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Micah smiled as he turned around. He put his hand to his ear and jaw in the shape of a phone, and I grinned at him as the door closed.
It took ten or fifteen minutes for me to shower and put myself back in order after being in disguise. I had taken a warm shower and thoroughly washed all of the glue and makeup off of my face. I felt like myself again, and I got dressed in the matching PJ set I had bought specifically for this trip. It was a blue flannel button-down shirt and pants set with tiny white flowers.
I went back into the living room knowing that I looked and smelled a lot better. I caught sight of him sitting on the couch and I jogged to him, springing onto the couch next to him.
Micah caught me in his strong arms, turning me and holding onto me tightly. He stared at my face for a second before kissing me. He pulled back and then repeated that same process three or four more times.
"I smell your sweat," I said.
"I'm sorry." He kissed me again, and I smiled.
"It was a compliment this time. It's the good sweat," I said. I paused and smelled the front of his shirt. "It just smells like hard work. But I can still smell your deodorant and everything."
His chest shook with laughter. "I'll get a shower."
"No," I said. I kissed him on the mouth—a longer, lingering, gentle kiss. "I was being serious. I think you smell really good right now."
"So, you're saying you like my sweat," he said as a statement and not a question.
"I do like it," I said. I put my nose next to his chest and took a deep breath. "I love it, actually. It's not sweaty—it just smells like—I don't know, like you were working hard up there."
He laughed at me, and the sight of it was too much. I needed him. I leaned in and kissed his neck gently. I let my mouth stay open when I made contact and I could taste the salt of his sweat. I felt his chest rise and fall as he took a deep breath. I kissed him again on his jaw and then his cheek. I pulled back and stared at him like he was the best thing to have ever happened to me, which he was.
"I'm going to take a shower," he said. "You smell too good and you're too beautiful to… I need a shower." He moved to get up. "Find something for us to watch, and I'll be back in five minutes."
Chapter 17
Micah and I had three-and-a-half glorious days together before I had to get back home to my store. He was a gentleman the whole time. If anything, I was the one who was being more impatient physically.
That first night, when I kissed him on the neck, he had said that he needed to get up and take a shower. He actually did take a shower that time, but several times after that, we used that phrase as an inside joke. Anytime I kissed him in a way that made him feel like he was getting impatient for more to happen, he would move away and say that he was 'going to take a shower' even if all he did was go to the kitchen and get a glass of water.
He was being funny, but he was being a gentleman while I was being more impatient. It was in many ways the opposite of what you would expect from the people we were all those years ago when we met. But that was the beauty of it. Micah wanted me, but he was restrained and gentlemanly, and that made me want him even more.
I went home after we spent three days together, and now I hadn't seen him in over a week. Right about now, I was as impatient for him as ever. Thank goodness the wait was almost over. Micah had ended his tour dates in Miami, and his flight was to arrive home at noon tomorrow. I had purposefully worked my rear end off at work so that I could be ready to take some time off with him.
Tonight, I had a dinner meeting with a potential client. It was my last work obligation for a couple of days. Tomorrow and the next day, all I had to do was be with Micah. I had been counting down the minutes, so I was in the best mood when I went to the dinner meeting.
I wish I could say that I was above doing research on Zoey Hendricks, but I had looked her up on social media after Micah told me about her. I knew what she looked like. I had seen pictures of her, and I knew right away that she was the person I was meeting for dinner. I felt like I was in a dream as I walked up to the table, staring at her.
"Claire? Hey! My real name is Zoey Hendricks."
The truth was the first thing she said to me.
Her smile and her honesty took me completely off guard and I reached out and shook her hand since she was offering.
"Thank you for meeting me. I'm sorry I lied to you about my name. I would honestly like to work with you professionally if you would consider it. Either way, may I still have a couple of minutes of your time?"
She was so cordial and convincing that I reluctantly sat in the chair across from her, the one to which she had been hopefully gesturing. I stared at her as I sat down.
"I have brothers," I said. "And I'm unpredictable, and I know martial arts." The phrase I had once practiced as Sue came out of my mouth. I said it in a nice polite tone, but those were my first words to Zoey.
"I don't want you to use your martial arts on me," she said holding her hands up in surrender. "I knew you would have the wrong impression of me. I knew Micah would tell you about me."
She smiled a little, and suddenly I regretted letting her know I knew about her. I needed confidence, and I sat up straighter at the thought.
"Why did you want to meet me here?" I asked, looking straight at her. She was beautiful. She was tall and dark like all his songs described.
"Well, I've been trying to get in touch with Micah," she said. "I've been to four of his shows, trying to just talk to him again. We were friends once, and then he just stopped answering my calls. He ghosted me and blocked me. How would you feel if someone did that to you?"
