“Yeah. I was there when it happened. We were called out to help recover the debris. They had helicopters and our guys out in boats searching for days, but we never found much. We all knew we wouldn’t, but we kept at it.”
“It was a bit before my time, but I remember my teacher getting really upset whenever she showed us the video. It was so sad.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day … how the cloud of smoke just hung in the air for hours.”
Once I’d finished working on the silverware, I looked over at the clock and was relieved to see that I only had fifteen more minutes left of my shift. I got up and said, “I hate to cut you short, but I have to finish up a few things before I leave. Can I get you anything else?”
“No, dear. I’m fine. You go do what you gotta do.”
I grabbed the box of silverware and headed to the back to put them away, but when I turned the corner, I noticed that my mysterious, too-hot-for-his-own-good new neighbor was sitting in my section. I had no idea how long he’d been sitting there, so with my hands still full, I walked over to him. “Hey. Can I get you something?”
With a coy smile, he looked up at me. “I’ll take a sweet tea and a burger with onion rings.”
That smile caught me off-guard. Those lips curled into a sexy smirk, the scruff of his day-old beard, the hint of mischief that lurked behind those beautiful green eyes … it all had me going into sensory overload. I needed to respond. I needed to say something, but I just stood there, locked in my own prison of thoughts as I stared at his mouth. What was it about this man that had me acting like such a fool? And why did those damn lips make me want to bite my own? I finally pulled myself out of my lust-induced fog and said, “I’ll be right back with your sweet tea.”
“Thanks, Hazel,” he purred, making the hairs on the back of my neck prickle against my skin, which made me want to kick myself. He hadn’t even called me by my real name and I was getting all worked up. As much as I hated to admit it, the man had an effect on me, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore. I wanted to think that my attraction towards him was just because he was hot. I wanted to believe that it would pass, but the more I was around him, I realized that it was so much more than his looks that drew me to him. Confidence radiated off of him, shining like a new dime, and I felt like a moth being pulled into the light.
I took a minute to shake off the effects of his charms, and when I returned with his glass of iced tea, I said, “Thanks for the help last night … and letting me use your shower this morning. I really appreciated it.”
“No problem. And about last night, I wanted to apologize for that hyena comment. You didn’t actually sound like a dying hyena,” he said with a chuckle. He paused for a brief moment. There was a little spark of mischief that crossed his eyes before he added, “It was more like the sound you get when you stomp on a cat’s tail.”
“Really? And that’s supposed to be better? I did not sound like a dying hyena or a cat!” I growled.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be so uptight,” he teased. The corners of his mouth curled into a sexy grin, making his criticism sting even more. “I was just messin’ around.”
As soon as the word uptight rolled from his lips, my blood began to boil. I had to swallow all of the profanities that came rushing through my head and instead forced the words, “Do me a favor. Save your ‘messin’ around’ for someone else.” Like an idiot, I brought my hands up and used my fingers to make imaginary quotation marks when I said “messin’ around”.
I immediately regretted my little hand gesture, when he did the same to me as he teased, “I don’t know, Hazel. I think a little ‘messin’ around’ might be just what you need to loosen you up.”
I didn’t miss the sexual undertone of his little comment, so I snapped, “And I bet you think