better. Wow, I’m turning into some sort of pansy or something.
“Okay, I won’t… if you agree that you find me attractive,” I offered.
“You need to bribe girls to get them to admit that? Wow, I feel a little sorry for you,” she replied, faking sympathy.
“Fine, I’ll leave it for now, but I bet you twenty bucks that you’ll be coming home with me tonight,” I stated confidently, crossing my arms over my chest.
She laughed and shook her head. “Save your money, I don’t want it. Just so this little flirting thing will stop though, I’ll tell you now that I already have a man in my life and he’s everything I need.”
She smiled happily and her face softened. Irrational jealousy started to form in my stomach. Rosie was fun, beautiful, funny and challenging. I would certainly like to see more of her, but she definitely didn’t look like she was willing to cheat on her man, so I really had no chance with her at all.
“Oh,” I muttered, trying not to show her how disappointed I was.
“Sorry. I did tell you before dinner that I wasn’t interested.” She looked at me apologetically.
The fighter in me wasn’t ready to give up yet though. “No worries, we can still enjoy dinner. Maybe I’ll make you forget your man’s name by the end of the meal.”
The rest of the night was fun. Both of us were laughing so hard that, at one point, she almost spat her drink out of her mouth. I continued to flirt with her but she really wasn’t interested. Every time she brushed me off I became more and more frustrated, but turned on by it at the same time. It was a weird sensation; liking it, but hating it at the same time. Rosie was a great person; I could see why she was such a good friend to Anna.
I paid for the dinner and she smiled gratefully as we walked out. “Thanks for that. That was a nice place,” she said, nodding over her shoulder at the restaurant as we walked down the street to where I’d parked my car.
“Yeah, and don’t worry, I’ll let you pay next time,” I joked. When she wrapped her arms around herself, hugging against the cold, I slipped my leather jacket off and draped it around her shoulders.
She smiled gratefully and pulled it tighter around her. “Thanks.”
I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She had a beautiful smile; her bottom lip was slightly fuller than her top one making them look so kissable that I could barely stop myself from grabbing her, shoving her against the nearest building, and crashing my mouth to hers.
“Sure. What time’s your train? Want to go get a drink now or something?” I asked hopefully.
“I need to get back.” She looked a little torn, as if she wanted to go for a drink with me – or maybe that was just wishful thinking because she was crushing my ego.
“Okay, come on then I’ll drive you to the station,” I said reluctantly.
When we got to my car, I strutted around to the driver’s side
and climbed in, and then immediately cursed myself for not thinking to open her door for her. I was terrible with this, clearly. I had no practice with this type of thing at all, because usually the girl would be falling all over me by now so it wouldn’t matter if I’d opened her door or not. I had no idea how to be a ‘gentleman’.
The ride to the train station was quiet. When we pulled up, she shrugged off my jacket and held it out to me. Before taking it, I frowned out of the windshield, not liking the thought of just dropping her off and leaving her without knowing that she got on her train safely. It was pitch black outside. I pushed the jacket back towards her.
“I’ll walk you inside.” I didn’t wait for an answer as I climbed out of the car and started to walk around to her side. She smiled gratefully as she climbed out. While we walked to the right platform, she slipped my jacket back around her shoulders. Luckily, her train was about to leave so she wouldn’t have to wait long.
At the door of the train, she slipped my jacket off and held it out to me, smiling. “Thanks for dinner, Nate, it was fun.”
“Yeah, it was,” I agreed. I cleared my throat, just needing to try one more time. “So, do I really not get your number?”
Enjoying the Chase Page 2