Nightmares from Within (4 page)

And Guy One wasn’t going to be changing my mind any time soon.

As if the muffin top hanging over his belt and stretching the buttons on his shirt to an insulting level wasn’t enough of a turn off, his rancid onion breath and the leftover food stuck in his teeth from breakfast did him in.

“Sorry, sir. I’m married.” The lie rolled off my tongue just as easily as it always did.

“Well, I didn’t see a ring on your pretty little finger. Figured you were on the market.”

I might not have been married, but I was definitely
off
the market.

“Hazards of the job,” I replied with a sweet smile. “Don’t want to risk losing it.” I turned my attention from Stank Breath to his friend to take his order and was instantly struck speechless. The most gorgeous hazel eyes I’d ever seen were smiling back at me. I somehow managed to pull my focus from his eyes and trailed over the rest of his face. His nose was slightly crooked, like it had been broken earlier in his life, and a light dusting of blond stubble covered his strong, square jaw. His dirty-blond hair was standing up like he’d been running his hands through it all day and the look was seriously working for him. A large part of me wanted to reach over and run my hands through the shiny strands just to see if they felt as silky as they looked, but I managed to refrain. When he laughed my eyes zoomed down to his mouth and I noticed his perfect, white teeth outlined by the most amazing, full lips.

Lips meant for kissing.

Lips meant to do serious damage to a woman’s self-control.

To
my
self control.

I’d never reacted to a man before the way I did this guy and the intensity of it was startling. I shouldn’t be feeling the way I was. I couldn’t. It was detrimental to my sanity.

I quickly averted my gaze to the tabletop in front of me and cleared my throat uncomfortably.

“Stevens, leave the poor woman alone. I’m sure her standards are a lot higher than a piece of shit like you.” The smile on his face and chuckle in his voice showed that he was just giving his friend a hard time, but the deep timber of his voice rumbled through me and warmed me from the inside out.

“Ah, her loss,” Stevens, formerly-known-as-Stank-Breath replied. “I gotta take a piss. Get me the Reuben, would ya?”

I scribbled his order down as he walked away from the table, making sure to keep my eyes on the pad in front of me instead of on the man with the beautiful eyes.

“Sorry about him. He was dropped on his head as an infant.”

I couldn’t stop the blush from creeping up my neck as he spoke to me in that rich, decadent voice.

“More than once?” I asked.

He gifted me with the most melodic laugh I’d ever heard. I wanted to record that sound and play it over and over every night until I fell asleep with it imprinted in my mind.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure it was an everyday occurrence.”

I reached up and fiddled with the locket at the base of my neck, a habit I’d had since I was a child. Any time I felt uncomfortable I would grab onto the locket my grandmother passed down to me on my seventh birthday. Granny was the only family member that I remember ever feeling close to. Something about touching the locket soothed me and made me feel grounded.

We both stayed quiet for what felt like an eternity, before he finally broke the silence. “You aren’t really married, are you?” He made it sound like a statement. “Please tell me a woman as beautiful as yourself isn’t already taken, because if that’s the case, I’m giving up on humanity as a whole.”

How could I even respond to that? I knew my eyes were the size of golf balls and the small blush had turned into a full blown reddish purple. “Um. Uh…” I stuttered. “I’m just going to go put in your order.”

I started to scurry off to the kitchen when his voice stopped me. “But I haven’t ordered anything.”

I squeezed my eyes shut in embarrassment and turned around. “Shit. I’m so sorry.” I rushed to pull my pad and pen out of my apron and managed to drop them both on the ground as I fumbled around.

I bent to pick them up at the same time he did, but he got there first. “Easy there, Crimson.” I heard the smile in his voice and when I stood back up, I was surprised to find his eyes were trained on my face as opposed to my chest.

“Crimson?” I had to ask. I normally took orders and interacted with customers only as much as was absolutely necessary, but there was something about him that made me
want
to stay. Made me want to talk to him more just to hear his voice.

“Yeah. Every time you get nervous or embarrassed you turn bright red. It’s actually really cute.”

And there went the blush again
.

“See! Like right now. Do I make you nervous, Crimson?”

He lowered his voice and the deep register caused a tingle down in my belly. Oh God. This man was doing horrible things to my non-existent libido.

I had to put a stop to it.

“My name’s Taylor, not Crimson, and no, you don’t make me nervous. Now if you don’t mind, I have other tables I need to take care of, so can you just give me your order so I can go about my job and take care of my other customers?”

I’d never felt worse shooting a man down, but it had to be done. I wasn’t made for relationships. I was too damaged.

Those full lips went into a tight, straight line and his eyebrows dipped down in a frown. I missed his smile as soon as it was gone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.” He opened his menu and started looking through it quickly. I couldn’t walk away from his table with him thinking he’d insulted me. I knew it was dangerous and stupid, but I had an insane need to see that smile on his face again.

I did something so completely out of character that it startled me just as much as it did him. I placed my small hand down over his larger one and smiled down at him. “You didn’t insult me,” I said softly. “It’s just been a long day. I’m sorry for being so rude.”

At that moment, it was as if an electric current moved from his hand to mine, sending a small jolt through my body. I looked at his face and saw that his mouth was slightly open and his eyes were a little wider than before. He felt it too.

He cleared his throat and gave his head a little shake. “Um…I’ll take the turkey club.”

I scribbled his order down and gave him another shy grin. “Got it. I’ll put your order in now.”

I turned to walk away, but was stopped again when he gently put his hand on my forearm. The current came back as soon as he touched me.

“I’m Jordan. It’s nice to meet you, Taylor,” He said with a wide grin. Something about that smile heated me from the inside out.

“Nice to meet you too, Jordan,” I replied shyly.

He softly ran his fingers down my forearm before removing his hand completely and goose bumps broke out across my skin. “You aren’t going to tell me if you’re really married, are you?”

I let out a tiny laugh and shook my head. “No.”

“No you won’t tell me, or no, you aren’t married?”

I threw my head back and released the first real laugh I’d had in ages. I was starting to feel like a different person; a little lighter and more carefree. “No I won’t tell you.”

Am I flirting? Shit. I can’t do this. I cannot flirt with this guy!

He opened his mouth to respond, but his friend took that moment to return from the bathroom. “Whew! Man, I had to piss like a Russian race horse!” he announced loudly.

I took that as my cue to make my escape from Jordan and his intoxicating voice.

The rest of the lunch rush went by without anymore flirting or blushing on my part, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel the constant burn of Jordan’s eyes on me as I moved through the diner.

His friend did a damn good job of being the perfect buffer between us and I was both grateful and irritated all at the same time. I knew the interaction between me and Jordan wasn’t safe, but I couldn’t stop myself from wanting that feeling of being free from my personal hell whenever he talked to me.

When they stood to leave a small part of me broke as I watched him walk out the door. He made me feel things I’d never experienced before, things I didn’t know were even possible for me to feel. I was sad that he was gone but thankful for the few minutes I’d had with him.

I went to clear the table and that was when I saw it.

A small piece of paper the size of a business card. The handwriting was damn near illegible but I still managed to make out what it said.

Crimson,

It was an absolute pleasure meeting you. I hope to see your beautiful face again soon, but until then, I’ll settle for your equally beautiful voice.

I turned the card over and saw that he’d scrawled his number on the back of it.

I knew I wasn’t going to call him. I didn’t have the luxury of entertaining thoughts about having a relationship, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy gaining the attention of an attractive man. A huge smile slowly spread across my face and there was no way of removing it as I worked the rest of my shift. It felt like things were finally looking up.

“I’ve never seen you smile so much in all the years I’ve know you, Doll. It wouldn’t happen to be because of that tall, blond sex-on-a-stick that was in here during lunch, would it?”

I should have known better than to think Benny would let my change in demeanor slide without drawing attention to it. And just as I expected, a lot of the other staff had to join in on her good-natured ribbing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, keeping my head lowered as I wiped down tables and began placing chairs on top. I blushed whenever I thought of Jordan, which just reminded me of our entire encounter. That in turn caused me to blush even harder. It was a vicious cycle.

“What were you reading when Blondie left earlier?” one of the other waitresses asked. “I thought you were gonna break your face, smiling that wide.” Everyone around me laughed and I couldn’t help but join in. I hadn’t felt so good in…well…ever, actually. I’d never felt a part of something the way I did just then, standing around being teased about a guy.

“I know something you don’t know,” Cassie sing-songed from behind me.

We all looked her way and waited for her to spill. “A certain hot blond stopped by the hostess stand on his way out and asked for a certain waitress’s phone number.”

My skin went damp and the blush disappeared leaving me paler than normal. Things just changed drastically in the blink of an eye.

I let myself appreciate having a handsome man who I was attracted to hit on me, but I never intended to follow through with anything. There was too much risk, too much fear. I just wanted to feel alive for a little while and now that was gone. If he had my number and called to ask me out would I actually be able to turn him down? Could I resist that sinful voice and make the decision I knew was the safest for me?

Shit!

Cassie must have noticed how panic-stricken I’d become because she put both hands on my shoulders and hunched down to eye level. “Calm down, Taylor. I didn’t give it to him.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief and my entire body slumped as the tension seeped away.

But then she burst my bubble almost as quickly as she’d inflated it. “But I don’t think that’s going to stop him; he seemed pretty determined.”

Benny came up beside me and bumped my shoulder playfully. “I bet he’s back in here before you know it.”

She and Cassie were both smiling like that was a good thing and I couldn’t expect them to understand why it wasn’t.

I stopped at the little corner store on my way home to grab a sandwich for a late dinner and something caught my attention as I stood at the checkout line.

THE POET CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM.

I wasn’t sure why, but that bold font headline pulled me in and I found myself dropping the copy of The Seattle Times on the counter next to my dinner for the cashier to ring up.

As I walked down the street toward my apartment I started to read the article that warranted front-page news.

Police have confirmed that the body of Sylvia Garcia, the twenty year old Seattle resident that was found in SoDo earlier this week, was a victim of the killer people are referring to as The Poet.