Enjoying the Chase (Guarded Hearts 2)

I shrugged. “I told you I would if you agreed to come on a date with me.” Thankfully, she didn’t seem to pick up on the word date.

“Thank you, Nate, these are beautiful. That’s so sweet of you,” she mumbled, touching the petals of the pink rose that was in the middle of the bunch.

“You’re welcome. Here, I got you these too.” I handed her the chocolates. She smiled gratefully and laughed to herself a little.

“Thanks. You really are shaping up to be a great friend,” she teased, turning towards the kitchen.

Friend. Ouch. My heart sank. She clearly wasn’t even going to try and give me a shot tonight. I wasn’t sure why I was expecting her to, after all, she had a boyfriend, she’d freely admitted that to me, and she’d told me on more than one occasion that this was a friendly thing, yet I was still expecting to win her over. I really had no rights to be here trying to steal her from her man for one night of passion, but I couldn’t force myself to stop pursuing her.

I followed her into the kitchen, watching as she ran some water in a vase and put her flowers in. My eyes were glued to her behind. “Your ass is going to keep me awake tonight. Damn,” I admitted, biting my lip.

She chuckled and turned on the spot. “Look, Nate, you don’t need to keep flirting with me all the time. How about we just agree to stop with the flirting and the pick-up lines for the night, huh?”

Looks like I’ll just have to impress her with my sparkling personality instead then.

“Fine, I guess I can live with that.”

Smiling, she walked off towards the front door. “Let’s go eat then, I’m hungry,” she called over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back to see if I was following. I couldn’t help but admire her confidence; that was like something I would do.

“Whatever you say, sweetness.”

I smiled and followed her out of the building, nodding to my car that was parked just off to one side. This time, I remembered to open her car door for her. She grinned, biting her lip.

“Well you’re being very gentlemanly again tonight. Are you always like this?”

I smiled and decided to go for the truth. “Actually no, so you should make the most of it. I’m going to great lengths to try and impress you. Is it working yet?”

A smile twitched at the corner of her full lips as she slid into the seat. “A little.”

I smiled happily and closed her door, heading around to my side. When I started the car I smiled at her. “I booked an Italian restaurant for tonight, that alright?”

“Sounds good. I eat anything, I’m not fussy.”

“You’re easy, then.”

“If that’s what you’re thinking then you’re in for a big shock,” she joked, flashing her perfectly white, straight teeth as she smiled.

Christ, why does everything about this girl have to be so annoyingly perfect? Can’t she have just one flaw to stop me from wanting her so freaking badly?

“So how was your first day?” I questioned, wanting to change the subject and keep my mind off how her dress rode up a little when she sat down.

“It was so good. The kids are really great. I had no idea what I was doing though. I got lost about five times because the school was so much bigger than I was expecting, but I think I’m really going to like it there. My classroom’s so cute, and we have this little reading area off in the corner,” she stopped talking abruptly and frowned over at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

I laughed at how adorable she was. Rosie got so lost in what she was saying when she spoke about things she was passionate about. It was terribly cute.

“I like to listen to you talk. Ramble away, bunny.”

She cringed and shook her head. “I don’t like bunny. Don’t call me that.”

“Duly noted,” I replied. She smiled and leant in, turning up the music a little and humming along to The Script. “Most girls hate my music,” I mused.

She shrugged. “I’m not most girls.”

“I can see that.”

When we finally arrived at the restaurant, we were shown to a fairly nice table. The waitress took our drinks order almost immediately. While we ordered, Rosie sat there with an amused smile on her face and chuckled as the lady walked away.

I raised a quizzical eyebrow. “What’s funny?”

She shook her head in amusement. “So, do you just do it on purpose?”

“Do what on purpose?”

“Make all the girls fall for you,” she replied, nodding towards the table a couple away from us. As I glanced in that direction, I saw two girls whispering and casting glances over to me.

Understanding washed over me. I got that reaction a lot so didn’t even pay attention to it anymore. Turning my attention back to Rosie, I decided to be honest for a change. “If I were doing it on purpose then you’d have fallen for me by now.” I leant in a little closer, watching for her reaction. She didn’t even react to my best sexy smoulder. She was made of stone, for sure.

She put her hand over her heart, faking shock. “Oh, I’m sorry, are you trying to make me fall for you? Is that what this is?”

I burst out laughing and rolled my eyes. “If it’s really not obvious then I’m going to have to bring back the pick-up lines.”

“You like those lines, huh? Do they work for you a lot?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine as the waitress set it on the table.

I nodded in answer. “Usually they never fail. You’re really denting my ego here, cupcake. Maybe you should cut me a little slack.”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. Where would be the fun in that? You know you love me rejecting you.” She narrowed her eyes at me playfully as she leant back in her chair and studied her menu.

Damn she’s good. How does she know I like it?

Minutes later the waitress came over to take our orders. Rosie was chuckling to herself quietly as the lady tried to flirt with me, but I wasn’t in the mood – well, not unless the little gorgeous brunette sitting opposite me was up for it.

“So, what does it feel like to be the most beautiful thing in the room? I’ve always wondered,” I asked, once the waitress disappeared.

Rosie smiled weakly. “Look, Nate, I know you’re trying really hard, and I honestly appreciate the effort, but this just isn’t going to go your way. I don’t sleep with guys unless I’m in love with them, so you’re fighting a losing battle if you’re trying to get me into bed. Let’s just cut the act, and maybe we could be friends?” she offered hopefully.

I blinked, taking in her words. She didn’t sleep with guys unless she was in love with them? She had to have been yanking my chain with that. There was no way that could be true; she was probably just trying to scare me away from her.

I nodded and took a swig of my drink, trying to be casual. “Okay, that’s cool. So while I’m making you fall for me, you think maybe I could get a little advance?”

“You think I’m going to fall for you?”

I nodded confidently. “I think you’re already half way there.”

She pursed her lips and let her eyes wander over me, deliberately slowly. “Hmm, maybe you’re right. I mean, you do look good in blue,” she joked, winking at me.

I grinned. It seemed I had finally met my match in this girl. She was definitely a challenge, which was making this an interesting chase.

“That’s what all the girls say.” I shrugged. My mind wandered back to her comment about only sleeping with guys she loved. “This is some kind of joke that I’m not understanding, right? You can’t really just sleep with guys you’re in love with.” I frowned, studying her expression, looking for any signs of trickery. I hated how serious she looked. If I couldn’t charm her into bed then how the hell was I going to get over this little obsession I was developing?

She shook her head. “Why would I joke about that?”

“Probably so I’ll stop asking you out,” I guessed.

She took another sip of her wine, her eyes never left mine. “So are you going to stop asking me out?”

My heart sank. I hated the fact that she sounded so hopeful when she asked. Did that mean she wasn’t having a good time here with me? No, I decided, this has to be a test of some sort. I desperately wanted to pass.

“No way, I’m not gonna stop asking you out. Out of interest, how long did it take you to fall in love with your guy DJ?”

Her whole posture changed when I said his name and she squirmed in her seat. I immediately wished I hadn’t brought him up. She frowned, seeming confused before she gulped and opened her mouth to answer. Before she could speak though, the waitress arrived with our food.

“There is no way you’re going to be able to eat all of that.” I nodded towards her huge plate of cannelloni, grinning challengingly.

She raised one eyebrow and picked up her cutlery. “I bet I can. I eat a lot.”

As she cut off a piece and popped it into her mouth, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Watching her eat was sexy as sin. I’d never really just watched a girl eat before and found it a turn-on. What made this girl any different to the rest? I didn’t know the answer.

I forced my eyes away and dropped them to my plate instead. I literally wanted to punch myself so I could behave like normal around her, instead of some obsessed, needy little puppy. As I cut into my steak, I blew out a big breath. Before Rosie, I thought I knew everything about girls that I needed to, but she’d turned that completely on its head.

“How’s your food?” I asked, risking a glance up at her again and praying her fork wasn’t in her mouth.

She smiled. “Good, yours?”

I chuckled, shaking my head at myself. “I’ve lost interest in my food now. Watching you eat is probably one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen in my life.” I leant back in my chair, watching her.

“Wow, aren’t you sweet,” she joked.

“That’s the second time you’ve called me that. Can’t you use another word other than sweet? Doesn’t that make me seem a little camp?” I replied, trying to look stern but failing miserably.

“You mean you’re actually not gay?” She faked shock.

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious. That’s it, the pick-up lines are coming back.”

“Oh no, not the pick-up lines,” she cried with mock horror.

“Oh yeah. I’ve got a ton of them, so one of them is bound to work,” I confirmed, trying to look more confident than I felt; nothing had worked so far and I had no idea where to go from here.

“Nate, honestly, I don’t go for guys like you, so you’re wasting your time.” She frowned a little, but other than that showed no emotions.

I cocked my head to the side, wondering if this was all part of the weird test that I didn’t understand. Was she trying to make me run away from her? I shrugged. I wasn’t running anywhere tonight so I might as well give it my best shot. “We’ll see. I’ve never failed before so this will be a first for me. So, did it hurt?”

“Did what hurt?”

“When you fell from heaven.” I shrugged casually.

She rolled her eyes but giggled at the same time. “Jeez, that was bad.”

“I’m going for cheesy now. If cheesy doesn’t work then I’m going to move on to slutty.” I waggled my eyebrows suggestively.

She chuckled. “Well I can tell you now that cheesy isn’t going to work, so why don’t we skip straight to slutty?” she suggested, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table.

I couldn’t help but lean in too as I looked into her big brown eyes. I longed to reach out and brush the hair off her face and trail my fingers along her cheek. The scent of her sweet perfume floated around me, it made her smell so edible that all I could think about was dragging her to the bathrooms and having my way with her until I could barely breathe.

“The slutty ones never work. Girls don’t like them.” I waved my hand dismissively not taking my eyes from hers.

The corner of her lips twitched with a smile. “I told you before, I’m not a normal girl.”

I sighed and shook my head, admitting defeat. I could throw in a couple of slutty lines, I knew they wouldn’t work, they hardly ever did.

“You’re so selfish, pumpkin, you’re going to have that body for the rest of your life and I just want it for one night.”

“Now that’s more like what I would expect from a guy like you; cocky and overconfident, heavy on the sex references. I like it, keep going.”

I was spurred on by her smile. “All those curves and me with no brakes.”

“Nice, got any more?” she asked, blushing slightly. Surprisingly, the pink on her cheeks actually made her look even better to me, I didn’t usually like it when girls blushed but she totally pulled it off.

“You can’t be my first but you can be my next,” I said immediately. Moving on to the next one without waiting for her to prompt me, I fished a half-melted ice cube out of my drink. I set it on the table and smashed my fist down onto it, ignoring the looks that were directed from other tables. “So, muffin, now that I’ve broken the ice, will you sleep with me?” I asked, trying to look serious. She burst out laughing, and I had to grin proudly. “See, told you the slutty ones don’t work.”

The conversation after that was easy and flowing. We chatted about her work, mine, Cameron, her moving to LA, what we both like to do in our spare time. It was nice, and was easily the best date I’d ever been on. It didn’t even feel like a date, more like two old friends laughing and chatting. There wasn’t a single awkward silence. I actually found myself getting lost in what she was saying. She interested me as a person and the more time I spent getting to know her, the more I liked her. I already knew I was in some serious trouble with this girl.