“I’ve shown you a lot of things,” she said.
He growled, unable to resist thinking about last night with her pretty pussy spread open for him. “You’re right. I’m thinking of the red one, plunging neck. Wear that.”
“I will.” She smiled.
Her hands touched his. He felt the nerves rushing up her body, and the last thing he wanted was for her to feel any kind of apprehension about touching him.
“I love it when you touch me, Lemon. Don’t ever stop.”
She chuckled. “Like this?”
Her hands ran up his arms, going toward his neck.
“Yes.”
He wasn’t one for touching, but like always, Lemon defied everything, and she didn’t even realize it.
She broke down his own barriers. The first and only woman to do that to him.
“I need to go to work,” she said.
It was the last place he wanted her to go.
****
Lemon sat in the lunchroom on her break, biting into an apple when she looked up to see a woman had joined her.
“Hi, I’m Cindy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She’d been working at the supermarket for six months and no one had come to sit with her.
“Hello,” she said, offering her hand.
Friends were hard to come by.
Her mother often said she was the kind of person who didn’t need them. She would give some statement or quote that would make her feel a little better about her not wanting to be near too many people.
“I’m Lemon,” she said as an afterthought, not really sure what this woman wanted. A long history of not trusting people would do that to a person.
“I’ve been meaning to come and sit with you and to catch up on all the gossip. Life just gets in the way. Do you want to see my two little devils?”
Before Lemon could refuse, Cindy already had them out. Two pictures. A boy and a girl.
“Those are my little angels. They were nightmares coming into this world, and well, they are still little terrors, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Do you have any children?”
“Er, no, I do not.” She would have to get to the sex part for that to be a reality.
“Well, they have been the highlight of my entire world. Now, I know we’re just friends and all, but you tell me about yourself.”
“Not a lot to tell,” Lemon said.
“Oh, please, I bet there is a lot to tell. A young woman such as yourself, living in the cursed houses right next door to that hunk of man meat.”
This wasn’t going how she imagined conversations should go.
“Cursed houses?” She refused to get jealous just because this woman noticed that Nate was a handsome man.
“Please, do not tell me that you do not know about the cursed houses.”
Lemon shook her head. “I mean, I think I’ve heard, but I put that down to gossip.”
“Nah, it’s not just gossip. It is absolute truth, I tell you. Personally, I don’t know why they call it the cursed houses. People finding their soulmates is not a curse.” She fluffed up her hair. “So are you and the man, you know, dating?”
She forced a smile to her lips, trying to remain calm, even though Cindy made her nervous. This wasn’t small talk.
“No, we’re not dating. Well, we … I’m not sure what you would call it.”
Cindy laughed and started to clap. “I just knew it. We all have a bet going on, you see? We all know you were part of the cursed houses, and well, I just won the jackpot, honey. I knew you were going to be dating that guy, even if I do think he’s dating beneath him.” Cindy got up, leaving the insult hanging in the air.
She went back to her friends, and Lemon stood. The apple she’d been eating no longer appealed, and well, worked called, which was what she wanted now more than ever.
People were betting on her love life, and now they even thought she didn’t have what it took to have Nate.
The way he’d touched her last night, that wasn’t fake.
She rubbed at her temple, wishing her mother was alive so she could phone up and talk to her. Her father was out of the question. She would never call him for anything, not a damn thing.
Going into the back, she saw the pallet waiting to be taken into the shop to fill up the shelves. She pulled it across the floor, waiting for customers to pass before she settled back into her work.
She had completed the full pallet and was putting the shelves to rights when there was a tap on her shoulder. Spinning around, expecting to see a customer, she plastered a smile on her face, only to come face to face with Nate.
“Nate?”
He pulled her in close and slammed his lips down on hers, right there in the baking aisle.
People passed.