“Hey,” he said as one side of his mouth curled up into a half grin while his umber eyes glittered mischievously at me as if he knew exactly the effect he was having on me.
Just being this close to him was making me have to focus on getting my breathing under control before I passed out. Man, I seriously needed to work on my hot guy interaction skills.
When an “H” sound puffed out of my mouth before I finally got my wits about me enough to utter the complete word, “Hi,” I wanted to smack myself.
Then things just kept getting better because I continued standing there like a total fool, enthralled with the fact that his eyes had flecks of gold in them. But when I saw the sides of them crinkle I realized he was laughing at me. Shaking myself out of the hypnotic hot-guy-all-up-in-my-face state I was in, I took a hasty step back making his hand drop from my waist. Then I really felt dumb because I saw the reason why he’d been chuckling at me. He’d been holding out his other hand out for me to shake the whole time. Oh. Mentally chastising myself for being such a dimwit, I internally rolled my eyes as I now held out my own hand to his.
His huge hand enveloped mine then he squeezed gently. “Hey,” he repeated, his eyes dancing with humor at having to start over again.
I couldn’t help but huff out a laugh at how ridiculously I’d behaved. “Hi.”
“You new here?”
He kept holding my hand but instead of being uncomfortable, I found that I really quite liked it and kind of hoped he continued doing it.
“Um, yeah. Well, I was actually born here but my family moved away when I was little.” I lifted a shoulder. “But now I’m back.”
“Well, welcome back.” He grinned now and my eyes landed on his perfect mouth. Wow. “I’d be glad to show you around sometime if you’d like.”
My eyes darted up to his because, gosh, how nice was he? As his deep, soulful eyes held mine prisoner the shiver that ran through me confused me because I’d never reacted this way to a guy before.
But as our eyes remained locked, something weird happened. Mine now narrowed and I canted my head to the side as I took him in because it suddenly seemed that there was something so familiar about him, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Still, come on, no way would I forget someone who looked as good as he did. That amazing hair, those perfect lips, the flawless face, the cocky attitude.
And then it came to me and it felt like a giant fist plowed into my gut.
No!
No, no, no!
My mortal enemy was standing right in front of me and he was holding my hand!
Oh, my God. Could the odds that were so stacked in my favor have really come crashing down this quickly?
My eyes remained squinted as they quickly roamed over his face and I watched as his narrowed a bit too as if he recognized me also. I watched engrossed as he frowned and blinked, then he dropped my hand and pulled his head back as if to say, “Could it really be Simone?” I was even more rapt when I caught the emotions crossing his face that looked like, “No! It couldn’t be her! No way could she have turned out to look somewhat decent!” And that’s when I became a tad angry then just flat-out pissed when the look disappeared altogether and I knew he’d convinced himself that there was no way could it be me.
Jerk.
“Uh, sure. That would be nice,” I responded weakly, hating that being near him was turning me back into the insecure little wimp I’d once been.
“It’s a date then,” he answered with a wink.
And even though I was convinced it was him, I had to know for sure, so I casually inquired, “So, how long have you gone to Hallervan?” and was surprised at how nonchalant it came out.
“This is my third year. My family’s from Seattle. Matter of fact, I’ve had two brothers graduate from here already. My other brother’s a senior this year and we’re the last two, so I guess we’re kind of a keystone here.” He chuckled.
I bit my lips and nodded slowly. It was definitely him. Marcy was going to flip when she heard this.
“Can I see your phone?” he requested making me frown for a second. Consequently, my mind hovered between giving it to him or telling him where he could stick it, but not wanting to cause a scene, I complied, digging it out of my bag and handing it to him. As I watched his thumbs move over the screen, I couldn’t help but think how surreal this was, how strange and completely bizarre.
Loch Powers was standing here nine years after he’d humiliated me and he had no idea who I was.
When his phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed mine back. “Now I’ve got your number and you’ve got mine.” And, lord, that smile of his was so dazzling it made me want to sigh. My brow then came down as I reminded myself I was not going to be sucked into his sexy wiles. Ever.