She’s staring right back at me, and I have to wonder what she sees; what she’s thinking. Has she noticed the scar over my right eyebrow yet, from when I got slammed into a fence post by an ornery bull? Does she hate cleft chins? Not everyone likes ‘em. I had one girlfriend ask me if I’d be willing to get plastic surgery done, to smooth out my jawline.
I want to shift in my chair. I want to smile at Carla. I want to wink at her.
I want to kiss her.
But I can’t ‘cause we’re still staring at each other and I swear to God, the light bulbs overhead are gonna burst any minute now.
The more I stare, the more I realize that she has these flecks in her eyes that I hadn’t noticed before. I can’t tell from here what color those flecks are. Are they black? Dark brown? Dark green? I can’t tell, and I’m just itching to know.
I break first. I can’t stand it any longer.
I stand up abruptly. “I’m thinking a little coffee might help clear the brain,” I say loudly, interrupting Becca and Jason’s debate over the proper clothing that a woman should wear to work. I have to say, Carla’s short skirt and form-fitting jacket are a winning combo in my book. Anything to get a better look at those legs of hers. “Want to come with me, Carla?”
“Sure!” she says brightly, jumping to her feet. “We’ll be back soon,” she tells the others, and without waiting for them to respond, she and I escape through the door. I can hear Biff pleading for them to start working on contract details, just as Becca and Jason start into each other again.
Oh yeah, I’m happy to leave them behind. As soon as they stop spitting nails at each other, they’re gonna want to fuck, and I don’t want to be around for that. Let them do their courtship dance without me in attendance.
I have my own courtship dance I want to do.
95
Carla
We go back into the office area of the MSG and I drag him into the employee break room. It’s day time and we don’t have a show running at the moment, so there’s no one around. I swear to god, my hands are shaking. I never thought I’d react to someone like this.
I never have before, that’s for damn sure.
“Milk or creamer?” I ask him, burying my head in the fridge, fishing out my favorite coffee creamer. Who doesn’t love Dark Chocolate and Cream?
“Oh no, I’m fine,” he says, and I realize he’s right behind me. “Should we go somewhere to get coffee?”
“Oh no, I’m fine.” I unconsciously parrot his words back to him. Moment of truth: I’m mostly telling him no ‘cause I don’t know if my legs will carry me somewhere else to go buy coffee. Walking seems to have become a questionable pursuit right now.
His hand brushes up against my neck and I jerk up from the fridge and spin around just as he looms over me, placing a hand above my head and leaning in to whisper, “I noticed.”
Okay, also something that I’d never normally go for—cheesy pickup lines. I’d had them used on my entire life, thankyouverymuch. I don’t need some guy who can’t be more original than some of the most-used pick-up lines in the singles world.
Except…Chase is sexy as fuck.
And he’s staring down at me.
And I swear to god, my knees are going to give out if this trembling keeps up.
And it turns out that if Chase the Sexy Cowboy God is saying the cheesy pick-up lines, I don’t mind them as much. Or at all. Weird how that happens.
He reaches up with his free hand to stroke me up my arm. “Are you okay?” he rumbles. “You’re trembling like a leaf.”
“I…yeah. I just…I’m not around cowboys very often,” I say lamely.
If his pick-up lines are cheesy, my witty repartee is also sorely lacking.
“Truthfully, I didn’t even know there were cowboys around anymore. Didn’t you guys die out in the 1800s or something?”
“Something like that,” he said with a laconic grin. “Maybe us cowboys just live for a real long time.”
I roll my eyes at that. Vampire cowboys. As if. Even I knew there was no such thing.
Right?