Page 10 of Chasing You

His grin widens, like that pleases him. “Well, Marina. Tell me something about yourself.”

I sigh, my brain all of a sudden forgetting every single fact about myself. What’s something interesting about me?Why does this always happen?His gaze is fixed on me, and it flusters me more than it should.

“I wasn’t prepared for twenty questions,” I laugh nervously.

“That’s okay, I can start.”

I just nod in response, and suddenly I find myself desperate for whatever information he’s about to share. He’s so interesting to me and I don’t know a single thing about him,yet.

I can’t help but lean my elbows on the bar and get closer to him. It’s almost instinctual. But as I close the gap between us, I unknowingly lean close enough that I catch the faint scent of some kind of manly soap coming off him.

God. I don’t know if that’s a cologne or just the smell of his clean skin, but I want to be wrapped up in that smell forever, to be suffocated by it. My mind drifts to the image of this man soaping himself up, lathering a bar over his skin and?—

“I like to box.”

My focus draws back to the man sitting in front of me, seeing that he is, in fact, not showering, and I am not sitting on a little stool in the corner of his bathroom, watching like a little perv.

He is sitting in front of me and opening up to a stranger.

My eyebrows draw together. “Like…pow pow?” I mimic little punches into the air.

He chuckles. “Just like that.”

“Huh.” I rest my chin in my palm. “I didn’t expect that.”

Now it’s his turn to frown, but his smile still curves his lips. His face is like the physical description of being intrigued.“Why not? Not buff enough for your liking?”

“Well, I haven’t got a good look at what’s beneath that shirt so I couldn’t really say.”

Oh, that really just came out of my mouth.

I stick my tongue in my cheek to stop it from roaming alongmy bottom lip, because the way he’s looking at me is like he didn’t expect me to say that, but he liked that I did.

Before he can offer to take his shirt off right here and now, I say, “But no, that’s not it. I just wouldn’t pick you to do something so…violent with your spare time.”

“It doesn’t have to be violent,” he says calmly. “Most of the time, it’s just about letting off some steam. I spend a lot of time in the air, so I like to get my feet on solid ground and let out some of the adrenaline I build up being up there.”

I bring my other hand to cup my face, leaving me in front of him looking far too interested in what he has to say, but not caring a single bit. “You still get that kick of adrenaline after doing it for so long?”

“Who says I’m not a rookie?”

I tip my head. “I don’t know. Something just tells me you’re not.”

He just smiles in answer. “Yeah, I still get that kick. I’m not sure if it’ll ever fade. I hope it doesn’t.”

I can’t even imagine the feeling. Flying a whole plane full of people up into the sky and thousands of miles across the world. It’s insane really. I can see how that feeling wouldn’t wear off.

“Do you just fly internationally? Wait, where are you from? How old are you?”

He chuckles, and my body instinctively leans closer into him. The sound lights my nerves on fire.

“California. Twenty-five. And yeah, I pretty much exclusively fly internationally, unless I’m going home, but I don’t do that very often.”

“Why not?” I sound like an annoying kid with all the questions, but I can’t help myself.

He hesitates, taking another sip of his drink that had been left abandoned. “I think it’s your turn. Are you from around here?”

Okay. Family,rough topic.

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