He stared at me, his eyes melting me, turning me into a gooey mess.
I showed up expecting witty Layton, the guy who liked to make me laugh.
Instead, I found hot and sexy Layton, who still made me laugh. Of course, he’d been handsome before; I could see beauty beneath the girth. But this? This was unexpected.
I had no idea how to react, the appropriate thing to say or do. Did I sayholy shit you’re hot now that you dropped fifty?
OrI thought I liked you last time I saw you, but now ... whew!
At first, fear ripped through me. I thought he was sick or something because he seemed content with who he’d been before. Why would he go and change?
“So, tell me about you,” I said, changing the subject. “We’ve been talking about me forever.” I’d spread too much out there about myself, and here I was trying to let go, love life, be free, and he shows up all tight and insanely dapper.
“To be honest,” he said as he swirled an ice cube in his water glass and leaned forward, “this all sort of came about because of you.” He took a long sip from it before he added, “Don’t freak out. It wasn’t to get you or anything like that.”
I raised an eyebrow and felt it touch my bangs. “Get me?”
“I mean, it wasn’t to win you over. I didn’t feel like I had to change my looks for that. When I first started pursuing you through e-mails ... yeah, kind of stalking you ... I kept screwing up. So I spent a lot of time walking, more than I’d moved in a long time. By the time I got to New York that last time, I was already down a few pounds and feeling better.”
“Funny, I was a fitness editor and obsessed with everything fitness, and now I’ve sort of let it go and you’re all gung-ho. Life’s strange, isn’t it?”
He dropped his elbows on the table and leaned in even closer. “Let me be very clear, Charli. No way you’ve let anything go. Pardon my language, but you look fucking fabulous. You have since the day you stepped on the plane.” He reached out to tweak a piece of my hair. “And this longer hair? It suits you.”
When did Layton become so irresistibly bossy? And when did I start to love it?
Like five seconds ago.
Chills ran sprints up and down my spine, and butterflies were doing plyometrics in my belly. Between my legs, tingles and spasms took charge.
I had to say something, had to acknowledge him. “Thank you. Honestly, it’s more of not having time to deal with it. Going to an office, I had to keep up with my hair. Now I tie it up and hit Starbucks.”
“Don’t change a thing. You’re perfect, Charleston.”
My full name rolled off his tongue and straight to my core. It had never sounded so delicious. I rubbed my palms along my jeans and smoothed the front of my red sweater, trying to wipe away the tension flitting through me.
“So, you’re walking and feeling good, and then what?”
“I got into it. I was on that action flick, and started checking out the workouts the actors were doing when I stopped by the set. One day I asked to join in, and Ryan Richards, you know him?”
“Um, yes. Every female with a pulse knows him.”
“Well, he took me under his wing. Literally. I was his charge. He set me up with his chef and had me doing all these workouts.”
“Wow.”
“Are you wow-ing over Ryan or the workouts? Because I never know. The last date I had, she wanted to know if I could introduce her to Ryan.”
All I heard wasthe last date I had. I felt my lips press flat and my brows draw in.
“You don’t have to feel bad if that’s what you wanted to know too. I can introduce you.” He took a long slug of his water, refusing to make eye contact. I’d hurt his feelings, but not intentionally.
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”
“Here you go.” Our waiter was back, arranging our burgers on the table along with some ridiculous french fry platter with a million dipping sauces. I wished he’d fall through the floor.
Stupid waiter.
When he left, our food sat there untouched as tension swirled between us. So I gathered my courage and spilled the truth.
