Caden clapped me on the back. “All right, man. You owe me a beer.”
“I don’t owe you shit, Caden.”
“Come on,” he said. “You’ve blown me off for days.”
“Because I don’t feel like drinking.”
“Who the hell doesn’t feel like drinking? That’s shit talk, dude. Come on. Just one beer at the bar. Maybe that redheaded teacher’s looking for you.”
I frowned. “I hope not. Besides, it would be the pizza delivery girl chasing after me now.”
His mouth fell open. “What? The pizza girl? You got laid and didn’t tell me?”
“Yeah, I do it all the time. What the hell are you, a high school girl?”
“They had the best fun in high school. Gossiping and poking fun at their own friends. Guys never do that stuff. Anyway, what was she like? Tall? Thin? Massive tits and red lipstick?”
“I don’t fuck the kind of girls you like,” I said.
“You should. They rock in bed.”
“I’d rather be the one doing that,” I said.
“I’m more the type to allow her to explore.”
“You’re a fucking pillow princess.”
“And I work hard!” he said. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
Chuckling, I made my way to my car. Today was batshit crazy at work, and I was ready to get home. I had a marinating steak calling my name, but I had to pick up a few things to go with it. Some more beer to keep in the fridge, a vegetable I could steam up, and maybe some mashed potatoes to go along with it.
I was fucking starving, and I knew I’d come out of the grocery store with more than I needed, but I wasn’t just going to down an entire steak without other shit to eat with it.
“Just come out for one beer,” Caden said. “It’ll be fun.”
“I know you think that,” I said, grinning.
“Fine. I’ll let you off the hook this time. But now, you won’t get to hear my new business proposal. It’s a serious doozy, with lots of cash to be made.”
“I’ll regret it in the morning, I’m sure.”
I slipped into my car, which Caden had taken me to get during a work break, and watched as Caden’s body receded in my rearview mirror. Not long after, I pulled into the grocery store with my stomach growling. I got out and went to grab a small cart, then I made my way around the store. I walked up and down the aisles, trying to think about shit I could cook easily in bulk, then reheat for the next few days.
That was when I saw her.
This beautiful woman came around the corner and caught my stare. She had dark green eyes that reminded me of a stormy night and long blonde hair that draped over her prominent tits. Her waist dipped in sensually before it flared out to a pair of hips, and my hands were already pulsing to trace over her curves. She was short, with toned legs I could see underneath the skinny jeans she was wearing.
And the best part was that she was looking right at me.
She was gorgeous. More beautiful than any woman I’d ever seen in my life. Her curves could knock any man to the ground, and her plump little lips just begged for my cock.
All of a sudden, it was like I forgot the girl from the restaurant, or any other chick that was on my “to fuck” list. My mind was completely stolen by this stranger.
We stood there in the aisle, facing one another as she pushed her cart. Neither of us made a move toward the other, and I could see her eyes roaming over my body. They raked down my form before her eyes danced along the tattoos on my arm. I smirked as I watched her cheeks flush.
Oh, she was going to be mine tonight.
But before I could approach her, she turned away and quickly disappeared around the corner of the aisle. I strode after her to see if I could get her name. I turned the corner and looked down the aisles, trying to find that flutter of beautiful blonde hair I wanted to wrap around my knuckles and tug.
However, she was nowhere to be found.
Disappointed, I finished up my grocery shopping. I picked up a few snacks I’d regret later, then took my haul up to the register. I looked around, my head on a swivel as I tried to find her. The harder I looked, the more it seemed she had just disappeared.
The disappointment sat hard in my stomach.
The woman at the register was ringing up my things as a conversation took place behind me.
“That’ll be fifty-two dollars even, please,” a cashier said.
A sweet little voice rang out behind me. One that prickled the skin on my arms. “Oh, shit. I can’t believe it. Is there any way you could hold this?”
I wanted to turn around and see who the voice belonged to. I wanted to look at the face of the voice that seemed to startle my body awake. So, I did.
It was none other than the sexy blonde with those deep peridot eyes.
The cashier in front of her didn’t seem as enchanted with her as I was. “I’ve gotta ring up these other customers, ma’am. I’ll have to back you out, and you’ll have to get in the back of the line.”
“My purse is just in my car,” the sexy blonde said. “It’ll only take a second.”
“Ma’am, it won’t take long to get back through the line,” the cashier said.
The lines were piling up because the after-work crowd was showing up, and I knew the cashier was lying through her teeth.
“Here,” I said. “Take my card.”
Those deep green eyes whipped over to me, and I could see the shock rolling behind them.
“That’s not necessary. It’s fine.”
“I insist. It’ll get you on your way.” I held out my card for the cashier to take, and she swiped it before the beautiful woman could protest further. The blonde looked at me warily, like there was something she feared. Only fear wasn’t what was floating around in those beautiful green eyes of hers.
It was suspicion.
I could see her eyes scanning me as the cashier ran my card. While that was happening, I handed my credit card to my cashier to pay for my things, hoping I could walk this beautiful woman out to her car. My cashier grinned at me before she handed me my card back. Then I turned around to take my other one as the blonde started loading her groceries into her cart.
“Let me help,” I said.
“I’ve got it.”
“It’ll help things along faster,” I said.
“I’m almost done. It’s fine. And thank you, for the groceries.”
“It’s nothing. It wasn’t much.”
It was like she was eager to get away from me. Like I was making her uncomfortable, even though I could see her scanning my body. She flashed me a taut smile before she pushed her cart quickly toward the exit, her short legs carrying her as fast as she could go. It had been a long time since a woman was that eager to get away from me.
I watched as she made it to her car. She popped her trunk open and threw her groceries in there, her eyes looking over her shoulder every time she turned to grab more. She almost acted as if someone was after her, and my automatic reaction was to protect her and escort her wherever she needed to go.
She pulled her purse from the trunk and put it on the roof of her car as she finished loading her groceries.
I walked out to my bike and started putting my groceries in the compartment I had installed on the back of it. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She was captivating in a way no woman ever had been, and I wanted to get to know her more.
I wanted to know her name. Her story. Where she came from and where she was going. I knew this town well enough to know she wasn’t a local. She didn’t act or speak or even look like one. I watched as she got into her car and drove out of the parking lot, making her way to the stoplight so she could get back to the main road.
On the ground where her car had been parked was her purse.