by Blair Grey
We were headed back toward the house. Just as we turned onto our street, I paused. “You know, I have something else I wanted to do while we’re out,” I said.
Braxton’s brow furrowed. “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” I said. “Just a stupid errand. Nothing to do with MC business.”
My twin shrugged. “All right, sure,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Yeah, see you later,” I agreed, turning and walking in the opposite direction.
I shouldn’t be doing this. I had just stopped by the pharmacy the previous day, and Anne had made it clear that she didn’t want anything to do with me.
Well, not exactly. And that was precisely the reason why I couldn’t let this go: she hadn’t made it clear that she didn’t want anything to do with me; she had just told me that she was too busy to do dinner and that she wasn’t interested in a date. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in me.
I could tell from the way that she looked at me, from how flustered she got, that she felt this weird attraction as well. God, the tension between us was thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. I had to wonder if it had been as long for her as it had been for me.
After finding out that she was in there on her own the previous day, I’d wanted to drag her into the back room. To have my way with her right there, her professionalism be damned. But I was biding my time. I wanted to do things right with her. She deserved better than just a quick, nameless fuck.
We were beyond the point of a nameless fuck by now, anyway. The thought made me smile as I walked into the pharmacy.
“Hey, Donald,” I said. The pharmacist looked up at me, his face paling. He immediately disappeared into the back room, and I had to fight the urge to snicker. Apparently, we’d left quite an impression the other day. Or the man really was just that much of a wimp.
Whatever it was, it worked in my favor, as only minutes later, Anne appeared. She looked slightly frazzled, and I wondered what she’d been working on back there. Her messy bun was coming slightly undone, a few of her curls spilling down along her cheeks. She looked cuter than she had any of the previous times that I’d seen her. And again, I felt that tug of lust in my core, my dick twitching in my jeans.
It was strange for me to find myself so damned interested in her. It wasn’t like there weren’t other attractive women in this city for me to try with. But there had been something attractive about her rejection as well. I didn’t consider myself to be a ten, maybe an eight or a nine at best, but it wasn’t too often that I had women reject me, and especially not before even going out with me for the first time. She didn’t even know what she was rejecting.
I could tell that she was intrigued by me, just like I was intrigued by her, and I had the feeling that if I asked her again, I could get her to agree to go out with me.
“Hey, Anne,” I said, leaning against the counter, making no move to hide the way I was staring at her. She just smiled and shook her head, not complaining in the slightest.
10
Anne
When Donald came scrambling into the back room, it was all too reminiscent of his behavior on Monday. I rolled my eyes before he even opened his mouth. “The boogey men out there again?” I asked, not sure how I felt about the idea that Landon and Braxton might be in here again. Hopefully they had a reason this time, something more than just that Landon wanted me to go out to dinner with him.
“It’s just the one of them,” Donald said, confirming my suspicions. “And you probably need a break from inventorying anyway, right? Why don’t you go help him, and I’ll stay back here filing some of this paperwork?”
“But, Donald, you hate filing,” I said mildly, trying to contain my laughter.
“Well, I’d hate getting pummeled into a pulp even more,” Donald said indignantly.
This time, I had to laugh. I shook my head. “I doubt he’s here to pummel you into a pulp,” I said.
“Oh yeah? How do you know that? He’s not here for another prescription, not already.”
I shrugged, not about to tell him that Landon had come in the previous day as well, and that he definitely wasn’t there to try to fill a prescription. The last thing I needed was for Donald to think something was going on between me and the biker dude.
I headed out to the front, watching as Landon leaned one hip against the counter and eyed me up and down. I tried my best not to repeat the gesture toward him, but I couldn’t keep my traitorous eyes from cataloging every inch of his body. He was dressed pretty much the same as the previous day, in a dark T-shirt and jeans, the only difference being the addition of a soft-looking flannel shirt on top.
I suddenly had the urge to step out from behind the counter and into his arms, to feel that soft flannel fabric beneath my cheek. I shook my head to get rid of that fantasy. Never going to happen. Not here, not now. Not ever.
“You know, you’re causing quite a scare in Donald,” I said, unable to keep the amusement from my voice. “As much as I’d like you to leave, I kind of like that he’s giving me a break from inventory right now.”
Landon laughed. “Glad to be of service,” he said, inclining his head toward me.
“How can I help you?” I asked, forcing myself to remain businesslike.
Landon shrugged. “As you know, I’m new to Sarasota,” he told me. “And I want to see what’s going on around town.”
“I already told you, I’m not interested in going on a date with you,” I said, shaking my head. Shut that notion down before it was even fully formed.
Mainly because I was afraid that if he actually got around to asking me on another date, I would have to say yes this time. I just didn’t think I could hold back, not again. It had taken all of my willpower last time, and I had spent half the night thinking about what it would have been like if I had agreed to let him take me to dinner with him. It would just open up all those old wounds, though. Make me feel things that I had been trying to forget about.
“I’m not asking you on a date,” Landon said, though. “I’m just saying, I’m new in town and I need someone to show me around. It wouldn’t be a date; it would just be, I don’t know, sort of a friends thing. I guess.”
I stared at him. “A ‘friends thing’?” I finally asked slowly.
“A friends thing,” Landon agreed firmly. “Nothing sexual at all. At the end of the night, you go back to your place, and I go back to mine.” He paused. “I just want to get a drink in a decent place, without getting gouged the ‘tourist rate.’”
I sighed. “I guess that’s fair,” I said. “One drink. I can do that.”
“Tonight?” Landon asked.
I blinked at him, surprised that he would want to do it that quickly. But then, of course he would. That gave me less time to change my mind and cancel with him. God, I couldn’t even believe that I was agreeing to this. I had sworn off boys at least for the rest of my twenties.
This was just a friends thing, though. Landon had been the one to frame it that way; I hadn’t even had to convince him. So I slowly nodded. “One drink. Tonight.”
“Perfect,” Landon said, smiling at me. “What time do you get off? How about I’ll meet you back here, and we’ll head out?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t want to give me time to go home and change into something sexier?” I asked, not even sure where the words came from.
Landon’s eyes were laughing when he answered. “Trust me; I’d love to see you in a dress. I bet you’d be drop-dead gorgeous. But this is just casual. Just friends. Remember?”
As if I could forget.
I nodded. It was hard to form words. I felt so flustered around him, like I couldn’t possibly think straight. I didn’t know how he had this much power over me when I didn’t even know him. Just one drink. Then you’d better get the hell away from him, girl, I thought.
“I get off at five,” I told him, glancing at my watc
h. Just over an hour left now.
“Perfect,” Landon said. “I’ll see you then.” He waved as he walked out.
I stared after him, feeling all those familiar things: sweaty palms, shortness of breath, thumping heartbeat. He was sexy, I’d give him that, but there was something more, something that just set my pulse racing. Unfortunately, I was sure all of that was clear on my face as none other than Lina walked in.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Who was that?” she asked, looking out after Landon’s retreating figure.
“I don’t know. No one. Just a customer,” I said.
“Whoever he was, he was fine,” Lina said, shaking her head. “And don’t try to tell me you didn’t notice.”
“He’s a serial killer,” Donald said as he came back into the front. “Totally crazy. Looking to make a lamp out of Anne’s skin. This isn’t the first time that he was in here.”
Lina looked back and forth between Donald and me, almost like she didn’t know if she should believe him or not. I rolled my eyes. “He is not a serial killer,” I told him. “Get back to work, Donald.”
“He’s been in here before?” Lina asked worriedly as Donald disappeared again.
I shrugged. “Yeah, but he’s just some out-of-towner. Just moved here with his brother. We filled a prescription for him the first time, and now he just wanted some advice.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. I wasn’t ready to tell Lina that I was getting drinks with him tonight. I knew how she would take that; she would swear that it was a date, and she would refuse to believe otherwise.
Drink. A drink. We were getting a drink together, not drinks. I had to stop thinking of it like this was something more.
Lina frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know; I guess he does seem like he probably has a dark side.”
I rolled my eyes. “You sound like Donald now,” I said. “And you’re only saying that because he’s got tattoos. Maybe he’s just artistic.” The excuse sounded lame even to my ears, but Lina shrugged and let it slide. “What are you doing here anyway?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject.
“I got done with work early, and I knew you were off kind of early too since it’s Friday afternoon,” Lina said. “I was wondering if you wanted to go get dinner with me. One of the kids’ parents told me about this great vegan place.”
I groaned. “I am not going vegan. Not even for you.”
Lina laughed. “I’m not going vegan either,” she said. “You know me; I love my bacon too much. But it’s supposed to be really good, even if you like meat. The lady, Alice, said that they do this, like, fake Chinese food kind of like orange chicken but all vegan? I don’t remember what she said it was made out of, but that would be good, wouldn’t it? And super healthy.”
I shook my head. “All right, maybe I would try that,” I conceded. “But not tonight.”
Lina frowned. “I guess we could go somewhere else. But not pizza, okay? We’ve done too much pizza lately with work stuff. Lots of birthday parties.”
“Sorry, what I meant is, I can’t go to dinner tonight,” I explained. “I have other plans.”
Lina blinked at me, and I could see that it was on the tip of her tongue to ask me what those other plans might be. But she held herself back, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. If I was going on a date, she wouldn’t want to scare me into sabotaging it. So she couldn’t make it seem like it was such a big deal. Like it was so important that I was finally going out with someone again.
I hated that I was so transparent, but then again, I guess the perks of having a best friend like Lina, where we were so close that we could pretty much always tell what the other person was thinking, were that she would never ask the questions that she knew I didn’t want to answer. Or not usually, anyway, unless she was trying to wind me up.
Finally, she shrugged. “Okay,” she said.
“We’ll catch up tomorrow,” I promised her. “Maybe go to dinner tomorrow night?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Lina said, grinning at me. Then, her eyes narrowed. “But I expect details.”
I laughed and shook my head. “We’ll see,” I said. “I’m not even sure if there will be any details.”
11
Landon
I waited for Anne outside the pharmacy. I was a little early getting there, but I hadn’t wanted to chance being late. I still couldn’t believe that she had actually agreed to go get a drink with me. “Just as friends.” It had taken surprisingly little convincing. I’d thought she would hold out for longer. That she would be one of those women who was convinced that men and women couldn’t do anything just as friends.
That she’d be just as worried that she wouldn’t be able to keep her hands off me as I was about her. That was what this all really came down to. Could I keep my hands off her? She had told me that she wasn’t interested in dating, and I had promised her that at the end of the night, we would both go home.
If she couldn’t keep her hands off me, then it would only be fair for me to reciprocate. But I would have to wait for her to make the first move.
It was going to take a lot of effort on my part. Even as I watched her close the pharmacy, I thought about pulling her into my arms out here. Just a kiss hello. Or even a hug. Nothing more.
But I knew our deal would be off if I so much as grazed my fingers along her cheek. So I forced myself to hold back.
I smiled at her when she walked out. “Hey,” I said, as though I hadn’t just seen her an hour ago.
She smiled shyly back at me, ducking her head a little. “Hey,” she said evenly. “So what do you want to do?”
I shrugged. “I’m a simple guy,” I said. “We agreed on a drink, right? How about just a beer and some bar food?”
“Okay,” Anne said. She cocked her head to the side, thinking. “There’s a good place a couple blocks up.”
“Okay,” I echoed, following after her. It wasn’t what I really wanted to do with her. She deserved a nice dinner, not some bar. But the less this felt like a date, the better. I wanted to see if I could get her to relax. Maybe if she started to feel more comfortable around me, more like we might maybe be friends, then she would start to feel like maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea, us dating.
Anne led me to a local bar. It was small and dark inside, but it was practically empty despite it being a Friday night. Easy enough for us to chat. And the nachos that we shared were pretty delicious, despite not having quite the kick that I would expect, coming from New Mexico.
“So why Sarasota?” Anne asked as we sipped at our beers.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. A change of scenery.” It was what Neil had told the MC. A change of scenery. I guessed that was as good a description of it as any. I wasn’t about to get into MC business with Anne. The less she knew about all of that, the better. I couldn’t tell her that I was just here on Red Eyes business. I didn’t want her to know that I’d be leaving again as soon as we sorted out whatever this thing was with the Mambas.
Anne laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, but why Sarasota? I mean, Florida. Okay. But most people who are new to Florida move to, like, Miami or the Keys. Somewhere that feels a little less sleepy, I guess.”
“I guess I wasn’t really the one making the choice,” I said, trying not to seem too evasive but still not wanting to outright lie. Tell too many lies, and it’s too easy to get caught.
Anne nodded, though, not seeming to think that there was anything strange about that. “Your brother, right? He’s the one who picked it, and you just followed along?” She paused, thinking that over. “That must be really cool, having a sibling that you’re so close to.”
“What about you?” I asked. “You have any siblings?”
Anne shook her head. “Nah, only child here.”
“I figured,” I said. “If you really had siblings, you would know how terrible they are, even when you’re freakishly close and love each other more than anything.”
Anne laughed. “Yeah, I guess I don
’t understand,” she said. “Although you should see me and my best friend, Lina, sometimes. She’s about as close to a sister as I have, and I think she’s about as close to me as I’ll ever want anyone to be.” She cocked her head to the side. “So do you have a job already lined up out here?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Trying to recruit me for the pharmacy so that you don’t have to work on your own anymore?” I asked jokingly.
Anne flushed and took a hasty sip of her beer. “Of course not,” she said. “I would never get anything done with you hanging around all day.” Then, she seemed to realize what she had said and took another quick sip of beer to cover it up.
I grinned at her admission that she found me distracting. I must be doing something right then. But I wasn’t going to push it. Not yet. Let her relax a little more first.
“Have you lived in Sarasota all your life?” I asked.
“Yep, born and raised,” Anne said, nodding her head. “I keep thinking that one of these days, maybe I’ll move to somewhere else. But my whole life is here. And the pharmacy happened to be hiring right when I finished with my degree, so it was perfect really.”
“So what you’re saying is that I really lucked out when I asked you to be the one to show me around,” I said gravely. “I expect I’ll get some really good insider tips from you.”
Anne laughed. I was really starting to like the sound of it. “Insider tips?” she said. “This place isn’t that big. I’m not sure we have many insider tips. Pretty much the safest place in the world, nothing much ever happens. Except hurricanes, I guess.”
I snorted. She’d be surprised, I thought, remembering what Eric had said about Mamba’s threats to him. There was more of an underworld here than she knew. But I wasn’t about to tell her that. She’d want to know how I knew, and I’d end up telling her all about the MC.
“So what do you do when you’re not saving lives in the pharmacy?” I asked.
