Then I stuck my hand at him, his head jerked to the side then he stood, disappointment on his face, and his hand closed around mine.
This kind of sucked. Standing there, his warm hand in mine, I noticed his grip was strong. I also noticed he was cute. Blond. A couple of inches taller than me. Nice eyes that were very blue. He dressed well in a layered, have to be ready for anything London type of way. He was nice as far as I could tell. And he was into me.
I just couldn’t go there. Not now. Not for awhile. Hopefully someday but at that moment or in any moment the last month, I wasn’t feeling good about that possibility.
And it was then that I got what Luci said about Gordo. Sam ruined me. The problem was, Sam was still breathing so I figured it was going to be just as hard as it was for Luci to move on. Maybe harder.
Jason/Jacob/Jeremy regained my attention by saying, “It was nice to meet you, Kia.”
He got the message. He didn’t ask for my number. He didn’t ask to meet again. He knew he wasn’t getting anywhere.
I debated telling him that the most beautiful, wonderful, sweet, loyal, fabulous man in the world broke my heart just a month ago so he would get it wasn’t him, it was me.
But I decided I probably couldn’t do that without bursting into tears so I figured I should just save him time and get the heck out of there.
“Thank you for having a cup of coffee with me. Take care,” I whispered.
Then I smiled. Then I pulled my hand from his warm grasp.
Then I got the hell out of there.
Luckily, it still wasn’t raining. Nevertheless, I rushed back to Celeste and Thomas’s. It was only a ten minute walk but I didn’t want to get caught in the rain. The wet seemed to hang in the air, waiting, threatening. It could happen any minute.
But also, Celeste and Thomas were away for the day, doing something with the team Thomas oversaw at work and their spouses. So I had the house to myself. I wasn’t good with being alone, alone made my heart hurt (more) and the thoughts that invaded when I was alone made my head hurt (more) but I was in the mood. I might even call Luci. We had only chatted briefly a couple of times because Luci got just as angry at Sam as Skip was when I called her from Indiana to tell her what was going on and I wasn’t in a place to deal with that. Now, maybe, I was strong enough to tell her I wasn’t and she could fill me in on what was happening with her.
That would be good. Take my mind off things.
I left the busy sidewalks, moved through the less busy residential section and the feeling came back that someone was watching me. No, it was more than that. It felt like someone was following me. I looked again but couldn’t see anything. Then I wondered if I should look at all. If some weird person was following me, maybe I shouldn’t let on that I knew they were there.
Maybe I should just get my behind to Celeste and Thomas’s, get inside and lock the door.
So I quickened my pace trying not to look like I was. But by the time I got up the steps to their white Georgian house, I was freaked out. It was silly, no one was following me, that was ridiculous but I still was freaked out. Totally.
God, I needed to get myself together. I was becoming paranoid.
What was up with that?
I’d reached into my purse and pulled out the keys two doors before Celeste and Thomas’s so they were at the ready. But my hands were shaking as I tried to insert the key in the latch. Therefore, I dropped them, squelched an expletive and bent to retrieve them.
When I straightened, my shoulder slammed into something hard.
Oh God, no. Someone was following me.
A surprised, small cry escaped my lips and my head twisted just as I felt the keys ripped from my hand. Fear coursed through me, I was preparing to do something defensive, I had no clue what, when my eyes hit Sam.
Sam.
A stony-faced, infuriated Sam.
Oh. My. God.
Before I knew it and without a word, the latch was open, the door was open and Sam’s big body was crowding me into Celeste and Thomas’s entry hall. Sam pushed the door closed behind us, the latch caught but I didn’t even get my mouth open before his long fingers curled around my bicep and he propelled me down the hall and into the first room on the left, the sitting room. He pulled me in, let me go and turned to close the door.
I backed across the room.
He turned back to me and his eyes seared into me.
I stopped dead.
“You’re… fucking… dating?” he clipped.
Oh shit.
It was Sam who was following me.
“No,” I whispered.
“Sweetheart, saw you meet him, saw him touch you, saw you drink coffee with him. He crashed and burned but that was not two friends having a fuckin’ chat.”
Oh man.
He was angry. Really angry.
He was also here.
What was he doing here?
Following me!
Forcing his way into Celeste and Thomas’s home and being angry at me!
“What are you doing here?” I asked quietly, unable to make my voice louder, hardly able to catch a thought. Heck, hardly able to breathe.
“What am I doing here?” Sam repeated.