Page 42 of 10 Things I Hate About Mistletoe

“You were looking for someone good in bed,” Anthony said, soberly. “Rumor has it Pike fits the bill.”

Delilah flushed. “I’m not talking about this in the middle of the soda aisle.”

“Good with me,” he said, calling after her when she tried to take off. “Could we talk about that bullshit hissy fit you threw on Monday?”

Real smooth, Russo.

Delilah gasped, whirling on him. “Hissy fit? You laughed at me!”

“I was surprised! You said there were certain characteristics of someone good in bed, which struck me as funny!”

Delilah glanced around, but they were the only ones in the vicinity. “I told you I don’t want to discuss this here.”

“I can wait until you’re done with your shopping,” Anthony said, pulling up alongside her. “I just need to get rolls and a package of gravy mix. What else are you buying?”

“It doesn’t matter. Go away.”

Anthony shook his head. “I can’t. I’m invested now and need to know the details. Watch my cart while I grab my last few things, will you?”

“No, I will not!” she yelled, but he ignored her. Anthony jogged two aisles over to grab a packet of gravy mix, snapping up a package of Hawaiian rolls from an endcap on his way back to his abandoned cart. Anthony knew Delilah wouldn’t stay with it, but there was no way she’d already left.

He saw Delilah in the checkout line, snagged his cart, and rolled up behind her. “I can’t believe you left my cart there.” Anthony started putting his items on the belt behind the separator, continuing, “A teenager could have come by and smuggled that bottle of whiskey out the door.”

Delilah stared at the clerk while addressing Anthony. “Then maybe you should attend to your own grocery shopping and stop bugging me.”

“Do what, Delilah?” Wally Feldman, the clerk, asked, clearly puzzled.

“Sorry, Wally, I was talking to him,” Delilah said, motioning to Anthony with her head.

“Hi, Anthony,” Wally said, ringing up the last of Delilah’s items. He was a few years older than Anthony, with thick glasses and a receding hairline.

“Hey, Wally, how’s the family?”

“Doing well. Ready for tomorrow.”

“Me, too.” He turned his attention back to Delilah, squeezing in next to her. “I’m done shopping, so I can bug you all I want.”

“Lucky me.” The clerk told Delilah her total, and she put her card into the machine.

While Wally turned to address his manager, Anthony stepped closer, whispering in Delilah’s ear, “I found what you said interesting; most guys just want someone to have sex with, regardless of skill level, and I’d never heard a woman talk about it so plainly, which is why I laughed. I didn’t have a chance to correct you when you believed the worst of me.”

“Oh ho, you had plenty of chances to correct my assumption in the two days since it happened.” She pulled out her card and smiled at Wally as he handed her the receipt. “Have a happy holiday.”

Wally nodded. “You, too, Delilah.”

Anthony’s face burned because she wasn’t wrong. He should have hunted her down to fix their misunderstanding, but the nagging thought at the back of his mind considered that the two of them might be better off not speaking. Especially if she was going to date Pike.

Now that the possibility of the two of them being more was over, Anthony didn’t want anything else to fester between them.

She picked up her bags as Wally ran Anthony’s items over the scanner. Outrage shot through Anthony like a missile when she headed for the exit.

“Delilah Gill, don’t you dare walk out that door! We aren’t finished,” he called after her.

She danced backward with her bags in fists. “I am, so I guess if you want to talk to me, you’ll have to catch me.”

Delilah walked out the door without a backward glance, clearly not heeding his warning.

“Fuck.” Anthony tapped his foot impatiently as Wally rang up his items, asking for his ID when he scanned the alcohol. Anthony handed it to him with a grumble.