Page 2 of Brick Wall
The wall turns his body slightly to face me, and I automatically emulate his position.
My initial impression of him being a wall is spot-on. This man is the very definition of the wordenormous. The first thing I notice is his gorgeous broad shoulders that take up a lot of space. His dark gray henley hugs his massive body, sticking in delicious spots.
I slowly lift my eyes to his face and notice Mr. Brick Wall has a shit-eating grin on his face and amusement is dancing behind his mesmerizing hazel eyes. A full beard covers most of his face, which matches his tousled blond hair that is slightly hidden behind a baseball cap.
Dang, this man is stunning. He’s making my thoughts scatter and my heart beat faster with a single facial expression.
Get it together, girl.
I take a deep breath and try to channel my inner fierceness.
“Impressive that I got hit on or that I made someone run away to their mama?” I swing my right leg over my left to get more comfortable.
He doesn’t answer, instead sliding his bowl of popcorn to me in a silent offering.Smart man.
The bar has a free self-serve popcorn machine that you can help yourself to at any time. It’s one of my favorite things about this place besides the people-watching and the usually quiet corner at the end of the bar. No matter how busy this place gets, though, the popcorn gods keep up.
I gladly help myself to more, stuffing my face with the extra buttery goodness. I momentarily forget everything and concentrate on the warm, toasty kernels hitting my taste buds.
“I’m Alex.” Mr. Brick Wall interrupts my thoughts, and I look down at his hand in greeting.
“Alexa.” I shake his hand with a smirk that indicates I’m full of shit. “SoAlex,what do you do? Are you a mechanic, too?”
“Nah, school teacher.” I must show the skepticism on my face because he quickly adds, “I teach phys ed.”
“Interesting.” I tap one finger to my chin like I’m an evil villain. “I’m a virtual assistant.”
He laughs and says, “When do you think that man will figure out he met an actual robot tonight?”
“Excuse you. I’m a real girl. The question is when will he figure out I’m not Alexa, Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire? The answer is clearly never.”
“I don’t know. You don’t think Joe will ask Alexa to turn on the lights, and then the light bulb in his brain willfinally turn on?”
“I think you’re giving Joe too much credit. I can’t picture him as one of those high-tech guys, but I guess we’ll never know.”
“We’ll never know,” he says with a laugh. He’s quiet for a second, hesitating on whether to say more, but then he adds, “My grandpa was one of those ‘the government is listening’ guys in the seventies, and now he can’t go a single day without asking Alexa what the weather is. I swear that guy has more technology than me.” He chuckles into his pint glass.
“Yeah,” I say with a small smile because I feel like I should respond to his cute story, but have little to add.
“Come here often?” he asks, breaking the silence.
“Smooth.” A laugh bubbles out of me.
“Well, the line I was going to use was already taken.” A sly smirk covers his handsome face.
My body automatically leans forward closer to him, and I catch his intoxicating scent of cedar, citrus, beer, and a hint of popcorn. I can’t help but to lean even closer to him.
“Big fan ofDirty Dancing, huh?”
“Nah, but I’ve got two sisters, so I’ve seen it a few times.”
“I bet,” I say with a knowing smile. “I’ve got three brothers, so between us, our movie repertoire is probably impressive.”
“Probably. So, you have three brothers, huh? Any sisters?”
“Nope, I’m the baby. My parents stopped when they got greatness.”
He smiles at that, but it doesn’t meet his eyes.
