I hadn’t been particularly trying to check out his package, but it’d been there, and his pants had been tight. They weren’t exceedingly tight, but this guy was so well-endowed it was there as well as a set of finely chiseled abs that pressed obviously through the thin lining of his dress shirt. He had a tapered body, strong and broad at the shoulders until the hems narrowed and hit tightly at his waist. This Ramses guy was a very big man.
And you so should not be looking at him like that.
I had a few years on him, that much was clear. If I had to guess, he couldn’t be any older than twenty-seven or so, twenty-six at the youngest. Anyway, he was young.
But you have eyes.
He had eyes under dark umber waves, thick but controlled curls over his dusky-colored irises. They had a hazel tint to them, like the light couldn’t help but come and jazz them up. I noticed it when the underwater pool lights hit them.
“May I?” he requested, asking for my hand. He’d dried off my shoes, the towel off to the side. “You should be good to go.”
I seemed to be, taking his hand and angling into my shoes. His lengthy digits wrapped around my entire wrist, his hold strong but steady. I slid bare feet into only slightly damp shoes, and as that’d be better than no shoes at all, I’d take it. I wavered slightly, but Ramses had that covered too, the soft heat of his hand orbiting around the space at my shoulder. He’d be there to catch me, if I fell.
I didn’t, quickly taking back my hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Again, handing out those smiles like candy, his jaw clean-shaven, angular and almost boyish. Like he was completely untainted by the world, and with his age, he might not be quite yet. He pocketed those big hands of his, a skinny tie gracing his neck but no suit jacket. A glance and I saw he had it folded over the pool’s rails.
“Ready to go then?” he asked, his head tilted. Oh, yes, my moment of temporary insanity. Had to be.
Why the fuck had you invited him out for pizza?
It’d sounded like a good idea at the time, and anything to make the moment less awkward for me.
Sure, keep telling yourself that.
He’d been about to leave. I’d been in the clear, but I’d still invited him out. I suppose I’d only blame that partially on the eyes. He certainly wasn’t bad on them, a heritage that straddled the line of two maybe three and left him with the golden complexion of an underwear model. I’d find this guy circulating the beaches of Brazil, his hair dark and that smile of his for days.
It was easy to let him lead me out of the pool area after he grabbed his suit jacket off the pool’s handrails, then later to coat check, but I wasn’t a complete idiot. I didn’t know this guy at all, and even if I had indulged in casual banter with him tonight, I most certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere with him.
No, that wasn’t happening.
And, like a few things tonight, I’d been once again surprised at how he’d handled that. I let him know I’d prefer to take a ride share, drive separately since I didn’t know him. I hadn’t driven myself tonight since I wasn’t sure if I’d be drinking and not only had he not gotten offended, he’d pulled the app up himself and got me a ride to our destination.
He even followed us.
His sleek Mercedes Benz crushed ice swiftly behind, a smooth and handsome chrome finish. The ride actually reminded me of my own. I had an SUV that I’d bought with some of the alimony I got from the divorce. A note would have taken me a little bit to pay off otherwise, which was why it surprised me someone of his age drove such a thing. I knew it was him behind the Honda Civic I was in, though. I got a flash of that cool smile of his through the windshield whenever my driver stopped at a light or turned a corner. It was definitely him behind us, and I suppose that type of vehicle could be driven by a young professional. This guy Ramses must have done pretty well for himself.
And he’d picked a pretty packed place.
Several people were coming in and out the pizza house he’d punched in for my driver to head to, and after thanking my driver for his service, I ventured outside.
The elements hit me right away, certainly used to this back home in Jersey. Winters over there could be just as torrential, the snow flurries picking up and making my heels slick in the slush. Evie really would kill me for ruining her shoes, but considering I was out tonight in the first place because of her, I would say the score was settled. I had a night full of awkward shit around people I didn’t know.
“Whoa, there. Careful.”
A hand folded around my arm, steadying me. Ramses was suddenly out in the snow with me, tossing me just one more of those candy-coated smiles. It lit up his whole face, which, of course, managed to make him just that much more appealing. Something told me this young guy broke a lot of hearts.
Fighting my own smile, I thanked him, allowing him to right me and use his large body to fight the elements. He acted as a human shield, all the way into the pizza shop, a chime at the door sounding as we both brushed snow off our coats and out of our hair. It gathered in thick banks on his. His hair was so thick. He cleared it with the precision of one who’d done it many times once inside, d
oing the same with the long wool coat he’d acquired at coat check.
“I got just the thing for you,” he said, shrugging his coat off his big shoulders. He folded the garment over his arm, and without it, the smooth gray of a tailored suit hugged the stocky width of broad shoulders. He was incredibly lean, generally, but his upper body could easily challenge a linebacker’s. I knew a hell of a lot about the way those guys were built, more than I’d liked.
I wet my lips, easing out of the doorway to let a few patrons leave. I brushed my hair off too. “What do you mean?”
“I called the pizza in ahead,” he said, surprising me. I struggled a bit with the snow and he helped me by flicking the remainder off my shoulders. He laughed. “Figured you’d want the best. But if you mind, we can order you something else. I just figured it wouldn’t hurt for it to be ready before we got here. You know, in case you were really hungry?”
What an unusually considerate thing for him to do. Not that people never did things like that, but still, unusual considering our particular circumstances. I’d invited him out tonight but only after I’d been a little rude to him. I was well aware of that, hindsight twenty-twenty.