Infatuated (12 page)

“I love that tone.”

“What tone?”

“That ‘I’m the teacher, you’re the student, so shut up and listen’ tone. It’s sexy.”

I laughed. “Don’t tell me you have a thing for teachers.”

He eyed me with a sexy gleam in his eye. “I didn’t, but I think I could work the fantasy into my schedule. Right after the one where I take you—”

I threw my hands over my ears. “Lalala, I can’t hear you,” I said and ran into the bathroom. I slammed the door on his laughter and leaned against it, grinning so much it made my face hurt. He was terrible. And sexy and evil and sexy some more.

When I came back out a few minutes later, he was pulling a t-shirt on over his head. He saw me, smiled.

“Don’t open your mouth,” I warned. If he did, I’d never get anything done—except him. In theory, that was a great idea. If I wanted to eat any time during the next week…not so great. “I’m going to the store, and you’re going…somewhere else. Home, I guess. You said you had today off, right? And no verbal answers.”

His mouth opened, then closed. He nodded.

I grabbed some clothes and changed. When I was done, I shooed Kale out the door with me. He walked me to car, saying nothing but giving me sexy looks that had me laughing.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” he asked, grabbing a piece of paper off the windshield wiper. He glanced at it and then rolled it into a ball before I could see.

“What’s that?”

Shrugging, he turned back to me. “One of those ‘Now Opening’ signs for the pizza place on Tenth.”

“Ugh. That’s the third one this week. They slipped one under my door last week and I nearly broke my neck slipping on it.”

“I get them, too. So.” He shoved the paper in his pocket and leaned against my car with an easy smile on his face. “How do you feel about company?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You want to go grocery shopping with me?”

“You need more than microwavable food. If I have to be the chef, then I should at least get a say in what I’m cooking, right?”

“Hey, I tried to cook—”

“Yes, you did. And what a cute attempt it was.”

I laughed and slapped his chest. “Watch it, buddy, or you’ll be cooking for yourself and sleeping alone.”

“Now you’re just getting mean. Come on.” He squeezed my butt. “We’ll take my car. It has more room.”

“Fine. But hands to yourself.”

He managed to look pained. “I’ll behave.”

And he did behave.

Until we were driving.

He reached for ‘something’ half a dozen times and his hand ‘accidentally’ landed on my breast, made its way down my thigh on its own accord, and more than once I had to slap it as he reached for something behind me and ‘oops’ grabbed my butt instead.

And that was when he was being good.

The rest of the time, he said the most suggestive things, things like where he wanted to make love to me, how he wanted to do it, and listed off everything he wanted to do to me—and I was pretty sure half the things on his list were still technically illegal in all fifty states.

By the time we reached the grocery store fifteen minutes later, I was hot, flustered, and could only think about getting my hands on Kale. Where my hands would be—on him or around his neck—was open for debate.

He was a perfect gentleman in the store—as long as you counted brushing up against me or ‘accidentally’ rubbing my breast gentleman behavior.

I slapped his hand away for the sixth time in less than ten minutes. “Keep it up, Kale.” My tone came out a laugh instead of the ‘I mean business’ tone I tried for.

He wrapped his arm around me and it rested at my hip. “I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem,” he whispered in my ear, his grip tightening.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“But that’s what you said.” He winked at me. “I don’t mind a Freudian slip every now and then.”

As I growled at him, he strolled away and picked a few cans from a shelf. He tossed them in the cart, still smiling at me. “How can you make shopping sexy?” I demanded.

“I didn’t know I could, but it’s fun.” His hand went to my upper arm. He gave it a friendly squeeze and his fingers brushed against the side of my breast.

“I suppose that was an accident, too?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ally.”

My eyes narrowed. He almost pulled off the innocent look. Almost. The eyes were a dead giveaway. The mischievousness glinted openly in them. Two could play his game.

When we reached the next aisle, Kale stayed close to me. Anytime I stopped, he’d bump into me, then shrug innocently.

I turned, smiled sweetly at him, and then bent down for a box of cereal. I intentionally pushed my butt toward him and grinned when he let out a low hiss. I stood, checked the box over, then bent again to get a different one. I wiggled my butt and had the satisfaction of hearing a groan.

Looking over my shoulder, I noted his eyes were glazed and locked on my butt. My smile widened. “What’s next on the list, Kale?”

“You’re an evil, evil woman, Ally.”

I tossed the cereal in the cart and started forward. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kale kept his hands to himself the rest of the time, but he didn’t need them much when his eyes were always on me. With them, he said what he couldn’t say with words, what he didn’t dare say with his hands.

I knew when someone was plotting against me, and that’s exactly what he was doing—plotting ways to get revenge.

I shivered with anticipation.

Kale yanked on my arm and pulled me down an aisle near the front. “Let’s grab some chips.” His tone was too cheery.

“What is it?” I glanced over my shoulder. My already-fading smile vanished completely and I nearly tripped when I saw Earl strolling by, eyes glued to me.

I turned away, gaze forward, hands gripping the handle of the cart until my fingers ached.
He’s just here for groceries. He’s just here for groceries.
There were only a few other places in town to buy them. This was just the one he lived closest to. That was all. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation. It didn’t mean anything that he was here.

“Tell me it’s a coincidence, Kale.” I whispered my plea.

He looked down at me. “It might be. It might not be. I don’t know, Ally.”

“I want to know.” I had to know. Once and for all, I had to know the truth. I had to know if I’d been overreacting this whole time, if I was overreacting now when I thought he was here for me, despite trying to convince myself otherwise.

“What are you thinking?”

“Go away for a few minutes.”

“Ally…”

I stared at him. “I have to know, Kale. This…this is the best way to find out, isn’t it? In public, with other people around. With you around. Even if he is…even if, he wouldn’t try anything with so many witnesses.” There. That sounded reasonable. Logical.

God, I hoped it was true.

His head shook slightly. He didn’t want me to do it. I didn’t want me to do it, but I had to. “Five minutes,” he said roughly. “I’ll be outside.”

He stormed away, back stiff, pace quick. And as he walked away, he took what little bit of courage I had and I almost bolted after him.

You can do this. You
need
to do this. Get it over with. Five minutes and you’ll be on your way home, with Kale. Five minutes and you’ll know the truth.

Did I want the truth?

No. But want and need weren’t mutually inclusive. They weren’t friends.

Taking a deep breath, I forced my white-knuckled hands to relax and pushed the cart forward. I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder. I resisted the urge to turn and go to the register. When I turned down the next aisle, I spotted Earl standing in the middle, looking my way. It reminded me of old horror movies, of seeing a man alone in the woods, standing ominously. Except there were no woods. This wasn’t a horror movie.

No, it was real life. It was worse. I couldn’t pause the movie if I got scared or turn it off.

I pushed the cart faster as my heart sped up and turned down the next aisle. I cursed myself, then forced my feet to move slower. I wouldn’t find out anything if I ran through the whole store, would I?

I stopped near the end and pretended to look at something. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Earl.

Coincidence. It could still be a coincidence.

I tried two more aisles and got the same results. Earl followed me. He never came near me, always standing at the far end, in front of the shelves like he was looking at something, but his eyes were watching me. Boldly staring at me.

My five minutes were nearly up. I went down one last row, the only one in the store I could be relatively certain no man in his right mind would follow a woman: the feminine product aisle.
Don’t show up. Don’t show up.

Earl walked out in front of me and I nearly crashed into him. “So—sorry,” I said, mouth suddenly dry. My hands started to sweat as I waited for him to move. He didn’t. I turned the cart around and went back the way I came, taking the long way to the register. I almost abandoned the cart then and there. I almost abandoned it for Kale to take care of.

And that pissed me off. I’d been raised to take care of myself. I was living on my own now. I couldn’t depend on other people to take care of things for me. Even shopping.

Earl didn’t deserve that kind of power over me. I forced my pace to slow and, as calmly as I could, walked to the cashier. When she was done and I’d paid, I left.

Spotting me, Kale jumped out of the truck and started toward me. I wanted to rush to him, jump into his arms, and beg him to make things better. I didn’t.

“Did he follow?” he asked, opening the back hatch.

I glanced over my shoulder and gave a sad laugh. “See for yourself.”

Earl stood just outside the door.

“Problem?” Kale called out.

Earl shot him an easy smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Forgot my wallet.”

Hearing his voice made me shudder. It was gravelly, slow, with a hint of an accent I couldn’t place, though I knew it wasn’t northern.

“Bullshit,” Kale muttered under his breath as Earl got in his truck. “He didn’t forget shit.” He reached down for my hand without looking. “And he followed you inside?”

“Down every aisle. I moved around, going from one side of the store to the other. He was always there.” Lurking. Watching. Terrorizing me without words.

“Come on,” he said, taking my hand. “Let’s get these bags in and get you home.”

Suddenly, home didn’t feel so safe.

K
ale sat at the table while I put my groceries away. He offered to help, but I needed something to do with my hands. I needed something to keep me occupied, to keep my mind from wondering about things best not wondered about.

If he noticed my hands shaking, he didn’t comment. He just sat quietly, watching me, following my movements. Waiting, I was sure, for me to breakdown. I didn’t. I wouldn’t.

When all the bags were empty, I leaned back against the counter. Kale stood, walked over to me, and gathered me in his arms. “We should talk about this, Ally.”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“He’s stalking you.”

Stalking. The word sounded so…foreign.
I’m being stalked.
“You wanna hear something funny?”

He nodded.

“I’ve seen those shows, you know? The horror stories about people who’ve been stalked. I never thought ‘That wouldn’t happen to me’. I’m too smart for that. My mom wouldn’t ever let me think something that naive. And yet…I never believed it would be me. God, I used to think I was so smart, so careful.”

“You are.”

“Not smart enough. Not careful enough.” My fingers clutched the counter behind me. “I want to ask the question everyone who has something bad happen to them asks: why me? Why is this happening to me? It’s a stupid question.”

“It’s a question that doesn’t have an answer. It’s not stupid to wonder.”

I wasn’t so sure. “I was the good girl who didn’t go out on weekends. I studied, I kept good grades, I didn’t date in high school—not a lot, anyway. I was never brave or adventurous, Kale. Moving out, moving here, that was my big rebellion. Being on my own. And you. You’re my adventure.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Maybe not.” I laughed and looked away, seeing nothing. “When I first moved in, I used to blast music at night because the new sounds always scared me. I was always silently paranoid some psycho was out to get me anytime I heard a sound I didn’t recognize. Not literally, but the thoughts were there, you know? The what-ifs.”

“That’s normal, Ally.”

“I know. But now the what-ifs are happening, and they’re not even the ones I ever thought about.”

His hand smoothed up and down my back. “I won’t let him get near you. We’ll get this taken care of, I promise.”

“You can’t make that promise.”

He sighed. The sound was as miserable sounding as I felt. “You’re right, I can’t. But I can promise to be here for you, day or night, whenever you need me.”

Seeing the truth in his words, I let out a loud exhale. “Thanks, Kale.”

He was the only bright side to this whole mess. He was, at the moment, the best thing in my life, the one thing that made me smile and feel better. Even now, as crappy as I felt, I knew it’d be worse if he weren’t here.