He chuckled. “You’ve got a really nice set up here.”
He was the first one out of the bedroom, walking toward the unopened box on the floor. “Is this the culprit?”
I nodded. “Everything you need is in the package already.”
He picked it up and set it down on the coffee table, pushing the table back and sitting down on the couch. Grabbing his backpack, he opened it and pulled out an assortment of chocolate chip cookies. “I brought snacks.” His grin was wide.
Sitting next to him, I said, “Snacks are important.”
Except I was too nervous to eat, so I just watched him devour a few cookies and then open the cardboard.
“You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get that,” I blurted, hugging my knees to my chest. After buying the first stool I saw on the shelf at Walmart and bringing it home, I realized it wasn’t the same color as the ones I already had. So, I then had to take it back and exchange it for the right shade.
The customer service line had been five-people long when I got there, with only one employee running the register. It wasn’t so much about the wait that had me cringing over the day’s adventure, it was the man with rotting teeth trying to hit on me.
The guy was relentless in his pursuit, and nothing I said—or didn’t say—would get him to leave me alone. Not until it was his turn in line. And even after he got the help he needed, he still gave me a black-toothy smile and told me to reach out to him in the automotive department where he apparently worked.
I was two seconds away from grabbing the old man’s hand behind me and pretending he was my new daddy just to get the creep off my back.
After giving him the low down on the venture, he laughed. “I bet the old guy would have been just fine with you holding his hand.”
Probably true. “I don’t get why the weirdo couldn’t take no for an answer. I mean, I cringed every time he opened his mouth. I should have just told him I had a boyfriend.”
He shifted where he sat, focused on putting together the pieces.
Instead of remarking on the story, he tipped his chin toward the television. “Want to watch something? I like to multitask.”
“Oh. Uh, sure.”
Loading Netflix, I asked if there was anything he had in mind. When he suggested Bob’s Burgers, I was more than happy to oblige. I had a Tina Funko Pop in my office. I’m not sure what it said about my character that I believed Tina Belcher to be my spirit animal, but when I mentioned the snippet to Nathan he cackled.
One episode in, he was done being my handyman and we were side by side on the couch. My leg was against his, his knees splayed out crowding my space. I hid a smile when I realized he could have sat on the other end but instead chose to be closer to me.
We sat in silence watching the show until two am rolled around. He yawned, stretching his arms out and dropped his left one behind me, resting it on the back of the couch. I could feel his body heat through the fabric of my shirt, knowing he was inching his arm closer and closer.
When it dropped over my shoulders, I bit back a smile.
Nathan Reed just made a move.
Leaning toward him, I snuggled into his side. His arm tightened around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him until my cheek was pressed against his chest. It was an odd, uncomfortable angle, so I shifted to avoid getting a kink in my neck. Next thing I knew, we were laying on our sides, Nate moving further up the cushions, so his head was against the pillows and my body curled right into his.
Oh, God.
We were spooning. Spooning!
The smile plastered on my face was permanent, especially when his hand rested on my hip and rubbed circular motions into the fabric of my jeans. His breathing was light, even tempered. His heart not racing like mine was. His hand moved to hook around my stomach, hugging me close to him.
And that was where we stayed.
No kissing. No attempts at taking off clothes.
My nerves vanished as I settled into his hold.
I fell into a blissful sleep in the confine of Nathan’s arms.
Sometime during the night I’d turned over and used Nate’s body like my own personal pillow. If all pillows smelled like Old Spice and man, I’d happily wake up to that scent every morning.
Our legs were tangled together, and our arms were wrapped tightly around each other’s torsos. His soft, slow breathing told me he was still asleep, but he hugged me against him, sliding me so I was half on his body. Still tired, I nuzzled my nose into his neck, and let myself drown in the cadence of his heartbeat and swiftly fell back asleep.
His phone going off was what finally woke us. He haphazardly reached for the device, still keeping me in his hold. I groaned when I saw that it was only 6:30 in the morning.
“Too early to adult,” I whined, burying my face into his chest.
His low chuckle made me smile. “Agreed.”
I shifted to my side, looking up at him through my lashes. He was doing the same, one arm bent behind his head like an extra pillow, examining my sleepy gaze.
My eyes went to his lips. Was he thinking about kissing me as much as I was thinking about kissing him? Drifting my gaze back up to his eyes, I noticed the hike of his lips, smirking like he knew what I was thinking.
I started giggling, nerves building until I face planted back into his chest.
His chest shook through his silent laughter, he probably thought I was crazy.
When I stole a glance at him, his eyes were closed.
Maybe I missed the chance for the first kiss, although I had morning breath. Not sure how romantic that would be.
His arm came down and rubbed my back, my shirt lifting slightly from the movement. My cheek rested on his shoulder, and sleep evaded me. It was hard to go back to sleep knowing his body was under mine. Was I crushing him?
Self-consciously, I slid onto my side, draping an arm around his hard stomach. He had abs. Not as impressive as Caleb’s were, but still abs.
Stop thinking about Caleb’s abs.
We laid like that until my own alarm started squawking, making me jolt up and roll off the couch. Mashed Potato was glaring at me from the corner of the room. Whether it was because I hadn’t gotten up to feed her yet or because I cuddled with Nate instead of her, I didn’t know.
Nate sat up, brushing his hair back. “Sleep okay?”
Honestly, I’d only slept for a few hours because my mind raced knowing there was a man wrapped around me. Plus, he was a restless sleeper. His leg kept shifting and moving between mine, grinding between them and keeping me very much awake.
But that was my little secret.
“Yeah. You?”
“Like a baby.”
We smiled at each other.
His phone pinged with an incoming message. Yawning, he responded to whoever it was and then stood up. As he was stretching, his shirt rose a little to show off a sliver of his defined stomach and that sexy smattering of hair leading to the fun zone.
Dear God, that trail made me metaphorically lick my lips. And…maybe literally.
“I should head out,” he told me.
Disappointment laced through my veins. “Oh. Um, okay.”
He walked over to me, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he pulled me into a hug.
“Thanks for putting together the barstool.”
He drew back, grabbing his bag off the floor. “No problem. If you have any other ‘barstools’ you need me to put together, let me know.”
He shot me a wink as he opened the door.
I was mortified but kept my features blank.
As we walked out, I tried to brush his hand, but he moved it forward and pushed open the front door before I made contact. On the porch, he draped his bag over his shoulder and started down the stairs.
Over his shoulder he called, “We should plan that hiking trip soon,” he told me, my hope officially restored. Walking backwards he said, “I know the weather starts to turn when September come
s around, so we should do something before then.”
I gave him a genuine smile. “I’d like that.”
We waved goodbye and I waited until he was out of view before going back inside.
Leaning against the back of the door, I smiled like the Cheshire Cat.
A man, with an actual penis, just stayed the night.
Mashed Potato came over and dropped one of the green mouse toys that Caleb had gotten for her right in front of my feet.
“I can’t play right now, boo bear.”
Her tail twitched as she turned to show me her asshole, waltzing away.
My eyes went back to the toy, it was almost like she hadn’t wanted to play with it at all.
I brushed it off and got ready for work.
How You Know It Won’t Work:
He uses a Pokémon Go pickup line on you
My sleepover with Nathan had done wonders to my confidence. I was feeling myself Beyoncé style. My hair had bounce, my eyes shone brighter, and I had a new pep in my step.
Maybe that was why I found myself sitting in a patchwork booth with Iris and a few of my other coworkers. Just because my behavior improved didn’t mean my attendance tonight was going to get me to join the masses to White-Girl-Wasted-ville.
We all had drinks in front of us, although mine was left untouched. Iris insisted on ordering some pink fruity concoction I was supposed to love, but the smell alone had my nose scrunching in disgust. Iris hated wasted alcohol, so I assumed the longer I left the glass sitting undisturbed, the more she’ll want to drink the concoction before it became watered down.
It was going on ten o’clock, and the bar was only getting louder. I was not a fan of the weird techno music blasting from the speakers in the corner of the room, but thankfully the noise of the crowd surrounding the pool tables drowned some of it out.
There was nothing about this outing that was particularly fun, but I painted a smile on regardless, because I knew I’d be hassled if I didn’t. Iris had noticed my downtrodden mood at work but didn’t push when I avoided her.
Sneaking a glance at my phone under the table, I re-read my unanswered text. For probably the one millionth time.
Me: Hey, Nate. How was your week?
It was delivered three days ago without a response yet. In fact, it’d been radio silence between us since the moment he left my apartment. I told myself that he could have broken his phone. Maybe the screen cracked. Or maybe he was just busy. He was always busy.
We should plan that hiking trip, he’d told me. But would we? He’d been telling me that for over a month.
Making an excuse to go to the bathroom, I slipped out of the booth and down the corridor to escape for a moment. At this point, I was counting down the seconds until I could crawl home. I figured another twenty minutes or so, and Iris would be too plastered to notice I’d left.
After ten minutes of sitting on the toilet browsing Facebook, I decided I’d been gone long enough. I got up, washed my hands, and forced my feet to take the path back to the table. Halfway there, a guy who resembled Justin Timberlake circa 1998 stumbled into me. Alcohol was seeping from his pores and causing my eyes to water.
“Hey,” he greeted, leaning his forearm against the wall beside us. I think he winked at me, but his movements were slow and awkward.
“Hi,” I drew out, eyeing the anime shirt he wore. It looked like something a middle schooler would own and be proud about.
“You know,” he slurred, “I caught all 150 Pokémon in Pokémon Go.” He stumbled slightly. Trying a different tactic, he said, “Did you see this weekend’s forecast? Cloudy with a chance of Squirtle?”
Why did those words not surprise me? I honestly was waiting for a bad rendition of “It’s Gonna Be Me”.
I couldn’t stop the snort from escaping. This dude had to be thirty. Why did he act like catching virtual creatures in a make-believe world geared toward bored teenagers was his biggest accomplishment?
Clearing my throat, I nodded in fake appraisal, eyes wide, head bobbing theatrically. “Yeah? That’s, um, interesting?”
He grinned. “Yep. So…want to get a drink with me? Maybe go back to my place and play a game or two?”
Cringing, I couldn’t help but conjure a mental image of his home. A dark, musty bedroom in the basement of his parents’ house, blow up dolls wearing cartoon T-shirts, posters of half-naked women hanging on the walls, and Star Wars fan fiction littering the floor.
I also wasn’t sure what kind of games he had in mind. Was he implying sexual ones? Or more along the lines of running around town catching virtual cartoons?
Either way, his plans weren’t in my future.
I jabbed my thumb toward the main room. “You know, I would, but I’ve actually got friends waiting for me. Good luck finding somebody interested in your skills.”
His features twisted into offense, clearly not drunk enough to miss my thick sarcasm. “I happen to know plenty of women find my skills sexy!”
Somehow, I doubted that.
Walking away from his swaying form before he made a bigger fool of himself, I took stock to the extra bodies surrounding our table. From the broad, toned, muscled views of their backs, they were all men, which meant Iris was going to try and work her matchmaking magic. Thankfully, I was tapping out for the night.
One of the three men occupying our table grabbed my attention instantly. I’d recognized those dirty-blond locks anywhere, and when he laughed, I stopped and stared in the middle of the floor. A girl bumped into me and spilled her drink in a puddle at our feet.
Shit.
Iris noticed my pointed glare directed at Caleb’s back, and gave me a pleading look. I knew she was trying to look apologetic, but she was probably secretly screaming in victory.
Caleb followed his sister’s attention and turned to lock eyes with me. My lips parted to say something, but his locked jaw and fiery eyes shut me up.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded, bolting up so fast that the chair fell backwards. He met me half way, gently turning my face to study my bruised cheek in better lighting.
I smacked his hands away. “Nothing.”
His expression screamed disbelief. “If somebody hurt you—”
“Stop,” I hissed, noting the audience we were gathering. “I told you it was nothing.”
“You have a black eye.”
“Gee, thanks for pointing it out, I had nooo idea,” I intoned, rolling my eyes.
“Paisley—”
“Caleb,” I warned. “I’m not talking about this here. Nobody hurt me. You don’t have to pretend like you care.”
He blew out a heavy breath. “Who said I was pretending? I’m not that much of an asshole. If a girl is hurt, I’m sure as hell not going to ignore it. And if you’re protecting some guy you’re seeing—”
“Nate didn’t do this!” I blasted, offended he’d make that assumption. My attention shifted to Iris. “I’ve had enough fun for the night. I’m leaving.”
She began sliding out of the booth, but I held my hand up to stop her.
“I’m tired and won’t be good company right now,” I told her, shrugging. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”
She relented, nodding. The others said goodbye. Well, not Caleb. He decided to walk me outside despite my protests. His intense gaze burned holes into the side of my skull the entire way.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
I stopped. “Can’t you just mind your own business? Is it that hard?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” he replied coolly.
I groaned loudly. “You have no right to be in my business, Caleb.”
“Why?”
I blinked. “Is that even a serious question?” His blank stare told me it was. “I don’t like games, okay? I’m not the type of girl who lets guys walk all over her.”
“I’m not that guy. I texted you—”
“Two weeks, Caleb!” I hissed. “You left me hanging for fourteen days, making
me feel like a complete idiot. I won’t let you play house with my emotions. Especially not when you’re so judgmental over someone else doing the same thing.”
I sucked in a breath of air, tipping my head, and then walking away. It was embarrassing to argue with him. He called my name when I got a few feet away, suddenly stopping in front of me to cut off my path.
“Hear me out,” he pleaded.
“Caleb—”
“Iris would never put you in a situation where you got hurt,” he reasoned. “She wouldn’t even consider trying to set us up if she knew I’d hurt you. She cares about you. So, let me explain why I couldn’t reach out right away. Give me five minutes.”
I wanted to tell him no, but he had a point. His sister wouldn’t put me in a place where the other person was just a waste of time.
“You get two,” I bargained.
He gave me a small smile. “I had to take care of some shit at work. I know it’s vague, but I can’t go into details. If it could have waited, I wouldn’t have left.”
“Left?”
“Had to fly back to base.”
“Oh.”
He nodded. “I couldn’t get your number from Iris because I got called away the same night. There was no time to tell you I’d be gone, and no time frame as to when I’d be back. I didn’t want to make empty promises to you and then not deliver. As soon as I got home, I made sure to reach out. But you didn’t reply, so here I am begging for your understanding.”
I vaguely remember Iris telling me once that Caleb was stationed at Fort Knox. I’d never been to Kentucky, or any army base for that matter, but I guess it made sense that he was radio silent if he was called back suddenly.
Could I fault him for that?
“If it makes you feel better, Iris didn’t tell me you guys were here. I may have hacked into her phone and read where you were going.”
“You did what?”
He shrugged innocently. “I go after what I want. Will do pretty much anything to get it done. So …”
I shook my head. “So, what?”
“Do you forgive me?”
My shoulders slumped. My pride was about to take a hit. I didn’t want to forgive him yet. I’d rather just change the subject altogether.
Way To My Heart Page 7
