I’d really like to take you out sometime, Evie. Would you let me?
What the fuck? I immediately glance over my shoulder like there’s going to be a group of people laughing and pointing at me, because surely this has got to be a joke. I’m so convinced of it that I actually typeIs this a joke?and send it before I can think better of it.
Why would this be a joke?
I debate going into a huge explanation of why this most definitely has to be a joke because beautiful men like him don’t ask girls like me out. For once in my life, I save myself the embarrassment and instead try to think about how to politely get out of this. I can’t go out on a date with him. It doesn’t matter if I want to. It doesn’t matter that the hour I spent with him yesterday was the best goddamn hour of my life and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. None of that matters. Going out with him would only hurt me in the long run—either with a broken heart when he decides I’m not good enough or a bruised body when my dad finds out I’m seeing someone.
It kills me to do it, but I type outI don’t think it’s a good idea, but it means a lot that you asked.
I reread my text and blush so bad I feel like I have a fever. What I wrote sounds so fucking pathetic because it is pathetic. My whole life is just one big incredibly sad embarrassment.
Well I think it’s a great idea. You have a birthday coming up, and I’d love to help you celebrate. I’ll give you some more time to think about it, Evie, but I should warn you that I’m a stubborn man, and I’ve kind of got my heart set on this.
That’s not at all the response I was expecting. I’m still wondering what in the hell to say to that when another text comes in.
Talk to you soon, Evie.
I’m too stunned to respond, so I just put my phone away and get back to work. A million questions run through my head, making me so distracted that I can’t even listen to my audiobook. Valeri is a gorgeous man, and the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that he’s only doing this because I said no. He’s probably never in his life had a woman tell him no about anything. It’s intrigued him, and I’m sure he’ll grow bored with this soon enough when the newness wears off.
The rest of my shift is spent worrying and thinking about the man in the expensive suit with a dimple in his cheek and the most vivid green eyes I’ve ever seen. Add in the sexy accent and it’s really just too much, isn’t it? No one can be that fucking perfect. He must have some massive hidden flaw somewhere or a really tiny penis, like minuscule small. Something tells me the man is packing below the belt, though. He was way too quietly confident, like he didn’t even need to try; it’s just who he is.
It doesn’t matter, I remind myself. I’m not going on a date with him, and I have zero experience with men thanks to my overbearing, drunk father, which is all the more reason for me to keep my ass away from him. If Valeri knew that my one and only sexual experience was from a boy in seventh grade who was dared to kiss me, he’d laugh his ass off. Everyone thought it would be hilarious to see him kiss the school freak. He’d run up, barely touched his lips to mine, and then acted like I’d given him some horrible disease by the way he’d scrubbed his hand over his mouth and ran to the drinking fountain. If my walls were any less thick, that memory would still hurt, but I killed that part of myself a long time ago. Nothing good comes from putting yourself out there, and that’s exactly why I won’t be saying yes to a date with Valeri. Guys like him date supermodels, not janitors.
By the time Gale drops me off near my house, I’m more than ready to go to sleep. I want to just disappear for a while and forget about the man who’s making me wish things were different. Thoughts like that are dangerous. They make you want things you can’t have and that just makes your present life all that much more depressing. I had resigned myself to my sad little life, and I sure as hell don’t need some gorgeous man coming in and fucking all that up.
After a quick shower, I fall into bed and pull the blanket up, hiding the early morning sun from my eyes. Sleep has always been my escape, and I happily throw myself into it today, more than ready to not feel anything for a few hours.
The next few days pass by the same as usual. Valeri doesn’t text me again, and I pretend I’m happy about it. I go through my routine, showing up for work and then sleeping as much as possible, until I’m convinced he’s forgotten all about me. I’m so convinced of it that I almost lose my footing and fall down the concrete stairs outside the library when I see him leaning against the bronze lion after my shift ends.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, running my eyes over him, amazed that he’s just as good looking as I remember him being. He’s not in a suit this time. He’s in jeans and a black T-shirt, and I can’t stop staring at his tatted-up arms. The man obviously works out, and I have the sudden, insane urge to run my tongue over the veins that run up his forearms. He gives me a big smile, showing off that sexy dimple in his cheek and takes a step towards me.
“I was waiting for you. I thought about texting you, but figured you’d just ignore me.” He gives me a wink that makes my heart race. “Or turn me down again.”
“I need to catch my bus,” I tell him, stepping to the side and heading down the stairs.
He falls in step beside me. “Have breakfast with me. I can drop you off at your house when we’re done, so it’s okay if you miss the bus.”
“I can’t eat breakfast with you.”
“Why not?”
I stop midway down the stairs and look up at him. He easily reads theare you kidding me?look I’m giving him.
“What? Why not?”
I gesture at my dirty coveralls and look at him like he’s lost his mind. “I’m filthy, and I’m in my work clothes.”
He gives me a small smile. “I think you look beautiful.”
My harsh laugh has him lifting a dark brow at me. I wave my arms around like a nut. “What the hell is going on? Is this a joke? Did someone put you up to this?”
I look around like I might spot someone laughing and pointing at me, but the people around us are all on their way to work and too caught up in their own lives to give a shit about mine.
“What do you mean?” he asks, looking genuinely confused. “I don’t understand.”
I see Gale pull around the corner and as soon as she stops, I sidestep Valeri and make a run for it.
“Evie!” he hollers after me, but I don’t turn back. I run like a big scaredy-cat and don’t stop until my ass is in the uncomfortable plastic seat.
