Page 31 of Creep

“Enjoy,” she said when I pulled away.

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

That blush deepened, and I forced myself to walk away to one of the tables around the coffee shop before I did something reckless like pull her into my arms.

This distance was too much.

I was like a druggie going through withdrawal. For fucking days, I couldn’t think of anything but being near her.

I was losing my mind.

She made me feel like I was completely losing my mind.

I watched her while she worked. The coffee shop didn’t get any busier. It wasn’t one of those shops that got much foot traffic and probably lost more money than it brought in, but hell, if she liked to work here so much, I would keep this place open for years.

It hadn’t been the best investment I made, but it was well worth the money when I discovered she worked here and the owner was looking to sell.

Slowly but steadily, I was pushing myself into every crevice of her life until there was nothing she did, nothing she had, nothing she was that didn’t include me in it.

Her eyes watched me as she worked and pretended not to.

I smiled a little when I heard some giggling in the back between her and one of the two girls working as they tried to inconspicuously glance over at me.

It was cute.

I would have been annoyed had it been anyone else but my girl, but I was quickly beginning to realize that nothing she did annoyed me. I was fucking infatuated.

And I needed her to love me—so irrevocably—there would be no turning back for her. It was the only way she could forgive my…dishonesty.

After all, asking for her forgiveness would be easier than convincing her that me stalking her now—as a complete stranger to her—was a good thing.

I smiled into my coffee, just imagining the look on her face if I had gone up and told her that.

I was halfway done with my drink when she finally came out from behind the counter, a rag in her hand. She moved around, wiping down the tables nearby, starting from the ones furthest away from where I sat. She didn’t want to get too close.

I made her nervous.

Good to know.

I should make her nervous. After all, she was leaving me feelingunnervedmost of the time. I waited for her to get closer to me before I spoke.

“Have I seen you from somewhere else?”

She paused, giving me a look of deer in the headlights, her light-brown eyes prominent against her pale skin and small face. A small blush took over, and the hand holding the rag tightened marginally. I waited for her to answer, either to admit she remembered me from the bar or to lie to me.

What would my Lia choose?

She didn’t disappoint when she tried to control her expression and shook her head in a careless manner. “I don’t think so.”

I shook my head and smiled at her. “I’m sure. Maybe at a bookstore or on the street?”

She looked almost offended that I didn’t remember where I had seen her. She was fun to play with.

“I don’t think so,” she said, her voice turning into a grumble.

“At the bar?”

She didn’t say anything.

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