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Chapter Two
The bell over the door distracted me from my unhappy thoughts, and the moment my curious eyes connected with those of the man who had entered, they almost fell out of my head.
Standing soaked and dripping on the black and white welcome mat was a tall, lean, immaculately dressed guy with an anxious look in his eyes. Raindrops fell from his wet dark brown hair and cascaded down his cheeks.
Oh, Lord.He looked stunning. After spying my empty chair, his worried eyes flicked back up, connected with mine, and he immediately parked his backside on the only empty chair at my table.
"Don't panic," he urged with a tight smile. "I promise I'm not a weirdo. I'll explain, but first, may I please sit here for a few minutes?" he asked in a rushed, somewhat breathless, ragged tone. He had no sooner sat down before he rose from the seat again and peered out of the window. I sat observing his anxious behavior through narrowed eyes.
A few seconds later he turned and faced me again and his nervous gaze had me intrigued.
"There's this girl," he began. He stopped, drew in a sharp breath and sighed. It appeared to calm him down before he continued. "I swear a woman's been stalking me for the whole afternoon," he muttered. I heard anguish in his low, slightly refined accent. Tension radiated from his upper body before he rolled his shoulders back and glanced warily out the window again.
"Stalking?"
Looking back toward me, as if it had only just sunk in that I'd spoken, he shrugged. "I … dated her—once," he offered in hesitation. I almost called him out on what may have been a 'love them and leave them' situation, but I let him continue with his story, glad for the distraction from Logan and Poppy.
"She's been harder to shake than shit off a shoe," he told me, deadpan. His unexpectedly coarse comment made me chuckle. His remark sounded incongruous coming from someone so spotlessly dressed. "If she comes in, would you mind pretending to be with me?" Hell, I'd be happy to sit here all day, provided I can stare at you.
Without waiting for me to reply, he stood and shrugged himself out of his dripping wet gray suit jacket. My eyes immediately feasted upon his taut, strong frame. He was a striking young man, and I knew I was staring.
Watching him as he hung the jacket over the back of his chair, my eyes raked over his broad muscular shoulders and thick arms that strained the cotton material of his crisp white shirt.
The expensive thread of the cotton was almost sheer from the rain as it clung against perfectly toned pecs, and I quietly sighed when the faint waft of his expensive cologne filled my sense of smell.
My first thought as I took in his appearance was, What would you like me to say? I laughed out loud at the thought of me being so fascinated by a man as young as he was, and our eyes briefly connected.
A small buzz ran through my body with the connection I felt between us. I squeezed my thighs together when, despite his dilemma, I saw a hint of mischief and heat in his beautiful large hazel eyes.
While I absorbed how attractive he looked, I slid my butt further back in my chair. It felt as if his presence had drawn me toward him like some magnetic field. Grabbing my glass of wine, I felt more confident to let my hungry eyes study him with the safer distance afforded to me by having my back touching the chair.
I looked at his strong, chiseled jawline, that had maybe three days of stubble growth, and I could hardly believe how much I wanted to touch it. It was the one part of him that wasn't pristine and I liked that about his appearance.
A playful smile on his full plump soft lips revealed a glimpse of his perfectly straight white teeth, and I stopped to wonder whether or not I had ever seen a more attractive man in my whole life.
His wet hair was only a few shades lighter than mine, and was styled in a way I thought was a little too trendy for a serious businessman. Then, I figured that no matter what he wore, he was a man who'd needed no window dressing to make him stand out in a room.
Lifting my wine to my lips, he watched closely as I swallowed most of the contents of the second glass down my throat in one thirsty gulp.
"Sawyer," he informed me, turning his upper body toward the counter and waving a hand to catch the waitress's attention. I wasn't surprised when she arrived at our table in a heartbeat with a beaming friendly smile on her face. "Large whatever … Chardonnay?" he asked, an eyebrow raised in question. The waitress flashed a wider grin and nodded. "And for …" he stopped, staring at me with an outstretched hand.
"No, I'm fine." I raised my almost empty glass in my palm and swirled the dregs of my wine around inside.
"She'll have the same as before," he quipped to our server, ignoring my protest. "Go on, live a little," he said, egging me on with a cheeky wink. A wicked glint appeared in his eyes as his stare became more intent. "In case you haven't noticed, short of an ark we're not going anywhere for a while."
I glanced out at dreary wet weather and knew he was right. The rain still appeared relentless. When I sighed in defeat, he allowed himself a barely-there smile before he shot a nervous glance out of the window again.
"Ha, very funny," I replied. However, I'd felt secretly smug someone as handsome as him had rushed through the door and sat down beside me while in full view of Logan.
Replaying how it may have looked in my head, I'd hoped it had appeared as if I'd been waiting for him. It was a ridiculous thought to have had, given how incredibly drop-dead gorgeous my stranger looked.
Sawyer was most definitely a fine-looking man who I'd estimated he was in his late twenties at most. I considered the scene when he had arrived again.
To an onlooker, he must have appeared so attentive, with his apologetic approach and his "please forgive me" body language when he'd leaned closer and he'd explained his situation before ordering a fresh round of drinks for us both.
"So, pretty lady, do you have a name? If you're going to be my heroine, I'm going to need a name." Raising an inquisitive eyebrow, he stared intently. The way his bright hazel eyes locked onto mine made my thighs clench and my poor attention-starved heart stutter.
Even though I had figured our encounter meant nothing to him, my belly still flipped over as more than a slither of excitement coursed through my body. It was almost inconceivable that a situation had arisen where a young, hot gentleman such as him gave me the time of day.
