Stalking Her

“Thank you for helping me last week,” I tell him.

He points to his ear, letting me know he can’t hear me. I grip the soft T-shirt material of his black shirt and scrunch it between my fingers, bringing him down closer to me so I can talk into his ear. “I said, thank you for helping me last week.”

He’s nodding as he turns his head to speak into my ear. “How’s your hand?”

“Good,” I tell him. He nods again but doesn’t say anything else. He pulls back, looking at me expectantly.

The only thing that eggs me on is the way his heart is beating rapidly under my palm and his nostrils are flared. When I figure out that he’s not going to ask me out or say anything for that matter, I take it into my own hands.

“Will you go out with me?”

He’s about to say yes. I can see the interest in his eyes, but just as quickly he tamps it down. “I can’t. I have to work.”

That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. I rear back from him a little, and my feet get tangled underneath me. I almost fall to my ass, but at the last minute, Lane is leaning over me and holding me to him. Our faces are mere inches apart, and he’s staring at me longingly. The music is thumping around us, and flashes of light are dancing across the room, but he’s looking so deep into my eyes I can’t look away. Someone bumps into me, and he puts one arm out to block the guy and other one tightens around me in a protective hold, pulling me against his hard chest.

“Do… you get a break?” I ask him breathlessly. And then, realizing he probably can’t hear me, I pull him in close. My lips graze the curve of his ear, and his body shudders against mine. “How about a break? Do you get one of them tonight?”

He nods.

I unwind myself from his arms and point to my seat I had just left. “Great. I’ll wait. I want to talk to you on your break.” And before he can answer, I walk away, finally releasing the breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

I sit with my legs crossed and watch him. Week after week he watched me, and now it’s my turn. I’m not shy about it, or blush and look away like I have in the past. No, this time, I’m watching him like I own him, like he’s already mine.

He works the crowd but never seems to go far. No matter where he’s at, he always looks back at me like he’s worried that I’ll disappear. I do my best to keep my eyes on his face, but that’s hard to do. He has a body that men are jealous of and women want. He’s strong and confident with an air of cockiness that pulls people in.

I slide my thighs together and know that my panties are soaked he’s that damn fine. He walks past me, and his eyes are on me the whole time. I can’t look away, and when he walks by I stare at the way his jeans hug his ass. He walks by the next table, and a drunk woman leans out of her chair and pinches Lane’s ass. Instantly, I’m pissed. Who the hell does that woman think she is? Jealousy burns inside me, and my first instinct is to give the woman a piece of my mind.

But I sit while rage builds inside me. I’m giving the evil eye to the woman, but it’s obvious she’s three sheets to the wind and doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing. Lane makes his rounds across the room, but it isn’t long before he starts walking back my way. I want to watch him, but the drunk woman next to me is loud and giggly as she gets excited about his approach. I can already guess what she’s going to do before it happens, and right then and there I decide it’s not going to happen – not on my watch. When Lane gets close, he watches me curiously as I stand up, smoothing my skirt down my thighs. I move to the edge, and when he gets close, the woman hoots and hollers, leaning out to him.

I step in front of her. “Don’t touch what’s not yours,” I tell her in the snootiest voice I can muster.

The woman laughs, but her friends must know that I’m not joking around or the fact that Lane is standing at my back, his hands on my shoulders, because they pull the woman back into her chair. I can hear Lane behind me say, “I’m going on break.” And I assume he’s talking to the other bouncers, but I’m not going to take my eyes off the she-devil, not when she’s this close.