I purse my lips to the side. Interesting. Maybe she does.
She flutters her long eyelashes. “What color are his eyes?”
“At first I didn’t notice. Once we were outside and it was brighter out—a golden brown. Like fool’s gold. It only added to his sex appeal. I’ve no idea how old he is. I guess between thirty and thirty-five.
“Anyway, are foreigners always so touchy-feely? We touched hands several times, as if it were completely normal. I shouldn’t have liked it, but I did. I had a beer mustache, and he wiped it off my lip with his thumb.”
Her eyes bug out.
“And then sucked it off his thumb.”
Her mouth turns into an O.
“It made me tingle in all the right places. If you know what I mean?” I wiggle my eyebrows.
“No way!” she shrieks as she accidentally pulls the emergency cord with her hand and slams into the machine.
I stop mine and grab her arm. “Are you all right?” I say with a mix of concern and giggles.
She fixes her hair and looks around to check no one saw her. “I’m fine, fine, fine. Are there video cameras in here? I don’t need something like that going viral.”
We look around and don’t notice anything. I’m sure there are but I’m not going to mention it.
“Enough with these worthless machines. Let’s get off and find something safer. Where’s Tony the Tiger?” She swivels her head to search for him.
I nudge her forward. “Forget him. Let’s just go to the smoothie bar. I don’t know why I agreed to do this trial with you. We don’t get a workout at all. I’m more out of breath when I walk from the kitchen to the living room with a bowl of ice cream in my hand.”
“Sounds good. I want to hear the rest of your story before one of us breaks a leg.”
I order a mango smoothie, and she gets a strawberry one. We find two seats away from everyone.
“So continue with Mr. Clean?” Alexa says as she tosses her towel over the back of the chair.
I take my first sip and sigh. “It’s wrong every way you look at it. I’m not allowed to like him. We work together. Even though it’s wrong, I can’t help the excitement in my belly.”
Her demeanor changes as she swirls her straw in her smoothie. “It’s a recipe for disaster. Mixing work with pleasure can be tricky. I’ve seen some crazy shit happen between sales reps and doctors.”
I deflate in my chair. “That’s what I thought from the moment I met him. I know this is business, and that’s how it needs to stay. It’s just not fair that my first client is a guy I’m attracted to. But it’s not only how he looks or how I react to him. From the second we met, conversation flowed easily. There’s a comfort level I’ve never experienced before with a guy. It’s as if we’ve met before.
“I told myself several times to act professional, but I failed miserably.” I sigh loudly and bang my palm against my head. “I need to stop thinking about him. I can’t screw up this job. Our next meeting’s scheduled for Monday, but it’s at my office this time.”
“Good. You’ll be surrounded by colleagues and your manager. You won’t be able to stare at his ass.” She winks at me.
“I’m going to forget you just said that.”
“Suit yourself. You know you’re gonna do it.” She bobs her head and grins.
“Maybe I should wear a potato sack and no makeup.”
“Whatever. You hardly wear any makeup to begin with. You don’t need it with your flawless skin and that sexy beauty mark. With or without makeup, you look gorgeous.”
Her face becomes serious. “Not to upset you, but maybe he didn’t feel the attraction the way you did. If that’s the case, it’ll be much easier for you to keep it business.” She sips her smoothie.
What if that’s true? Maybe he didn’t think twice about me when I left the restaurant. But wouldn’t that be better?
I clear my throat. “Let’s talk about something else. What’s up with you? Have you spoken to Lisa or James? I’ve been meaning to call Lisa. She left me a message yesterday saying she needs to ask me something.”
Alexa perks up in her seat and swivels her hand. “Oh. Oh. Thank you for mentioning Lisa. I spoke to her this afternoon. She and James are going to a food-tasting event in the city and want to know if we’d like to go. It’s next Tuesday.”
That grabs my attention. “Food tasting. Right up my alley. What kind?”
“You know how Matt’s wedding is in October? His fiancée Kayla’s cousin is supposedly a star chef in Europe. He’ll be catering their wedding.”
I pull my head back. “Lisa and James are going?”
She nods.
“I’m surprised, since they live in New Jersey and it’s a pain to travel to the city during the week.”
“Well, James is Matt’s best man. He should be there. Lisa said she needs to get out of the house.
“Anyway. The main dish has been narrowed down to two. We’ll be blindfolded when we eat. Whichever dish we like better will be chosen for the main course at the reception.”
I freeze just as I go to sip from my straw. “Blindfolded! What the hell for?”
She chokes on her smoothie. “What’s with your screeching voice? Calm down.” She looks over her shoulder to see if anyone heard us.
“I don’t know the full details. It’s something he’s known for but doesn’t do often in the States. It has to do with enhancing your other senses, which will make the food taste better or something like that. Whatever. It sounds like fun and cool since he’s famous. Famous in Europe, not here in the States.” Her face lights up. “Maybe he’s the European version of Michael Voltaggio. Do you know who I’m talking about? The hot one with all the tats who won Top Chef.”
I don’t respond, because all I can think about is my blindfolded kiss years ago. The best kiss I’ve ever had.
“Do you want to go? It’s free. I know how you love to eat, and you aren’t afraid to try something new. It’s also fun to check out a new restaurant,” she says while adjusting her sports bra.
She looks up when I don’t respond. “You’re thinking about Mr. Clean’s ass again, aren’t you?” She angles her face with narrowed eyes.
I wish.
“So, what’s up? This blindfold thing seems to have you unhinged. You’re playing with your necklace again.”
I let it go. “If I tell you something, do you promise you won’t tell a soul? I never even told Lisa this.”
She giggles. “This must be really juicy if you never told her. I love secrets. God knows, we all have them. Your secret is safe with me. Pinky swear?”
We interlock our pinkies.
She taps the table with her hand. “Spill it.”
“I was blindfolded once before…”
Her interest clearly piqued more, she inches her chair closer and leans near me. If she tilts any farther, she might as well sit on my lap.
“A couple of days before my college graduation, I went to a frat party at Jackson College.”
“Not too far from where you went to school at New Jersey Tech, right?”
I nod. “You remember my two college friends, Larissa and Cori? The ones I told you who want to stay with us for a long weekend next month?”
“Yes…”
“They wanted me to let loose, so they asked me to play a drinking game.”
“Blindfolds and alcohol.” She leers. “That could be dangerous.”
“Yep, with blindfolds. I had to kiss three complete strangers. We all had to wear them and weren’t allowed to see or speak to each other beforehand.”
“Why were the guys blindfolded too?”
“We were all blinded because the initial physical appearance would interfere with our chemistry. If they saw me and didn’t find me attractive, it would affect the way they would kiss me. My friends chose the guys randomly from the party. After I kissed them, when the guys weren’t in the room, I’d have to say who was the best kisser. When the guys came back, Larissa and Cori would switch their order. The
n we’d stand in front of each other and take off the blindfolds at the same time. Then I’d have to guess which guy was the one I’d said was the best kisser. If I chose wrong, I had to chug a beer.”
“Wow, that was gutsy of you and maybe even reckless. I didn’t know you had it in you.” She nudges my knee.
I rest my chin in my hand and sigh. “At the time I didn’t, but before my mom died, I was a different person. You wouldn’t know it now, but I was the fearless rule breaker of the family. Always the first to try new things. Trouble was my middle name. Once she died, that version of me disappeared.” I didn’t deserve to be her anymore.
She grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze, knowing Mom’s death is still hard on my family even after all these years. But she doesn’t know my mental scars. Not one living soul does.
I drape my towel around my neck. “So when they told me about this game, the old me was begging to play. To break out of my innocent shell. I flip-flopped, and the old me won.”
Her face is priceless. She looks like a dog waiting for a bone.
“I guess you’re enjoying this story, and I haven’t even gotten to the kisses yet.”
“I played quite a few drinking games during college, but nothing like this. So get to the kisses. I want to hear some good stuff.”
“Larissa stayed in the room with me while each guy came in. The other two guys waited outside the door with Cori.” I rub my forehead with the towel and lay it on the table.
“I love these kinds of stories.” Alexa titters.
I cross my legs, willing myself not to yank my necklace off. “Now here comes the juicy part.” I lean a little closer to her. “I could sense the first guy, Number One, standing in front of me. His body heat radiated off him before we even touched.” I close my eyes. “His citrus scent swirled around me, putting me in a trance. His large, warm hands moved up my arms, but every painstakingly slow movement he made seared my skin. In a very pleasant, unfamiliar way.” Goose bumps form on my skin. After all this time, my pulse still kicks up a notch when I think about it. Probably more than when I was on that damn treadmill.
“His breathing increased. Mine did too. His right hand traced up my shoulder to my neck and then found my cheek. The anticipation killed me. I never, ever thought I’d encounter that kind of pull. His other hand cupped my other cheek. His thumbs caressed my face like feathers. My heart beat faster than someone running the Boston marathon.” My hands rest on my cheeks. I’m breaking a sweat.
“You can remember it in such detail?” Alexa says in surprise.
I open my eyes and huff. “Come on. We’ve been living together for a while now. You know how I am. Stop interrupting. I’m enjoying this.” At least this part of the story anyway.
She presses her lips together with her fingers.
I straighten my back and close my eyes again. “My shaking hands glided up his arms. As they moved over his elbows, I traced the solid muscles with my fingertips.” I replicate the movement with my hands. “At that moment, I was happy I said yes. My hands rose further up, memorizing every solid curve of his biceps. I found his wide shoulders.” I lift my hands up as if resting on his shoulders again. “By the placement of my hands and how high my arms were, he was much taller than me.
“He inched closer as his body heat and scent consumed me.” I swallow deeply. “Our lips barely grazed. It was annoyingly suspenseful in a delicious way. The miniscule taste of him intoxicated me. He tasted a little bit like my favorite candy.”
“Peanut M&Ms?” Her voice rises an octave. “That’s just freaking gross.”
I open my eyes. “That’s Lisa’s favorite candy, smartass. He tasted like black licorice.”
She crinkles her nose. “That’s even more disgusting. You’re so weird with food. Move on before I lose interest or my smoothie.”
I ignore her comments and get back in my zone. “I opened my mouth and touched his lips with my tongue to sample him again. He responded in a slow, teasing manner. I couldn’t hold off, because he tasted so yummy. I yanked his shoulders forward hoping to meld my lips with his.” I’m all riled up.
“Would you ladies like anything else?” My eyes spring open as I shrink in my chair. How embarrassing if she saw me acting this out.
“No!” Alexa responds sharply.
“No, thank you,” I say with a smile. The server scowls at Alexa and walks away.
“Continue,” she demands.
Where was I? “His tongue taunted mine. My hands moved to the back of his neck to intensify the kiss. His hands moved down my back and pulled me closer. I relaxed into his firm embrace. We kissed as if it was our first and so desperately our last. If he’d tried to kiss my neck, I would’ve let him.” I touch my neck, wishing his lips were there right now.
I slump in my chair. “And then Larissa interrupted us. The moment was gone. He left the room.” I’m silent because now I need to tell her the embarrassing part.
“The second and third kisses were mere pecks. At first, we couldn’t find each other’s lips, and I banged my head on Number Two’s chin. It was like playing pin the tail on the donkey. Needless to say, absolutely no chemistry and completely awkward. The kisses were over before they even started. No kiss could beat Number One.”
“So come on. Stop it with the suspense. What happened? Did you guess correctly?”
I bite my lip and look down. “We didn’t finish the game. He took off before the game was over.”
She smacks the table hard, drawing attention from the people sitting near us. “No way! Did he tell your friend why he left?”
“He supposedly came out of the room with his head down. He quickly walked away from Cori while mumbling something like he had to catch a flight. What a lame excuse. The only information Cori got from him was before the game started. He was from Europe, visiting his cousin who was the president of the fraternity at the time. But the real interesting part was Cori said I’d pointed him out to her before the game was even brought up.
“I remember looking around the living room and noticing him right away. He was tall with wavy dark-brown hair. I could tell he was different. He dressed more mature. His pants weren’t hanging low, and he wasn’t wearing a hoodie or flip-flops. He looked older than the typical college guy. Our eyes locked, and he flashed me a crooked smile that gave me goose bumps. But maybe it was a cocky scowl, for all I know. Or is it Gerry who has the crooked smile? Things are getting jumbled now.” I pause for a minute. “Cori and Larissa asked who I was looking at. I carefully motioned to him so it didn’t look obvious I was talking about him. They looked at him briefly but didn’t seem impressed. I peeked over my shoulder and locked eyes with him once more. I turned away because Cori started talking to me about the blindfold game. When I looked back a few minutes later, he was gone. I never saw him again.”
My ears feel like they’re on fire. “The whole thing was so embarrassing. Even more than my sunglasses fiasco this morning. But I have never forgotten that kiss or his lips.”
“It’s pretty obvious. Do you act out your encounter in front of your mirror in your bedroom?”
I squint my eyes and sneer. “When I eat licorice, I always think of him. He haunts me. Maybe the entire mind-blowing experience was only because of the blindfolds.”
“Maybe. But that didn’t sound like it.”
I drink the last of my smoothie. “It does enhance your senses. Maybe that’s why I was in a trance. All my senses collided at once.”
“It sounds more like your lips collided.”
“After all these years, I still remember how he smelled, how he tasted, and the heat that radiated off his body. I have yet to experience that kind of attraction to someone again.” Until today.
Alexa fans herself. “You keep getting me all worked up. No wonder people use blindfolds in the bedroom.”
I chuckle. “Get your mind out of the gutter, young lady.”
She sticks out her lower lip.
“It doesn’t matter. Since he took
off, he probably thought it was terrible. I felt trashy and like a complete fool. We left the party right after.”
“I wish I knew what that kind of attraction felt like. Sadly, it’s never happened to me.” She deflates in her seat.
“Yeah, right. I don’t believe that for one second. You have so many guys beating down our door. None of them have done it for you?” I ask in shock. “What about Tony the Tiger over there?” I gesture to where he’s standing by the front desk. Probably waiting for Alexa.
“Once in a while there’s a good tingle and I get something out of it, but never something I want for more than a couple of dates. Why do you think I’m never in a serious relationship or you’ve hardly met any of them?” She folds her hand towel and places it on the table. “The guys I meet are too easy, damn weird, or have no brains.”
I raise one eyebrow. “Weird? Weird in what way?”
“A knee fetish.”
I blink my eyes several times. “What? What the hell is a knee fetish? You mean these?” I point to my knees.
She takes a deep breath. “Long story short. A proctologist in one of the clinics I have sales appointments at…has a knee fetish. He always goes out of his way to talk to me. He’s at least fifty years old, by the way.
“One day I went to fill a plastic cup at the water cooler. He walked up to me and proceeded to comment on how pretty my knees were. Who the hell looks at people’s knees? He literally bent down and inspected mine. I was so relieved when a nurse called my name for my appointment. I walked away from him like a bat out of hell. After that, I purposely wear pants every time I go to that clinic. I saw him one more time in passing, and his eyes went directly to my knees, and he actually pouted.” She shivers. “Fucking psycho.”
“Men have boob or ass fetishes, but knees…” I don’t press for more disturbing details. “Be careful one of your doctors or boyfriends doesn’t become a stalker.”
She waves her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. He was the only weirdo so far.”
“Fine. Whatever you say.”
I squeeze her wrist. “Again, please don’t tell a soul about this game. I’d be so upset.”
“Why? You were in college. That’s the type of shit everyone does in college. At least you didn’t take a ton of drugs or sleep with every guy around. Or go streaking. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You need to look back at those years and know you did something crazy.”
Dreams Collide: Collide Series Book 2 Page 3
