Page 7

CHAPTER 7

GUNNAR

“I ’m going to kill you.”

The words startle me into taking a step back and put me on alert as I view my surroundings. There is no one standing in front of the door to the men’s bathroom, so I’m confused as to where the woman’s voice is coming from.

“Why? Because this guy is a total creeper!”

Where is that voice coming from? I walk fully out of the men’s bathroom and glance to my left and I finally see her. She’s facing the wall, hovering in the corner and cowering into herself. It’s not a safe position; anyone could come up from behind without her seeing them. Part of me wonders if I should stick around to make sure she stays safe. Not that she’s in any real kind of danger, but we are at a loud restaurant which is turning into a bustling bar as the night wears on. I came here tonight with Murph to grab dinner and shoot the shit. He just left to go home, so it’s not like I have anywhere to be since Izzy left with my parents this afternoon. But I also don’t want to frighten her if she turns around and sees some stranger standing here, listening to her. I look up and down the hallway but can’t find a more conspicuous space to hide. Stop being paranoid, Gunnar! She’ll be just fine.

I shake my head and start walking away, annoyed with myself for becoming so pessimistic and cautious about the world since having a kid.

“Seriously, Grace. There’s something wrong with this guy. I don’t feel safe.”

That stops me dead in my tracks. There’s no way I can leave this girl alone now. I don’t care if she gets weirded out that I’m standing here, eavesdropping. My conscience won’t allow me to leave until I know she’ll be okay.

“No, don’t come down here. You can’t leave work in the middle of your shift. I’ll figure out a way to get rid of him. Thank goodness you didn’t tell him my real name.”

I quietly chuckle at the fake name antics women use, but in this case, it was a smart idea.

“Listen to me loud and clear, Grace. You’re never allowed to set me up on a blind date ever again. I should commit you to the psych ward for thinking I would be attracted to this guy’s personality. He’s a slimy Rico Suave.”

I can’t contain my burst of laughter, which causes her to whirl around. My breath is momentarily knocked out of me due to the sheer magnitude of her eyes. The color is a blue that reminds me of the Caribbean Sea. They are mesmerizing and I bet she hypnotizes men within seconds of looking at them. With her dark, red hair, pale complexion and red lips, she’s a complete knockout. I try not to let my gaze wander down her body because I can already tell by the look of annoyance on her face that she’s not happy to have someone of the male sex within her vicinity. I smile at her and hold up my hands in surrender, hoping that she sees I mean her no harm.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.” She hangs up, slips her phone into her purse, and crosses her arms against her chest. She narrows her eyes in disdain and it’s pretty obvious that she has no idea who I am, which is refreshing.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” I start but she immediately interrupts me.

“You mean you were eavesdropping.”

“Technically, yes, but only because I was concerned for your safety when you said you felt unsafe.”

She looks at me with skepticism and I can’t say I blame her if the roles were reversed. “I promise you I just want to help you. I have a daughter and if she was alone at a bar, having this conversation right now, I would hope someone would stop to offer her help.”

“You don’t look like you’re old enough to have a kid my age.”

Her tone is cynical and she keeps glancing behind me, probably trying to figure a way out. She’s in total fight or flight mode and her grit is fucking sexy. I give her one of my best smiles, hoping it comes off friendly and not sleazy in any way. “You’re right, I don’t. She’s five.”

“Oh.”

“I promise you I’m not some psycho trying to trick you.”

“That’s exactly what a serial killer would say.”

I laugh at her quick wit and smartness. “You’re probably right, but you’re just going to have trust that I’m not. Honestly, I really just want to help you get to safety.”

She bites her lip while she thinks about my offer. Do not stare at her lips, Gunnar. My gaze can’t help but flicker down and my mind wanders to what it would feel like if she was biting my lips. My pants start to feel uncomfortably tight and I mentally chastise myself to get a grip.

I see her body start to relax when she says, “Okay, but how do you plan on helping me?”

“I saw this on a television show once, but what if I pretend I’m your ex-boyfriend?”

She scoffs. “Uh-huh, like he would believe that.”

“If we’re convincing enough, he will.”

“Why an ex-boyfriend? Why not a cousin or friend?”

“Because an ex-boyfriend would intimidate him enough to leave.”

I see the realization of my idea spark her interest and she nods. “All right, ex-boyfriend it is. Continue on with the plan.”

My mind races and I start to picture the scenario. “You are going to walk back out there first and create some sort of distraction like…knock over your drink.”

She shakes her head. “That creates a mess for the waitress.”

I smile, liking her empathy for the wait staff. “Don’t worry, we’ll leave a very generous tip.” She bites her lip again and I have to will myself to look away so I can focus on the task at hand. “The commotion will give me the excuse to come over to say hi. I’ll introduce myself to him, we will start talking about us, how much I miss you, and how breaking up was a bad idea.”

“No cheating,” she firmly states and my brow furrows in confusion.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t want the reason for us breaking up to be about cheating.”

“Gotcha and no problem with that since I’ve been cheated on and it fucking sucked.”

She looks at me in surprise. “Someone cheated on you too?”

“Yeah. I’m assuming you as well?”

She nods. “My ex-boyfriend did.”

“Does your date know?” I wonder, because that just makes the story we’re trying to concoct much more complicated.

She sighs. “I’m not sure what my friend has told him about me. He’s done most of the talking about himself tonight.”

What a douche.

“Let’s not worry about this. Hopefully, he’ll get the hint that I’m not leaving when I sit down with you guys.”

“But what if he asks you to leave?”

“You'll have to play this game with me and pipe up to say you don’t want me to leave.”

“Okay.” She glances down at her watch and grimaces. “I need to get back out there. I’ve been gone a while.” She starts to go but suddenly stops. “Wait, what’s your name?”

“Um—” Fuck, I can’t think of any good names and I say out loud the first thing I think of. “Lewiston.”

She scrunches her nose in disgust. “What the heck kind of name is Lewiston?”

“I don’t know,” I laugh at how silly it sounds. “I’m sure it’s just as good as your name.” I raise my eyebrow at her and it earns me a smirk.

“My name is Amber.”

“But is it really?” I ask and I have a hunch that it isn’t.

“It is for tonight at least.” She takes a deep breath and clutches her hands nervously.

“Hey.” I gently grasp her elbow and give it a reassuring squeeze. “Take a deep breath and don’t worry. We’ve got this.”

She gives me a small smile, not looking very convinced. “Thank you for wanting to help me. I really hope this works.”

“It’ll work,” I tell her.

She nods and sidesteps around me to leave. I turn around and watch her walk back out to her table. I stand there for two more minutes and then I leave the hallway. I walk the perimeter of the bar toward the front where the tables and booths are stationed. I stay close to the farthest wall behind him and watch as Amber swings her arm, causing her glass of wine to go crashing to the ground.

“Oh no!” She exclaims loud enough for most of the patrons dining to glance in her direction. “I’m so sorry,” she tells the waitress who squats down with some towels to clean up the mess.

“Don’t worry about it. It happens all the time,” the waitress responds, and more staff come out to help clean the mess.

I wait until everything has been cleared and figure now is the perfect time to make my move. I put my game face on and casually walk up to their table.

“Amber?” I question in hesitation and when she looks up, a beautiful smile lights up her face and eyes as if she really is excited to see me. I’m so entranced by how stunning she is that for a moment, I forget what I’m supposed to be doing.

“Lewis!” I like how she shortens my name to make it sound more normal. “What are you doing here?”

“I was grabbing a drink with a friend, but he just left. I thought that was you when I looked over at all the commotion. I felt the need to come over and say hi.” I bend down and kiss her cheek. I hear her gasp in surprise and I regret not discussing physically touching her beforehand.

“Aaron, this is my ex-boyfriend Lewis. Lewis, this is Aaron.”

“Nice to meet you.” I shake his hand and notice he’s staring at me, his head tilted to the side in thought. Oh shit, I think he recognizes who I am.

“You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“No, I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”

“Hmm.” He narrows his eyes and rubs his chin. “You look like someone famous.”

Crap. I need to diffuse the situation. “Oh, I know.” I snap my fingers and point at him. “You think I look like that professional baseball player, don’t you? The one who just got traded here.”

His eyes light up in recognition. “Yeah, that’s it,” Aaron confirms with a smile on his face.

“Yeah man, I get that all the time. It’s like he’s my doppelg?nger, but we have zero relation whatsoever.”

“Really?” His voice is laced with doubt as he looks me up and down. “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a personal trainer,” I tell the lie easily, thinking it would make sense with my physique. I turn toward Amber and smile. “How have you been? I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.”

She blushes and I love how her cheeks grow pink. “Been doing well. Just working a lot. You?”

Shit, I never asked what she does for a living. Hopefully that doesn’t come up in the conversation. I’m about to answer her when Aaron interjects.

“When did you guys break up again, because Grace said you’ve been single for a long time.”

“We broke up about six months ago. Our relationship wasn’t very serious since we were both busy with our jobs, so the break-up was amicable.” She turns to look at me for confirmation and I smile at her quick thinking and excellent answer.

“Yeah, there are things that I look back on that I definitely would have handled differently.” I stare at her, not that it’s hard to do with how gorgeous she is.

“What would you have done differently, Lewis?” She locks eyes with mine and I can feel my hand automatically grabbing the back of the empty chair next to her, pulling it out and sitting down as close as I can to her.

“I would’ve never let our careers get in the way of us. I would’ve made sure you were my number one priority.”

She swallows yet we never lose eye contact. For some reason, it’s starting to feel like it’s just the two of us and I continue to try to think about all the things I would tell her if I was trying to win her back.

“I want a second chance, Amber. Will you give me one?”

“Dude, we’re on a fucking date,” Aaron angrily responds, breaking our trance. “If you wanted to be with her so badly, you should’ve called her before now, but you haven’t and it’s your loss. She’s out with me tonight, so it’s time for you to leave.”

The asshole has a point, but I choose not to respond to him. I focus my attention back on Amber and grab her hand. Time to go all in and not hold back. “I’m sorry I haven’t called, but I think fate brought us here to the same place tonight for a reason. I miss you and want to try again. Do you miss me at all?” I give her hand a squeeze, encouraging her to speak up.

“Yeah,” she says softly. “I really miss you too, Lewis. Seeing you here, expressing your feelings really changes things for me. Not to mention, you look really hot. I forgot how handsome you are.” I slowly smile at her, loving the fact that she likes how I look…at least I hope that part was real. Not that it matters since this is all supposed to be an act.

“You guys are unbelievable,” Aaron scoffs. I turn to look at him, throw my arm around the back of her chair and smile, hoping he gets the hint to get the fuck out of here. He narrows his eyes and turns to Amber. “Amber, c’mon. You’re not really going to fall for this bullshit, are you? This guy is totally playing you.”

“I’m sorry, Aaron, but I don’t want to lead you on. I think I want to see where things go again with Lewis.”

“You’re not even going to finish our date? We haven’t even ordered dinner yet.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not hungry.” She turns in her chair to grab her purse. “Let me pay for my drink.”

“I’ve got it, Sweetheart.” I grab my wallet from my back pocket, pull out a fifty-dollar bill and lay it on the counter.

“I don’t need your fucking money. This is my date and I’ll pay for the drink she spilled.” Aaron grabs my money and throws it at me. He’s got a wild, crazy look in his eye and I’m glad she’s not alone with him anymore. Amber has great intuition—there’s something off with him. He rakes his hand through his hair and takes a deep breath. “Don’t go, Amber. Let’s get to know each other and just be friends if you want.”

“I’m sorry, Aaron, but I don’t think tonight is going to work out.”

“Okay, then let’s get together another night. I promise you; you’re missing out on a good time with someone who’s going to treat you like a princess.”

“Aaron, I think Amber is trying to be polite here, but there’s not going to be a next time for you because I don’t plan on ever giving her up again. So it’s time to take the hint and leave.”

“Fuck you,” he yells, his tone of voice causing people to stop talking and stare. “How dare you try to humiliate me. I’m not leaving. In fact, I see plenty of available ladies at the bar who would kill to go home with me tonight. You want to leave so badly, then get the fuck out of here.”

I stand up and help Amber out of her chair. I grab her hand and quickly notice how perfectly it fits in mine. I start to pull her toward the front door, but she stops and turns back to Aaron.

“I’m so sorry, Aaron. I don’t mean to be rude. This was just quite an unexpected surprise.” She feels bad about our deception, but I personally don’t feel she has anything to apologize for. The guy is showing signs of unstable and possessive behavior. Instead of walking away amicably, he threw a fit like a whiny little baby.

“Apology not accepted. Grace is going to hear exactly what I think about you and your unexpected surprise.”

“Let’s go, Amber.” I wrap my arm around her waist and guide her to the door. As we get closer to the exit, I whisper in her ear, “Don’t turn around and look back at him. Let’s walk outside and go to the left.” She does as I say, and as soon as we get outside, I look back through the window and see him watching us with a crazed look on his face.

We need to be more convincing so he doesn’t follow us and I do the only other thing that comes to mind. I yank her to my chest and say, “Follow my lead,” before crushing my lips to hers. She gasps in surprise but plays along and kisses me back. Her lips are warm and I get caught up in their softness. She slightly parts her lips and I take that exact moment to slide my tongue against them. She moans, wraps her arms around my neck and opens more for me. Damn, she tastes so good. Better than anyone I’ve ever kissed. Soon I forget why we’re here and give in to how incredible holding her in my arms feels. Time seems to stop and all I want to do is hug her tighter, kiss her harder, and bury myself deep inside her. Her soft moans and whimpers are making my dick hurt with need, but I can’t stop kissing her.

“Get a room,” someone yells, shocking us both back to reality. We pull apart and stare at each other, our chests heaving as we suck in air. I look around to re-focus and see Aaron’s murderous face in the window.

“We need to get out of here,” I grab her hand and we start to run down the street.