Page 10 of King of Lies
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Four o’clock rolls around before I’m even ready and the butterflies in my belly have turned into wild birds of prey engaged in a mid-air dog fight.
I push the stock cart to the back room and then head to grab my bag from my locker and clock out. I fiddle with flyers on a folding table, stacking them and fanning them out and then stacking them again. I’ve wasted enough time. It’s a quarter past and Rhys clearly isn’t coming. I didn’t really think he would. Even if he did, I didn’t really want to go; I just didn’t know how to say no to him, right? And if that’s the case, then why do I feel disappointed?
I let out a frustrated sigh and start rooting through my bag for my keys when Mike, April’s husband and boss number two, makes a noise in the back of his throat. The one that’s to get your attention, not because he’s sick or a chain smoker, which he is.
I look up and smile because Mike and April, are like surrogate parents. They took me under their book-loving wings when I first started at the university. We’ve been close ever since.
“Hey, Mike. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to see if you were still back here or if you’d left for the night,” he says.
“Okay.”
“Because there’s someone up front asking for you,” he adds, and my heart stalls out in my chest. It can’t be. “I can make him leave if you want me to.”
“No,” I say in a rush and Mike tips his head to the side a bit to study me. “That’s okay. I was waiting for a … friend.”
“A friend?” he parrots. “I don’t think that’s how I’d describe this one. And full disclosure, April is already planning wedding venues and knitting baby booties in her head. I saw the look in her eyes.”
“The look?”
“Oh yeah,” he answers. “It’s the one where a woman gets ideas and makes certain designs on a man.”
“Well tell April not to jump the gun. I still have solid plans to be an eccentric spinster with a lot of cats.”
“Girl, you don’t even have one cat,” he says. “But if you get one, I totally recommend a ragdoll.”
“I know you do. I wouldn’t dare adopt my first cat child without your insight.”
“I appreciate that,” Mike says. “Now, you better get going before April lets your young man friend in on her plans.”
“Good point.” I laugh before I rush through the door and head back to the front of the store.
Rhys is standing there, leaning against the counter, talking to April with a smile playing about his mouth. One that hasn’t yet given way to a full-fledged grin, but when he sees me, everything about him changes. His eyes heat, his smile spreads, and I swear he stands a little taller as he pushes up from the counter.
“You didn’t run,” he greets me.
“What made you think I would?” I ask, feeling a little offended even if the thought did cross my mind.
“No reason.”
“Okay, I did think about it, but I am still here …”
“So you’re as attracted to me as I am to you, then?” he asks. “Never mind. Don’t answer that. I’d hate to scare off my little rabbit before I’ve had a chance to take her to dinner—”
“Coffee,” I interrupt.
“Coffee first,” he says. “Then dinner, if you’re agreeable. Shall we?”
“Sure,” I reply.
It feels a little like I just got steamrolled into a date and I’m not sure if I’m angry or happy. He took the choice out of my hands and I don’t know him well enough to know if it’s because he’s high handed and bossy or because he sensed that if I was left to make a decision that took me out of my comfort zone, I would balk. Either way, I think I’ve been played.
Rhys takes my hand in his and leads me out the front door. He doesn’t let go as he leads me down the cobblestone streets of my hometown to the coffee shop that I love. In fact, I had just had lunch here right before I fell off the ladder and into his arms. And the whole time we walk, I never notice a man following us in the shadows.
“I love this place!” I tell him with a big smile stretching across my face.
