to the point that it was going to be damn satisfying to set her straight. Yeah, there was a chance that it wouldn’t make a bit of difference in her eyes, since she was so dead set on putting him in the dickhead category. But it would still be fucking satisfying.
And this is my one shot. I wouldn’t bet on there being another one.
Sean suspected that what he was about to do could blow up in his face, in a bad way. But he didn’t give a damn. It was either find a way to breakthrough with this woman, or accept that she was never going to take a chance on him.
And while forgetting about her might be the smarter option, it wasn’t one he could stomach. He knew, because he’d tried.
After he’d asked her out a few weeks ago and she’d basically laughed in his face, he’d gone home and told himself it was time to put her out of his head. He threw himself into work, actually getting ahead on his deadlines, and when the weekend started to roll around again, he picked up his phone, thinking it would be a good idea to make a date with another beautiful woman. Since it was either that, or make a fool of himself by hanging out alone at Manolo’s again. Or sitting in his condo like a loser. But as he scrolled through the contacts on his phone, he couldn’t get his thumb to press on a name.
His gut wouldn’t let him go through with it.
Would. Not. Fucking. Let. Him.
As pissed as he was about the way she’d turned him down when he’d asked her out, the memory of her gloating smile still fresh in his mind, Sean had ended up tossing the phone aside, and grabbed a beer instead. Then he’d spent the rest of the night out on his patio, watching the waves crash into the shore, while thoughts of the stubborn, frustrating redhead that was Natalie-fucking-Richards filled his head. Her laugh. Her smile. The way she looked when the sun caught all that red hair and her gray eyes gleamed with mischief. He might not have known her long, but he’d paid attention whenever she’d been nearby. With the way both his and Chris’s condos were placed, with their patios both on the beach-facing side of the building, he’d caught more than a few glimpses of her whenever she’d come over recently to visit with Sophie.
Then there were the nights he’d gone into Manolo’s, since discovering who she was, just so he could try to figure her out. And because he couldn’t seem to keep himself the fuck away.
It was true that he’d noticed her even before their little run-in the night her battery had died. Hell, if he were being completely honest, he’d actually noticed her before that Saturday night she’d taken the check to the table next to his. He’d been drawn to the glimpses of the beautiful redhead he’d get from time to time at the restaurant, though she’d always managed to somehow steer clear of him when he’d been there. In all the months he’d been frequenting the popular restaurant, she’d never served him. Never spoken to him.
Now, he couldn’t help but wonder if that had been by design. A deliberate avoidance, because she’d felt that same strange, exhilarating spark that tore through him whenever he set eyes on her. Had she? And if so, had it shocked her as badly as it’d shocked him?
Had it made her run?
Or had that simply been the fucking string of women she saw me with?
“Sean?” she murmured, pulling him back to the moment. Realizing he’d just been sitting there behind the wheel, completely lost in his thoughts, he cleared his throat and started the truck.
Beside him, Natalie reached for her seatbelt. “I don’t live far from here. Just head down this road, and then take the third left, onto Beachview. My apartment complex is about four miles down.”
“I know. I followed you home that night,” he murmured, pulling into the early evening traffic. He didn’t bother asking if she’d replaced the battery in her car, because he already knew that she had, thanks to Chris.
When they got caught by a red