Sassy, Sexy, and Stalked

by Wall, Shelley

  The house always seemed eerily quiet after Eric left. It usually took a while to adjust. Todd pulled the fridge open, extracted a beer, and went to the backyard. He settled into a lawn chair and sipped from the bottle. Was it possible that Reva was sunbathing again this afternoon? He imagined the black, shiny fabric of her bikini on the other side of his fence. He pondered taking a peek through the boards, then chastised himself. Surely, he hadn’t stooped to that extent.

  Another sip of beer. His cell phone chimed and he glanced at the display. Crap. “What’s up, Annie?”

  “Eric’s missing his tennis shoes. He said he left them at Reva’s. Who’s Reva?”

  None of your damn business.

  “Oh, yeah. He fell asleep and I forgot to pick them up before we left. I’ll ask her about them.” A convenient excuse to talk to Reva again. He made a mental note to thank Eric.

  “He needs them for school. Can you drop them by later?” Todd half-considered telling her to come get them herself. He didn’t have time to go chasing around after her kid’s things. Of course, that was a lie. He had all the time in the world for Eric, just not for her. Getting another brief moment with Reva was enticing too.

  “Yeah, sure.” He hung up and took another swig from the bottle. Damn, he’s slipping. He should have gotten Reva’s phone number before he left. It hadn’t occurred to him. She popped in the door so fast he didn’t have much time to think of anything except the tinge of disappointment when he was left standing on the steps. He tossed the bottle into the trash and headed to the sidewalk. Hopefully, she was home this afternoon and if luck was on his side, she really was in that bikini again.

  When she answered the door, he shelved the bikini thought. This was better. A simple pink T-shirt and jeans shorts. Her hair was pulled up high on the back of her head and her feet were bare. Damn cute.

  “Well, hello there. Got tired of surfing for dates at datemydad?” she teased, leaning against the doorframe.

  He laughed. Love the cheerfulness and sense of humor. He wondered if she knew how sexy her smile was. It could drive a man to do stupid things. “I left Eric’s shoes at your parents’ and his mother called for them.”

  “Ask and you shall receive.” She pulled her hand from behind the door and handed two small size four-and-a-half scuffed shoes at him. “Mom dropped them by on her way to mass this morning. I think she wanted to check and make sure we really were kidding. She sniffed around the house like a bloodhound.”

  “Damn. Wish I’d come over earlier and given her something to boil about, just for grins, of course.”

  “She probably would have beaten you with a broom or something.”

  “It might have been worth it.” Todd wished he could stop grinning. It felt ridiculous. “You look great by the way.” Yeah, even more ridiculous. God, this sucks – completely awkward. It had been ages since he’d even cast a second glance at a woman without suspicion. None of that now. No. More like amusement and as much as he hated to admit it, desire.

  She swiped a hand over her hair. “Thanks. You have a cell phone?”

  He nodded and pulled it from his pocket to show her. She took it, fumbled around a bit, and then handed it back. “There. If you think of anything else he forgot or need to retrieve the rodent, you can call me next time and save a trip around the block.”

  He stared at the phone display. Aw, she gave him her number. He didn’t even have to ask. She had been thinking about him too. He doubted those thoughts were as hot and heavy.

  “No problem.” He slipped the phone back in his pocket and turned to leave, lifting the shoes in a wave. “Thanks for these.”

  “You’re becoming quite the nuisance, you know.” The sparkle in her voice softened the words. He circled around.

  “You know you missed me.” He tried to remember how he acted in this kind of situation but nothing came. Screw it. Playfulness is sexy, right?

  “Yeah, you caught me—that’s the feeling. It’s disguised as annoyance.”

  Okay, sort of sexy. Or not.

  “That feeling in your gut isn’t annoyance, Reva, it’s lust.” Oh shit, did he really say that crap?

  “Wow. Does that line work for you?” She raised an eyebrow and dropped a hand to her hip. The slight lift of the T-shirt bared some bronzed skin.

  Yikes, he had it backward. The lust appeared to emanate from him, not her. “Never used it before,” he answered.

  “Word of warning – don’t. Most women run like hell from that kind of talk. Besides, you don’t seem the type to need to say it.” That was a compliment, right?

  “I’ve never made a woman run. Stomp out in a tantrum, scream a little, or just stop caring, yes, but not run. The question is, do you?” Yeah, smooth. Real smooth. What a dumb thing to say. He decided to walk away before it got worse.

  “Do I what—care?”

  He shook his head. “Run like hell.” His hands shook a bit, reminding him he was in uncharted waters, and probably needed a life boat or something. Flirting never had been his best skill.

  “Oh.” She tilted her head to the side and he almost saw the dimples come out. “Maybe. I’ll have to think about that a while.”

  “You do that. But don’t get all worried. I’m not really the type to chase.” He held up the shoes. “Better get these back to Eric. He’ll need them tomorrow.” He took a few steps backward and tried to give her his best smile, whatever that was. Unfortunately it was overshadowed by the fact that his calf slammed against the bumper of her car. Reva erupted in a full dimple laugh and threw back the cute little ponytail.

  “Stick to humor rather than the lines, Todd. It works for you.”

  Okay, so he still had a bit of the old spark in him. That was good to know. Annie attempted to kill that part but she hadn’t succeeded. He was okay with humor. That could grow into something, couldn’t it? Huh. Did he really want it to? He raised his shoulders, and jogged back around the block before he did something else really stupid.

  ***

  Avoidance was a great tactic when it came to pain and ugliness. He dropped the shoes at Annie’s door and high-tailed it out without even knocking. Normally he’d go in and talk to Eric. He suffered through Annie’s complaints and criticism as a trade-off for a few minutes with the kid. Not tonight. Nothing was going to burst this bubble – he’d enjoyed the time with Reva. When he was back home, he sent a quick text telling Annie where to find the shoes.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Tuesday morning came a lot sooner than Reva wanted. With little progress on Adam’s project, she knew it was time for that discussion. Still, after hearing Adam unload on Gavin last week, she questioned the possibility of a positive outcome. No worries, girl. This is what you do best. You love helping people overcome obstacles and succeed.

  She peeked into Adam’s office mid-morning and mustered her best cheerful look. “Can you stop by so we can discuss the status of your migration project?”

  He stared right through her without even a twitch. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Reva hung around her office until lunch, finishing up paperwork, signing off on invoices and updating her monthly status report for the board. Adam never showed. He knew her afternoon was filled with back to back meetings and it annoyed her that he intentionally dissed the request.

  She opened her office door at 4:30 and dropped her keys and notebook on the desk, before pressing a button on the phone to check messages. There were fourteen waiting. She heaved a sigh and dropped into the chair to work through each one. Reva always jotted the message details on a legal pad along with date and time, and then called back the people individually. Four of the calls were questions about Adam’s project. Apparently he’d told a few people it would go live Friday! The project hadn’t even reached the first phase of a four-stage deployment. No wonder the callers were panicked. In the middle of the ninth message, three taps reverberated on her door.

  Forcing a smile, Reva lifted her head to answer. She half-expected another annoyed staff member to
confront her about the timeline and what they should do.

  “You wanted to talk to me?” Adam said. She glanced at the clock. A quarter to five. Yeah, he really took her request seriously.

  “That’s right. I did earlier today but you’ve waited too long and I’m leaving shortly. What’s this I hear about your migration going live this weekend? We haven’t even looked at it yet, nor have we done any deployment tests or functionality tests. Surely it’s not that far along?”

  “All we have to do is set up the users in the software and send out the instructions. They’re smart—they should have no problem doing this.”

  She swallowed the verbal venting she wanted to release. “Have you tested the migration yet on our test server with some of the machines?”

  “I ran it on mine but not on the test server. It went fine.”

  “Your machine isn’t the server and doesn’t have any live files to port over. You’re also running at higher permissions than most users, so it wouldn’t be possible to validate that staff won’t run into either permission or server/connectivity related issues. Also, if my memory serves me right, when I did the last one three years ago, there was a script that had to run for each user on the local machine in order to get their environment set up correctly.”

  “It worked fine for me. I tested the script—no problems. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

  “Adam, we should have talked about this a week ago and certainly way before we start informing staff. I’m sorry but there’s no way we can start this weekend. Not without testing everything on standard user accounts. You’re an admin, that doesn’t count.”

  Adam glared at Reva. He stood over her desk with clenched fists. “Don’t you think that’s overkill for such a small project?”

  She sensed the tension in his voice and it startled her. Glancing up, she thought he might lunge at her. Reva rose quickly and did her best to diffuse the situation by softening the tone of her voice and motioning to the chair in front of her desk. “Why don’t you sit down, Adam, and we’ll figure out what needs to happen and set a schedule to it.”

  He looked at the office door, she thought to check for anyone passing, and then lowered into the chair. “I don’t need your help. I can do this.”

  “I’m sure you can, but this isn’t a small project. We’re migrating software that all 3000 users will need access to. We have to test every scenario, even remote access, and we can’t do that without a project plan and detailed schedule that includes testing every part. Until we have that, we’re not going forward, and I certainly don’t expect you to do this alone, it’s too big. Who do you want to help you? We’ll meet with them tomorrow to discuss it. I’m sorry but you’re just not ready yet and we’re not going to fly by the seat of our pants on this one. Does that make sense?”

  “Very. Is there anything else you want from me?”

  Super. He didn’t like that at all. How else was she supposed to tell him? The guy’s a grown man, not a two-year old.

  “Not that I can think of at the moment.” She hesitated. “Oh wait, I did mention at the staff meeting last week that everyone needs to start putting together their goals for next year. We’ll incorporate that into the individual performance reviews as well as our strategic plan. So, once we get the project back in scope, you might want to give some thought to that.”

  It comforted her to see him appear calmer. Reva smiled encouragement. “Have a good evening, Adam. Thanks for meeting with me.”

  The time on the clock said five-thirty. All the other staff members were gone for the day. Did he actually mutter “whatever” as he stepped to the door?

  “One last thing, though.” She probably should wait until her temper calmed but she went ahead when he met her eyes. “Next time I ask you to stop by, don’t wait so long, okay?”

  “I was busy.”

  This was getting really old. She took a labored breath. It required a good amount of control to bite back a response.

  “I’m sure you were. I’ll be more specific in the future, if that helps. The longer we put off these discussions the more the project stretches out. Let’s keep an eye on how this reflects on the department and work together to get it finished.”

  Not to mention the only reason you delayed was to piss me off. Reva felt exhaustion working into her shoulder blades. She pulled her purse and laptop bag from the desk and walked him to the door. The door clicked closed behind her as she said, “See you tomorrow.”

  Adam ignored her words and strode away.

  Hmmm. That didn’t go as she hoped and, for the life of her, she wasn’t sure if he was better or worse for the discussion. How could she have handled it differently? Tomorrow’s meeting with the additional staff involved should go much better. In all honesty, if this had happened pre-Nick she would have lost her temper and got in his face. After spending a year evading confrontations that escalated beyond the yelled exchanges, she had a different perspective on how to read emotions. It had been a rude awakening to be a victim of anything, let alone an abusive boyfriend. An awakening that battered bruises into her arms and back, then left her with a realization that all people absolutely do not react like her family does. For all their big words, loud voices, and sassiness – her parents had never laid a punishing hand on any of their kids. They didn’t need to. When anyone was dangerously out of line, the entire family knew and got involved. Family amusement was a very influential method of behavior correction. If that didn’t work, they counseled. Over and over again.

  Reva sighed as she sat watching the evening news in the kitchen. She scraped her fork through the sauce on a plate of warmed tacos with disinterest. Her world had changed irreversibly in the past few years. So had she. Every facial expression, every flinch, every tone change in a voice worried her. She chastised herself on a daily basis for taking things too seriously. Nick was a random anomaly. Normal people don’t act like that, so her Dad advised. Still, she had vowed when she moved back home that she would never get in a similar situation again. For some reason, Adam scared her. She knew she was likely being paranoid, but still…something about him made the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention. Realistically, he probably hadn’t intended to lunge at her. She very likely overreacted to his gestures and expressions. Unfortunately, as much as a person wanted to dispense of their past, it was impossible to do so. If she could wipe the time with Nick from her mind and soul, she would have already done so. She hated that her old, avant-guard attitude had been replaced with this….whatever it was. She didn’t even know herself now.

  Todd Grisham had seen past it though. He had teased and welcomed her in a most comfortable way. There had been no threat or concern in his words or touch.

  Her cell buzzed and broke the trance. She didn’t recognize the number and considered letting it go to voicemail. After three rings, she answered.

  Todd. He had a seductively kind voice on the phone. Or in person for that matter. She pictured his smile.

  “I’m going over to sign up for the softball team and thought I’d ask if you wanted to sign up too. I can put your name on the list if you do.”

  “I forgot about that. Uh, okay. Tell you what—meet me at the corner and I’ll walk along, if that’s okay.” Excellent. That would take her mind off silly things like abusive ex’s and ominous employees. She wasn’t all that big on softball but what the hell. Maybe it would ease the drama. Surely pounding the hell out of a leather ball would be a good outlet?

  ***

  Todd slowed to a stop at the corner Reva mentioned, which segmented her street from the community park. The park spanned five blocks and had a walking path around it with a duck pond opposite the pool, and a lone baseball diamond nestled in the bosom. Her house was the third door away and he imagined she could hear the park noises on a still day. A nice-sized Texas pecan tree graced the corner and he rested a shoulder against it as he waited on her approach. The breeze glancing along his temple predicted a reasonably cool evening for
spring. It also funneled the scent of ligustrum toward him, a scent that either made one smile or sneeze…depending on the tendency toward allergies to plant life. Todd smiled and twitched his nose.

  Reva’s dimples were in full force as she bounced toward him in a gray T-shirt and navy shorts. Her ponytail wagged in rhythm to her steps, a few tendrils slipping out in wisps across her face. She always looked so—clean. She also normally appeared outwardly happy but in the short time they’d spent together, he noticed a rumbling unease hidden behind the smiles. It occurred to him the warmth never seemed to completely sink into her eyes. She had great dimples and a ready smile, but something more lurked in the background and it made him curious.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “What for?”

  “Getting me out. Today was a rough day. I needed out.”

  It wasn’t his nature to pry. Annie had hated that about him. Whenever she was upset about something, she had expected him to pick and prod information from her until she spouted her feelings like a fountain. She liked the attention. He had thought it a stupid game. If a person wanted someone to understand them, they should just say what they meant. No need for pretenses.

  “Sorry to hear that but on a night like this, you can’t bring your work home. It’s too perfect.” He raised a hand at the sky, noting that the sun was blinking its last bit of light on the horizon. “We’d better hurry before it’s too dark to see.” He fell in beside her and picked up the pace.

  “Feel like running?” Reva asked.