Thwarting Cupid. Lori Crawford
he felt like he'd taken the easy way out. Others, he thought that maybe his imagination had just run away with him for a day. It was silly of him to be scared of Carissa. She was his friend. Or maybe that was the problem. He wanted more, but wasn't sure if she did. Just the thought of her rejecting him hurt more than it should. If she had the chance to spurn him for real, he wasn't sure he'd recover. Maybe it was best that they just be friends. Or maybe...
His watch beeped. He was surprised to see how late it had gotten. The staff must be starving. “I should run.” For the first time, her smile didn't quite reach her eyes when she nodded. Just maybe... “But what are you doing for dinner? We can sit back and get all caught up.”
She wasn't expecting that one. He could tell because she'd never be a good poker player. Not with the way she wore that heart of hers on her sleeve. Every emotion she had played itself out in those big brown eyes of hers for all the world to see.
“Oh, um...dinner sounds good. But I don't know that I'm interesting enough to fill all that time.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet, too. “Then we'll talk about the weather.”
“That's gotta be more interesting than I am.”
“Whatever. Do you live over this way? I'll swing by to pick you up. There's this lovely little restaurant on Main Street I think you'll love.”
“That's perfect. I walk down there all the time.”
Hutch's jaw dropped open when she told him her address. “You've got to be kidding me.”
Carissa frowned. “What?”
“You live across the street from me. What are the chances? And how have we managed not to run into each other until now?”
“I haven't the slightest idea. That's pretty wild. I've been there for almost three years now.”
“I moved in two years ago.”
Carissa laughed. “The neighborhood went to seed and I didn't even notice.”
He made a face at her. “Seems to me it was already there.” His phone buzzed in his pocket. The staff must be ready to send out a search party by now. Not necessarily for him, but for their food. He silenced the phone, and gave Carissa another hug. On a whim, he planted a kiss on her cheek.
“I'll come over at seven. We'll walk to the restaurant together. Sound like a plan?”
“It's perfect. See you tonight.”
* * * *
Carissa turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray. She still couldn't believe how giddy she felt right this moment. It was silly, really. It was just dinner with a friend. Granted, the friend was a hottie whom she'd wished was more on multiple occasions, but that didn't change the facts. Hutch was just a friend. When he'd called her Cara, though, she’d thought she'd heard a ‘more than a friend’ note in his voice. It wasn't surprising, considering the circumstances surrounding his giving her the nickname.
It had been a long time since she'd thought about that day. They'd bantered and flirted their way through a pretty unorganized fundraising dinner. It had been meaningless. She’d thought she'd been the only one affected by the constant looks and brushes and smiles. When the bartender suggested they get a room, she’d started to think maybe they could take it to another level. She'd gone home that night and wondered if they would still be in the same place the next time they saw each other. She had been disappointed when he introduced her to Tabitha instead. Deciding that she'd misread the signals–after all, she didn't have that much experience–Carissa had simply put everything behind her.
But now, Tabitha was out of the picture and Hutch had asked her out! Carissa tried to curb her enthusiasm at the thought. He hadn't said it was a date or anything of that nature. Sure, he'd kissed her cheek, which he'd never done before, but that was more of a friendly gesture, right? Her body didn't want to agree, since her nipples insisted on tightening at the memory.
Carissa took a breath and forced herself to think of anything else. She adjusted the frosted glass slat on the bathroom window to stare into the tree where she'd watched squirrels or an occasional hummingbird chowing down on the thick vegetation. There. That was better. Concentrating on the little bulbs that all appeared to be half eaten at this time of year meant that her hands didn’t have much chance to wander off course while she bathed. Instead, she mused about how neat it was that such different animals could feed from the same place.
A door closed somewhere beyond the tree, shaking her out of her thoughts. The building across the way was pretty much hidden by the leaves, but she could still just make out an outline of a porch. She had no idea who lived there. Maybe she should make more of an effort to meet her neighbors. If she had done that before, she would've known long ago that Hutch lived right across the street from her. It was mind boggling.
Carissa shut off the water and grabbed her towel from the rack to dry off. She paused when she noticed the bruise forming on her arm. She rolled her eyes. It was a byproduct of her little run-in with Kelvin, no doubt. She’d contacted Officer Garcia the moment she’d gotten home. She hadn’t been able to reach him, but his partner had given her an email address to which she could mail the photo. She’d taken care of that before they’d hung up. It was almost too bad. Garcia had been a hottie, too. Carissa frowned. Was it wrong of her to be thinking of one hottie while getting dressed for a date with another?
Before she could work that thought through, a new problem struck her. Carissa hadn't the faintest idea what she should wear. Her hands froze while her mind made a desperate mental search through her closet. Hutch hadn't told her the name of the restaurant so that was no help. He had said they could walk down to Main Street, which meant she'd need to wear comfortable shoes. Knowing the types of restaurants lining the street was no help either. They ranged from totally upscale to beyond beach casual.
She hung up the towel and headed to her bedroom naked. She stood in front of her closet, hoping the visual would help her decide. She didn't want to appear to have made too much effort in case she had read him wrong and this was just two friends having dinner and getting caught up on each other's lives. But if he was thinking ‘date,’ she'd need to go in a different direction with her selection.
She laid a blouse on her bed and pulled out the slacks she always wore with it. Was this too business-like? Carissa held up a skirt and thin sweater that had sparkly thread knitted in. Was this too fancy? She groaned. Why was this so hard? She never fussed this much over her appearance. Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't already seen her at her fanciest best or her grungiest worst, given the tasks they'd undertaken as volunteers.
Carissa fingered the blouse and mused how much easier it would be if she could just see what he was wearing first. She cocked her head at the thought. He was walking over to her place, right? She had a pretty long driveway, which would be plenty of time to spy what he had on and then slip into something comparable before he got to the door. Perfect!
While she laid out one more choice, Carissa got that not-so-alone feeling she would get every now and again. Even though she knew it was ridiculous, Carissa still looked around her bedroom as if she could see who was spying on her. She hastily pulled out a matched set of bra and panties in an effort to feel less vulnerable. When she bent over to slide the panties on she felt a twinge in her low back, which made her frown in confusion. She stood up and waited to see if she felt it again. She hadn't ever experienced anything quite like that before. She forgot all about the feeling of being watched to focus on what she'd just felt.
When nothing else happened, she shrugged and picked up the bra. Now that she'd solved the wardrobe thing and decided that her being watched was impossible through her window’s closed blinds, she wondered how much make up should she wear. It was unseasonably warm out and humid near the ocean. The last thing Carissa wanted was for her face to go sliding off while she and Hutch walked. That would not be a good thing, she thought, bending over to adjust her bosom inside the bra. And that was when all hell broke loose.
The twinge of pain she'd felt before magnified into flaming daggers that seemed to radiate from her low