Page 88 of Under Her Skin

“Nowwhat?”

I can’t seem to find my words for some reason. He has me a little wobbly in the knees. This never happens to me. I’m friends with a ton of cute guys. None of them have this effect onme.

I swallow hard and point to thejalapenos.

“Can you cut thoseup?”

“Sure,” he says as he takes them and looks around. “A cuttingboard?”

There’s one right behind him and I point at it. “There yago.”

He looks backand grabs it. Hilda places a beer in front ofhim.

“Here you go Blake. Do you like tocook?”

“I think I might like it, if I knew how to make a few things. I eat mostly take out and frozen dinners since my Mom isn’t around to cook for me anymore.” He slices the pepper down the middle. “Like this, Rachelle?” His elbow nudges my side and little electric jolts run throughme.

I reach across him, accidentally grazing his chest with my breasts and pick up a pepper. My body is quivering and I fight to regain some damncomposure.

“Like this,” I say as I place it on his cutting board and dice it up into tinypieces.

His body is tense as he watchesme.

“Okay, I got it now.” He looks at me and smiles. “I like your dress. Coral looks good onyou.”

A little smile breaks free and runs across my face. “Thank you. Black looks good onyou.”

He looks around and says, “Thank you, Rachelle. You don’t drink? I noticed you haven’t had anything. You want something else. Maybe you don’t likebeer.”

“I’m not old enough,” I say and continue to chop thecilantro.

“Oh!” He stops chopping and looks me up and down. “How old areyou?”

“Twenty. Tomorrow is my birthday.”I stop myself from saying anymore. I haven’t told anyone that. I hate for people to make a fuss over me and birthdays are one of those times people will fuss if they know aboutit.

“Tomorrow! Well, what’s the plan for your special day?” He turns towards me and waits for myanswer.

I shake my head. “No one else knows. To be honest, I don’t want anyone else to know. I don’t know why I told you that. Forget about it,okay.”

“I doubt he will and neither will I,” Hilda says as she places the large pan of enchiladas in the oven. “What’s your favorite flavor ofcake?”

I shake my head. “Really. I don’t want anyone to bother. I kind of hatebirthdays.”

Blake turns and leans back on the counter, his arms crossed in front of him and it makes his large biceps flex. “Why would you hate them? And it’s your twenty-first birthday at that. That’s a big one. I know, I turned that last year. Me and my friends partiedhard.”

“Well, I’m not a party type of girl so let it go,” I say and take the cilantro and toss it into the large, stainless steelbowl.

His eyes never leave me as I walk away to take the tomatillos to the sink to wash them. I catch him and Hilda exchanging looks and it pisses me off. At myself mostly. I should’ve kept that tomyself.

When will I everlearn?

Hilda grabssome linens out of a cabinet. “Do you have this, Rachelle? I need to go and get the dining roomready.”

I wave her away. “Yes, go do what you needto.”

Blake seems to have cooled towards me. It’s best anyway. He lives in another state after all. Me in California and him in Texas. That’s how it happens most times. I refuse to let anyone in, much. Once a guy realizes that, they move on to the nextgirl.

“You know I can almost hear the gears in your head grinding,” he says as he moves in behind me. “Max told me you spent a little time in the children’s home. Just because your mother wasn’t a good one, doesn’t mean you have to live life trying hard not to be a nuisance toanyone.”