Zelda
I giggle nervously, hating the sound of it as it comes out of my mouth. “Right. I’d be surprised if you forgot. It’s kind of a weird name. I don’t know why—”
His grin widens, and I stop talking. I don’t know what the hell has come over me. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re in broad daylight, and I never expected to see Sawyer again for the rest of my life.
“So, Sawyer.” I straighten my back and try my best to look him in the eye.
It takes two seconds to discover that it’s going to be harder to look away—he’s got unbelievably gorgeous eyes, the color of the sea at noon, like those pictures you see on the internet taken from high above a tropical island.
My stomach does a slow flip. “What are you doing here?”
Some other emotion flickers across his face, but then he shrugs and looks around nonchalantly. “Anybody can go for a walk, can’t they?”
“I mean, what are you doing here? We’re less than a block from my house.”
He could be stalking me. Maybe it was a foolish thing to do, going out with Carly. Maybe I should stop fantasizing about men like Sawyer, men I don’t even know. My heart thumps heavily in my chest. I don’t know him well, and this is the kind of thing that can spiral quickly out of control.
There’s a humming in my fingertips that goes all the way up to my shoulders. Maybe I want to be a little out of control. Maybe it felt good to have his eyes on me like that in the club.
But—
My thoughts are running away with me, so I force myself to come back to this moment, dragging myself bodily out of the past.
Sawyer is looking at me with the type of half-smile that could light damp wood on fire, and his blue eyes are dancing in the afternoon sun. It’s all I can do not to get swept away in my imagination. Or the dirty things I just did, thinking about him.
I don’t know him at all. But I want to know what it would feel like for him to put those big, strong hands underneath my ass and lift me up onto a counter, onto a bed, spread me wide, and—
“Less than a block from your house? You’re a little far from home, aren’t you?”
At first, I don’t know what he’s talking about. Then it comes to me, and I feel my face flame red. A joke.
“A few houses down.” I laugh a little and thrust my thumb over my shoulder and regret the thrusting motion immediately, along with the lie, because my parents have the corner lot and we’re standing right in front of it.
Realistically I should have been even more vague about where I live in case he is a stalker/
He doesn’t seem like one, I don’t think, and my body has an entirely different set of ideas from those popping up in my rational mind. The one that thinks I should absolutely not be…
Be doing what? Having a conversation with the sexiest man I’ve ever seen, in broad daylight, in view of my parent’s house?
“Are you—?” This conversation is a train wreck. It’s so awkward, and it’s all because I can’t get my head out of the gutter. I don’t know what it is with me lately, but everywhere seems better than here, more exciting, more adventurous…
Sawyer seems exciting and adventurous, and all we’re doing is standing and chatting on the corner.
“Are you from here? Do you—do you live around here?” I can’t get the words out of my mouth with his eyes trained on me like they are. I have to get it together.
Something darkens in his eyes, and then his expression straightens out, goes firm. “I grew up in the neighborhood.”
I open my mouth to ask him why we never ran into each other here, but the answer comes into my mind before I can form the words.
Because I didn’t grow up in this neighborhood, even if it seems like I’ve been here forever.
My parents bought this house during my second year of college, and then had the basement renovated into a guest apartment.
I grew up on the other side of Greenville and attended a private school outside of town, directly on the way to my dad’s offices.
He makes even more money now, but my parents preferred to limit their splurging to my education.
I want to hear Sawyer’s voice, which is smooth with an edge. “Visiting?”
“For a while.” His mouth settles into a thin line. “You’re obviously not headed home. Do you want some company?”
A thrill goes down my spine. Yes. Yes, I absolutely do. “I would love—”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out automatically, glancing down at the screen as I do.
It’s a message from my mom. How’s the walk? You’ve been gone a while!
The exclamation point at the end is cheery, but my chest twists with irritation. I’m twenty-three, not thirteen, and I get that after what happened—
I shake my head, shoving my phone back into my pocket. I’ll text her in a little while.
“I wasn’t heading anywhere in particular,” I tell Sawyer, who’s been watching me the entire time with curious eyes.
The last thing I’m going to tell him right now is that my mom is checking up on me.
It makes me feel like I’m back in high school, back with Eric, and thinking about that makes my mouth go dry.
I shove the feeling down hard. This isn’t that situation. Nothing is going to happen if I go for a walk with Sawyer. I take a deep breath and let it out, then look up into his seductive eyes with a smile.
For another few moments, it’s like he’s looking right through me, but then that half smile, half smirk reappears on his face.
“I know a place we can go.” He pivots and takes a few steps down the sidewalk.
He’s going to leave without me. That’s what I think, right up until the moment he turns his head.
“Hurry up, sweetheart. I don’t have all day. ”