Chapter 5
Fiona
Ican’t settle down. Seriously. I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing at all.
I can see Monroe on the other side of the clear barrier and every once in awhile our eyes meet and he winks at me before going back to work.
But I don’t know about what he said the other night. Asking if we’d be willing to move out to make his father happy. Even if he was joking, I still have a bad feeling from that statement.
And then there’s the keeping our meeting secret. That feels a little bit like I’m cheating even though neither of us are with someone.
Maybe that’s just me and I’m being overly sensitive. He could certainly be trying to keep his dad’s temper in check since the man is in the hospital after a heart attack.
I wonder if I should send the man flowers. No, I mean I don’t know the room and it might actually make him mad.
I know how he feels about us.
“Hey, cuz! Are you in there?”
“I’m standing right in front of you.”
“I know. But your mind is a million miles away. Where is it?”
“I’m just thinking about a few things. Nothing big.”
“Humph!” She snorts. I don’t think I believe you. Every time I look at you, I see you making eyes at the guy next door. A Stephens man, no less! Is there something going on with you two? I heard about the mess-up with Jerome’s security system. What went wrong with that anyway?”
Well, the alarm never went off and the police were not notified. The only thing that did happen is that the beams kept going crazy. And the doors locked so that neither of us could get out. Even if we could have made it past the beams.”
“They aren’t laser beams. Why didn’t you keep trying?”
“I don’t know! Honestly, with everything that was going wrong with the system I wasn’t sure what it would do if we tried to get out.”
“Okay. I understand. Although I don’t think it would have done anything bad.”
“Neither do I. But I guess I just wasn’t thinking right.”
“Okay. I get that. It was probably stressful. I hope Jerome’s working on the system before you use it again.”
“He is. He had a good laugh out of it.”
“I’m sure he did. But that doesn’t explain why you keep looking at the Stephens man over there. Did something happen between the two of you?”
“I don’t know. We just…talked.”
“You talked,” she says, disbelief in her voice.
“I get it. It doesn’t make sense. But we did. We actually sat there and talked until the cops came and let us out.”
“And it went…okay?”
“Yeah.” A smile tickles my lips. I liked him. “He was nice.”
“Stephens men aren’t nice.”
“Because that’s what we’ve been told. But really? Are you sure that that wasn’t a bunch of old wives tales, thanks to bad blood?”
“No. I’m not really sure of anything like that. But…I don’t know. Mr. Stephens really doesn’t like us. If you said you were talking to him and he was nice to you I’d say you were full of shit. He’d like nothing better than seeing the last of us.”
“I know. That’s one of the problems I have right now.” I lean closer. “Monroe asked me to take a walk with him at lunch. But he also asked me to keep quiet about it. He said he didn’t want his dad to know because he had a heart attack and he’s worried about upsetting him.”
“That’s sketchy. I mean, I get it…kinda. But it’s putting you in a bad spot, wanting you to hide something.”
“I know. I’m not super keen on that.”
“I think that maybe you should back out of it for now.”
“Yeah. Especially because of what he asked me…well, he kinda made it sound like a joke but it made me feel jittery.”
“What was it?”
“He said his dad would probably like it if we moved out of here and got a different place. But he laughed about it after he said it…like it was a joke.”
“That isn’t funny.” Harper makes a face and glances over at the other store. “Do you think he was serious?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so but I just don’t know.”
“So don’t go out with him. I mean…there are some big red flags with this guy. Besides the fact that you just don’t know him at all.”
Nodding, I sigh. “I know. I was really looking forward to the trek but there’s a little niggling doubt about it now.”
“Take some time. Go home and watch something or do something you’ve always wanted to do. Just wait awhile and see how things go.”
“You don’t trust him or his dad. I’m not sure that you ever will.”
She cocks her head, nodding. “You might be right. But that doesn’t mean that I’m wrong.”
“Yeah. I don’t know.”
My eyes drift over to the wall where I can see Monroe Stephens as he waits on his customers. His dark hair is tousled and he looks a little tired. I’m feeling the effects of my late night too.
But he still looks good. His dark eyes are sparkling as he throws his head back and laughs at one of his customers.
I feel like I could crawl right back into bed now and be able to fall asleep immediately.
“Maybe I should go talk to him.”
Harper smirks as my eyes drift back to the wall.
“Yeah. Just try not to get lost in his pretty eyes.”
“Please,” I scoff. But I walk out the door and around to theirs and then inside, my steps hurried, my heart pounding.
Monroe’s head pops up and the smile that graces his lean face brings out a dimple that I don’t remember seeing. His dark eyes glow with health and happiness.
“Hey, Fee. How are you?”
“I’m good, Monroe. I wanted to talk to you before lunch.”
“Why?” His smile disappears and he leans back on the counter, crossing his muscular arms. Damn, he’s jacked.
Clearing my throat, I ignore my inner hussy that’s begging me to go home with him. Hell, jump him in here!
Ugh!
“I’m not sure if…”. His face darkens and I can see the disappointment in his eyes. The same disappointment I’m feeling.
“I mean…maybe we should order something and eat in my office.”
His head cocks and surprise washes over his face. “Are you sure? I thought maybe you’d prefer an open space since you don’t really know me that well.”
Smiling, I lean over and pat his arm, feeling his muscles shift under my fingers. It takes everything in me not to moan out loud. He’s warm and firm and just damn tempting.
“Yeah. I’ll call in something from the bookstore if that’s alright with you? Do you have anything you don’t like?”
He smirks. “Nope. I’m basically a human garbage disposal.” His smile drops off and he grimaces. “Forget I said that. It doesn’t sound good at all.”
Giggling, I step back and wave. “I get it. I’ll see you at eleven?”
“That sounds perfect. I’ll close down for my lunch and put the sign on the door.”
“I’ve got Harper so I don’t have to do that but we’ll have to keep it to half an hour. She has classes at the college later. So she’ll need to go have her own lunch first.”
“Sure. I can’t keep the place closed that long. I’m a fast eater.”
I don’t want to touch that. Instead, I move to the door and open it, leaning on it for just a minute. “I’ll see you later, Monroe.”
“Can’t wait, Fee.”