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When I met his gaze again his closed off expression was replaced by a smile that revealed sparkling white teeth. Leaning in as if to whisper a secret, he spoke softly, “I’m glad someone appreciates all the hard work I put in to look like this.”
. Heat bloomed in my cheeks. I couldn’t play off that I’d been gawking at him like a boy obsessed schoolgirl This close, I realized his eyes were far more than a simple grey. I’d call them silver but that didn’t do them justice. Set beneath perfect, dense lashes, they were beautiful, harboring a hardness that was impossible to miss.
I wished I had more time to study them, memorize the colors swirling in the center and dancing around their edges, but I had done enough staring as it was.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized.
“Don’t be. You’re gorgeous, how could I be anything but flattered that you like me?”
His tone was teasing. I dared say flirtatious even. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d been flirted with. Most guys knew they’d never get anywhere with me, so they didn’t bother.
I was no virgin and the furthest thing from a prude, I just didn’t pass my vagina around like a hot potato.
Mystery man’s eyes roamed downward, flickering back to mine when he got to where my nipples were poking through my top the look on his face one, I couldn’t decipher. Quite honestly, it was weirding me out that I wanted to. I had seen hot guys before, admittedly none of them looked like him. But I never felt anything from merely standing in their presence and couldn’t care less what they may or may not be thinking.
As if sensing my discomfort, he shuffled back the smallest bit. Not far enough to put an abundance of space between us but I appreciated the sentiment.
“So, what kind?” I asked Em, attempting to refocus.
“You decide.”
I shrugged and grabbed a bottle of silver Patron, then thought about it and reached for a second.
If we consumed as much of this as I predicted, I’d need to restock once they left. After the looks she and Annika gave me earlier, it probably wasn’t wise to snatch up as many bottles as I could. One extra would have to suffice, for now.
“Nice choice.”
“I ‘ve got pretty good taste.”
That earned me another grin. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Rhett. And that’s Callum.” He motioned towards his friend, who was now loading bottles of different Vodka into his cart.
“Wow,” Emery murmured loud enough that he heard.
“I was just thinking the same thing about you,” he retorted, looking over at her with a boyish smile.
“I think she was referring to your extreme amount of alcohol.”
“Can one really ever have too much alcohol?”
“Not if you don’t care about your liver,” Emery replied matter-of-factly.
I looked between the two of them, her and this Callum guy, and I swear the smile on her face had grown two times bigger since he’d spoken. I completely understood why. Callum was just as attractive as Rhett. Same height and build but with a smaller amount of tats. Light brown hair and hazel eyes.
They were exactly the kind of trouble we didn’t need. Knowing their names was good enough for me. Now I knew these were the new guys in town, the ones Em had been going on and on about a few weeks ago.
“Come on,” I said to her, stepping back so I was no longer boxed in.
“Have fun with all that.” She gave them a parting smile, and then followed me to the checkout they’d put in the back of the store specifically for the liquor department.
There was only one person in front of us but that small delay gave Rhett and Callum enough time to grab the rest of what they needed and join us in line.
I relaxed a bit when they made no attempt to engage us in further conversation. Though, that did little to take away the feel of eyes on me or diminish the scent of intoxicating cologne coming from behind me. I gnawed the inside of my lower lip, mentally hurrying the cashier along.
After the day I’d had I wasn’t in the mood to uphold my good girl façade for a stranger any longer than necessary.
Thankfully the woman at the register rang us up without trying to make small talk. I paid and Emery took the bag so I could return my card to my wallet, putting exaggerated focus on what I was doing to avoid looking at Rhett.
Eye contact often opened doors for conversation.
“Hey,” he called before I could make a quick escape, loud enough for everyone in the back section of the store to hear.
I paused and glanced back questioningly.
“You never told me your name.”
“It’s Nova.” I turned and started walking again. The second we were clear of earshot Emery practically danced in place. Her broken heart temporarily forgotten.
