Chapter Seven
Alyssa
I ran the dishrag over the counter for the hundredth time,
while trying not to look out the window at Demetri.
“I think it’s clean,” came a voice from behind me. I nearly
jumped out of my skin. With a slight sigh, I jerked away from the
counter and stared at my dad. His expression was a cross between
worry and amusement. At least he didn’t look freaked that I was
going to off myself in the middle of the night. Was that progress?
“What are you doing here?” I asked a little too breathlessly.
Dad’s face broke out into a smile. “I own the place, and I had
it on good authority — your mother’s — that you looked
exhausted, so I was going to give you a few hours to yourself.”
I hated hours to myself. I hated any time to myself, because
that meant my focus was on me, and when my focus was on me, it
was on Brady. And when my focus was on Brady… I just wanted to
cry.
“Um…” My eyes traveled to the window that looked out at
Main Street and Seaside Taffy, our competitors. A few people were
gathering around the corner, and I knew Demetri had probably just
gotten in to work.
“You okay?” Dad asked, though his voice sounded far away.
I kept my eyes focused on Demetri as he took a bow to the
gathering crowd and began tossing taffy out. Idiot. Our business
wasn’t doing horrible, but it’s not like he was helping our sales any.
If people had the choice between Demetri Daniels or a depressed
girl with a permanent scowl, they’d choose Demetri every single
time.
As if he could hear my every thought, Demetri’s head
turned and our eyes locked. At least that’s what it felt like. His stare
was so pensive, my palms began to sweat. Slowly, I sank behind
the counter until it was just my eyes peeking over the edge.
My dad chuckled. “What are we doing?” He joined me by
the counter and seemed to be more curious than alarmed. Great.
Now I looked like a crazy person.
“Uh…” I licked my lips and frantically tried to search for an
excuse. “I dropped the rag.” My fingers released the rag onto the
floor. I offered a small smile.
“You sure you’re doing okay?” Dad felt my forehead. “You
feel hot.”
“She does look hot, doesn’t she?” I knew that irritating,
beautiful, ridiculous voice. I closed my eyes and prayed I was
imagining things.
My dad shot onto his feet and laughed. “You wouldn’t
happen to be the person my daughter’s been staring at for the past
few minutes, would you?”
“Probably not,” came Demetri’s voice. I opened my eyes to
glare. He was staring at me, and then he winked. Crap. “She
doesn’t like rock stars. In fact, she verbally assaulted me yesterday
about working her corner.”
“Alyssa,” Dad scolded.
“Dad,” I said back in a warning voice as I rose to my feet.
“Did you need anything, Demetri?”
His eyes crinkled as he attacked me with one of the most
gorgeous smiles I’d ever seen in real life. “I did… I do.”
Insert long and awkward pause here where my dad looked
between the two of us, chuckled, and walked off. Well, at least he
was laughing. I hadn’t heard his laugh in what felt like years.
“What?” I snapped.
Demetri shrugged. “I saw you staring at me.”
“Did not!” My nostrils flared. “There’s no way you could see
me through the windows from that far away.”
“So you were staring.” Demetri folded his muscled arms
across his chest.
“No.” I swallowed and looked at the ground. Looking
anywhere but at him seemed like a good idea.
“I felt it.” He placed his hands on the counter and leaned
forward so our faces were mere inches apart. “Not that I mind. I
just thought I’d come over and say hi, since you seemed to be
beckoning me over with your lustful glances.”
“Lustful glances?” My head jerked up. I was half-tempted to
bang his head against the counter, but I had spent the entire
morning cleaning up that exact spot where he was leaning. Damn
him.
“Yeah, they look like this.” His heavy-lidded eyes blazed a
hot trail up and down my body as he very thoroughly checked me
out, and then without another word, tucked a piece of fallen hair
behind my ear, and left.
I was still frozen in place when my mom came rushing in.
“Is he still here? Where did he go? Did he talk to you? What was he
like?”
“Mom.” I held up my hands. “Just… don’t.”
She sighed like a teenager and giggled. She’d lost her
freaking mind. “I just love Demetri Daniels, and I don’t believe a
word they say about his rehab or drugs. He’s just a nice boy
who—”
“—is doing community service.” I pointed across the street
and sighed. “He’s…” I couldn’t think of the right word, so I just
shrugged and said, “Cocky.”
Mom, clearly not caring that she was scarring me for life,
sighed and watched Demetri cross the street and grab his bucket
from a large guy with a shaved head. Body guard. It had to be.
Demetri continued singing the stupid taffy song and
dancing around the corner like a drunken chicken. And I grabbed
the rag again and pretended to keep cleaning, while out of the
corner of my eye I watched. I hated that he made me feel warm
inside. I hadn’t had that feeling in two years, and I wasn’t about to
let it get the best of me again. It was all his fault. If Demetri hadn’t
spoken to me that first day, if he had just left everything alone, then
I wouldn’t be stripping him naked with my eyes. I wouldn’t be
longing to touch that perfectly sculpted face. Frustrated, I threw the
rag against the counter and stomped off, leaving my mom to watch
him all by herself.