Sweet Treats: A Love Bites Novella Page 4

  She paused in the lobby, willing her heartbeat to slow down to a normal pace and her glands to stop producing sweat. Despite the cold weather, her body had gone into overdrive—a mixture of nerves and exhaustion, no doubt.

  Why was she nervous? She didn’t have a clue. Walking a dog was not exactly a difficult endeavor. Animals loved her and her family had a dog for a pet her entire life. The dog was not the problem.

  The owner, on the other hand….

  Elise stabbed the elevator’s up button before she could change her mind and run away, which was a tempting option, but then she would have zero cash coming in during the holidays and that was so not okay. Her family celebrated Christmas and Hanukah, which somehow meant that she ended up spending money out the wazoo at this time of year.

  As she rode up in the silent elevator, she told herself repeatedly that there was nothing to be nervous about. Sure, he was intimidating, but it wasn’t like she was walking into the home of a sociopath or something.

  Just like animals, people tended to like her. She was a people-person. With everyone except for this man.

  She licked her dry lips as she got off the elevator and headed toward his door. The rugs in the hallway were thick, making it oddly silent. She couldn’t even hear her own footsteps as she approached.

  She found herself holding her breath as she knocked on the door. Maybe he wouldn’t be home. Maybe she could turn back now and never have to make awkward conversation with this man with his cold eyes and judgy stare—

  The door opened and those judgy, cold eyes met hers.

  Resignation had her heart sinking to her boots. There was no backing out now. The only thing left to do was make the best out of it. Lemons to lemonade—that was her forte. Usually. However, she was also typically able to speak intelligibly and that particular trait had a tendency to evaporate in this guy’s presence. So really, she had no idea what to expect from herself when he was around.

  “Come on in,” Derek said, opening the door wider so she could walk through.

  Now this—this was exactly what she’d expected of Derek’s apartment. Minimalist to the extreme, his apartment was tidy and soulless. Not one picture of friends and family, no artwork graced the walls, no knickknacks or clutter gave a clue as to what this guy did in his free time.

  Maybe she should question her certainty that she wasn’t walking into the lair of a sociopath. Because seriously, what normal guy was this neat?

  But sociopathic tendencies aside, this man had given her a job when she needed one. He’d gone out of his way to help her. For that alone she should make an extra effort.

  This shouldn’t be so hard. People liked her, dammit! She was friendly. Upbeat. She loved chatting up shy people, making friends with the outcasts, so why the hell should this guy be any different? With that in mind, she spun around to face him, a brilliant smile fixed on her face. “Nice place!”

  Okay, that came out louder than anticipated.

  “Thank you.”

  They stood facing one another, Derek with his hands in his pockets and an unreadable expression and Elise with her bizarrely broad grin. She tried not to fidget. “So, uh, where’s this dog of yours?”

  He gestured for her to follow him into the kitchen and there sitting in the middle of the floor sat the most adorable little puppy she’d ever seen. Long brown fur fell over his big brown eyes as he blinked up at her.

  “Oh, he’s adorable. It is a he, right?” She looked up to see Derek watching her, his mouth a tight line as though he was in pain or mad or something. Great, she’d already pissed him off and she’d just gotten here. “What’s his name?”

  He stared at her unblinking for a moment. “Uhh….” He cleared his throat. “Jack. His name is Jack.”

  Turning back to the dog, she tried to ignore the uncomfortable silence that was going on between her and his owner. “Hi Jack,” she cooed. Coming to her knees, she reached out a hand and the puppy came over and licked her fingers, making her laugh.

  “How old is he?”

  When Derek didn’t immediately answer, she tilted her head up to find him staring down at her and the dog.

  In a rare show of emotion, Derek pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his wire-rimmed glasses. “Look, Elise….”

  Uh oh. This did not sound good. Holy hell, she could not have messed up so badly that he was going to fire her before she even began.

  He cleared his throat and started again. “I am not very good at false pretenses.”

  Oookay. She straightened up from the floor as she tried to figure out how she was supposed to respond to that announcement.

  “And this,” she waved a hand toward herself and the dog in a vague gesture. “This is a false pretense?”

  “Yes, it is.” He met her gaze and he seemed so freakin’ serious, it was hard to keep a straight face.

  What the hell was he talking about? She glanced down at the puppy and the puppy stared back at her. Right. No help there. “So… you don’t need a dog walker?”

  He let out a small sigh. “I do now, yes.”

  Confusion had her squinting at him. Maybe if she watched him as intently as he was watching her, his words would make sense. He needed a dog walker now, which meant he hadn’t before.

  Humiliation had her stomach sinking to the floor. Oh, El, you idiot. The poor guy hadn’t needed a dog walker, he’d just said that because he’d felt sorry for her. He probably walked his own dog, like most people she knew. Or no—he probably had another person do it and now he’d had to go and fire his regular help.

  She should have known this was a pity job. She was still trying to find a graceful way out of this predicament when Derek spoke again, his words temporarily erasing all thoughts of pity jobs and graceful exits.

  “I wanted to see you again.”

  His words hung in the air between them. The only sound in the room was Jack’s panting breath and her heartbeat racing. Um….what?

  “You wanted to see me,” she repeated slowly, as if repetition would help make sense of the words. Because surely he didn’t mean what she thought he meant.

  He nodded once briskly and for the first time she noticed that his eyes weren’t cold, they were warm. They weren’t glaring, they were intent. All of his attention was centered on her, which was flattering and uncomfortable all at once.

  Maybe he did mean what she thought he meant.

  Heat crept up her neck and into her cheeks under his watchful gaze. Oh, for the love of God. Of all times to develop a blushing problem.

  And as she blushed for quite possibly the first time in her life, she also discovered another girly first—butterflies in her stomach. She inhaled deeply to dispel the fluttery sensation, but it was no use. The butterflies were there with a vengeance.

  He was watching her, waiting for a response. For a moment, she thought of asking ‘why?’ Why did you want to see me again? But that seemed rude. He’d opened up and said something disarmingly sweet—and she had no idea how she was supposed to respond.

  She ended up looking into Jack’s big puppy dog eyes before turning back to Derek with what she hoped was an easy smile. “So… You don’t need a dog walker then?”

  One corner of his mouth quirked up. The small half-smile, and the dimple that went with it, was so sweet and sexy for a moment she forgot how to breathe.

  He raised his brows and his tone was disconcertingly light. “As a matter of fact, I most definitely do need a dog walker, if you’re still up for the job now that you know my true motives.”

  Was he teasing? It was hard to tell—his lips had gone back to serious mode. His face once again an unreadable mask. Except now that Elise had seen past the curtain, she knew what to look for—and there it was.

  There was laughter in his eyes, deep in their dark blue depths.

  Holy hell, Derek Hawk was being playful.

  A weight had lifted off his chest as soon as he’d gotten the words out and now he was standing there in his kitchen, as close as he�
�d ever come to grinning like an idiot.

  Which wasn’t very close, really. He’d never been very emotive.

  But that didn’t mean he wasn’t giving a mental fist pump to celebrate the fact that she hadn’t run away after his little truth outburst. Now it was out there and she didn’t look disgusted or scared. Surprised, maybe, but then again he’d surprised himself with this little infatuation.

  Or giant infatuation, if he was being literal.

  She ducked her head and moved toward the kitchen table where he’d set the dog’s leash. “Okay then,” she said as she attached the leash to Jack’s collar. Her cheeks were rosy and for the first time since he’d met her, Elise looked flustered.

  Elise looked good when she was flustered. But then, she always looked good to him.

  She headed toward the front door but just before she opened the door, she turned back, an adorably mischievous smile lighting up her face. “Do you…uh…Do you want to come with us?”

  It wasn’t until they were outside, trekking through snowdrifts and crossing slushy streets to get to Central Park that Elise broke the heavy silence that had surrounded them like a cloak since leaving his apartment.

  “So,” she said as they entered the park. “Is this, like… a date?”

  He looked over to find her grinning up at him and his heart went into double time. He’d seen that smile before countless times but never aimed in his direction. The effect was debilitating. It took several seconds before he could process her words and come up with the answer.

  “No.” Shit, if her wince was anything to go by, his denial had come out a tad too sharp. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I just mean…” Oh hell, why were words so hard to come by when she was looking at him? He wasn’t normally so tongue-tied. Some people found him eloquent. Well, not speech-impaired at least.

  She turned her face down to watch the dog but not before he caught the self-conscious look in her eyes.

  “I just meant that since I’m currently paying you for your services…” He gestured toward Jack, who was taking his sweet time snuffling around a bush, not seeming to notice the fact that it was freezing outside.

  When Elise looked up at him again, she was smiling again and laughter filled her voice. “You don’t want me to feel like a hooker since you’d essentially be paying me to date you?” she guessed.

  He felt his own lips twitch with laughter but he kept his tone flat. “I was going to say ‘escort,’ but yes, that’s the gist of it.”

  Her head fell back with a laugh and the sound warmed his frozen body from the inside out. She was still laughing when she turned to him again. “Derek Hawk, did you just make a joke?”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and moved closer to her side to help shield her from the icy wind. “I guess I did.”

  She started to crack up again, like that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard and he found himself smiling down at her. “I do have a sense of humor, you know.”

  “I’m starting to see that. It’s just…” She looked up at him and flicked her tongue out to lick her lips in a move that was unknowingly seductive. Or at least, he assumed it was unintentional.

  “It’s just….” he prompted.

  She pursed her lips and for the second time in as many seconds he found himself staring at her lips. “It’s just not always obvious to the casual observer.”

  A laugh was startled out of him and her answering grin took any sting out of her words.

  He donned a haughty tone. “I am a man with many hidden talents.”

  “Yes,” she said with a straight face. “A true man of mystery.”

  They shared a quick giddy smile before turning back to watch Jack lead the way past a group of tourists who were walking far too slowly.

  After a few moments, Elise broke the silence. “So, if this isn’t a date… what exactly is it?”

  A dream come true? No, too cheesy. For a moment he reveled in her warm smile. “The start of a new friendship?”

  Her smile grew and his chest tightened painfully in response.

  “Friends,” she repeated, saying it slowly like it was a foreign word. “Yeah, I think we can do that.”

  Chapter Seven

  Elise sipped wine on the couch as she watched Katerina add another ornament to the tree.

  “Wait, so you guys are friends now?” Katerina asked.

  Elise shrugged. “I guess so.” But the truth was, she had no idea what was going on with her and Derek. She’d spent an hour with him and Jack every day that week—when work started up again on Monday she’d picked up Jack and then gone to meet Derek, who used his lunch hour to walk aimlessly with them. But despite all this one-on-one time, she still didn’t know how to classify their outings.

  It didn’t feel like ‘just friends.’ There was flirting—definite flirting. The more they talked, the more layers she saw unraveling before her eyes. Once he warmed up a bit, Derek could actually be quite charming. And funny. And thoughtful.

  And then there were those brief, fleeting moments when she thought there might be more. Like when their hands brushed when she handed over the leash. Or when she caught his gaze moving to her lips and could have sworn his eyes were darkening with not-so-friendly thoughts.

  But he had yet to act on any of those moments and she was starting to wonder if she was making it all up in her head. Again. Like she’d done with Ben.

  “I don’t know,” Katerina continued in that analytical tone of hers. “Paying you to walk his dog just so he can hang out with you? It seems kind of weird.”

  “I think it’s sweet,” Tabitha said. She was struggling to unknot the extension cord for the electric menorah Elise had dug out of the hallway closet. Her sister was working the night shift at the hospital and she’d managed to talk her best friends into helping her make the place festive. And discuss boys, but that went without saying.

  “Is it sweet or is it creepy?” Katerina mused as she stood back to survey her work.

  “It’s not creepy,” Elise said a little too quickly. But she couldn’t help it. She was starting to actually like Derek, as a friend definitely, and maybe as something more? That was the part she was struggling with and what she was hoping her friends could help her to figure out.

  “So, to recap,” Tabitha said, temporarily ditching her work on the extension cord. “This guy, Derek, is attractive…”

  She looked to Elise for confirmation and she nodded quickly. “Oh definitely. He’s a hottie by anyone’s standards.”

  “He’s attractive,” Tabitha continued, ticking the traits off on her finger. “He’s funny.”

  Again Elise nodded. The more she got to know him, the more his sense of humor came out to play.

  “He’s smart, successful, and apparently has a major crush on you,” Tabitha continued. “So what’s the problem?”

  “But does he?” Elise said.

  Both friends stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

  “Does he what?” Katerina asked.

  “Does he like-me like me?” she asked. “I mean like-me-as-more-than-a-friend like me?”

  “We understand what ‘like me’ means,” Katerina said, amusement clear in her voice.

  Tabitha outright laughed. “And of course he likes you. No guy would go to this much trouble unless he had a thing for you.”

  Elise bit her lip. But what if he didn’t? What if he really did just want to be friends, just like Ben? And more importantly, if he did like-her like her, did she feel the same?

  She asked the second question out loud, not wanting to rehash the Ben situation at that particular moment.

  “What do you mean?” Katerina asked, her all-seeing gaze focused on Elise. “You don’t know if you’re attracted to him or not?”

  “I—I don’t know.” Her friends stared at her as she tried to put it into words. “I don’t know if I can trust what I’m feeling. I mean, I was so sure that what Ben and I had—”

  “You need to forget about th
at guy,” Tabitha said.

  Elise nodded. “Yeah, I know. But even without him in the equation, I’m emotionally confused when it comes to Derek. I mean, a week ago I thought he was intimidating. And I don’t find anyone intimidating. Then I started to get to know him and he’s…. not intimidating. But it’s not exactly comfortable all the time either. Not like with—”

  “Don’t even say his name,” Katerina said.

  Elise rolled her eyes. She’d promised her friends she’d move on from Ben and she would. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t scarred from that non-relationship. After everything she’d thought she’d known and now everything she was finding out…she had no idea what feelings to trust. She didn’t even know if what she was feeling was real.

  Tabitha studied her for a moment. “When you say it’s ‘not comfortable,’ is it uncomfortable in a bad way?”

  Elise shook her head quickly. “No. Not at all. It’s…oh, I don’t know….” Exciting. The word popped into her head and she froze mid-sip. Was that what it was? Nervousness, anticipation, butterflies. All of those were sort of like excitement. Even when she’d been intimidated by him, it wasn’t because he was mean or anything it was because…oh hell, it was because she’d been attracted to him.

  Her friends were watching her, waiting for an answer. “Not in a bad way.”

  That apparently wasn’t good enough, they continued to stare at her and Elise shifted in her seat. They knew her far too well and were annoyingly perceptive sometimes. Like now. Somehow she just knew they were seeing more than she wanted them to. More than she was seeing.

  Sometimes it sucked when her friends knew her better than she knew herself.

  But…sometimes it could come in handy. If she couldn’t trust herself, at least she could always trust her friends. With a sigh, she said, “I think maybe I like him. But I don’t know.”

  She watched her friends share a knowing, amused look and bit back another sigh.

  “What don’t you know?” Katerina asked.