“Can you cover for me?” I ask Janice.
She’s already nodding her head and pushing me toward Ice. Janice has been married for twenty years and she seems a little excited that I have a man that’s showing some interest in me.
I walk across the lot and don’t stop until I’m next to him.
I put my hands in the front pockets of my dress pants. “What are you doing here, Ice?”
“You should call me James.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I thought people are supposed to call you Ice.”
He swings his leg over and crosses his ankles in front of him as he sits on the edge of the seat. “I got that name because I’ve always been cool and calm under pressure. Nothing ever fazes me. But when I found you out of my bed and gone this morning, I discovered that I’m anything but calm and cool when it comes to you. So yeah, you should call me James.”
I shake my head. “James…”
I barely get his name out before he’s grabbing on to my hips and pulling me toward him. I’m sure Janice and everyone else is watching us. I’m sure I’ll be the main topic of gossip around the water cooler and in the teachers’ lounge, but I can’t seem to make myself care. “Why’d you leave?”
I shrug my shoulders and look over his shoulder because I’m not strong enough to look in his eyes and hold it together. “I thought we were done.”
He grunts, a sound that I’m starting to love. Any time he does it, I swear it’s like I can feel it vibrate between my legs. “We’re nowhere close to being done. If anything we’re just getting started.”
I shake my head, trying to force myself to be reasonable and not fall for him any more than I already have. “James, the day I met you, another woman was grinding in your lap. I met you in a place called the Pussy Parlor. I have the worst taste in men. I’ve been hurt before, but you, well, you could annihilate me.”
He puts his hands on each side of my face. He forces me to look at him, and I get lost in his eyes. It’s just him and me right now. That’s all that matters. “I won’t hurt you. It’s been so hard for me to trust anyone, and I never get close. I was engaged once.”
He stops at my stunned look.
“Yeah, I was engaged. She left me when I was on my third tour in Afghanistan. I found out in an email that she’d met someone else. So yeah, I don’t trust people. Ever! I’m forty-five and set in my ways. But you changed all that, baby. Now all I can think about is you.”
“I’m so sorry...”
But he’s already shaking his head. “She doesn’t mean anything, Addi. I only told you because I wanted you to know. I don’t want there to be secrets between us. I told you because I want more of last night.”
I shake my head, unwilling or unable to believe what he’s saying. “That’s just lust.”
He pulls me in and sets his forehead against mine. He takes a deep breath. “That’s love, Addi. I want you in my bed, in my life, I want it all. Fuck, I’ll even give you the fuckin’ white picket fence if that’s what you want.”
I slide my hands up his chest, wanting to believe what he’s saying but scared to. “You love me? That’s crazy talk. You met me two days ago.” I hate it, but my voice is laced with doubt.
“Yes,” he grunts. He opens his mouth to say something else, but the bell inside the school rings, alerting me that first period is about to start. I have sixteen kindergartners in my class, and I can’t leave them unattended.
“I have to go,” I tell him.
“Addi,” he starts.
I pull from his arms. “I can’t do this right now, James.”
He looks almost desperate. “Come and see me after school.”
“I have bus duty,” I tell him, as if that’s an excuse.
“I don’t care. We need to talk.”
I nod my head. He’s right. I know he’s right.
“I know you’re thinking this is a joke or it’s too fast or whatever. It’s not, baby. One way or another, you’re mine. I’m not letting you go, not without a fight.”
I want to believe him, but there’s something holding me back. “I’ll be there around four-thirty or five.”
He pulls me in and kisses me on the forehead, “I’ll be waiting for you.”
I turn then and walk toward the school building. I don’t even turn around because I know he’s just sitting there watching me, and one look would be all it would take for me to toss any self-preservation out the window and run back to his arms.
Ice
The whole day I’ve been a mess. My painting skills are shit, heck I’m struggling even taping off the parts to prepare to paint. I spend most of the day pacing back and forth in my paint booth, wondering if Addison is going to show up this evening like she said she would.
It doesn’t matter. Even if she doesn’t, I’m going to her, but fuck, it would be so much better if she trusted me just a little and came to me. But I’ll track her ass down if I need to. I know she wants a future with me. No two people can make love like we did and not know there’s a future for them. Somehow, I just have to convince her.
Four-thirty comes, and I’m sitting on the front stoop of the shop. Ranger and Gage have already given me shit, saying I’m pussy whipped and everything else, but I don’t care. Nothing matters now except for Addi.
At five o’clock, I’m a ball of nerves and watch as each car drives by the shop. At five-ten, I’m texting and calling her with
