Leo's Chance(10)

Her face breaks out into a beautiful grin too, and I swear I hear angels singing. Get a grip on yourself, desperado.

She shakes her head and starts walking and I fall in step beside her. From my peripheral vision, I see her inhale through her nose and then open her mouth and subtly take in a breath of my air. Holy shit! Did she just taste my scent in her mouth? I feel my dick twitch in my pants. I go over sales reports in my head trying to distract myself. Do not tent your jeans walking down the street with her.

For a minute I feel like I’m fourteen again, begging my body not to betray me in front of Evie who is unknowingly turning me on so much, I can hardly think straight. I want to start grinning again because for the first time in eight years, the thought of getting turned on feels clean and normal. The feeling of being turned on by her in the present conjures up the memory of being turned on by her in the past when sex wasn’t all about guilt and shame. This stuns me. I didn’t even know I could remember that feeling and Evie has brought it back for me in one day. I want to kiss her. Stop! Don’t think about kissing her! Sales reports, Excel spreadsheets, bar graphs.

Evie breaks the momentary silence. "You know, I'm sure there are girls all over the city who would love the opportunity to be stalked by you. It really doesn't seem fair that you focus all your creepiness on me."

I smile. "I've decided I like focusing on you, though, Evie." Is she crazy? As far as I’m concerned, there are no other girls in this city.

She stops walking and crosses her arms. I stop, too and take a quick glance at the perfect, small breasts that she’s unknowingly plumping. Equations, PowerPoint presentations, product testing.

"Look, Jake," she says, looking serious, "you caught me by surprise yesterday, about a person I haven't thought about in a long time, but I'm okay. 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."

I run my hand through my hair wondering at why her statement ended up sounding like a question. I tuck away the comment about her not thinking about me in a long time. It stings.

"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."

She glances over at me, pulling herself up straighter. "I was fine yesterday. I don't like to hear about anyone meeting a tragic end, even someone I don't know anymore." She frowns slightly and pauses but then goes on, "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?" She winks.

Despite the fact that her words hurt and I’m becoming more and more sure that she let me go a long time ago, I rally and laugh at her joke. I’m here now. I’m here now.

"I don't think it's stalking if I get an invitation, but yes, I'd love to accompany you to the store."

She looks over at me and puts a hand to her chest, looking up at me through her lashes. "I don't know if I'm ready for this huge jump in status," she teases. "From stalker to chaperone in a day? You'll think I'm easy!"

God, she’s cute. "Just lead the way, smart ass," I say. And then, before I even really think about it, I grab her hand. This whole situation is just so familiar and she’s bringing feelings up in me that I thought I remembered perfectly but that I realize now were only memories in black and white. Reality is so overwhelming that I can barely keep up with everything I’m feeling. It’s as if all my emotions for her are in living color now and coursing through my body at light speed. I’m home.

She jolts slightly though and pulls her hand away, reaching into her purse for her sunglasses and then popping them on and putting her hands on her purse strap so that I can’t reach for her again. Damn. I spooked her. Slow down.

"So," she says, "What does your father's company do?"

I tell her a little bit about my company and how I started working with my father and then moved to the Ohio office when it started to suffer. And because you’re here, Evie.

She nods 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," she says.

I feel myself stiffen at her words. This is still such a hard subject for 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."

She’s quiet for a beat and then I feel her small hand grab mine and my heartbeat picks up as she grins up at me. "I'm just glad you had something to fall back on after the crash and burn of your short-lived creepster career." She bats her eyelashes.

I can’t help it. I burst out laughing. She was always so good at getting me to laugh at myself when I was in one of my moods and she still is. I’ve missed her so damn much. I want to tell her so badly, but I know I can’t. Not yet.

We walk into the store and grab a cart and I watch her shamelessly as she selects items, trailing along behind her like a lovesick puppy dog. I’m fine with that. Several men do double takes as she walks by, completely oblivious. I have a quick vision of myself tackling them into a large display of cereal boxes; pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars and green clovers turning into colored chalk beneath their faces as I slam them into the tiled floor. Magically delicious carnage. I snap out of it as we turn in to the ice cream aisle.