AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Forcing his eyes shut, he tried to sleep. Told himself he would never go see her again.
Planned to go see her as soon as he woke up tomorrow.
Stacy couldn’t believe she still thought about him. The jerk. He was a complete asshole for leaving her at the restaurant last night. Just walked out, claiming he needed to use the bathroom, yeah right. She knew from the moment he slid out of the booth he was leaving. She wished he’d been honest. She wouldn’t have liked it but she could’ve accepted it a lot easier than his seeming abandonment of her.
It was as bad as the clichéd “I need to go buy a pack of cigarettes” line a husband used on his wife and never returned home. Her mom even had a friend who had that happen to her, no joke. Stacy knew Eric’s ditching of her wasn’t as serious or as heartbreaking as that, but still.
It hurt.
Luckily enough she’d been busy at work all day. One appointment after another, she didn’t get a chance for a break whatsoever. Which was fine with her since it made the day go by much faster.
But now her day was almost over and she had to face going home. Alone. She couldn’t call Alexa and mope because hello, she couldn’t reveal who she was complaining about. She even missed Keith, which was bizarre since their relationship had suffered for months before the breakup.
She was just flat-out lonely. Her parents were out of town and besides, they lived too far away. Any of her other friends would want to talk about the ending of her relationship with Keith. They weren’t caught up on the new events in her life.
Like the fact that she was attracted to a guy who was so wrong for her it wasn’t even funny. Not only was he wrong for her as in damaged goods, but he preferred guys. Most of the time. And she wasn’t some adventurous hottie like Alexa, the only woman she knew of that Eric had been with. She was boring. Normal. Not adventurous whatsoever.
Not a woman Eric would ever seriously be interested in.
Stacy finished cleaning up her station and grabbed her purse, waving at those who still remained in the salon. Headed out into the darkening night toward her car, which was parked down the street, she didn’t even see the man lurking by the corner of the building until he practically ran out in front of her and made her scream.
“Stace, it’s me.” Eric stopped just in front of her, grabbing her shoulders with his big hands and giving her a little shake.
Her heart raced triple time, and she shook her head, glaring up at him. “Oh my God, I thought you were some kind of creep trying to jump me!”
“Sorry.” He smiled. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She glared at him. God, he looked good. He also really pissed her off. “Get your hands off me.”
He released her without argument, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. She didn’t bother saying a word and resumed walking toward her car. He fell into step right next to her. She could smell him, his spicy pine scent wafted toward her and she wanted to punch him. Hit him for leaving her and making her feel pitiful and unworthy. He was a selfish ass who didn’t consider anyone else but himself.
And yet she was inexplicably drawn to him. As if she couldn’t help herself.
It was annoying as hell.
“What do you want?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.
“I wanted to see you,” he admitted, the velvety deep timbre of his voice washing over her even on the loud city street. It was an intimate sound, made her feel as if they were the only ones there though she saw a woman coming out of the Starbucks not twenty feet away from them. “I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Great. I don’t accept your apology. Now leave me alone.” She saw her car in the distance and the temptation to grab him, shove him in her car and never let him go was overwhelming.
She wouldn’t do it. No matter what, she refused to ask him to do anything because he would reject her. She knew it.
“I know I was a jerk. Trust me, I know.” He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up sexily. The guy was way too good looking. “And you have every right to be mad at me.”
Stacy snorted. “I’m furious with you.”
“Fine, you’re furious with me, I get it. I deserve it, and I don’t blame you. But.” He stopped, and her feet automatically stopped too. She couldn’t help but be curious about what he had to say. “I feel like shit for what I did, and I want to make it up to you.”
She crossed her arms and cocked a brow. It would take a lot for him to be able to make up for what he did to her last night. “How?”
“I can’t do it out here.” He glanced around them. “Where’s your car?”
“Over there.” She tipped her head in its general direction.
“The silver Honda?”
“Nope.” Oh God, she was going to tell him which car was hers and…and then what?
