Billionaire Protector - Alexa Hart Page 0,4
um. I’ll just shut up now,” I rambled, laughing a little as I did. I wasn’t sure if I was laughing out of embarrassment or from the heat that had seemingly spread throughout my entire body. I felt off balance... but in a way that I liked.
She turned then, the polite smile carefully back on the beautiful face. “Oh. No, I’m sorry. I was being rude. I’m Anne,” she told me, nodding her head once and then quickly retreating to the check-out counter.
Anne. Simple. Sweet.
It took a great deal of self-discipline to remember why I was there to begin with, but I managed. I made my way slowly down the aisle with two large boxes, nervous for no explicable reason. I met new people nearly every day. It was part of my job, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t get nervous in such encounters. Not ever. I’m Penn Hardick. I like people, and people generally like me. No need for nerves.
Anne was watching me alertly as I made my way to her. I plopped the nails down on the counter, and watched her slim fingers click across the pre-historic dinosaur of a cash register that graced Kate’s Supplies. More than once she peeked carefully up at me, always seeming to blush uncontrollably when she found me staring right back at her. I tried to smile, but I was stuck in some type of awe. I just wanted to look at her.
I could look at you all day long, Anne.
That seemed like the wrong thing to say, so I kept it to myself. I didn’t need to add “creepy” to my new resume of “awkward and overly curious”.
“Get a lot of traffic here these days?” I asked instead. The question was absolutely ridiculous, as any idiot with half a brain could see that traffic – of any type – did not exist in Corydon, Colorado.
Anne giggled (I was instantly rock hard at the sound), and shook her head. “Not a lot of traffic, no. Mostly just locals...” She was biting her lower lip, and her hands trembled while she sacked my items. It would have been flattering – the thought that I was making her just as nervous as she had made me – if it didn’t seem that there was a touch of actual fear in her movements.
What are you so scared of, Anne?
“Yeah. The damn interstate doesn’t do small towns a lot of favors. It’s like this place doesn’t even exist, according to the signs,” I offered, realizing that I didn’t want this conversation to end so quickly – or at all.
Anne’s head whipped up sharply when I said this. “I like it. It’s quiet.” It was a pleasant statement, but her face was grave.
“I like it too. I like it a lot more now,” I said, holding her gaze steadily and smiling. She seemed to thaw a little, and the grin came back.
That dimple. Jesus. Just look at it.
Her lips were full – a natural soft pink – and for the first time ever I was starting to believe that hypotonization was a very real thing. It was hard to say how long I could stand there, carefully taking in every delicate part of Anne’s face, but I had a feeling if I stood there too much longer, I’d grab those adorable cheeks and kiss the hell out of her. That long, silky ponytail hanging so lush... so seductive... I wanted to pull it. I wanted to pull it and attack her slender, porcelain neck. Kisses. Bites.
“Do you need anything else, Penn?” Anne asked suddenly, clearing her throat anxiously afterwards.
“Maybe,” I replied, still in a daze. Anne’s smile had disappeared again, and I realized that I was probably the creepiest human being she’d yet encountered in life. “I mean, no. Thanks. I’m good. I got the nails.” I held up the sack, bobbing my head enthusiastically and stepping away from the counter.
“Yep,” she agreed, nodding along with me. Silence – the two of us just surveying the other in the dusty daylight of Kate’s Supplies hardware store. “Well. You have a good day.”
That was my sign – my signal to go. She was letting me know as politely as possible that it was time for me to hit the road, and man oh man – I didn’t want to.
I walked towards the door anyway, no longer knowing how to stay without solidifying the concern that I was some type of psychopath. “You have a good day too, Anne,”