Leo(A Sign of Love Novel)(9)

"Look, Jake," I say seriously, "You caught me by surprise yesterday, about a person I haven't thought about in a long time, but I'm ok. You don't need to check up on me anymore. My life is fine. It's not exciting, it's not glamorous. But I have everything I need. I'm, um, happy." This last part comes out sounding a little bit more like a question than the statement I meant it to be but I decide to let that go.

Jake does his hand through hair, unsure look (arrgh! deal sealer!), and says, "I just thought maybe you looked a little upset when you left yesterday. And I did that to you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay today, not in general, but today."

He looks so sincere, like he was truly worried about me that I can't help but smile. "I was fine yesterday," I lie, "I don't like to hear about anyone meeting a tragic end, even someone I don't know anymore. But it's nothing that a little ice cream won't take care of. That's where I'm headed. Want to follow me to the grocery store? One last stalking for old time's sake?" I wink.

He laughs as we start walking again. "I don't think it's stalking if I get an invitation, but yes, I'd love to accompany you to the store."

"I don't know if I'm ready for this huge jump in status," I tease. "From stalker to chaperone in a day? You'll think I'm easy!"

"Just lead the way, smart ass," he says, grabbing my hand.

I jolt slightly and look down at our joined hands. Hand holding? Okay, this is a little weird. And there's that warm feeling again when our hands touch. Which only serves to further weird me out. He's just being nice, Evie because he thinks he's unbalanced you. Get yourself together! It makes me uncomfortable though, so I pull my hand away, pretending to search through my purse for my sunglasses. I pop them on even though it's not sunny at all and latch both hands onto my purse strap so he's not tempted to resume the hand holding again.

I steal a glance at him and he's frowning slightly but doesn't say anything as we continue walking.

This whole situation is weirder than weird.

"So," I say, to make things less awkward than they've suddenly become. "What does your father's company do?"

"We make a product utilized by the Homeland Security division of the government. Essentially it's an x-ray technology that's used by airports around the world. There are several smaller applications, but that's our main focus."

I nod and he continues, "My father started his company 30 years ago and has a division here and in San Diego, but in recent years, the division here was struggling. I started working with him a couple years ago and I moved here to get the Cincinnati branch back on solid ground. It was really just a matter of restructuring and replacing some top people who were more interested in lining their own pockets than in the strength of the company."

I nod again as we turn the corner onto the block where the grocery store is. "Your father must trust you a lot to give you responsibility for such a big task so quickly," I say.

He stiffens slightly beside me. "I never gave him much reason to trust me. But, he actually passed away almost a year ago, six months before I moved here."

He's frowning again and I don't know what he did to need redemption in his father's eyes, but for some unknown reason, all I want to do is make him smile.

So I grab his hand and hold it between us again as I grin up at him, "I'm just glad you had something to fall back on after the crash and burn of your short-lived creepster career." I bat my eyelashes.

He bursts out laughing again, his brown eyes warming, and there's that damned pull. Good grief, my stupid hormones need to relax already.

Things seem to have gotten mighty friendly between Jake and I pretty quickly and a part of me feels just fine and dandy about this. After all, he's gorgeous and he seems like a nice guy, but another part of me is a little worried. I really don't know anything about Jake other than the few things he's told me, and his connection to Leo is sending all sorts of confusing messages to my heart, messages I decide not to investigate too much further, at least not now.

I see a beautiful girl with long red hair walking out of the store as we're walking in. She does a double take as she catches sight of Jake, but he doesn't seem to notice her at all, which makes me smile to myself.

I decide to pick up a few more things than just ice cream since I'm here and my cart is holding several items when we make it to the ice cream aisle.

"What flavor do you like," Jake asks, opening the freezer door.

"Butter pecan," I say, opening a freezer door a couple down from where he's standing.

He pulls out a carton of butter pecan at the same time I pull out the same flavor of another brand.

"Why that one?" he asks. "This one is twice the price. It's gotta be the best."

I shake my head, "It's not about price, Jake. This one is the World's Greatest Ice Cream. Look, it says so right on the carton." I'm completely serious.

He looks between the two. "Evie," he starts, as if he's explaining something to a five year old, "You do know that they can say whatever they want to on the package, right? It doesn't mean it's true."

"Well, see," I counter, "You're right. But you're also wrong. I think that 95 percent of knowing you're the greatest is all about confidence. You might suspect you're the greatest, you might hope you're the greatest, but if you don't have the balls to proclaim yourself the greatest in bold packaging, and let your critics test you if they dare, then you probably aren't the greatest. Who can resist the guy who really, truly believes in himself?"