When our eyes meet again, the fire dancing in his is enough to steal my breath and make my heart race with a desire that has been lacking from my life. I fight the urge to take a step toward him. One corner of his mouth tips up in a lopsided grin that has me biting down on my lip to hide one of my own as heat rushes to my cheeks and desire pools between my thighs. My need from this morning returns tenfold and I curse myself for not grabbing my vibrator after Sam stormed out of my apartment. His eyes drop to my mouth and his tongue darts out, wetting his bottom lip like he’s hoping to catch a taste of me there.
My heart skips a beat.
Green eyes find mine once again and I'm aware of something vibrating throughout my entire body. How the hell can he do that from just a glance? With an expectant brow, he clears his throat, snapping me out of my daze.
What was I supposed to be saying to him right now?
My name.
Right.
“Carly,” I whisper, my voice barely audible as my pulse pounds under my skin. His eyes sparkle as he flashes me a full smile, a dimple appearing on his cheek and my knees go a little weak.
“I’m Chance. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you, too,” I mumble like an idiot because I can’t think of one thing to say to this man. I attended four years of college and graduated, right? I’m certain I did but you wouldn’t realize it from looking at me. My brain crawls like it’s moving through sludge and I’m having trouble recalling basic language skills. In all my years of random hook-ups, I’ve experienced nothing like this and as much as I recognize that it should send me running in the other direction, it doesn’t. Instead, I want to lean closer even when I'm aware of the danger. I want to see if he smells as good as I imagine and how he’d react if I placed my palm against his chest.
“So, you work at the blog with Ali, then?” he asks and I nod, unable to make my mouth work.
Good god, Carly.
Just force words, any words at all, out of your lips, for Christ’s sake.
“Yeah,” I say and almost roll my eyes at myself. He smirks and takes a small step toward me like he’s fighting this crazy pull, too, but my mind is still blank. I don’t think I’ve been this awkward in front of a guy since I was a teenager.
Now would be a fantastic time for the heavens to open and shoot me down with a lightning bolt so I don’t humiliate myself further, but they aren’t that kind.
Warmth washes over me again and I take a deep breath, fighting my natural inclination to seek his gaze. He takes another step toward me and I can’t stop myself from glancing up at him. He smiles, a soft smile I’m sure is supposed to put me at ease but it only makes him more attractive. My breath catches when he reaches out and brushes his thumb over my cheek. Tingles, like little zaps of lightning flitter over my skin and the only thing I can hear is my rapid breathing as I stare up at him, unable to pull my gaze away from his eyes.
“Sorry. You had an eyelash on your cheek,” he whispers but still doesn’t pull his hand away and my body aches as I fight every natural inclination to lean into his touch. He is trouble with a capital T. I clear my throat.
“Uh… thanks.”
He takes a step back and nods before glancing up at the house as he runs a hand through his dirty blond hair, almost as if he was in a daze himself. He turns back and just like that, his eyes hold me captive again. “You drove Ali here, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I was thinking about getting her car and bringing it back here. You mind driving me?”
I glance up at the house, chewing on my bottom lip. “I should stay here with her.”
“Trust me, there is no way in hell Storm is leaving her right now. She’s in good hands. Besides, if I bring her car back, it’s one less thing for her to worry about.”
Sighing, I nod. He’s right. The last thing Ali needs to worry about right now is her car. “Okay, let me go grab her keys.”
He nods. I walk up the steps and slip inside. Ali and Storm are nowhere in sight, so I grab her keys out of her bag and go back outside as I pull my phone out to send her a text.
Me:
Hey, taking Chance to bring your car back.
Call if you need anything.
As I slip my phone back into my bag, I glance up and stop halfway down the steps as my eyes lock onto Chance leaning up against my car with his arms crossed over his chest. The rest of the world seems to fall away. His gaze never wavers, like he’s content to just stand there and watch me all damn day and the worst part is, I like it. What the hell is happening right now? It’s almost like my little sister, Ivy, did some of that witchy voodoo stuff that Aunt Dottie tried to teach us when we were younger. Of course, neither one of us took it seriously. But that’s just about the only explanation for the emotion rocking through my body right now.
Blowing out a breath, I shake it off as I start down the sidewalk toward him. The last thing I need right now is this shit. So, sure… Chance might be the sexiest man I’ve ever met, but that’s all this is—lust. As I reach the car, he doesn’t move and his body is dangerously close as I lean in to open my door. He smells like cinnamon gum, the kind that Ivy and I used to sneak when our mother wasn’t around. The scent fills the space between us and I resist the urge to close my eyes and just breathe him in, remembering a time when life wasn’t so complicated. Stilling, we lock eyes and stare at each other, the tension mounting between us.
My entire body tingles in anticipation.
“Are you going to get in?” I whisper and a smile stretches across his face. His eyes roam over me, taking his time to study me like he has every right to before pushing off the car and grazing my body. I gasp. It would be less dramatic if he electrocuted me. I watch him walk around to the passenger side and slip into the seat before taking another breath and sliding behind the wheel. He watches me as I pull away from the curb and start off toward the office, his gaze boring into the side of my head. I’m acutely aware of it—like it’s his hands following the contours of my face instead of his eyes.
I fidget in my seat, each breath I pull into my lungs ringing in my ears as I stare at the road in front of me and fight my body’s desire to glance over at him. He finally looks away and I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. The road flies past us but I barely even register it, all my attention focused on the man next to me and the way his eyes periodically flick in my direction. Each time, I struggle to restrain myself from meeting his gaze. When I can’t stand it any longer, I glance over at him.
“What?” I ask and he grins. His eyes sparkle with amusement and curiosity. It’s so hard to turn away from him but I somehow manage.
“Nothing. Just trying to figure you out.”
I scoff. “Good luck with that.”
He can’t ever get to know me. I’m a bag full of crazy, accentuated by secrets and pain so deep I’ll never recover. He’s better off not knowing. He continues watching me and I focus back on the road, once again struggling to not glance in his direction as I search for something to say to him to fill this space between us. Never in my adult life have I had trouble talking to men, but he does something I can’t explain. I thought I understood what desire did to my body, what chemistry was, but now I’m questioning everything.