Page 32 of The Disputed Legacy
I could let them have their “boy” time, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if that was naïve. If I should try to slow this attachment Oscar might have been forming with him to the point he’d missed him all week.
After I clocked out and grabbed my purse, I waved goodbye to Margo and Irene, who was closing.
When Oscar gathered his things and crammed them into his backpack, Saul stood from the booth as well. Up closer now, I could notice how messy he was. Like that time he’d come here seemingly out of breath and sporting a small cut on his cheek, he looked disheveled and rough.
Was he in a fight?
Did he face some kind of trouble on the way here?
“Hi,” he said simply, giving me another one of those secret smiles he seemed to save just for me. It was a mixture of lust and adoration, but tempered so he didn’t strike me as a pervy sleazeball.
Who are you?
What do you do?
I wanted to scream those last two questions, but instead, I licked my lips and nodded. “Hi, Saul.”
“Can Saul walk with us?” Oscar asked, oblivious to this mature tension brewing and building between me and this rugged man.
“Um…” I looked at Saul, unsure how to reply. Under no circumstances was I ready for this man to know where we lived. “I’m sure Saul is busy and has more important things to do.”
“Nah.” Saul shrugged as Oscar joined us, adjusting his backpack. “I can walk with you a little way.”
I let out a breath of relief. That was a decent compromise. If I had the time to read into his reaction a little more, I would’veguessed that he had caught on to my hesitation over letting him know where we lived.
I didn’t have time to do anything but walk out with him.
This was new. It was different. Unlike all of our other encounters that happened only inside the diner, we were out in the real world, the three of us moving down the sidewalk as a trio.
But everything seemed different now. With the experience of not seeing him and missing him for a week, then ending that dry spell with his hungry stares on me, it felt like we were entering a new act.
One where neither of us seemed on board with settling for “just friends”.
Oscar chatted on the way, and I was grateful for how calm and relaxed he was with Saul. He didn’t talk about anything incriminating, and the small talk put me at ease. Nothing threatening was going on with merely walking together. We were just spending time like this, moving along and strolling. Talking. Listening. No pressure. No obligations. No expectations.
We were only participating in this mild walk while I fended off my raging need to face him and see that smoldering stare again, just so I could revisit that thrill of knowing he wanted me.
Stop, Willow.
Give it up.
Get a hold of yourself already.
“Mama,” Oscar said suddenly as we came to pass by a small park area, “can I look for another book in the box?”
Up ahead was a small wooden container anchored on a post. They were cute offerings of free donated books, little libraries where people could take one and leave one.
“Sure.” I smiled at him as he walked off a few feet, still within my sight but apart from me and Saul.
Once he was there, his back to us, Saul stepped closer and got right in my face.
From zero to sixty, he’d taken this simple stroll and peaceful companionship to holding me flush to him and staring down at me like he was on the brink of devouring me.
I gasped slightly, caught off guard with his approach. He was stealthy. Determined. And clearly impatient to be near me. The rub of his arm around my back felt like a brand. Wedged up close to his rock-hard chest, I didn’t dare breathe deeply. Just like this, I felt him. I smelled him, that smoky, masculine scent. And I heard him as he stared me down, engaging in another silent contest of us watching each other while we stoked the fires of this tension I wasn’t brave enough to extinguish or embrace. Breathing harder and faster, he seemed to be out of control like I was.
“What…” I wasn’t sure what to ask him, stunned by his making a move on me when Oscar was preoccupied. I didn’t know if I’d ask what was wrong with him, what he wanted, or what he thought he could get away with, hugging me close like this.
I didn’t need to ask, anyway. He showed me.
