Free 500 Days by Jessica Miller Page B

Jasper complained.
    “ Whatever.” I left and
headed down to his work station. His client was back in the room.
He had his back to me and was looking at all of Jasper’s work he
had on the wall. He was also shirtless and oh my, did he have a
nice figure. He was over six foot, dark hair that seemed to be a
little longer in the middle than the rest, tight, toned muscles and
jeans that hung a little low on his thin frame, and a butt that was
just so perfect I wanted to reach over and pinch it.
    He must have sensed my presence because he
turned around. His blue grey eyes widened a bit before he smiled.
My smile fell when I realized who it was. It was that jerk musician
from the bar.
    His eyes drifted down to my legs and worked
their way up my body and back to my eyes. The way he was looking at
me made me feel like he was seeing me for the first time. He
studied my eyes for a second. He didn’t know who I was. He has
never seen me out of uniform and with no makeup, hair down, and
wearing shorts and a tank top; it was easy for people to not
recognize me outside of work, which is what I preferred. “Sorry,
didn’t know anyone was in here.”
    “ It’s okay,” he said,
still staring at my eyes.
    “ I just have to get
something and I’ll be out of your hair.”
    “ It’s not a problem.” He
turned back to the drawings on the wall. His normal cocky
confidence he exuded at the bar seemed to have escaped him. He must
be one of those guys who gets liquid courage. I walked over to
Jasper’s desk and looked through his things. I couldn’t help but
peek at him out of the corner of my eye. He had his one arm across
his chest while his elbow rested on his hand and the other he
rested his chin on. I caught him sneaking a peek at me and
pretended I didn’t notice, which was hard with the way he was
looking at me. I could feel his eyes on me while I continued to
look through Jasper’s desk.
    “ Do I know you?” he asked,
leaning in closer.
    “ Doubtful.”
    He moved in even closer and I instinctively
took a step back. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t help but think we’ve
met somewhere before.”
    I put my hand on his chest to stop him from
getting any closer. “Look, I’m not interested so you can just drop
it.”
    “ Did I miss something
here?” He looked confused.
    “ I know a pick up line
when I hear one and I’m trying to let you down easy.”
    He chuckled, amused. “That was a far cry
from a pick up line.” He dropped his chin to my hand that was still
on his chest.
    I quickly pulled it away. I couldn’t help
myself. My eyes found their way to his abs. It was kind of hard not
to check him out when he was standing there shirtless and right in
front of me. God this guy was cut in all the right places. My eyes
lingered a little longer than they should have and he cleared his
throat. “Like what you see?”
    “ Hardly,” I spat,
embarrassed at being caught checking him out.
    “ It’s okay, you can look.
I’m not shy,” he winked. So I was wrong about the liquid
courage.
    “ No, you’re just an
arrogant prick.” He smiled and I found myself not able to take my
eyes of his chest and abs. I mentally smacked myself in the
forehead. I rolled my eyes and searched for the tattoo Jasper drew
up for me. He moved closer to me and when I caught his scent I felt
a small shiver go through me. Something about that scent was all
too familiar. He was just a few inches away from me now and I could
feel my heart start to race. What the fuck?
    “ You know, for someone who
claims we never met, you sure have developed an opinion of me very
quickly.”
    “ I call’em like I
see’em.”
    He snapped his fingers as if a light bulb
just went off in his head. “Now I know where I know you from.
You’re the little red devil.”
    “ Excuse me?”
    “ That’s it,” he took a
step closer, backing me up against the desk. “You’re Alex, the
bartender with the attitude.”
    “ I think you have me
confused with someone