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His eyes flicker over my mouth, rest there for a moment while he struggles with his indecision, and finally he releases my hips. “Soon,” he says quietly, almost to himself.
His shift ends an hour before mine. He waits at the bar instead of going home, and he watches me out of the corner of his eye, making it impossible to behave naturally. My waitressing skills perhaps worsen, if that’s possible.
“Are you meeting Max here or something?” Ginny asks.
“No,” he says, with a quick glance at me. “I thought I’d just hang out here and give you guys a ride home.”
“We don’t need a ride,” she says. “I drove.”
He looks only at me when he replies. “Then I’ll just be waiting at home.”
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t need to wait, James. I’m 19.”
He’s still looking at me. “Yeah, I know. I’m still going to wait.”
She frowns after he leaves. “He’s acting weird,” she complains.
“Weird how?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “He’s acting all, like, happy and mellow. You don’t think he started smoking pot with Max do you?”
I try to hide my smile and I can’t. Happiness spreads through me, makes me feel airborne. “No.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” she says. “Max could talk anyone into anything.”
“Oh?” I grin. “Is that right? Even you?”
“No,” she scowls. “Not me.”
I have no idea how this is going to work, with Ginny at home with us. I only know that I want it to work. That I’m willing to lie or do all manner of unadvisable things to make it happen.
And I don’t want to smell like grilled meat if it does, so I go shower when we get home while Ginny heads to the back. When I find them on the deck, his eyes sweep my face and then descend, stuttering briefly over my thighs before he raises them again, darker than they were before. My hair is still wet and my face is bare and I’m in nothing but shorts and a tank, but the way he looks at me makes me feel loose-limbed and feverish.
“What’s up with everyone needing to shower after work?” Ginny grouses. “Now you guys are both clean and I smell like a walking hamburger.”
If she was more observant she’d notice the guilty smiles on both our faces, but she’s too busy griping about work and Max to notice. For 30 minutes we sit there. He watches me, his eyes growing feral, and I want to cry in frustration.
Finally Ginny yawns and turns to me. “You ready for bed yet?”
I definitely am, but not in the way she’s thinking. “No, not yet.”
“Come on,” she whines. “I want to hear what really happened with Nick, away from prying ears.”
I shoot a quick glance at James and watch that muscle pop in his jaw.
“I already told you what really happened,” I say. “I wasn’t into it.”
“Well of course you’re going to say that with James sitting there acting parental. Come on,” she whines.
I take one lingering glance at James and reluctantly go inside.
What she really wants to talk about is Max, and the fact that he is once again not sleeping at home. When I have no comment on that, she asks if she should break up with Alex. I tell her yes, I think she should, and she proceeds to argue about all the ways he’s a perfect boyfriend and would make a perfect husband. I get a text during all of this from James.
CAN YOU COME BACK DOWN?
I smile. WHEN SHE FALLS ASLEEP?
He writes back: I CAN’T WAIT THAT LONG.
