“Are you shopping for your girlfriend?” I nod at the makeup case. Stepping over to it, I slide my hands along the edge. “Or your wife maybe?”
I won’t be the other woman in either case.
“Eva.” He leans against the display, crossing his arms. He stands close to me, and heat radiates off his body. “Topics we didn’t cover the other night. No girlfriend. No wife. And you?”
I twist and glance up at him over my shoulder. “No girlfriend. No wife either.”
He chuckles. “Boyfriend or husband then.”
“Neither of them as well.” Our eyes lock once more.
“So what are you doing here?”
“Delivering a plant to a pretty girl.”
“Girl?” I scoff.
His eyes rake down my body again. “Gorgeous woman.”
Fighting a grin, I chew at my lower lip. “Interesting selection for a flower.”
“Do you have something against poinsettias?” He tilts his head. “I was trying to be original.” He glances over my shoulder.
“Ahh…” His voice softens and I turn to see what he’s looking at. Behind me is a huge arrangement of poinsettias. The entire first floor is filled with strategically placed traditional holiday plants.
I turn back to him while his eyes remain over my head another second. “It was the thought that counts, though, right?”He really is sweet.
He looks down at me. “I’ll do better next time.”
“Zebb.” There doesn’t need to be a next time. I’m still not certain what he’s doing here this time.
“Give me your number.” The way he demands instead of asks instantly throws me back in time to the night we first kissed. He dared me as we stood in the backyard of that party. I’d never been the first to advance but he stood perfectly still as I stepped up to him. I only intended to brush my lips over his, but he caught my upper back before I pulled away and kissed me back. Harder. Deeper. The next thing I knew I was making out with Zebb Scroggs. He demanded that night I give him my digits.
From that moment on, “Toxic” by Britney Spears was my theme song. Zebb was poison for my heart, but I couldn’t get enough of him.
“Zebb, we don’t need to do this.”
“Do what?” His eyes held mine.
We don’t need to relive the past. We don’t need to reconnect in the present. There is no future for us.
“I just want to call you sometime.” Slowly, his lips curl.
A man approaches us from the side, and I turn as another fireman pats Zebb on the shoulder. “Ready, chief?”
“Almost. I’ll meet you outside.”
The other man eyes me up and down. “This her?” He tips up his chin assessing me. He isn’t a bad looking man himself, but he isn’t all-consuming like Zebb.
“This is her.” A smile fills Zebb’s voice, and I turn back to him wondering what that smile means or what this man knows about me.
The fireman thumps twice on his chest, gives us the peace sign with his fingers and steps away.
“So, number?” Zebb pulls out his phone and I recite my phone number while it feels like Santa’s reindeer are taking flight inside my stomach.
What are we doing?
My own phone beeps inside my pocket and I pull it out.