No. Crazy people try to kiss strangers they’ve only known for a matter of minutes. In their workplace, no less.
Crazy people and insanely hot guys.
I’m the one who’s going crazy.Now, I’m arguing with myself? I need to just go out with Lyndsey one night, completely throw caution to the wind and find a guy who is nothing like the sun-kissed Adonis that I will likely never see again.
“There you are.”
My heart stops. A chill replaces the space where my heart once beat. I’m dead. This is what death feels like, I think. Cold, shock, confusion, I could see this being the end. I’m even hallucinating, hearing voices that belong to a man with a mouth I’ve only dreamt about tasting.
I try to breathe. Nothing.
Nope, it’s death. He’s come for me.Well, we had a good run, Aly, but I suppose it was inevitable.
“It’s Alyson, right?” the man behind me says.
Death knows my name.
I turn around to face him. The same flood of sensations emerges at the sight of him, and I suck in a gasp of breath to steady my nerves.
So not dead. Only stunned.
Lucky me.
“Yes.” I nod. “That’s me. Are you having trouble finding your order?”
His lips curl at one end, revealing a pair of straight white teeth. He casts his eyes downward and rubs the back of his neck. The motion pulls his sleeve taut around his arm, revealing the muscular definition beneath his sweater.
The frigid space in my heart quickly thaws, replaced with a peal of thunder that echos in my ear. My chest tightens. Every breath is practically a gasp. I sound like I’ve just completed a marathon. And that I’m horribly out of shape. I coach myself to take small breaths, breathing in through my nose, out through my mouth without looking as foolish as I feel.
“I was looking for you actually,” he says finally. “I wanted to apologize.”
Oh my lord! My dream. It’s coming true. It wasn’t wish-fulfillment; it was a premonition! “You want to apologize to me?”
“Well, yeah, I just felt like-”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything.” I interrupt him.
I don’t want to hear the heartwarming things he had planned to say, or even the arrogant fumblings he might have stumbled through either. Especially when he wasn’t the one out of line. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. It wasn’t my place. And you’re right. Something is always better than nothing.”
He groans and tosses his head back. “God, it sounds even worse when you repeat it.”
The sincerity in his features confuses me. Is he really trying to make an earnest apology? Could what I said have had that much of an impact on him? I wouldn’t have imagined he even gave me a second thought. While I, on the other hand, was up into the late hours of the night having naughty dreams about the things his hands could do.
Heat rises to my cheeks, and I immediately look away.
Why can’t I forget those stupid dreams? That’s right! More than one. Because my subconscious is okay with getting laid, but this girl can’t even breathe when a man gets too close.
“You were right,” he says, carrying on with his heartfelt apology. “I used to do more. I loved it, actually. I just don’t know when it all came to an end.”
Omigosh! What is wrong with me? The man is trying to make an emotional connection with me, and all I can think about is what he looks like naked.
I’m acting like a man.
I focus on a small brick on the floor, anything to keep my mind off of what he looks like.
“Hey,” he says gently, his voice barely above a whisper. His hand tenderly grips my arm. Instantly, the flesh beneath his touch burns, but I am too mesmerized to pull away. He tugs me toward him, facing him. “Are you ok?”
He lets me go, but I am still forced to look him in the eye. I stiffen my jaw and straighten my back. I can do this. I can look him in the eye and treat him just like any other customer.