10. Scarlett
scarlett
. . .
A teddy bear.
Not just any teddy bear but a really cute mint green one. My favorite color. He had the sweetest pink heart-shaped nose. The note read.
Scarlett,
We’re mint to be. You’re the perfect blend of beautiful and sweet.
This little guy reminded me of you. Something to hold tight in the meantime.
Always yours,
Your Secret Admirer.
My secret admirer.
I glanced at the almost finished coffee drink and laughed. The coincidences were wild. I hadn’t heard that term in forever, and now it felt like it was everywhere I turned. What were the chances that this wasn’t some stupid joke Raven was playing on me? The figurine I could have chalked up to her. But this, I wasn’t so sure.
And stupidly, I let excitement flow through me.
We’re mint to be . That was punny and a little cheesy, but I liked it. I had no idea who this could be, but I loved how well they knew me. Whoever it was had definitely been paying attention to me. Maybe whoever has been watching me? I shook the thought away.
“No one is watching you,” I muttered to myself. I was not that interesting. I reread the note. Something to hold tight in the meantime. I felt giddy. Did it mean whoever it was would reveal themselves soon? Did it matter after talking to Merritt?
Merritt.
Merritt and his intense light eyes and body that was built to climb like a jungle gym. After talking to him, albeit just for a moment, I knew he was everything I could have ever imagined and so much more. Just a couple of minutes around him had ruined me for other men.
And it sucked.
I wasn’t his type. I was pretty sure there was no way in hell I could have caught his eye. Not with how dorky I’d been, and then to make it worse, I’d rushed out when Austin showed up.
I had no idea why I ran away like I’d been caught doing something wrong. Maybe it had been the stupid way Merritt was running through my head and how I couldn’t sleep without thinking about him while I used my battery-operated boyfriend? Not that he or Austin would have ever known that. But I’d gotten nervous, and if I was honest, I’d been disappointed Merritt hadn’t chased after me.
“Chase after me,” I scoffed, setting the teddy bear on the couch next to me, and stood. I stretched, trying to come up with what to make for dinner.
“No way a guy like that would ever––“ I started to say while I walked to my kitchen when the doorbell rang. I frowned and walked over.
It was only a little after five, and knowing one of my sisters, it was probably them trying to ambush surprise me to try and talk me into going to karaoke at the brewery. Olive and Raven had been obsessed, and since Coral didn’t want to be home, the three had been going all the time.
I opened the door without looking through the peephole, about to tell whichever one it was that it wasn’t going to happen, when the words died on my tongue. A slightly shocked squeak passed my lips.
“Hi,” Merritt’s deep voice sounded, and I felt a throbbing between my legs. My thighs pressed together, and his lips tipped up. Can he feel the way he affects me? Did I have the same effect on him? I wish.
“I asked Austin where you lived,” he quickly added. “I hope that was okay. I’m sorry our coffee date was interrupted.” Our coffee date. He’d called it a date. And there I was, looking like an idiot. Standing there, gawking at the hot older guy on my front door, opening and shutting my mouth like a dang goldfish. How does Austin know where I live? I wondered before Merritt smiled and my brain fritzed out.
“Scarlett?” he called, snapping me out of my thoughts. His light blue eyes felt warm, reminding me of the perfect spring morning.
“Hi,” I finally spoke up, my lips tilting upward. “I’m sorry. I’m just surprised to see you.” I shook my head trying to get my brain to send the right words to my tongue. Thankfully, luck was on my side.
“I should have called, but Austin didn’t have your number, and I didn’t know how you would feel about me asking your brother for it.”
“Oh.” I opened then shut my mouth. “Would you like to come in?” I invited. His eyes widened to almost surprised by my offer.
“Thank you, that would be nice.” I stepped aside, and when he walked inside, his arm brushed against mine. I shivered. I had no idea why I felt so drawn to him, so alive when I was around him, but I did. I felt like a new person. Or maybe more like myself than I’ve ever felt?
“I brought you these.” Somehow, with the shock of him standing at my door, I’d missed the fact his arms had been behind his back. When he moved, I saw it. A bouquet of flowers.
But it wasn’t just any bouquet! It was the one I had been tempted into picking up but had walked away from.
“They made me think of you,” he shared, leaving me slightly dumbfounded.
“They did?” I glanced away from the gorgeous arrangement and into the most gorgeous eyes I’d ever seen. Everything in me wanted to swoon. Older, he held himself like he knew who he was and exuded confidence. He was handsome and masculine with an aura of protectiveness. Like he would gladly stand and put his body between you and a freight train.
“They did.” He smiled softly as he handed them to me. Our fingers brushed and my breath hitched. A zap of electricity shot through me, and something about the way his eyes slightly narrowed as his breathing changed just a smidge let me believe he’d felt it, too.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” I whispered in awe with the way his light eyes held me captive.
“You’re welcome. I hope you don’t mind I stopped by unannounced.”
“Oh, umm… I kinda had to head back and finish the workday.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. I’d gotten nervous and ran away.
And he chased after you! a little voice squealed.
“Right.” He nodded. We stood for a moment until I forced myself to look anywhere but his eyes.
“Would you like to sit down?”
“I was actually wondering if you would like to have dinner with me,” he offered. I wasn’t sure what surprised me more—that the man I had been crushing on was at my house or the fact that he was there and asking me out.
“Dinner?” I repeated, wondering if maybe I’d heard him wrong.
“Yeah, dinner. With me.”
“Like a date?” I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry.
“Yes.” The confidence exuded from every pore of the beautiful man.
“I don’t date,” I blurted out accidentally. It wasn’t a lie. I had given up on that. “I just mean… I don’t know, umm…”
“You mentioned you were thinking about trying something new at the coffee shop.”
“That was about a drink,” I pointed out. I had no idea why I wasn’t jumping at the chance or how the hell I had the guts to even explain.
“And by the way you finished it, it makes me think you enjoyed it?”
“Maybe.” I chewed on my bottom lip. His hand reached for mine, and for some reason, I let him take it. I didn’t try to swat him away or pull him back.
“Maybe you could give me a chance? Maybe going to dinner with me will be something you’ll like?”
“For a date?” My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets.
“Yeah, cutie, for a date.” His lips twitched like he was trying not to embarrass me by laughing. Cutie? Had he really called me that?
“Me?” He nodded. My lungs seized for a second when he took a step forward, putting his body just that much closer to mine. All without his eyes wavering from mine.
Everything and everyone faded away. Just like it had at the coffee shop. And when he started to talk? I should have been prepared. The man was one surprise after another, but nothing could have surprised me more.
“There is something about you, Scarlett, that’s made it impossible to stay away,” he confessed.
“Stay away?” I asked and blinked.
Could he be my secret admirer? God, the thought was ridiculous. No, a man like Merritt didn’t play games. He doesn’t! He just showed up at your doorstep with flowers and a dinner invitation! the voice perked up.
“We can go to the brewery, if that would make you feel better,” he offered in a gentle tone. Almost like he was trying to soothe a frightened animal.
“Why would that make me feel better?”
“I don’t know. I’m someone you don’t know. I figured you would want to go out somewhere in public that you’re familiar with and where there are people you know.”
“God, no.” The words bubbled out without the ability to stop them. “I just mean… look, Meritt.” His hand squeezed mine.
“One dinner. Anywhere in the world you wanna go,” he offered, and I believed him. How couldn’t I when he sounded and looked so sincere? I didn’t know this man from Adam. I’d offered him a drink when I’d bumped into him, but he’d disappeared before I spoke the words.
“Unless you have other plans.” His features changed. Turned a little darker. Like the idea of me going out or having plans that didn’t include him would bother him. “A date, perhaps?” His jaw clenched, and I giggled. I couldn’t help it.
My head tilted, and for some reason, showing me that little bit of vulnerability, that interest in me, chipped away at the walls I’d built around myself. “I don’t date, remember?”
“Plans with your sisters?” he guessed.
“How do you know about them?”
“You guys always have lunch or dinner together. At the brewery.” He shrugged and I smiled. Yeah, the guy had definitely been paying attention to me when I’d seen him there.
“No plans. I was actually thinking about ordering a pizza because I was in the mood to sit and watch a movie,” I shared, and his gaze softened. Then, because if I was going to try something new, why not have a movie night with someone I didn’t know? “Would you like to join me?” I asked. I would have thought I’d be freaking out while I waited for his answer, but I wasn’t. I was oddly comfortable in my own skin around him. Sure, there were nerves, but that was more due to excitement about spending time with him than anything else. Being around Merrick felt like I’d known him forever. Like coming home.
“I offered you dinner anywhere in the world, and you wanna stay in with pizza and a movie?”
“I mean…” I sounded pathetic. And boring. This was where he’d step away and go along with it but leave as quickly as he could. I was sure of it.
What I didn’t expect was for his hand on my hip to pull me flush up against him, like I belonged to him. I tipped my head back, and when he dipped his lower so he was at my eye level, he smiled. And not just any smile.
This one almost looked foreign over his features but was so bright and alarmingly beautiful I found myself resting my hands on his chest. The tips of my fingers curled into his dress shirt. Not to push him away but to hold on to him.
“I’d love to stay and hang out with you.”
“Really? If it sounds boring––“
“Scarlett, no bullshit, no games, layin’ it out for you, the only thing I wanna do is hang out with you.”
“Really?”
“When I tell you I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, I’m not kidding. I messed up by walking away from you on New Year’s. I knew it the moment I took that first step.”
I heard every word, but somehow, directed at me, they didn’t make sense. Suddenly, it was like a fucking cat got my tongue and I just reacted. I leaned in closer, and it was almost like the movement encouraged him to keep sharing. “I’ve been kicking myself in the ass since.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Then you walked into the brewery a week later, and I won’t lie, I kept my distance for a reason.”
“Onyx?” I guessed.
“Him. Our brothers are friends and business partners. I didn’t want to do anything to make that connection messy. But if I’m honest, it was our age difference.”
“Our age difference? I’m twenty-five,” I shared, confused. I mean, I knew he was older but maybe about by ten years. And it wasn’t like I was a kid; I was an adult.
“And I’m forty.”
“Bullshit.” The word slipped out, and I covered my mouth with one of my hands. He chuckled and pulled it away.
“You calling me a liar, cutie pie?” he asked good-naturedly.
“No. I’m sorry. I just mean, no way.” I laughed, pushing him back just a smidge so I could look at him. My eyes roamed up and down his body and then again. He was like a Greek statue come to life. “There is no way you’re forty!”
“Why?” His lips quirked up.
“Forty-year-olds don’t look like you do.”
“Like I do?” He chuckled, and I felt the vibrations of it beneath the palms of my hands. “I don’t know what other forty- year-olds look like, but I can show you my license to prove it to you.”
“You don’t have to.” I smiled. “Wait, one more question, and just as a heads-up, this might be a deal breaker.”
“Shit,” he cursed with a sly grin. “Okay, lay it on me.”
“Mushrooms on a pizza. Yay or nay?” I asked and waited.
“Yay,” he answered without hesitation. “They’re my favorite.” I leaned in and rested my head against the middle of his chest, breathing in his masculine scent. “Did I pass?” he asked atop of my head. “Can I stay and hang out?”
I pulled away, tipping my head back so I could look at him. I did it smiling. “With flying colors.”
“Good,” he murmured. His fingers stroked my arm and moved into my hair. “I’m glad.” There was something oddly familiar about his touch and the way he played with the ends of my hair.
Almost like I had dreamt it or lived it before. Either way, I couldn’t wait to see what the night had in store!