Page 7 of Sweet Dreams
"Sure, but you look like you're already done. I was just getting started on some upper body stuff," I said as I bent to pick up my dumbbells again. I could have sworn I caught him checking out my butt when I straightened up. But if he was, he hid it well by looking in my eyes and carrying on theconversation.
"Nah, I just did some running on the treadmill. I'd love to do some upper body work with you. Here, I'll spot you on your overhead presses," he said while moving behind me. Good God, that would be beyond distracting. He put his hands on my wrists when I lifted the weights into position. Meanwhile, his chest was brushing up against my back and I could feel his breath raise the hairs on the back of my neck. My body was all too aware of exactly where hewas.
Thank the Lord I didn't have my heart rate monitor on today. That would have been embarrassing. Just standing there barely touching and I was in the redzone.
We managed to get through a fairly tough workout together. We mostly taunted each other playfully and ended up laughing quite a bit. We both flirted by brushing up against each other or touching a shoulder here, a hand there. The man was silly, flirty, and respectful; basically, the best workout partner a girl could ask for. And then to have an upfront seat to his muscles flexing? It was straight up foreplay disguised as a public workout. I'm sure I burned enough calories to have two hot chocolatestoday.
We parted ways after I gave him my address to come pick me up tonight. I had to get moving if I wanted to get home, get cleaned up, get to work, and then have enough time to get all dolled up for our date. Yes, I was calling it a date now, at least in my head.Progress!
Ivan was a few minutes early to pick me up. He pulled up to the curb in front of my house with his big white truck. I watched him park from my bedroom window upstairs. His truck looked like a manly man truck, no flashy chrome to take it out of its utilitarian-only look. He hopped out, slammed the door, and walked around the front to come up to my door. He had on dark wash jeans and a button down, black, short sleeve shirt that hugged his biceps nicely. His hair looked like he'd just taken a shower and tried to tame his unruly blond waves. He lookedgood.
I glanced in the mirror to make sure I looked like a girl pretty enough to be out on a date with him. No way in hell was I going to be looking frumpy while he looked that hot. And come on, two out of the three times we'd seen each other, I'd been a sweaty mess. Time to show him I hadgame.
I had on skin tight, dark wash skinny jeans that accentuated my booty to perfection. Do you know how many pairs of jeans I had to try on at the mall before I found the exact pair that fit my booty and also fit my waist? I don't know who's designing jeans, but clearly, they have never hit the weight room for a set of squats. I had on a new pair of high heeled wedges, cork heel with black strappy things all over that hid any remaining redness from the jellyfish sting. The wedges boosted me up three inches from my already tall 5'7", but I would still be shorter than him. A deep blue, flowy sleeveless shirt was covered up by a faux-leather bomber jacket. My brunette hair was freshly blow-dried and curled into natural beachy waves that are the product of at least thirty minutes of curling iron hell. My make-up was on point with a perfect winged eyeliner and smoky shadow. I lookedgood.
The doorbell rang, breaking me out of my trance. I finished putting on my lip gloss, grabbed my small bag, and hurried down the stairs to get the door. But not too fast because these damn wedges were higher than I was used to. Hell, anything taller than a flip flop was taller than I was used to. Plus, the top of my foot was still a little sore, so I was taking iteasy.
Bailey was working, which left me alone in the house with Ivan. I wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not. Part of me felt like I needed a chaperone, or at least a third party to make sure Ivan was a good guy and not an asshat. I wasn't quite ready to trust my instincts a hundred percentyet.
I swung open the door and smiled up at his handsome face. "Hi, come on in," I said, waving himinside.
He stepped into the house with a small box in his hand. I glanced down at it, wondering what it could possibly be. "I wanted to get you flowers, but I wasn't sure that would pass the "friend" test. So, I come empty-handed. This box was on your doorstep," he said waving the box in front of him. Then he swept me into a hug. I anticipated his classic move this time and made sure I hugged him back. Not only did he look gorgeous, he smelled damn fine too. This time, a sexy mix of soap and the same cologne as before. Mmm...more manly mansmell.
"You look absolutely beautiful, Esa. You look beautiful every time I see you, but tonight...you're beyond beautiful," he said softly and with what sounded like admiration. This man and his straightforward comments were certainly having an effect on me. He swept his hand down my arm, seeming reluctant to end thecontact.
"Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself," I responded. I felt my cheeks start to flush and hurried to take the box from his hands to shift the focus away from myself. I wasn't used to such close inspection and admiration, and quite frankly, didn't know how to handle it. The pit of my stomach had a weird fluttering sensation going on, which made me uncomfortable and curious all at the sametime.
I inspected the box, finding only brown cardboard and clear shipping tape. The package wasn't addressed or stamped by the post office so I wasn't sure how it even got on mydoorstep.
"That's odd. I wonder who it's from. I don't recall ordering anything recently," I said. Which was another small miracle. Amazon Prime was addictive as hell. "Do you mind if I open it before wego?"
"No, of course not," Ivanreplied.
I started toward the kitchen, gesturing for Ivan to follow me. I set the box on the island countertop, grabbed a knife out of the butcher block, and slit open the tape. I set the knife down, opened the flaps, and lifted out the tissue paper on top. I saw something black and started to lift it out of the box when I realized it was lacylingerie.
"What the hell?" I exclaimed, dropping the material like it burned myhands.
"Is there a note?" Ivan asked, moving close behind me to see into thebox.
"No. There's nothing but this...thing," I said, at a loss for words. "Who would send melingerie?"
"I promise it wasn't me. If I wouldn't even bring you flowers yet, I certainly wouldn't bring lingerie. Are you sure there's no one else that would send something like this toyou?"
I saw the serious look in his eye and knew he didn't take this lightly. I didn't want him to think I lied about not being involved with someone. He had been upfront with me and I wanted him to know I was giving him the same respect inreturn.
"I haven't dated anyone seriously in five years! Yeah, I've been out on a few casual first dates, but nothing that would even remotely give a guy the idea to buy me lingerie," I explained. Belatedly I realized I'd just revealed how limited my dating life had been. Hopefully, he’d skip over thatpart.
"Five years?" Ivan’s jaw dropped open and he seemedconfused.
I guess he didn't miss thatpart.
"Yeah. It's not really that big of a deal. I already told you I wasn't looking for anything serious in the relationship department. I've got a business to run, and that takes my focus right now," I said in my defense, one hand on my hip, ready to bring out the full power stance if needbe.
"Whoa, I wasn't criticizing you. I think it's great you know what you want. I'm just surprised that no guy has clawed their way into your life despite how you feel." Ivan placed his hands on my waist and dropped his head down to get eye level with me. "Esa. You've got to know how beautiful you are." His eyes were both warm and hard, taking my focus away from the creepy lingerie. He was drilling into me with that stare of his and, along with the softness of his face, led me to believe hissincerity.
"Can we just forget about this box and enjoy our evening together?" I deflected, releasing my anger in the face of such flattery. I was hoping I could coax him back to casual conversation. Not mystery deliveries or my dating history or whether I believed myself to be beautiful. That was way too deep of a conversation, especially for this non-date-between-two-friends-that-I-only-called-a-date-in-my-head.
He paused, holding my gaze, before he dropped his hands. "Yeah, we can drop the subject for now, but I'm putting you on notice. I will tell you how beautiful you are every chance I get until you believe it. You gotme?"
