That’s why I don’t rush out the second I get the chance. And why I ignore my nature, shirking my responsibility that would normally force me to help Haley manage the cafe while her fiancé, Luke, is out of town, to ask this enchanting mysterious man, “What the hell is going on?”
"You know what,” he says entirely too sure of himself but somehow, in a way that doesn’t condescend.
And this is when I realize that he may not hurt me but this silver-tongued devil is dangerous in other ways.
"Wait," he says when I steel my stance with my arms crossed over my chest and jutting my hip to one side.
"Do you seriously not know who I am?" he asks with genuine shock in his voice.
"You're the guy I'm about two seconds away from calling the cops on if you don't start explaining." I need to pull myself together. I don’t know this man and I’ve given him way more leeway than I should.
He pulls a hand through the thick wave of his dark brown hair. His brow scrunches together, his eyes darting back and forth as though he’s waiting for the right words to appear written on the floor in front of him.
I sigh and take a step in his direction.
"It wouldn't happen to have to do with the heard of people that followed you in here would it?"
He chuckles softly. "You seriously don't know, do you?"
"Listen, I have to get back out there and you can't be in here without paying, so..." I reach back, flip the lock and crack open the door. Quick as a whip he’s next to me again, his hand slamming the door and holding it shut, keeping us trapped. He towers over me again, glowering.
Okay, that's not good.
My heart pounds jackhammer-fast as I turn and duck under his arm to put some space between us. "I'd like to go now, please," I say trying not to scream. The last thing I want is to provoke him or give him a reason to use the same force on me he used to shut the door.
"Fuck," he says on a sigh pushing his free hand through his hair again. “How did they even find me?”
My heart calms down a bit as soon as his focus shifts to whatever brought us here in the first place.
And what is that?
Those people. Who are they? Or who does he think they are?
“Who? Who found you?” I ask.
“Paparazzi. Bloggers. Anyone’s guess,” he says.
Well? Who usually runs from those kinds of people?
"Are you famous or something?" I ask studying him more closely for features I might recognize. Though it isn't likely I will find anything. I rather enjoy the solitude of my small-town life and rarely break the illusion. Staying away from current events and tabloids. Plus, I much prefer reading to television or movies. When I have the time to do anything. Which is rare.
“Wild. You really have no idea who I am,” he says with the most sparkling, perfect smile lighting his face. Wrinkling the corners of his eyes in the most drop-dead gorgeous way I never thought possible of wrinkles. And on top of being insanely gorgeous, his excitement is addicting. Taking him in is like a hit of some kind of drug I’ll never get enough of.
Shit. Is it possible to be addicted to a person?
"Is there a back door out of here?" he asks taking a long step and pressing his ear to the door.
"Through the kitchen,” I tell him trying not to sound as obsessed with him as my body already is.
“Can we get there without going through the dining room?”
"Down the hall. But Gage won't like you going through there."
His eyes sparkle with mischief as he bites the corner of his bottom lip and squints like he’s bracing for the slap I should have given him the second he trapped me in here. And damn does it look good on him. Makes me tingle in all the right places. "Could you maybe help with that?" he asks.
I bet he's pretty used to that look getting him what he wants. And it will again. If for no other reason than I need to get out of here as badly as he does. The fact that Haley hasn't checked up on me again tells me just how swamped she must be without me.
I make my way to the door. Standing next to him with my hand on the knob, that sweet and spicy cologne of his engulfing me again making my knees buckle.
