Page 11 of Outside The Wire

I’d already planned that out. “I’m going to roll it up and tuck it in through the back of my SUV into the front seat. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but it should fit.”

She shook her head at me, but waved. “Alright, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye!”

Twenty minutes later and one terrifying drive through heavy traffic, I was at the store, ready to get the rug I’d been drooling over for the past two months. I hustled inside, fighting the wind and the cold the entire way. Stomping my feet on the snow-packed mat, I headed to the back of the store to the rugs that hung from their displays. I swung the giant rugs one at a time until I came across the one I wanted.

But I had to be sure it was the correct size.

I tossed my purse on the ground and laid down on the ground in front of where it was hanging. Craning my neck to the side, I glanced up at it to make sure I was in line with the edge of the rug. Then, I rolled once to the right.

“One. Two. Three,” I counted as I rolled across the floor. “Four, five, six, seven?—”

I was in the middle of my eighth roll when I saw someone staring at me oddly. I stopped mid-roll and shoved my hat fromwhere it had fallen down over my eyes. “Can I help you?” I asked him, sort of upside down.

“Nope,” he shook his head. “I’m just trying to figure out what you’re doing.”

“Oh,” I chuckled. “I’m measuring.”

His eyebrows rose slightly and he cocked his head to the side. “Measuring.”

It was really hard to talk to the man like this, so I sat up straight, shaking the dizziness from my brain as I stood. Whoa. Okay, either I had rolled one too many times or this man was extremely, insanely hot.

I studied him closer and came to the decision that I must have rolled too many times. No man on earth could realistically be this sexy. It wasn’t possible. Not at all. And no man like that would be in a home goods store at this hour on a night like tonight, staring at me—a woman rolling around on the ground.

Yet, he was here. Watching me.

“Um…yes, I’m measuring,” I said, somewhat flustered, trying not to notice how his nearly black hair stuck out from under his winter hat in long tendrils that probably brushed his cheekbones. Or the fact that he had that sexy scruff that made my fingers itch to run through it. Or luscious thick lips or grayish-blue eyes. Nope, I ignored all that. Why would I need to notice any of that? And I definitely didn’t need to notice that he had a definite bad boy vibe to him, but also a hint of sadness, or maybe it was something else. Either way, he covered it well.

And he was here. Standing in front of me, staring at me. Why? That’s what I couldn’t figure out. And despite telling him what I was doing, he continued to study me, to watch me intently, which was the very definition of studying. And I was rambling, thinking of all these things that I didn’t need to repeat in my head, all because this man had me flustered.

“Anyway,” I said slowly. “I’m just gonna…” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder and took a step back. When he didn’t move, I got back to it, starting over since I lost track of where I was. I laid down and started rolling all over again. When I was sure I rolled the appropriate amount of times, and that it matched the number of rolls in my house, I made the decision to get it.

I turned around to find an employee to help and nearly ran right into the man, forgetting he was there.

“Oh!” I yelped. “Sorry, um…did you need something?”

“I’m still trying to figure out what you were doing.”

I quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering why he cared. “Like I said, I was measuring.”

“Yeah, that usually happens with a measuring tape.”

I waved him off. “When you don’t have one of those, you use whatever’s around.”

His eyes crinkled slightly. “So…you rolled.”

“I did,” I said proudly. “I rolled to measure the number of times I needed to make it fit.”

He nodded again. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“That’s all I’ve got.”

I really didn’t know where to go from there. “Um…so…I should find someone to help me.”

“Well, good luck. With your rug,” he grinned.

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