Unexpected Beauty

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Epilogue

Author’s Note

Sneak Peek of Chaotic Beauty (Beauty #2)

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Credits

Copyright

Prologue

Where am I?

Silence.

What happened?

More Silence.

Who are you?

A look of confusion.

"Who are you?"

A look of horror.

I started out asking the questions quietly, but found myself getting louder and louder when the man standing next to me stayed silent. A man who was overwhelmingly gorgeous despite the bruises, the cuts, and the ripped and bloody clothing.

What the hell happened to him? And who the hell is he? And why is he not answering my questions? Why is he staring at me like that?

Don’t you remember? he asked me. Anything? he pleaded.

I stared at him trying to remember, but I remembered nothing. What were those emotions running through his eyes? Why was he emotional? Who the hell is he, and why don’t I remember anything? Why doesn’t he just give me the answers I’m looking for?

After my own prolonged silence and my lack of response he slowly says, I’m Liam, as if that’s supposed to be the key that unlocks all the answers I am seeking. As if that one revelation is supposed to be important to me.

It doesn’t, and it’s not.

‘Liam’ means nothing. This man means nothing. His emotions mean nothing.

He then added, I’m pretty sure I’m your boyfriend.

Okay.

What? What does that even mean? How does he not know if he is my boyfriend or not?

That doesn’t help me. It doesn’t unlock anything. It doesn’t reveal anything.

It … he … still means nothing.

Chapter 1

Oh good Lord, who is that? As I look across the room I see the most unbelievably good looking man I’ve ever seen, and my thoughts completely ran away from me. I envision him and me all tangled up in my sheets. Him professing his undying love and devotion to me, and only me. Him saying he loves me, and he wants to marry me. Me walking down the aisle towards him in my wedding dress. Him playing football with our son in the backyard, while I watch them through the kitchen window as I’m rocking our daughter to sleep.

Holy. Shit.

Where did those thoughts come from? I don’t even know him, but that doesn’t even matter. That’s not the point. I am way too young for thoughts like that. Right? Happily-ever-after? I have no relationship experience – because I do not want any – and even if I wanted the experience it wouldn’t be with someone like him.

Especially like him.

I don’t want to be tied down with a husband and kids, or even a boyfriend, no matter how gorgeous this man is with his short black hair, ice-blue eyes, and tattoos covering both of his well-muscled arms. Tattoos? When did I mentally start drooling over tattoos, huge muscles, men with black hair and ice-blue eyes? When did I mentally start drooling over a man, period? This isn’t me. I’ve come too far to let thoughts like that into my head. Been there, done that. Moved on.

Get it together already!

Oh, no. No, no, no.

Why is he heading straight for me?

I put a smile on my face as he approached, and waited to see what would happen next.

Before I knew it he was in front of me.

Hi, he said with a smirk, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, revealing dimples and a set of straight white teeth in the process.

Of course he would have dimples.

Apparently, I’m also a person who now mentally drools over dimples too.

Hi, I replied in a voice that sounded strangled and small.

Holy shit!

When did I get knocked off the confident, self-assured, I am an adult woman and can handle anything, pedestal? When did a smirk, dimples, and all that awesome beauty turn me into a bumbling girl who is finally talking to her varsity football captain, completely out of her league, smoking hot teenage crush?

Awesome beauty?

Who even thinks that shit? Holy. Fuck. Where the hell did my goddamn confidence go? Who is this girl?

Just have a normal conversation with him. You do it with men all the time.

Before I could manage to get myself together and say anything else he asked, Do I know you? Have we met before? You were staring at me pretty hard, so I figured I had to have met you.

Of course after he said all of that he plastered his smirk back on his face.

I felt a blush heat up my cheeks at having been caught staring at him. I instantly become pissed at him for not remembering an encounter that never even happened, and also for being able to embarrass me and piss me off all at the same time.

It’s good to know that I wouldn’t be someone he would remember.

Why would I be? Look at him.

Where in the hell is this coming from? Jesus Christ.

He looked at me waiting for a reply while I was having a complete mental breakdown in my head. Perfect. What should I say? Definitely something that gets him the hell away from me before I completely lose it.

I must have been lost in thought and staring into space. Sorry about that. I definitely wasn’t looking at you.

Yeah, take that, you condescending, arrogant, smirking, beautiful jerk. I saw the smirk leave his face. Finally.

Ouch. Okay then. Well I’m Liam by the way. Now you’ve met me. Feel free to stare at me all you want.

Did he just say that? With a straight face?

Are you kidding me? Stare all I want?

Did I not just tell him I wasn’t staring at him even if I was a big fat liar? Who did this guy think he is?

And you are? he asked. When I stared at him without answering, he just continued on. Okay, well you don’t have to tell me your name then. I’m definitely going to stare all I want even if I have no idea who you are. I’ll just make up a name for you. He looked me up and down, slowly, and I felt my blush deepen even more. My body also started to feel like it was tingling in places that should not be tingly.

How about I call you … Red?

Red? My hair is dark brown like my eyes. Where the hell did he get ‘Red’ from?

Yeah, because right now your face looks as red as a fire engine.

Oh. My. God. I guess I got my answer.

Did I seriously think he was gorgeous before? No. No I did not. Definitely not. No way in hell. Time to move along, and get the hell away from this guy.

No my name is not ‘Red’ and you’re seriously a jerk, I told him with narrowed eyes and a snotty voice.

Jesus, am I really going to act like a teenager now too? I couldn’t come up with anything better than that? I’m surprised my dumbass didn’t add a foot stomp to complete the trifecta.

Sorry, Princess. Oh wait, is it Princess? he asked me in a deadpan tone, but I knew he was mocking me, and he knew that I knew. It made me upset that he called me Princess. Only one person called me Princess, and it definitely wasn’t Liam. And it would not ever be Liam.

I couldn’t answer him. I really needed to get myself together after he said that.

My silence didn’t seem to bother him in the least. After staring at me for a bit, he just continued on by saying, I’ll take that as a no. So no ‘Red,’ and no ‘Princess.’ How about ‘Sweetie,’ or ‘Baby?’

Seriously, where the hell did he come up with this stuff? Did this actually work with other girls? Please tell me it didn’t. That would just be too fucking sad. I looked at him, really looked at him one last time because I knew this would be the last time I was seeing him – and for as much as I was bothered by him, he really was pretty to look at, so I just had to. All I said was nope, before moving around him.

Just as I thought I was in the clear, is when I heard it. It was sudden, loud, and completely direct.

Samantha.

I whipped around to look at him, but it wasn’t Liam who said my name from behind me. It was a different tall, muscular, heavily-tattooed, dark-haired, blue-eyed man. This one just happened to be my brother.

Liam didn’t know that though from the way he was looking between me and my brother. The smirk that seemed to be glued to his face the whole time he was talking to me was no longer present. His face now resembled stone. His eyes were hard, no longer the glittering blue of a few moments ago – the exceptionally glittering blue that I knew I could get lost in if I gave myself the chance. His arms were also now crossed over his extremely broad chest, making his muscles stand out and his tattoos look even more incredible in the tight black t-shirt he was wearing. Also, if I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like he was clenching his jaw. Now that was interesting.

There was no way I was letting Liam find out that this other guy was actually my brother. Let him think this was my boyfriend. Let him think that I already have a tattooed, muscled guy who might actually look better than him – even if it is my brother – and gross … I can’t believe I just thought that.

Let him think that there was no way that offending blush that graced my face before was for him, because I had something already that was just like him. Let him think that there was no way that I was drooling and fantasizing things – dirty and confusing things – about him. If his rigid body is any indicator of what he is thinking, please let him just continue to think whatever that is. Let him just continue on thinking whatever it is he is hopefully thinking, while I figure out a way to get Connor to not say anything bad, and the hell away from this guy.

I only had one option to go with.

With a blinding smile I said, Hey, Connor. I was just going to find you.

Of course my asshole brother had to ruin everything.

Why the hell are you smiling like that? You’re creeping me the fuck out. And yeah, Mom wants to see you in the back. Have fun with that shit. She’s being really bitchy today. He smirked at that last part. He fucking smirked before walking off. Of course he did. He gave me a smirk that reminded me all too much of Liam in that moment. Liam, who I knew was listening to our conversation, even though I didn’t look over at him once the whole time Connor was talking.

As a final parting shot before he went out of the door, my brother said way too loudly, Yeah, whoever this guy is that you were drooling over before, don’t let Mom or Dad see him. He said that while pointing straight at Liam.

That shit will not end well.

He was still standing at the door, not freaking leaving. Why was he not leaving? What could he possibly add to make this any worse or inappropriate considering he was saying all of it in front of not only Liam, but all the rest of our customers?

He seems marginally better than the last few douchebags that showed up here looking for you though. Or that one prick from school, remember? Once again he was pointing towards Liam as if I had no clue who he was talking about. Connor just had to add what I already knew. "That shit definitely didn’t end well. That little prick still hasn’t learned yet … but he will."

And with that, he finally left. He left me with Liam, and all the now amused customers who were conveniently staring at me. At least they seemed amused and not upset. Jesus.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Connor just went to the very top of my shit list.

****

After I took a few moments and got done killing Connor in my head, I finally looked at Liam.

He sure didn’t look like stone anymore. He sure wasn’t clenching his jaw, flexing his muscles, looking confused, or like he was going to beat the shit out of someone. Nope, not him. I’m pretty sure that’s how I looked now though, thanks to my dickhead brother.

Liam looked like he couldn’t wait to say a whole bunch of new things to me.

Perfect.

Smirking again, he walked over to me. Samantha, huh?

I didn’t say anything. I just waited for something.

What exactly, I didn’t know, but I knew there was something.

Nice to meet you Samantha … but I still prefer ‘Red.’ It suits you. You sure as shit are as red as an apple right now, he said before laughing, turning around, and heading towards the door.

Jesus Christ, I should not appreciate a laugh like his, especially when I am the reason that I’m hearing it. I do though. His deep laugh makes my stomach flutter in a way that I know it shouldn’t.

My gaze stayed on him. I know I should’ve looked away, but it was impossible. He stopped at the door, and he turned to look back at me.

Great. He caught me staring at him, again. He grinned at me, and then he winked.

Holy – "I’ll see you around, Samantha," he said. Then he opened the door and left.

Jesus.

Why did I feel like when he left all of the air went out of the room with him? He was a jerk. He was an arrogant, obnoxious, condescending jerk. Also, why did I feel like when he said he would ‘see me around’ it sounded like a warning? Like nothing good for me was going to come from seeing him again?

Seriously.

What just happened?

Why do I feel like whatever it was, it was something significant? Did I want it to be something significant? No. Yes? Definitely, not. No way.

Jesus Christ, what is wrong with me?

I need to forget this ever happened.

I needed to forget all about Liam, I needed to forget all of the memories that were coming back to me that I thought I had buried long ago that were now running through my head thanks to him, but most importantly I needed to get rid of all of these fantasies that I had no business having of some cocky guy I didn’t know and had talked to for only a few minutes.

Best way to do that that I could think of, at least for now anyway … I needed to go deal with my Mom who was apparently in bitch-mode.

Chapter 2

Who was that? were the first words I heard when I went into the back room. I didn’t know if I should pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about, or if I should just tell her who it was.

Which was worse?

I didn’t know anything about Liam. It’s not like I was hiding anything from her.

Not like I hid things about Aiden.

Aiden.

Aiden was a different story.

There were still things she didn’t know about Aiden. Things she would hopefully never know, since he was out of my life thanks to Connor.

Sure, I could see the physical similarities between him and Liam, so I could understand why she would be upset. I knew Liam and Aiden were different though. I don’t know how I knew exactly, but I could tell from that brief encounter that Liam has a playfulness about him that Aiden never had towards me in the months we were together … at least not a playfulness in that way.

Aiden was always intense, mysterious, and protective. I didn’t get that from Liam.

Aiden was also someone in my past. It was time to bury all of these thoughts about him once again, and Liam too, and move on. The past was best left exactly there … and my present and future would be best without any thoughts of Liam.

Is that true?

Jesus, maybe I could lie to myself but not my mom.

I needed to just go with the truth. That was Liam. I just met him.

Well he looked like trouble. What did he want? she asked in both an accusatory and weary way. Her tone sounded an awful lot like it was my fault he was talking to me. Like I did something wrong.

What should I tell her? I honestly have no idea why he stopped in. He came in the door, stood there for a few moments, and then came towards me. He didn’t look at any of our products. He didn’t ask for anything other than to find out who I was. Why was he in the shop? Why did he want to know who I was?

Why did he say the things he did?

I shook my head and once again went with the truth. I don’t know what he wanted.

Well, I didn’t like him. If I see him again, I’ll ask him what he wanted and why he was here.

I should have made up an excuse.

I should have lied and said I knew him from school or something.

Something tells me lying to my mom would have been better and saved me even more embarrassment, because I know if Liam comes into the shop again and my mom catches him, there will be no amount of charm that Liam has that will dampen my mom’s worry about me and some guy that looks like him. She won’t get past the looks. She won’t want to get to know him.

The more important question I found myself entertaining against my better judgment is, will I? Wait … why am I even thinking things like this?

Because I need to be realistic, that’s why.

Something tells me I will be seeing more of Liam.

Whether I want to or not.

Liam’s statement of seeing me around was not only a warning, but a promise. I knew that. It should probably make me a bit scared or worried, especially with all of the emotions that he stirred up in me, but for some reason right now it doesn’t. Thoughts of seeing him again actually has butterflies dancing around in my stomach. How does that happen in one conversation? A conversation that for the most part was obnoxious, confusing, and one-sided.

I don’t know where all of these questions and feelings are coming from. Why am I questioning everything?

Maybe I will never see Liam again. I mean where did he come from all of a sudden anyway?

Shit, maybe I should feel worried after all.

I should be worried over why he is affecting me like this, and why I am confusing myself with all of these different questions that are floating around in my head all of a sudden. What is wrong with me?

Then it hits me.

Jesus Christ.

Maybe Aiden fucked me up more than I realized.

****

Going home was the best thing for me, because I needed the chance to clear my head. I needed to clear out all of my mom’s comments that she made the rest of the afternoon, I needed to clear out the encounter with Liam, but most importantly, I needed to clear my head once and for all of all things Aiden.

Most people wouldn’t understand my relationship with Aiden.

Actually, nobody did.

Not my parents. Not Connor. Not even me most days.

Aiden was my friend. He was my best friend. We met senior year of high school when his parents shipped him off to go live with his aunt and uncle. I don’t know why he chose me to be his friend, but he did. Even in high school he had tattoos on his arms, he had a man’s muscular body, he had piercings, and every girl’s attention. They absolutely loved him and wanted him.

Aiden wasn’t popular in a way jocks are popular. He was popular for all the wrong reasons. I never mentioned him to my parents, and I never mentioned him to Connor. I knew what Connor would say, think …what he’d do. Thank God he was at college and never had a chance to meet him.

At least until that night that changed everything for me, and for Aiden.

I literally ran into Aiden when I was trying to get to my class. I was late, and he just didn’t care. He started a conversation much the same way that Liam did – completely out of the blue. One minute I had no idea who he was, and the next he was talking to me and asking me questions. I didn’t know what he was doing, especially not with someone like me, but there he was. In my face. That was also where he stayed.

We became friends. I don’t know how, or especially why we became friends, but we did.

The kids at our high school didn’t understand. How could I blame them though? I didn’t understand.

I was the awkward girl. I knew I wasn’t ugly. Nobody could tease me because of that. I wasn’t drop dead gorgeous either like all of the girls vying for Aiden’s attention, so that couldn’t be why he wanted to hang out with me either.

We weren’t like that.

After a time, it was more big brother, little sister. We started out by just saying ‘hi’ here and there, and then having some general conversations. Then he would walk me home from school where we gradually began to learn more and more about each other.

Or where I began to learn about only the things he wanted me to know about him.

However, he knew everything about me, even things I didn’t want him to know.

Though I will say there was one thing he didn’t know. He never knew about my crush on him. I don’t think. If he did he never mentioned it, and he never gave me a clue that he knew. It was a stupid teenage crush anyway. It didn’t mean anything. Not really. I didn’t – or we didn’t – let it mean anything.

For the most part he kept his flock of girls away from me, along with his drinking, his tattooed muscled friends, and the trouble he sometimes got into.

His family.

His past.

We could talk about anything except his family and his past before he ended up living with his aunt and uncle. We could talk for hours, but not about that. We would go to the movies sometimes, go out to dinner, or we would end up driving around and just be us, and everything was always okay.

But nobody understood us.

We never kissed. We sometimes hugged, but rarely. Sure we held hands, but it wasn’t like that. Sometimes it was hard for people to believe that there was nothing there, especially after Aiden beat the shit out of Kyle Ross at a party we were both at because he heard Kyle Ross tell his friends something about me that Aiden refused to repeat … but once again it wasn’t like that. He was just protective of me.

For other people that night solidified the thought that ‘Aiden and Samantha’ had something going on. That there was more to Samantha that people obviously didn’t see if badass Aiden wanted to be with her. We would laugh at all the rumors, and questions, and stares. In the beginning I secretly wished all of the rumors were true, but after a while of being his friend, the crush slowly melted away. I mean, I was a teenage girl, and he was hot, so I didn’t completely stop feeling a certain way about him, but I knew what we had was so much more.

It was indescribable to a teenaged me. If I were being honest it is indescribable to an adult me too.

It was what people wrote books about where the bad boy and good girl meet in high school, where they start out as friends, and then they become so much more. However it wasn’t the book where he falls for her and they live happily-ever-after with a bunch of words, and scenes, and drama, and ups and downs, and sex, and all the angst thrown in the middle. It was where the mysterious bad boy falls for the nerdy good girl and takes her under his wing and makes her his best friend and vice versa.

It was a story in which he would do anything to get to know her, and protect her, and keep her safe from scumbag losers because he knew those losers only came around to mess with him or her. It was like I was his mission.

But why?

I have no clue.

Over the years I have tried to figure out what exactly we were. I’ve tried to understand what made me special to him, and him to me. Even after all this time and all my doubts and questions, I know he found me special in some way. He had to. Otherwise, a girl like me would have never received a hello from him, not to mention anything else.

The story of ‘Samantha and Aiden’ does follow one key thing that one seems to find in all books lately, or at least my favorite types of books that I always seem to end up reading. We did have a big fuck-up in our relationship that ruined everything.

There was a huge misunderstanding.

There was walking away.

There was hurt, anger, sadness, confusion, and heartbreak.

However, unlike in all those goddamn books, we didn’t fix anything. We weren’t put back together. He broke my heart and left, and he never looked back, taking pieces of me with him that were never returned.

Pieces that I still feared I would never get back.

I can still remember everything about that night. I remember what I was wearing. I remember what he was wearing. I remember the time. I remember the way he looked at me when he came through the door. I remember the way he smelled. I remember every word that he said to me, and the way he said it. I remember the way he touched me.

Mostly, I remember Connor’s words and his face, and the look in Aiden’s eyes as he walked out of the door never to come back.

****

I can still remember it all perfectly.

I was closing up late that night at the shop, but unlike other times I wasn’t alone – Connor was with me. When I was closing alone, no matter what, Aiden showed up and walked me home. It was that protective thing of his again.

Up until that awful night Connor and Aiden never met.

Just like all the other times Aiden did come to pick me up that night, but unlike all of the times before, Aiden had been drinking. I never saw drunk Aiden before, I never had to deal with drunk Aiden before, and I didn’t know what to do. He was mean, and ugly, and demanding, and he tried kissing me.

He never tried kissing me. For the millionth time we just weren’t like that.

I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I was sure of was that I knew he didn’t really want me, that there was more to what was happening, and that I needed to find out what was wrong because something obviously was.

I knew I was not going to let anything like that ruin months of friendship. Months of something that was beautiful and needed for both of us.

We needed each other’s friendship.

We may have never said that exactly, but we both knew it.

He needed me, and I needed him.

Why, I am not sure, I just knew it.

Just because he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing or saying shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t ruin anything. I couldn’t let it ruin anything. I just knew I needed to get him out of the shop before Connor came out of the back room and saw him.

It just didn’t happen that way.

What Connor saw when he came out of the back room was someone trying to attack his little sister’s mouth, someone groping and attacking his little sister’s body, someone who his sister was trying to push away to save herself.

Connor didn’t see things right.

What Connor didn’t see was a hurt friend who was drunk for an obviously painful reason, or a friendship that I was trying desperately to save by pushing Aiden away to get him to leave before Connor saw him. Connor didn’t give any thought to my screams for him to not get involved, or to leave Aiden alone. He didn’t care that I told him that Aiden was my friend, and that he’d been drinking and didn’t know what he was doing.

Connor didn’t care that I begged him to stop while he beat Aiden up to the point where there was blood everywhere, and I was a crying mess on the floor begging for him to leave Aiden alone. Connor didn’t care as I was sobbing to Aiden to not leave when he eventually picked himself up off of the floor when Connor was finished pummeling him, and he didn’t care when Aiden looked at me with a heart-shattering look before he went out of the door.

Eventually Connor cared though.

Connor cared for days and weeks after, when I wouldn’t talk to him or anyone else when I found out that Aiden dropped out of school and moved away, and that he was never coming back. He cared when I came home crying my eyes out, when I locked myself in my room for three days straight after I went and visited Aiden’s aunt and uncle and they wouldn’t tell me anything. He cared when I told him I would never forgive him and that he was dead to me when he told my parents everything that had happened that night, and I had to endure the grilling and the lecturing about an Aiden they didn’t even know. They only knew Connor’s version of Aiden, and his version was fucked up and untrue. I had to endure a grilling and a lecture that didn’t truly matter because Aiden wasn’t even there anymore, and he wouldn’t be again.

It took me a long, long time, to forgive Connor. I didn’t forgive him until I started placing blame on Aiden and myself, and not so much on him.

Why didn’t I text Aiden when I found out Connor would be with me until closing? More importantly, why didn’t I explain my relationship with Aiden to anyone in my family in the first place?

Why?

Sure, realistically I knew how Connor would act and the things he would say, but maybe that night would have been different if Connor knew something. Maybe he wouldn’t have beaten Aiden so bad. Maybe Aiden wouldn’t have disappeared. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I knew Connor was only trying to protect me, and after I cleared things up about Aiden and what happened, and what had been happening, I knew he finally understood some things.

He just didn't know what was going on that night.

Hell … on that night I didn’t even know what was going on.

I did know one thing for certain though.

Aiden broke my heart.

He took his friendship away from me.

He took the specialness of my world away from me. He took my other half. He also took a lot of unanswered questions with him. Questions that ran through my head for years.

Why did he show up drunk like that? Why was he so mean and demanding? Why did he kiss me? Did he, after all that time, want to kiss me? Was I a substitute for something, or someone else? Did he actually have feelings for me and I never knew? Was I really special to him? Why did he leave me? Was he ever coming back? What the hell happened?

The most important question though that came from Aiden leaving wasn’t a question I could ask him, or a question that anyone else could answer other than myself. The most important question was:

Could I ever trust anyone to get close to me again?

Chapter 3

After all of my thoughts of Aiden came crashing back, and all of the rehashing of my past that had consumed me all night, having to wake up to go into the shop was not something I was looking forward to. I’d rather it not be my summer vacation. I’d actually rather have classes and deal with ‘the douchebag’ my brother mentioned last night than have to go into work this morning, so that’s saying something. Meeting Liam yesterday brought back a lot of old memories and feelings I thought I was over.

Or at least memories that I had bottled up so tight I forgot about them.

That made me dislike Liam even more.

As I got dressed every thought I had was of Liam and why thinking any thoughts of him was a bad idea. Liam brings up too much fucked up shit for me. Last night I realized I normally stay far away from guys that might remind me of Aiden, which is why I was probably able to bury all of my emotions and thoughts for years. I wanted to stay away from Liam too, he just didn’t let me. More so than yesterday, I really hope I never see him again. If I do, I have every intention of staying away.

****

May I help you? I automatically asked the next customer in line, before I looked up to see who was standing in front of me.

Sure. You can give me your phone number, Red.

I looked up and stared into the ice-blue eyes I thought about all morning, even after I said I wasn’t going to think about him anymore.

How did I not know he was in the shop? Why didn’t I pay better attention?

Why didn’t I take a break sooner?

Why the hell is he asking for my number when we only met yesterday?

Screw that … didn’t he pay attention to my not interested signals? He has to know that I am not interested.

Liar.

Of course, because I am having thoughts and a full-blown conversation in my head about all the thoughts I had of him all night and morning, I do the one thing I never wanted to do in front of him again – I blush.

There it is, he said.

I tried really hard not to look at his mouth, but of course I did. Sure enough, he had that smirk that always seems to be plastered on his face while he is in my presence out in full force. Dimples pretty much taunting me.

There what is? I said, trying to sound unaffected by the sight of his dimples. I had too much other shit going on in my head to be affected by something like that.

Of course my mind was off wandering through the land of beautiful dimples, so I didn’t put it together quick enough, and I had to ask something I should have just let go.

"Your blush. I was waiting for it. And there it is." He said it so matter-of-factly and with a devilish smile. I should have known. Of course I should have.

I decided it was best not to say anything about his comment and just move it along.

Shaking my head I said, Look, I’m not giving you my number so is there anything else I can help you with?

I didn’t know how it was possible but his smile got even bigger and his eyes definitely darkened. I could only imagine what he would like me to help him with. I had a list of things that he could help me with, but I am now telling myself for the thousandth time this morning that that is not going to happen.

Ever.

"There are many, many, things that I think you could help me with. I’m