Page 32 of Heat It Up (Off the Ice)
Joni coughs and shifts on his feet, clearly unsure how I’ll respond to this sexy version of me. “I drew it when I first saw you in The Coffee Bar. Sorry. I never expected you to see it.”
I giggle, more from nervousness than amusement. I’m not sure what to make of this. “It’s too bad I had to send my outfit to the dry cleaner, or else I could have worn it when we ran.”
Joni pulls out the seat next to me and sits, his gaze fixed on the drawing. “I saw you that day and knew I had to draw you. The sun was shining through the window at just the right angle and I couldn’t resist. I hope you don’t think I’m creepy now.”
“No, it’s great. Do I have any special powers?” If comic me has breasts guys fantasize about, then I can at least have special powers, too. It’s only fair.
His gaze moves from the picture and I have a feeling he’s not seeing me in front of him, the girl in shorts and a tank top. He’s seeing the fantasy version of me.
“What kind of powers would you like?” he asks softly, mesmerized by my mouth.
I run the tip of my tongue over my lower lip, relieving its sudden dryness. It’s not until he leans toward me that I realize maybe, just maybe, that wasn’t the smartest move on my part. Does he think I’m trying to seduce him?
I almost bust out laughing. A seductress, I’m not.
Joni keeps moving toward me. I should move or duck out of the way, but I’m frozen in place. Maybe that’s Joni’s special power.
His lips touch mine for the briefest of seconds. He pulls back and his gaze roams over my face.
“I want special powers that let me know when a guy is lying to me,” I whisper. I don’t have to elaborate. I can tell Joni knows what I’m talking about.
Sighing, he stands and nods at my laptop. “I’ll let you get to work.”
“Thanks.” An odd sort of ache spreads through me as he walks away. Would it be so bad to give him a chance? What’s the worst that can happen—other than he cheats on me and becomes another notch in my curse belt? Maybe something great could happen between us, and I’d never have to face Minneapolis and my painful memories again. That would be a definite perk.
Except, his kiss didn’t incite the same reaction I got when I kissed Kyle. Joni’s kiss was nice. Sweet. But shouldn’t I at least feel something more?
But then, look where something more always gets me.
I email Claire and fill her in on everything, even though she’s thousands of miles away. While it would be better to talk to her face-to-face, she’s the only one I can really talk to. Well, almost talk to. I can’t quite bring myself to tell her everything that happened last night. I’m not sure how she’ll take the news if I tell her the full truth.
Instead, I tell her how Joni kissed me and how Kyle has a wife back home. I don’t tell Claire that he cheated on his wife, but even on email Claire is brilliant at reading between the lines.
‘Would it really be so bad to give Joni a chance?’ she types. ‘Just for fun. It’s not like you’re staying there permanently. You deserve to have fun.’After what Ian put you throughis the part she doesn’t type. She doesn’t need to. The words hang there, a ghost from my romantic past. I can almost imagine her arms around me, hugging me, like she did all the time after I found out the truth about Ian. And that makes me miss her more than I thought would be possible.
Thirty minutes later, I’m finished with the Internet. Joni offers to walk with me back to Muumu’s.
“It’s okay. I need to check on my grandmother,” he says after I tell him it’s not necessary. “I’m all she has, other than her friends who are the same age as her. My parents and sister live too far away. And my mother was an only child.”
Since I don’t mind him walking with me, even though an awkwardness now exists between us after the kiss, I tell him it’s okay. I’d love to have the company.
We walk back to our grandmothers’ building, chatting about Joni’s comics and my frustration at not being able to speak the language yet.
“If you want,” he says, “I can help you. You could come over in the evenings and I can teach you some Finnish.”
“That would be great! Thanks.”
As we approach our grandmothers’ place, a familiar figure walks toward us. At first Kyle doesn’t see us, but then he looks in our direction and the world goes still, everything suspended mid action.
Chapter Seventeen
Kyle
I push the buzzer for the building and wait. A crow in a nearby tree caws. If it’s sharing its secrets for dealing with misunderstandings, I wish it would do so in English, because I need all the help I can get. Something tells me even the most eloquent physics fact won’t help me here.
No one answers. I try again. Still nothing. There’s always a chance Sofia looked out the window and is now avoiding me. If that’s true, the only way to give her back the phone is to track her down at the sports center, but if I do, she might not give me a chance to talk to her.
I press the buzzer once more, then turn away from the building and walk toward my car. I could wait with my vehicle until she shows up, but who the hell knows when that will be. All I know is I can’t walk away. Bit by bit, Sofia has slipped into my life and I don’t want to let her go. She’s the one ray of light in my otherwise pathetic life. She makes me want to do better, be better. Something I haven’t felt in a while.
