Page 6 of Falling in Between
3
Rows upon rows of beer. Brown bottles. Green bottles. Clearbottles.
My gaze skims the selection of the Little Market grocery store. “Where the crap are the stupid winecoolers?”
I drink wine. And tequila. Why Steph asked me to pick up some wine cooler bullshit for our Netflix binge is beyondme.
My eyes land on the spiked, pomegranate-flavored sparkling water, zeroing in on the “Only 100 calories” sticker.Now I see.Of course, there’s only one box left, and it’s shoved way back on the topshelf.
I lift onto my toes to try to reach it, but my fingers barely brush the side of the cardboard. “Shit,” I curse under my breath and then place the sole of my Converse over the sticker that reads:Do not stand on thisledge.
I glance around to make sure there are no employees are in sight, and then I hoist myself right up there. Just like the rebel I am. And damn if the carton of drinks doesn’t move farther back when I try to swipe it. “Oh, you’ve got to be kiddingme!”
Now on my tiptoes, I’m teetering halfway in the cooler, swearing at the box of low-caloriealcohol.
“Here, let me get that.” A deep, ovary-twinging voice comes from behindme.
I watch a tattooed hand grab the bottles inquestion.
When I hop down to take it, my jaw hits the dirty, laminate marketfloor.
It’s the cartel boss from my Jose Cuervo night in Mexico. El Chapo should be anywhere other than Manhattan. Swallowing, I take in the white V-neck clinging to his chest. His faded jeans…which of course, hang dangerously low on his hips—and man, are they snug in all the right places. The smattering of green and brown in his eyes promise he’ll be good, but that body riddled with tattoos and the way he’s biting his bottom lip scream that he’s terribly bad. Honestly, I kind of want to pat myself on the back for thisone.
“Elijah,” he remarks with a smile that could make a nunwet.
“Oh, um…” I drop the drinks in my cart, grab his hand and shake it, which makes the entire ordeal more awkward because, well, I’ve evidently had his penis inside me.Stop, Charlie. Just stop it. Say thank you and flee!But instead, I stand here, still shaking his hand like an idiot and studying him a tad toohard.
This is the type of man who will destroy everything I thought I knew about myself. About sex. About men, so maybe it’s best I have little recollection of what wedid.
“Demi, right?” He smirks, and I swear to God, if I had one less ounce of self-control, I’dwhimper.
“Yep.” I laugh nervously. No point in correcting him now. “Goodmemory.”
“Oh, I’dneverforget a woman likeyou.”
“Oh, um. That’s uh…nice.” My gaze drifts down his body, and I swallow. He makes me dumb. “Thanks, um, for, you know, getting the beer.” I close my eyes and shake my head. “I mean, winecoolers.”
He just stares at me, his eyes twinkling with filthy promises and scandalous invitation. The silence presses in on me from all sides. I don’t do well in awkward situations. At all.Leave. Now. Grab the shopping cart, and run like thewind!
“So, um, I’m just gonna…go.” I push the cart and walk off, but instead of my planned, graceful exit, I collide with the damn display bin of BOGO granolabars.
“Just like the last time I saw you. So, it seems you always have somewhere to go.” He grins like a bastard, and all it does is ignite a hellish fire over myskin.
I fight to get the wheel unstuck from the wire bin, laughing, because…there’s nothing else I can do. With each hard tug, a clatter resounds against the floor. Elijah—or so he says—casually leans down and unhooks thewheel.
“Thanks again.” My cheeks sting with heat, and I have to wonder what vibrant shade of red I amcurrently.
This time, when I go to whizz by, he grabs the handle of the buggy. His arm brushes mine. He’s so close all I can do is suck in the faint scent of leather and spice that radiate from him like some alluring trap. “I want to see you again,” he confesses, his eyes glued to mymouth.
My pulse goes on the fritz when he stalks closer. “Oh.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since Mexico, and I assure you, that is very,veryunlike me.” He runs his nose along the curve of my neck, and the heat of his breath ignites goosebumps across myflesh.
I can’t stop my eyes from closing. Hell, I may be groaning—in the middle of the grocery store—but I wouldn’t know, because this man’s mere presence is intoxicating.Say something, youidiot!
“Coffee?”
He steps back with the smuggest smile to ever exist shaping his lips. “How very tame of you,Tiger lily.” The emphasis placed on that name sends a tingling warmth down my spine. He watches me as though he’s waiting on a response, some catty comeback to this inside joke, but again…thank you, tequila, for erasing from my memory what was possibly the most erotic night of mylife.
