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“Now you won’t forget.” He smiled, his dimple popping.
“Thanks,” I replied before taking the money and dropping it in my jar.
Bobby came through from the back, his gaze looking sympathetic. “Why don’t you take a quick break, Arla?” he offered. I nodded okay, even though I didn’t want to.
I turned back to Caleb, seeing his heady gaze on me.
And then I did something that I’ve never done before.
“Do you want to keep me company?” I asked Caleb, not a hundred percent certain what I was actually asking him, but knowing that I wanted to spend more time with him.
His gaze shifted from Bobby to me and he looked uncertain.
“It’s dark out back,” I mumbled. “Pretty sure there are rats, because Bobby is disgusting and doesn’t clean properly.”
“This is their home too,” Bobby barked. “Caleb, you better keep Arla company in case the rats scare her.”
Caleb stood up, his eyes catching mine and stealing my breath again. “I’ll meet you back there,” he said, and headed out the front door.
I was pretty certain that Bobby would have let him come through the back way, and I think Caleb knew that too. My hope was that he needed to catch his breath too.
4
Caleb
The air was humid and heavy. Normally I would have been sweating under the heavy weight of my leather cut. But not tonight. Tonight my jeans hung low on my hips and my cotton T-shirt was loose around me. I wasn’t even wearing my leather boots; instead I had on sneakers. Hadn’t worn sneakers going on ten years.
For the first time in forever I was just a regular guy, wanting to hook up with a regular girl.
No sweetbutts or clubsluts. No old ladies, or hangers on. No club patches, no leather and chains.
I was just Caleb.
And she was just Arla.
I felt lost as I walked round the back of the Laughing Moose, but as I turned the corner and saw Arla sitting on top of a small picnic bench, I felt found.
In another life maybe we would have made a go of something.
From what I’d seen so far, we had a lot in common but enough differences to keep things interesting.
She was pretty and sweet, smart and funny.
I’d never met a woman like her before.
“Hey,” she said, looking up as I came closer.
She was holding a beer in one hand, and it looked like she’d downed half of it in the time it had taken me to walk around the bar. She’d taken her apron off and I could see her curvy figure beneath her clothes now. She wore a little denim skirt and a white lace top. She had a light sprinkling of freckles across her shoulders, and as I drew closer I reached out and slid my hands across them, making her sigh.
“Hey,” I said, staring down at her.
That close, I could smell her shampoo. It was sweet and reminded me of peaches. I threaded my hand through the back of her hair, almost groaning at how soft it felt beneath my fingers. I tipped her head back so she was forced to look up at me, and when she did, the expression on her face truly stole the air from my lungs.
“I don’t normally do this,” she whispered, her voice full of longing and honesty.
“I didn’t think that,” I replied just as honestly, my fingertips tracing along her collarbone. “I wanna kiss you,” I confided, though I was certain she already knew that.
She smiled, her soft skin trembling beneath my touch. “So kiss me,” she said, her words a plead.
