Seven Years of Bad Luck (6 page)

I guess there are gentlemen around these days. Pretty fingers? That’s odd.

I stood up from my crouched position and nearly fell back on my ass. The hand, pretty fingers and all, belonged to an equally gorgeous man. I mean really gorgeous! Scratch that. He was smokin’ hot.

“I’m sorry. I’m all butter-fingers today, I guess,” I muttered and felt my cheeks begin to burn so bright they felt sunburned.

“No need to thank me. Thank you for practically tossing this book at me. I have been looking for it.” His voice was a perfect match to his appearance, remarkably sexy. His voice was low and deep, and words seemed to slip out of his mouth like satin.

Ugh! Shit! Do I have extra panties readily available in my bag? I may need them thanks to Mr. Sex-on-legs.

“Oh, um… you have?”

“Yes as a matter of fact it’s a gift for someone special.” His sex appeal and charming personality suddenly took a nose dive for me.

“Oh no. I am buying that book. I only just dropped it. It’s a gift for
my
someone special. Thanks for picking it up for me, but I will take that back now. I really have to get going. I’m in a hurry.” I held out my right hand palm up expecting no dispute about the book. He simply gave me a once over, and then a slow-moving, arrogant smirk eased across his impossibly handsome face.

“Well, lady, you dropped the book. It was no longer in your possession, I picked it up, thereby taking possession of it, so… I’ll be buying this book today. Thanks again for being so… instrumental in finding it for me.” The heated moisture that was mounting in my panties instantly evaporated like water in the Sahara, and I narrowed my eyes on his turning body.

“No way, mister! Hand it over! I had it first. What kind of person practically steals merchandise from other shopper’s hands? Besides, as you can see, it is the last copy on the shelf, and I don’t have time to order another one on the internet. Surely you understand. Right?” He had his back to me at that point, but stopped in his tracks and turned back to face me.

“What I understand is possession is nine-tenths on the law, and I have this book in my possession. Surely you can understand
that
.” He stood before me with the damned book in his hand smirking at me like he was enjoying this little argument we were having, and I just wanted to punch him square in his stunning face for being such an ass. I would have to game plan on the fly.

Okay, fine, chief. You want to be like that? Time to try my hand at charming female persuasion. This could work. It needs to work.

I stifled my unpleasant mood and plastered the best smile I could muster up on my face. “Listen, um…”

He crossed his arms across his clearly muscular chest with the book safely tucked under his left arm.

“Ben.” His tone indicated that he was less than impressed with my ploy and clearly saw right through what I was working at. I proceeded anyway.

“Okay. Ben. My name is Kat…”

“As in the animal?” He interjected.

“Um, no. As in Kathleen,
Ben
.” Now he had a smug look on his face like he was thoroughly pleased with the banter between us.

Alright, jerk-wad. Keep it up, and I’m going to snatch that book from under your arm and bolt for the cashier.

I held out my hand to him to shake. He looked down at my extended hand before him and quirked an eyebrow to go along with his smug grin. He waited a moment too long to extend his own hand, an omission which I assume was meant to add insult to injury.

Nice! This guy just oozes chivalry
.

“Nice to meet you, Ben. Like I was saying, my name is Kat. Surely I can convince you to hand over that book. I really need it. It’s kind of an emergency.” He crossed his arms over his chest again and leaned one muscle-capped shoulder against the wall with ankles crossed. Clearly he was getting comfortable for the show I was putting on.

Asshole!

“It’s highly doubtful that purchasing a book is some kind of emergency, Kathleen.”

“No. It’s just Kat. K.A.T!!” I said impatiently.

“My apologies, Kathleen” was his response to my clarification of my preferred name followed by a simple arrogant smirk and nod. He was positively infuriating and purely male flawlessness

What the fuck, guy?

“I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to do better than that since I, too, need this book.”

You have GOT to be kidding me!

“Well, Ben, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s my best friend’s birthday soon, and I am to be out of town for a few days and won’t have time to comb the city for this particular book, and as I said before, I won’t have time to order one; with shipping and all, it would take days. I would appreciate your understanding.”

He scoffed at my plea. An audible, rude as hell, scoff.

Oh this just keeps getting better and if I keep dancing in circles with this tool bag, I’m going to miss my flight. Just what I need.

“Hey! Don’t act like that! I am new to this city, and I don’t know my way around enough to be stopping by one bookstore after another.”

To hell with my female persuasion. I’m going to let this joker have a piece of my mind. I may not get to buy the damned book, but verbally assaulting this guy will definitely make me feel better.

He stood there unmoved and still leaning against the wall as casual as can be. A glimpse of my old self peeked through the veil and made her presence known, and I was happy to feel that way.

“You know what? Take the damn book! You’re practically a thief. Have a shit day, jerk!” I waltzed past him, making sure to shoulder swipe him as I went.

“Pleasure meeting you, Kathleen.” He tossed over his shoulder at me while I stomped away at a steady pace.

“Piss off, Ben!” I tossed back, earning me a few stares. I heard him chuckle, clearly pleased with himself.

Shit! What now?

I stomped out of the store and continued on my way to the airport, empty-handed. I parked my car in the lot that charges you an ungodly amount per day and trudged into the airport. I made it in the nick of time and scurried to my gate. Once I was on board I plopped down in my seat and couldn’t get Ben out of my head.

What a total arrogant ass, but boy, was he incredibly handsome. The last thing I needed was another arrogant, smug, uber-handsome man in my life! I just offloaded one of those, and he did a crack job at screwing up my life. Perhaps I should just date moderately handsome men.

I chuckled at myself for that bright idea.

News flash Kat! Jackasses come in all shapes, sizes, and varying degrees of attractiveness. I must be the most self-destructive person I know. Do I have a sign on my back that says ‘hey come screw with my head and mess things up for me… I love that shit.’

Still, after scolding myself for swooning over Ben’s looks, I couldn’t help but think about him. I squirmed in my seat a bit while I mentally catalogued his features head to toe. He had on jeans that had a great worn look to them like I usually buy. A snug fitting gray V-neck tee which also looked vintage, or maybe he has simply worn it a lot. He had black boots on his feet. I got an up close look at those when I was crouched on the damn floor trying to pick up the book. He smelled great, too, although we were not exactly close enough for me to get a great big whiff of him.

I know he was a couple inches over six feet tall simply because I am 5’4”, and he towered over me like Aidan used to; I know for a fact that Aidan is 6’4”. His hair was a chocolate brown and shiny. It reminded me of hot fudge. His hair was about finger length I guess and wavy. It had no particular style to it.

I bet he just runs his hands through it to ‘style it.’ Bet he doesn’t even own a comb.

I snickered a bit at my preposterous assumption about his not owning a comb. Everyone owns at least some type of comb or brush unless that person is bald or something.

Just then I got a visual of the exact opposite. I pictured Mr. Arrogant sitting in front of a girly vanity combing his beautiful locks of wavy finger length hair over and over like a lady. I let out a full laugh at the ridiculous thought. It earned me a few perplexed looks from a couple of other passengers. One was from a “grown ass teenager,” of course.

I shot the lady a huge smile that was saturated with pure cattiness to which her response was an eye roll and a quick turn away from me.

Yeah, that’s right lady; keep your butt planted in your floatation device in case of an unexpected water landing.

I chuckled again. My thoughts came back to Ben. I found myself pressing my thighs together and squirming a bit.

I needed to get laid soon. Getting all hot and bothered over some random guy who turned out to be a total tool bag was unacceptable.
Sex. Yes, sex would remedy this problem. With whom, though? Hmmm. I’ll come back to that one, though to be honest, I would give a lot to see what’s under Ben’s clothes.

I could tell by looking at him that he had a great body. I was sure of it. Even through clothes, that was obvious. His arms were muscular. Very muscular. So were his legs. His jeans fit somewhat snugly across his thighs, so of course, that meant he had great legs.

Washboard abs are a given, then
.

His lips were full, and what I saw of his teeth through that smug smile of his were beautiful, straight, and white. Clearly the product of excellent dental care. He had a bit of a facial hair. I assumed it was due to simply not shaving for a day or two. It looked great on him, though. His nose was proportionate to the rest of his features. The best part, though, the best part was his eyes. He had stunning eyes. They were a sort of blue-green hue rimmed with a deep sapphire blue. Simply stunning.

No wonder I’m squirming in my seat! Oh well, thanks for the daydream, Ben, you book thief!

The following day, after arriving in El Paso, I met with Aidan and our lawyers. Monday, May 13th, 2013. Day 216 since Aidan. The last time I had laid eyes on him, he looked miserable. I felt a bit sympathetic for him. He had single-handedly dismantled our relationship. We had so much potential, and we were happy and in love at one point. Then, he became his own worst enemy. I know he will never forgive himself for the role he played in my car accident. I blamed him pretty ruthlessly right away. I felt his behavior was the catalyst that had caused me to drive away from our home that night and straight into life-altering tragedy. We don’t speak about the child we lost. In fact, the entire incident was swept under the rug and ignored by both of us. Some things were simply too painful to confront.

I had wept for the loss of our child. Tears didn’t come initially, only anger. I swallowed it down like the foulest thing I had ever experienced the taste of. I choked it down whole and it had hit the bottom of my stomach with a crippling, explosive crash. It resided there from then on. The pain and heartbreak lived deep within me, festering and eating away at me like a cancerous growth. I always thought that perhaps one day I could be purged of my ailment. I thought, maybe even hoped, that I would heal emotionally. My mother always said that in order to heal, I would have to be willing to let it go. Clearly, I had not yet gotten to that point. I wasn’t sure that I would ever be to that point where grief and grudges escape a person’s death grip and leaves her standing as only half the person she was before, but leaves her, nonetheless. As for me, right then, it was just me and my anger and grief in the throes of a tumultuous dance to a sad ballad on an endless loop.

Much to my surprise, when I saw Aidan, he didn’t look all that miserable. In fact, he looked like he was coping with our split rather well. Of course there was likely a woman or two to thank for that. When I walked into the conference room at my lawyers office, Aidan and his lawyer were already seated and waiting for the festivities to begin.

Oh joy. This should be a thrill and a half.

I seated myself beside my lawyer, and we were in and out in less than thirty minutes. Aidan and I didn’t speak to each other the entire time, and I made sure not to make eye contact with him. It was a highly uncomfortable and awkward situation. Once all of it was done, I shook my lawyer’s hand and quickly made my way from the building to my rental car. Aidan was still discussing some things with his lawyer. I sped from the place like it would explode violently at any second. That’s when Aidan came jogging across the parking lot towards me.

Ah, crap. Should have known. That meeting was too easy.
I didn’t have any such luck.

I rolled my eyes while my head was turned away, and I was busy digging through my purse for keys. Aidan came right up to me, bringing his scent with him; and just like an animal, I caught a whiff of him, and all my senses came to life.

Jesus, Kat! What the hell are you,, a dog in heat or something
?

“Hello Aidan. How are you?” I did my best to sound civil and friendly.

“Kathleen. I… um… I’m alright, I guess.” He looked down at his feet and crinkled his brow a bit as if he were searching for words to say something and came up with nothing.