Page 51 of The Heart Shot
The words were unexpected and caused a violent return of the butterflies in my stomach. I shook my head, trying in vain to shake his words loose from my brain. Jameson was a smooth talker, that much was clear, but I couldn’t let him get to me.
Nope. There would be no stealing of hearts here. Only broken donuts on the ground. I glanced at it again, thinking about running inside for another one. Anything to distract me from the man smirking at me while my thoughts spun in circles.
I had to remind myself, over and over, that it wasn’t worth the risk. No matter how lonely I was—or how much my heart ached for someone like Jameson to see me, to want me.
A memory flashed behind my eyes of happy smiles transforming into angry, sneering faces, screaming voices, and hatred. I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to shut out the painful reminder of why there could be no future for Jameson and me.
“Hey, you okay?” Jameson asked, taking a step closer.
This guy was too observant—the complete opposite of Ben.
I could have eaten shrimp, blown up like a balloon, coughing, unable to breathe, and Ben would still have had his eyes glued to his phone, utterly oblivious.
But Jameson…he missed nothing.
Part of me liked it, and part of me didn’t. He was more likely to see all the things I’ve worked for years to keep hidden—all my faults, insecurities, and pain.
Everyone wanted to feel seen—to have someone see all of them and still accept them—but that didn’t make it any less terrifying when someone finally did.
“I’m fine,” I finally said through clenched teeth. “What are you doing here?”
“I was heading back to work but had to stop for gas. It was a lucky coincidence that I saw a familiar blonde girl emerge from Gas & Things with a donut in her mouth.” He winked and I ducked my head, embarrassed that he had caught me donut-handed.
“Right. Well, I better get going.” I pointed at my car with a thumb, needing to get away from this guy who was absolutely on the road to stealing my heart. “Sorry about the flying donut.”
He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but seemed to think better of it as he nodded instead.
“I’ll talk to you soon.” He turned to leave. “Oh, and Els?” I paused the awkward crouch thing I was doing to get into my car, glancing at him over my shoulder. “You can hit me with a donut any time.”
The next two weeks were a blur of Jameson.
Every morning, I woke up to a good morning text, followed by, “what are you doing tonight?” or, “have any plans this evening?” He kept saying he wanted to see me but was adamant that it wasn’t anofficialdate.
My resolve to keep my distance crumbled a little more each day, and I ended up spending almost every evening with him. We ran errands around Meridel, had dinner at Dina’s several times, and sat at The Roasted Bean, talking for hours. He had helped me rake the leaves in my yard, though I was careful not to let him come inside, and then destroyed the pile after we had gotten into a tickle fight and fell into the leaves. Smart Elsie would tell you that she hated it, but Smitten Elsie wanted to repeat that day over and over again.
Every moment ran together in my mind as though my entire brain was now made up of Jameson; a warm, fluttery feeling of“I like this man.”
Which was the absolute most dangerous thought I could have.
Why was he so irresistible? It wasn’t like we were going on extravagant dates or anything. It was simply…enjoying each other’s company. It wasso simple, yet it waseverything.
Every time I saw Jameson, he was all smiles and genuinely invested in everything I had to say, even when it was obvious work had been long and challenging that day. Each time I saw him, he was quick to remind me that our time together didn’t count as a date. Though, after two weeks of these non-dates, he still hadn’t asked me out for the second official date.
Was he drawing it out so that he could spend more time with me before I ended things? Or was it worse than that and he was simply trying to figure out if he even wanted a second date at all?
I didn’t know and so, as usual, my brain continued to overthink it all.
But I did know that my stomach squeezed each time I saw his smiling face and that infernal dimple. I got lost in those hazel eyes.
Our time together had even inspired me to finally finish that article I’d been fighting against for weeks.
He hadn’t tried to kiss me again since our first date, and for some inexplicable reason, it annoyed me. But then I got even more annoyed at myself because I shouldn’twanthim to kiss me. I should be putting an end to our nightly non-dates, not encouraging more. And yet…I couldn’t bring myself to stop.
Bad Elsie. I was headed straight for Heartbreak Town—population me. I needed to get myself firmly back in Safe Town.
And that meant pulling back from Jameson.
So why did that make me feel so terrible?
