How to Liv (2 page)

“Lucky,” I murmured, feeling a wave of desire run through me. 
I can’t remember the last time I felt a spark of attraction for a man. 
I sighed at the handsome sight in front of me, a smile breaking across my face. 
Look away.  You’re making a fool of yourself with your dreamy stare.
He let out a small throaty chuckle that was ever so sexy. 
Gah!  What must he think of me?

He placed his own packet of Tim Tams into his trolley.  I quickly walked away when his back was turned, hoping my heated face wasn’t as bright red as I imagined it to be.

In the next aisle, I again encountered the sickening couple that were over-the-top sweet to one another, this time they were arguing.  It was not a regular argument, there was no anger involved, but instead it was an ‘I’m-being-nice-to-you-because-I-just-love-you-so-much’ kind of argument. 
Yep, sickening.

“Only if you’re sure babe… no, no, I’m putting it back.  Let’s get the one that you want,” the girl said, placing a jar of spaghetti sauce back on the shelf and picking up another one.

“It’s fine, let’s get the one you had,” the guy said, smiling back to her and retrieving it again from the shelf.

This continued back and forth a couple more times with similar words as I waited for my turn to pick my own pasta sauce.  The fact that I was standing only a metre or so away from them, blatantly staring at them, did not affect them in the slightest.  I hoped that my sighing would work, but they seemed totally oblivious that they were holding me up while they continued to debate the merits of one pasta sauce over the other.

Eventually they picked a jar, put it in the basket the guy was holding and finally moved out of my way.  As their backs turned I rolled my eyes at them and that’s when I noticed the set of beautiful eyes trained on me.  Tim Tam guy was standing on the other side of the couple, presumably waiting to peruse the pasta section like me.  He caught me mid eye roll and smiled, I returned his smile and went bright red, our eyes locked momentarily.

Fuck!  I can’t believe he caught that!  How embarrassing.

“After you,” he said.  He took a couple of steps in my direction and motioned with his arm towards the shelves.

I tried not to notice the proximity of the good-looking Tim Tam guy as I collected two different jars of sauce and started reading the ingredients and instructions, comparing them.  Both our trolleys were behind us, effectively sandwiching us together between them.  He moved a little closer and leaned in my direction.

“That one,” he said, tapping the jar of sauce in my left hand.

“Really?”
I asked sceptically, looking up to him and wrinkling my nose.  He had pointed to the jar I was just about to return to the shelf.  I looked back at the two sauces and then back to the handsome man in front of me.

“Trust me.”

He gave me a slight nod, a sexy smirk that had my insides twitching, then reached in front of me to grab his own jar of said sauce from the shelf.  For some reason I wanted to believe this attractive stranger.

He glanced at me once more, with a small smile playing on his lips, before moving over to place his purchase in his trolley.  Then he pushed his trolley past mine, heading in the direction opposite to where I was going.  I got a good look at the back of
him, he was wearing tan cargo shorts and a navy blue t-shirt.  His shoulders were broad and his waist narrow.  The t-shirt was just short enough for me to check out his butt, which was rather nice, too.  He had muscular looking tanned legs and was wearing thongs on his feet.

Damn he’s hot… I doubt he’s single.

I chose the recommended jar, returned the other to the shelf and grabbed a pack of spaghetti noodles.

When I rounded the corner to the next aisle, he was there again.  We were essentially criss-crossing through the store.  I grabbed some garbage bags and moved my trolley along, giving him a small smile from where I’d stopped in front of the dishwashing liquid.  I couldn’t help
myself, I looked in his direction, watching him as he grabbed something from the top shelf.  He barely had to stretch to get it; he was a lot taller than me.

Most full grown adults were.

I barely scraped the five foot mark, he must be nearing six feet, maybe more.  He glanced in my direction and I quickly looked away.  But not for long.  My eyes drifted back to him moments later and I could see from his side profile that a grin was adorning his face.  His eyes drifted my way again and I quickly turned, grabbed the dishwashing liquid and pushing my trolley further toward him.

I tried to concentrate on the shopping list in my hand, but I couldn’t ignore his presence when he got closer.  I moved my trolley a little and stood in front of the laundry detergent, pretending that I didn’t already know exactly which product I was going to buy, and tried to discreetly watch him instead.

The overly loved-up couple from earlier were coming down the aisle in the same direction as Tim Tam guy and my eyes were unfortunately distracted by them as they constantly touched and kissed each other while walking.  It looked awkward and I couldn’t tear my eyes away when they went past, again totally oblivious to my presence.  I was turning back to my trolley when I realised that Tim Tam guy had stopped just metres away and was looking in my direction.  Our eyes met again briefly.

Of course the laundry detergent I always buy had been relocated to the top shelf.  I knew I was too short to get it but I reached for it anyway.  I was on my tippy toes, stretched to my limit and still not even close to grabbing it, when I felt Tim Tam guy standing directly behind me.

“Let me get that for you,” he said in a deep sexy voice.

“Thanks, that’d be great.”  I moved aside for him.

He reached the top shelf with ease and my eyes momentarily drifted to his tightly encased arse, before looking up to see him grabbing the wrong detergent.

“No, the pink one please,” I quickly instructed him.  He moved his hand to the right and grabbed the correctly fragranced detergent for me.

“There you go,” he said, handing the bottle to me.  Our fingers touched as we both held onto it for a moment and our eyes locked again.

“Thank you,” I said, as he let go.

“You’re welcome.”  He gave me a slight smile before looking away and walking back to his trolley.

I glanced in his direction again when I realised he hadn’t yet moved.  He was standing still and watching me.  It didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, but I did feel shy and so I just smiled back timidly before pushing my trolley away.  It
took everything in me not to turn around but I realised there was nothing more I needed in that aisle so I reluctantly turned the corner.

Without looking up I immediately felt his presence yet again when he turned the corner at the opposite end of the next aisle.  I tried not to look at him too much as I went about my business.

He’s probably married.  He wouldn’t be interested in me.  I really need to stop day-dreaming!

He stopped halfway down.  He had his trolley blocking the way and as I approached him my heart started to palpitate while I tried to figure out how I was going to get past.  I stopped with my trolley almost touching his, but before I had the chance to say “excuse me” he pulled his trolley toward his body.

No wedding ring!  Could he be single?

“Sorry,” he said with a bright smile in my direction, he looked as if he wanted to say something more but then quickly looked away.  I couldn’t find my voice so I just nodded and smiled back at him, continuing past.

Huh!  Maybe he was just as shy as me!

That thought somehow boosted my confidence.  When I made it down the next aisle we crossed paths again.  I smiled widely at him which made him smile even wider back at me.  We both came to a stop, our trolleys side by side as we shopped opposite each other.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” I joked.

He laughed and then we had to move both of our trolleys to make way for the ‘cutesy’ couple to get through.  When I turned to face him he was already moving off toward the end of the aisle.  I
watched him, more than a little disappointed, when he turned the corner without looking back at me.

Probably not single.

Moments later, on the very next bend, I turned the corner, too quickly and crashed my trolley head on into his.

“Sorry.”  We instinctively spoke at the same time before we both burst out laughing.

What did he do, speed down that last aisle? 

“We really
do
have to stop meeting like this,” he said between chuckles.

We
both quieted down, untangled our trolleys and started to move past one another.  I racked my brain trying to think of something more to say to the handsome Tim Tam guy but couldn’t for the life of me come up with any words.

We had come to the end of the store, the last aisle.  I was more than a little disappointed that I would probably never see this man again.  As I started emptying my items onto the conveyor belt at the cash register, I tried not to look all over the store for him.  I didn’t want to appear desperate, but I
desperately
wanted to catch another glimpse of him before he left.

I suddenly felt like someone was watching me and turned to my right to find that he was at a register a couple of lines down.  His eyes quickly returned to his groceries and to the task at hand and I figured I was being ridiculous.

I mean, the guy is gorgeous.  Totally out of my league.  He’d be better suited to my sister.  We shared a couple of looks, probably meaningless.  We smiled a couple of times, had a laugh.  So what?  Now he’s probably going home to his girlfriend.

I decided not to give it another thought and turned my attention to loading the bags of groceries back into my trolley and paying the lady at the register.  As soon as I left the store I dug around the bags to find my packet of Tim Tams.  I really needed them now!  I ripped them open and placed them on top of my handbag in the child’s seat of my trolley.  Taking my first bite, I couldn’t suppress a moan of appreciation leaking from my lips.  I savoured the flavour, chewing slowly,
then took another bite.

I steered my trolley in the direction of my car and almost immediately rammed it into Tim Tam guy.  He was leaning against the wall of the front of the store with his trolley at his side.  He had an open packet of Tim Tams in one hand and a half-eaten biscuit in the other and he was openly gaping at me.  He was completely still, as if he was frozen in time.  We were close, only my trolley separating us.  After a moment of staring at each other he started chewing again and held up his packet of biscuits, toasting me.  I grabbed my packet and imitated his gesture.  He smiled and nodded as he continued to chew.  I watched his throat for a moment as he swallowed before clearing mine and popping the last of my biscuit in my mouth.

“Great minds think alike,” he said.

I couldn’t respond with a mouthful of chocolate biscuit.  I tried really hard not to break into a smile.  The last thing I needed was to dribble or splutter out chocolate in front of this guy.  I tried, I really did, but the giggle was coming and I couldn’t allow that embarrassment so I turned my head and my trolley and walked away with only a nod.

When I reached my car I was devastated.  I’d missed my chance completely. 
What a royal fuck up!

I opened the boot and started dumping my groceries inside.  The late afternoon sun was beating down on my back.  Normally I loved daylight savings but at this exact point in time I really wished it wasn’t seven-thirty at night, sunny and still stinking hot.  I could feel a bead of sweat forming on my forehead to match the drip running down my back.  I couldn’t wait to get home and have a shower.  I heard a crack from one of the bags as it hit the side of the car.  I looked inside to find that I had broken the lid of the ice cream.

“Fuck!” 
Could this day get any worse?

“So we meet again,” a now familiar voice spoke softly.

I jumped, still cursing the broken tub of ice cream and turned to watch Tim Tam guy pushing his trolley to a stop at the back of the silver ute parked beside mine. 
What are the chances?
 

“Well, I feel like I have to introduce myself now.”  He chuckled. 

Introduce myself!  Why didn’t I think of that?

He stepped a little closer and held out his hand.

“I’m Joel and I promise I’m not stalking you.”

“Olivia,” I said laughing, taking his hand.  It was warm and slightly rough.  It was strong and inviting and very, very hard to let go of.  I blinked a couple of times and then dropped my hand to my side before I made even more of a fool of myself.
I hope he can’t see the sweat on my brow. 

“Nice to meet you,” he said with a genuinely heart pounding smile.  “So Olivia, have you eaten?”

I picked up my packet of Tim Tams and saluted him with them.

“
Dinner?
” he asked disbelievingly.

“Yep,” I replied.

“You can’t be serious.”  He chuckled.

“Deadly,” I said with a smile.

“Could I take you to a
real
dinner?  Something with a little more nutrition, maybe?”  He had a cheeky look on his face.