“You might just end up in a Casey and Lionel sandwich,” I mumbled.
Decker turned back to the paint, and I tried really hard to ignore the sexy man who had suddenly made the room seem too small. When Bradley had told me Decker was going to pick me up from the airport, I had straight up said no way. Decker had always been too much for me. Too handsome, too arrogant, too confident. He made me feel even more inadequate than every taunting school kid, and there had been lots of them. His perfection only intensified my imperfections. I shook off the feelings of inadequacy. I was a grown woman now, an adult with a college degree, my own bookstore, and an apartment. I didn’t care what others thought anymore; my life was about embracing life and taking chances. A long time had passed since high school and I had learned a lot. College had helped me develop a lick of confidence, and even though Decker seemed to remind me of the bumbling, awkward teenager I once was, I was now a confident, beautiful woman. My eyes were drawn back to the impressive ass of Decker. My female appreciation for him had not lessened in the fourteen years since I had last seen him.
And it didn’t go unnoticed that Decker found some appreciation in me now, even if it had been painfully obvious he hadn’t noticed me as a teenager. It did wonders for a woman’s soul and ego to catch a man checking her out. However, I needed to pull my head out of my ass and zip up my heart. My infatuation with Decker Steele needed to end now. He was the kind of man who led to heartache, and I had endured enough heart ache to complete several seasons of a bad soap opera. I needed to have my wits about me where Decker was concerned, because if I wasn’t careful, I would end up doing something stupid, like fall in love with him.
Chapter 5
DECKER
After seeing the overwhelming list of things Andi still had to do to get the shop open, I turned up bright and early the next morning to help her again. Even though I had been completely and utterly scared shitless of seeing her again, I actually enjoyed hanging out with her. She was so natural and easy going it was almost a relief to be in her presence. And enjoying the view of her perfectly gorgeous little body sure didn’t hurt much. I smiled as Andi walked down the stairs from her apartment in another pair of far too short cut off denim shorts. Whoever had decided to attack a pair of women’s Levi’s with a pair of scissors deserved a goddamn medal. She wore a tiny pink Hello Kitty shirt that left a tantalizing view of her navel. When I could drag my eyes away from the sliver of skin, I saw the smirk on her face. She was hot as hell in an almost blasé kind of way, and my dick was already bobbing around in agreement. If I was still unsure of my body’s reaction to her, my answer was swelling in my pants.
“You see what I did here?” She was pointing to her tits, and I grinned, dragging my eyes from her stomach. I let my eyes linger on her small yet mouthwatering breasts. I didn’t miss the picture of the cat on the front of her shirt, but I decided to play with her a little.
“You ditched your bra?”
Her playful grin turned into a scowl. “You wish.” She had no idea. “The shirt, you douche, I wore a kitty cat, because you like kitty cats.”
“Relax, Andi, your * was not lost on me.” And there was that damn cute blush again. I think I was going to like playing with Andi. Instead of throwing something at me, she laughed.
“Just can’t help yourself, can you?”
I shook my head as I began pulling stuff out of the back of my SUV. “I haven’t had my chance to interrogate you yet, Country. If we’re going on a date tonight, I need to know a little about my lady.”
“It’s not a date, it’s a fate,” she replied as she went straight into sorting through boxes of books.
“What the hell is a fate?”
“You know, a friendly date, a fate.”
I shook my head, hoping to dislodge that little pearl of wisdom. “Okayyyy,” I drew out. “I should still know my friend, who I am not taking on a date.”
“Fire away, I’m an open book.”
“Did you have a pet growing up?”
Andi sighed. “Dad was allergic to cats and dogs, so that was my loss. I had a cockatiel that flew away. I tried keeping a turtle, but it got shell rot and died. The fish lasted several weeks before they started floating. I even found one on the floor beside the bowl; he had literally jumped to his death. Apparently living in my presence was that bad.”
I laughed as she recited her animal mishaps. “So, it’s me who should be worried. You are obviously the psycho who gets off on torturing animals.”
She shook her head with a small grin. “Don’t worry, I have no plans to turn all American Psycho on you and dance naked in your blood.”