Page 9 of Tentacles for Christmas

Rowen had once again missed my attempt to ask him out.

“I see,” I bit my lip at how his reply seemed to be about my safety and not a rejection.

Fuck it. Time to be less subtle.

Leaning on the counter, I gave him a glance down my low collar to my bare clavicles before purring, “You could always give me a ride.”

“Not sure how that would teach you to drive.” Rowen’s brows pulled together in confusion, and I saw he had completely missed myinnuendo. Again. And then he added, “Maybe? But we should wait for better weather.”

Sigh.

That was better than a ‘no thanks,’ at least. I couldn’t keep throwing myself at the man, but his ‘maybe’ gave me hope.

“Sure. Is January usually a drier month?”

“Might be,” Rowen shrugged and grabbed his drink cup. “Thanks for this.”

He was out the door before my, “Have a nice day,” was through. I watched Rowen walk away, and he only turned once to look at the door with his face as red as his bike.

Did I embarrass him with my flirting?

A hand waved in front of my face and I blinked to find Channing in front of me with her empty plate. “You might need to ask him out more directly.”

“I have been,” I whined and pouted. “One minute I think he only comes here to see me every day, and then I offer an idea to spend time together outside of work, and he is oblivious.”

“No, I mean…” Channing trailed off and looked back to the others for help.

“He’s really shy,” Riley explained. I went to say I knew that, but he stood up and joined Channing at the counter. “Red has never dated anyone.”

“Like, no serious partners? Me either,” I shrugged. “Since High School doesn’t really count.”

“No… No one. Ever,” Riley clarified. “Not even in High School. I don’t know if he’s even been on a date.”

Wow. That was a shock. Rowen was gorgeous, with his long red hair and warm brown eyes. The broad, muscular shoulders didn’t hurt either. How he made it to his mid twenties without dating…sounded like a choice. Was I coming on too strong and making him uncomfortable? Crap, was I being a jerk?

“Am I sexually harassing him?”

“Oh, shit. No,” Channing rushed to assure me, but then scratched her nose in thought. “At least, Ithinkhe’s interested in you. Red would never come back if you were bothering him.”

Letting out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding, I was glad to hear it. “Then what do I do?”

“Red volunteers for the tree lighting and charity ride,” Merle stated from his chair behind the others, though I wasn’t sure how that helped me.

“Isn’t that weeks away?”

“There’s a set-up day this weekend, and Red always helps,” Riley explained.

While I was thinking about my shifts, Merle added, “The best way to spend time with someone oblivious to your advances is to put yourself in their path. Worked for me and my late wife. She was flirting with me at school and I had no clue until she started coming over to help out my mom.”

Merle got a sweet, faraway look on his face, and I swooned at how adorable he was. I wanted to feel like one person was my world, and I was the center of theirs. Rowen Finley might not be that man, but he had the potential to be. I was sure of it.

“Okay. I’m in.” I held out my hand to shake Merle’s over the counter, since it was his idea. “Give me the details. And if Rowen is still oblivious, at least I’ve done something good for the community.”

“That’s the spirit,” Riley laughed and bent towards the pastry case. “Now tell me more about these brownies. My boyfriend will love me forever if I bring home chocolate.”

Chapter six

Rowen