“Let me help.” I start to move, feeling bad that I’m not doing anything.
“You stay right there.” His voice stops me in my tracks, and I look up, seeing him striding toward me. All tall, dark, and handsome. His face and hair are wet, droplets of water running down him.
“You’re a bit wet…” Is that my voice? I sound like a harlot as Sutton’s smile turns into a seductive smirk, and I think I almost trip.
“Hmmmm, you will be too in a minute. Let’s go.” He grabs the pizzas, and we both run to his truck before I can think too hard about what he said. He has the door open for me in a flash, and as I pull myself up, he gives the pizzas to James, before coming back to me, ensuring I’m inside and closing the door. Chivalry didn’t die like I thought it did.
I wipe the water droplets from my brow, trying to pull myself together, my body hot and thrumming while my clothes are a damp and cold contrast.
“This pizza smells sooooo good…” James murmurs from the back, just as Sutton jumps into the truck.
“Everyone alright?” He looks from me to James and back again. His hair hangs over his forehead a little, droplets falling from the ends. The water from his scalp runs down his temple, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Before I think about it, my hand shoots out, brushing the water from his brow before it hits his eyes.
We both still. The action catches us off guard, and I snatch my hand back like I’ve been burned.
My heart thuds in my ears. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright.” His smirk is in full effect. “I kinda like your hands on me.”
I want to die. I want my hot cheeks to ignite me into a raging ball of fire and end it all right here. We look at each other, the tension thick, and I swallow, needing to dampen my dry throat. I have no idea what’s gotten into me today. But after a few weeks of him watching me from afar, his kind gestures, his help with James, I’m starting to see that this man is much more than just a movie star in hiding.
“The pizza’s getting cold!” James interrupts us from the back, and we both chuckle, the tension relieved for now. As Sutton starts the truck, I look down his body again, seeing just how transparent his shirt is up close and just how big his muscles are. It’s not helping my flush.
I look away, my gaze straight ahead at the parking lot as I tell him, “You didn’t need to do this, you know.”
His fingers reach over to my chin, and he lifts my gaze to meet his, my cheeks turning redder at being caught out. Again.
“I like your eyes on me like that, Tinker Bell, but right now, we need to get you home and fed.” His grin is wicked, and as if on cue, my traitorous stomach rumbles so loud it can be heard from the next county.
But what he said distracts me from that embarrassment. “Tinker Bell?”
He drives us out of the diner and onto the road. Going slow in the rain.
“Tiny. Cute. Spirited, Enchanting. Pretty fitting if you ask me.”
He has a nickname for me? I lose my breath before my brain starts working again. “You know, the name Tinker Bell comes from the old English term tinker, referring to a metalworker who repaired pots and kettles.” I internally cringe. I have no idea why I’m even talking at this point.
Sutton barks out a laugh. “I like when you do that.”
“Do what?” I ask, biting the inside of my lip.
“Spout out those quirky, intelligent facts about things.” He looks from the road to me quickly, smiling.
“I don’t spout things.”
“Yeah, you do. You told me all about old coffee the other day.”
I think about what he’s referring to. The little tokens of facts usually fly out so quickly, I barely register them anymore.
“They’re just little tidbits,” I murmur.
“Okay, well, tell me something about rain?” he says playfully. I shouldn’t lean into it. Just like I shouldn’t smile when I see him or miss him when I don’t.
“Raindrops aren’t tear-shaped. They’re more like hamburger buns due to air resistance.”
James groans. “Now I feel like hamburgers.”
Laughing lightly, Sutton asks me, “How do you know all these things?”
