I dragged my tired, lying ass to bedand tried in vain not to think about that damned dimpled grin.
Thankfully my car was ready when Katdrove me to pick it up the following day. My pathfinder was nothing fancy, butit was practical and it was all mine, which always meant something to me. I wasextremely happy to have it back.
“Here, I’m supposed to give you this,”Manny grumbled when I paid my bill. He handed me over an envelope and I lookedat him in confusion.
“Don’t look at me,” he said as heshrugged, turning back to his paperwork. I walked over to my car while readingthe note that I took out of the envelope. I was soon grinning despite myself.
“The last name’s Jackson, just in caseyou wanted to do a background check. Here’s my number-- 540-8970, use it.”
I couldn’t help but grin at hisflippancy. I folded up the note and put it in my purse, flattered that he’dtaken the time to come back to the shop to leave it for me. Clearly this was aman who was used to getting what he wanted. Unfortunately for him, in thisinstance, he was in for a rude awakening.
Chapter Two
“Scar, come on, seriously. Younevergo out,” Kat whined a week latertrying her best for the hundredth time to get me to accompany her to ourcoworker’s birthday party. I rolled my eyes at her and turned my attention backto my movie. “Ok you know what, consider this an intervention,” she said firmly,snapping the TV off and standing in front of it with her hands on her hips.
“Hey!” I protested.
“No, seriously Scarlet. This isridiculous. All you do is work, read, and workout. You’re heartbreakinglygorgeous, your young, and you need tolive,”she said forcefully. “I’m not saying you need to come out just to meet some guy,but come out just to be out,” she insisted. “It’ll be fun, remember fun?” shepressed.
I sighed, reluctant to admit that shewas right. I knew I probably guarded myself too closely, that I should get outmore. The only socializing I really did was when we had people over, or when wehad drinks with coworkers at the bar after our shifts. But I liked feeling incontrol and safe, something that could only be attained by keeping my worldrelatively small. It had felt big and harsh enough for the first eighteenyears.
“Please?” she pleaded one last time.
“Fine,” I replied, and surprised usboth.
“Really? Ok great!” she exclaimedjumping up and down. “This will be so much fun!”
Kat was clearly enjoying getting readytogether. I felt somewhat reluctant. I’d guarded myself so closely for the lasteight years. I hadn’t changed my name or anything as extreme as that, but I’dtried hard to stay under the radar. Rationally, every time she successfullydragged me out, I knew that one night out wouldn’t change anything, but it mademe feel oddly vulnerable. I forced myself to shake it off and to enjoy a nightout with my best friend.
Kat decided on skinny jeans and afigure hugging tank top that complimented her slender frame. She kept her eye makeuprelatively simple, but chose bright red lipstick that offset her raven hair,which was cut short for the summer. She had beautiful blue eyes that complementedher dark hair and pale, porcelain skin. She was a complete and total knockout.
My figure was much curvier than hers,with my large breasts and an ass that only frequent exercise could tame. I wastall for a girl and I worked out often, so I always looked slender, but I wasno stick figure that was for sure. I chose a lightweight summer dress thathugged my hips and showed some leg. It had a modest neckline with an open back,which made it sexier than the average summer dress. I paired it with myplatform sandals and left my long hair down and naturally wavy. I did a smokyeye, which made my green, almond-shaped eyes pop, but I went with a nude lipgloss so I didn’t look too overdone. All in all, I thought we both lookedpretty fantastic.
We hopped in a cab and were soonheaded downtown to our coworker’s birthday party at some bar I’d unsurprisinglynever heard of. The place was packed when we arrived, and Kat automaticallytook my hand and pulled me toward the bar to order drinks.
I was pleased to find that it wasn’teven an hour into the party and I was having fun. The music was good andseveral of our other coworkers were there. Everyone was so excited that I showedup. It made me realize how much I needed to get out more. Connie, the birthdaygirl, had greeted us enthusiastically. Connie was upbeat and always seemed tobe in a good mood. I often thought that I should have some of whatever shewas havingto make her so seemingly high on life. She soonintroduced me to her boyfriend, Wes, who I had seen in the brewery a few timesbut hadn’t met formally. They were an interesting match. Connie looked likeyour typical California girl with her blond hair and tanned skin, while Wes wasdark skinned and somewhat menacing with his large frame and shaved head.
Wes seemed nice enough, though he wasclearly guarded. He watched Connie with a kind of intensity that I envied. He obviouslycared deeply for her and was protective in a way that I found to be sweetinstead of suffocating. I hadn’t thought about my own love life in so long, andI suddenly realized that I was lonely. Aside from a casual date here and there,I hadn’t had a serious boyfriend since I’d left home. I missed the intimacy ofit, the comfort. I was shocked and even a bit disgusted that I could think backto my time with Jake with any type of yearning given the way things had ended.
My thoughts shifted to Cole as theyhad often done in the past week, and I thought of the note I’d kept in mypurse. I hadn’t thrown it out despite considering it often. I had to admit thatI’d had more than one fantasy about him since we met. I shook my head to dispelthe current direction of my thoughts, and I excused myself from the table to goget another drink.
“Can I buy you a drink?” a guy saidwith a smile as I walked up to the bar. He was far too preppy for my taste, buthandsome in his own way. He also looked like he’d had one too many drinks.
“No thanks,” I said as I shook my headpolitely.
“Just one drink,” he pleaded, tryingto lay the charm on, but immediately turned me off in the process. “You’re themost beautiful girl in the room,” he murmured, his hand drifting to my bareback. I stepped back immediately, planning to head back to my friends, but hishand clamped firmly on my arm. “Hey, where are yougoin'?”he asked, his eyes traveling down my figure.
“If you want to keep that hand, youbetter remove it in two fucking seconds,” a voice growled angrily behind me. Myheart leapt at the familiarity of it, and I inwardly scolded myself for theinvoluntary flutter that fled through my entire body. What was he doing here?How long had he been standing there?
The guy at the bar looked slightlytaken aback, but he quickly removed his hand. “Sorry, just a bit of harmlessfun,” he explained casually.
I narrowed my eyes at him beforeturning to face the formidable frame of Cole, who was still glaring angrily atpreppy guy.
“What are you doing?” I askednervously. I was completely befuddled at seeing him.
Instead of answering, he shocked me byputting an arm around me and leading me toward the other end of the bar asthough he’d done it a thousand times. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t enjoythat short walk pressed against his firm body. And I may have leaned in to takea sniff of him, just a small one. He smelled amazing, of course.
“New Castle,” he ordered from thebartender who’d come over within moments of seeing Cole standing there. Icarefully edged out from under his arm, despite wanting very much to stay rightthere.
