Falling Away (19 page)

             
Damn he’s good.

I sipped on my peppermint mocha at Delilah’s during my nightly break, casually skimming the bulletin board of various items for sale, community updates, services for sale, lost pets, etc. I was close to the front door that never seemed to stay closed, so the heat felt really good cupped within my grasp and sliding down my throat.

             
“So, am I picking you up tonight?” Evan softly said into my ear from behind. He was so close, random parts of his body rubbed against mine.

             
I cocked my head to the side, debating. With any luck, one whiff of my perfume would intoxicate him and pay him back for stirring up all those feelings last night, maybe even set off his own set of internal explosions. It’d only be fair. “I don’t know. It’s awfully last minute,” I said, all ho-hum-like.

             
“It is,” he agreed. His hand snaked around my back, stopping once his palm came to rest on my hip bone, lightly pressing me
against him
.

             
I should’ve known it was a trick, but I was sucked into the moment. Being somewhat wrapped up in his arms felt right, even though my head was trying to tell me otherwise. That was, until his other hand came out of nowhere and pinched beneath a rib, causing my body to snap so fast I was lucky I wasn’t wearing my coffee.

             
“Stop that!” I cried, swatting at him as I turned to face him head on.
Damn those ticklish spots!

             
“That’s a yes, right?”
And damn that delicious, irresistible half-grin.

             
“Yes. Whatever! Go.” I swatted again but he jumped out of reach this time.

             
Pushing and walking backwards out the front door, he asked, “Same time?”

             
“No. In front of my place. Ten o’clock.”

             
He was curious about the change in location, but with the arc of my eyebrows and the hand taking place at my hip, it kept him from questioning before officially leaving the building.

             
Jeesh
. And men say we women were the teases…

             
I screamed internally. Why did he have this affect on me? Why was it every time he either touched or looked at me a certain way, I just turned to goo and melted to the floor? How was he capable of breaking down my defenses so easily? Damn…did he do it so easily the first time?

             
Well, two could play at this game.

             
I finished the last two hours of my shift with an unmovable smile plastered across my face that actually hurt by the time I got out of there. I had just enough time to rinse and smother my skin with berry body wash, change into a sexier, tighter sweater that I swiped from Sophie’s closet last November, and got downstairs again before the church bell across the street chimed ten times. It turned out Evan was already parked and waiting outside his truck, just three spots down.

             
For once
I
got to do the slow, sexy walk that demanded attention. Don’t think I couldn’t see the slight shake of the head or the partial eye roll on his part. I hoped it did screw with his head a bit – both of them.  And yes, I intentionally waited until I was right up on him before adding my coat to the ensemble and eliminating the special view he was taken to as I approached.

             
He exhaled pretty loudly, considering the wind was blowing hard. Thankfully, it blew against me and pushed my hair back instead of whipping crazily around my face. My eyes drifted down to check out the dark grey ribbed v-neck tunic and black jeans, both of which I knew would fit his structure in all the right places, but unfortunately was covered up by that damn wool pea coat again. I glanced up in time to catch him running the same check on me.

             
My laughter was silent, but the jerks in my chest were painfully obvious, so his eyes immediately found mine. And no, he didn’t blush over getting caught checking me out. He never did.

             
“Okay with what you see?” I inquired teasingly.

             
“Always.” His eyes definitely agreed. “You?”

             
“What makes you think I’m looking?” I asked innocently. He narrowed his eyes before opening the passenger door. A silent moment passed between us as his eyes bore down on me in a sexual manner. They finally diverted to my mouth, his thumb reaching up to sweep across my bottom lip just once, teasing me in a way that was gonna make me scream pretty soon.
Damn! I can’t believe he was doing this to me!
I shouldn’t be that desperate to kiss him, to feel his arms around me, to need my body pressed against his. “You know, for someone that’s supposed to be giving me time to adjust, you sure look ready to attack.”

             
That knowing smile was just evil. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kiss you.”

             
“No?” I had serious doubts he could hold off much longer. All
of
his teasing had to be eating away at him as much as it had me.

             
“Nope.” His eyes met mine as the pad of his thumb tickled my cheek bone now. “The next time we kiss, I want you to
really
kiss me back.” With a teasing smile, he added, “So I’m sorry if my interest is driving your hormones a little nuts, but I plan to wait until you ask me for it this time.”

             
Oh. My. God. Seriously? How I kept my jaw from dropping was beyond me. “Don’t think for one second you’re stirring anything up by playing these games. My hormones are in check, bucko.”

             
He exaggerated clearing his throat and sucked on the inside of his cheek as his hand slowly made its way down my neck and beneath the lapel of my wool jacket, coming to rest on my heart. You’d think I’d gasp with his hand suddenly splayed across the top of my breast, but I didn’t. Actually, I was trying my
damnest
to calm my heart, which was sputtering erratically, completely ratting out what his physical touch was doing to my body. “You sure about that? Because it’s thirty degrees out here, yet your cheeks are flushed with heat and your forehead’s a little moist. Care to explain that,
P
rincess
?”

             
Lucky for him that endearment was beginning to grow on me.

             
“Well, that depends,” I answered calmly, proud my voice didn’t crack. My left hand reached around his neck and I inched forward until our
right
cheeks were flush. My fingers slid into his hair and tugged on a few locks, and I exacted further torment by exhaling a warm, gentle breath over his ear. Don’t think I didn’t notice how his hand twitched over my chest, aching to do more than just feel for a heartbeat. My hand slid slowly down his neck until I felt the quickened pulsations beneath his lightly scented skin.
Well
lookey
there, his throbbing heartbeats rivaled mine.
Weakly chuckling my amusement, I whispered, “Is your explanation gonna be any different than mine?”

             
His head rolled back and I caught the excitement in his face.
Busted
. His hand retreated and grabbed the hand I had draped around his neck. His eyes locked onto mine, just mere inches away, and sensuously kissed the inside of my wrist. “Oh, I sure hope your answer is the same as mine.”

             
That brought a curve to my lips. “So what are we doing tonight?”

             
“Well, if you can keep your hands to yourself,” he said, his eyes rolling my way in an amusing manner, “I thought we could rent a movie and go back to my place.”

             
“Don’t you live with your parents?”

             
“Sort of. I live in the guest room above the garage. It was the only way I would agree to come home for the semester.”

             
“Smart boy.”

             
His arm motioned for me to get into the truck already, and we drove to the video store. Funny they still called it a video store since it didn’t have any video cassettes in the entire place. We played tug of war with our hands when I tried to lure him to the romantic comedies and he tried to get me into the fantasy/science fiction section.

             
“All right, all right.” His pull relented so I released mine. “How about we meet half way and get an action flick?”

             
“So long as there’s a romantic element to it.”

             
He laughed under his breath but eventually agreed. Something caught his attention over my shoulder and his happiness sorta diminished. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

             
Curiously, I scanned the area he was glaring at, expecting to see Melissa, or some other ex I wasn’t aware of yet. But it was actually a middle-aged couple that stood out. The woman was robust, with slightly frizzy, wind-blown brown hair that was cut just above the shoulders, and warm brown eyes. The man was several inches taller with green eyes and a receding grey hairline, and seemed to favor his right leg a bit. The woman was highly excited and grinning widely as she hurried towards us in front of the man, who had more of a look of apology on his face than anything.

             
“Honey, I didn’t know you were going to be here. Hanging out with the guys, you say?” she asked accusingly.

             
Well, until I commit to a little more physicality, I might as well be just one of the guys.

             
I tried to keep from overly smiling now that I knew these were his parents, and ‘cause he seemed to be a little horrified over the intrusion. His father continued with the sympathetic looks, but smiled when my glance caught his.

             
“Mom, Dad,” Evan acknowledged reluctantly. “This is Jenna. Jenna, my parents.”

             
“Hi,” I said meekly, offering a tiny wave.

             
Her eyes lit up and her outburst drew weird stares from the people around us. “Oh,
Jenna!
So nice to meet you!” she exclaimed, taking my hand and shaking it wildly a few times. “I’m sorry we missed you at the
hospital.” She hesitated and caught Evan’s gaze before adding with a curious smile, “I guess now I know why Evan rushed us off so quickly that night.” And here I thought his face couldn’t look more distressed. “You’ll have to forgive my son. He’s deathly afraid I’ll embarrass him.”

             
“No chance of that, Mom,” Evan said sarcastically, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

             
“Oh, Jenna. I’d love for you to come to dinner sometime next week.”

             
I wasn’t really sure what to say to that, since Evan and I weren’t a couple. But luckily I didn’t have to say anything, ‘cause Evan cut in with a, “Mom…” the same time her husband let out a, “Diane…”

             
I just smiled as her hand dramatically shooed at her husband while he lightly pulled on her arm. “Let them be, Diane. Evan will bring her to dinner if he wants to.”

             
“Oh,
pish
-posh!”

             
Even as her husband pulled her off in the opposite direction, Mrs.
Gilden
faced us, demanding, “Evan, you be good to that girl and bring her to dinner.”

             
Groaning with his jaw clenched tight, Evan was thankful they finally left the store. No longer able to contain the giggles, I let a few out before asking, “What were the odds of that happening?”

             
“One in four, actually,” he muttered, still a bit lifeless.

             
“What?”

             
“Once a month my parents go on a Saturday date night. Typically, they come by here afterwards to get a movie for Sunday. I hadn’t kept up with their night out since I’m not directly staying in the house anymore.”