When the waiter walked off, I smiled and decided to change the subject. “Cameron’s so cute, isn’t he?”

She smiled. “Nice diversion. And yeah, he was incredibly cute, but then again with parents like Anna and Ashton, the kid’s going to be good-looking.”

“Yeah, I guess he’s got good genes,” I admitted. “Our kid would be hot too.” As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn’t. Another comment about us sleeping together. Clearly I couldn’t take a hint or a rejection.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” she commented, rolling her eyes.

“Not around you by the looks of it. So, what three jobs are you working now then?” I questioned, trying to change the subject.

“I work in a restaurant as a waitress at lunchtimes. I have a cleaning job, and I’m a maid in a hotel.” She shrugged turning her nose up.

My ears pricked up at the last one. “Oh yeah? You have one of those little French maid outfits?” I asked, grinning as I started to imagine her in one.

She sighed and a smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. “Those are just for sexual dressing up, Nate, so no, I don’t own one of those.”

“Oh. Well, don’t worry then, I’ll let you borrow mine,” I joked.

She chuckled. “You’re actually quite funny.”

I smiled at the half compliment. “So, how come we’ve never met before? You definitely weren’t at Ashton and Anna’s wedding.” They’d gotten married just over four years ago; we’d all gone to the Maldives to see them get married on the beach. At the time, it was only close friends and family invited, but if this was Anna’s best friend then surely she would have been asked to be a bridesmaid or something.

She frowned and shook her head. “No, I couldn’t go to the wedding.”

“How come?” I pressed.

She blew out a big breath and looked down at the table. “I had a lot going on at the time and it made it impossible for me to go. I’m sorry I missed it, it looked so beautiful.”

“Yeah, it was a nice place. So, what did you have going on at the time?”

“My, we are nosy aren’t we!”

Deciding to change the subject because she clearly wasn’t going to tell me, I leant forward and grinned wickedly. “So, what do you want me to do to embarrass you in the restaurant?” I teased.

Her smile fell off her face immediately. “Nothing.”

“How about I get down on one knee and propose, then pretend I’ve lost the ring?” I suggested.

She chuckled uncomfortably. “If you do that, then I’m going to say no, and announce to everyone that I’ve been sleeping with your brother and that he’s ten times better in bed than you are.”

I loved her come back. “Okay, two things wrong with that statement. One, I don’t have a brother, and two, no one’s better in bed than I am.”

She suddenly looked serious. “Nate, please don’t embarrass me. I hate being the centre of attention.” She looked at me pleadingly, giving me the most adorably cute puppy dog face I’d ever seen. Holy crap, did I just think that a girl looked cute? I meant sexy; yeah, sexy is a lot better. Wow, I’m turning into some sort of pansy or something.

“Okay, I won’t… if you agree that you find me attractive,” I offered.

“You need to bribe girls to get them to admit that? Wow, I feel a little sorry for you,” she replied, faking sympathy.

“Fine, I’ll leave it for now, but I bet you twenty bucks that you’ll be coming home with me tonight,” I stated confidently, crossing my arms over my chest.

She laughed and shook her head. “Save your money, I don’t want it. Just so this little flirting thing will stop though, I’ll tell you now that I already have a man in my life and he’s everything I need.”

She smiled happily and her face softened. Irrational jealousy started to form in my stomach. Rosie was fun, beautiful, funny and challenging. I would certainly like to see more of her, but she definitely didn’t look like she was willing to cheat on her man, so I really had no chance with her at all.

“Oh,” I muttered, trying not to show her how disappointed I was.

“Sorry. I did tell you before dinner that I wasn’t interested.” She looked at me apologetically.

The fighter in me wasn’t ready to give up yet though. “No worries, we can still enjoy dinner. Maybe I’ll make you forget your man’s name by the end of the meal.”

The rest of the night was fun. Both of us were laughing so hard that, at one point, she almost spat her drink out of her mouth. I continued to flirt with her but she really wasn’t interested. Every time she brushed me off I became more and more frustrated, but turned on by it at the same time. It was a weird sensation; liking it, but hating it at the same time. Rosie was a great person; I could see why she was such a good friend to Anna.

I paid for the dinner and she smiled gratefully as we walked out. “Thanks for that. That was a nice place,” she said, nodding over her shoulder at the restaurant as we walked down the street to where I’d parked my car.

“Yeah, and don’t worry, I’ll let you pay next time,” I joked. When she wrapped her arms around herself, hugging against the cold, I slipped my leather jacket off and draped it around her shoulders.

She smiled gratefully and pulled it tighter around her. “Thanks.”

I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She had a beautiful smile; her bottom lip was slightly fuller than her top one making them look so kissable that I could barely stop myself from grabbing her, shoving her against the nearest building, and crashing my mouth to hers.

“Sure. What time’s your train? Want to go get a drink now or something?” I asked hopefully.

“I need to get back.” She looked a little torn, as if she wanted to go for a drink with me – or maybe that was just wishful thinking because she was crushing my ego.

“Okay, come on then I’ll drive you to the station,” I said reluctantly.

When we got to my car, I strutted around to the driver’s side and climbed in, and then immediately cursed myself for not thinking to open her door for her. I was terrible with this, clearly. I had no practice with this type of thing at all, because usually the girl would be falling all over me by now so it wouldn’t matter if I’d opened her door or not. I had no idea how to be a ‘gentleman’.

The ride to the train station was quiet. When we pulled up, she shrugged off my jacket and held it out to me. Before taking it, I frowned out of the windshield, not liking the thought of just dropping her off and leaving her without knowing that she got on her train safely. It was pitch black outside. I pushed the jacket back towards her.

“I’ll walk you inside.” I didn’t wait for an answer as I climbed out of the car and started to walk around to her side. She smiled gratefully as she climbed out. While we walked to the right platform, she slipped my jacket back around her shoulders. Luckily, her train was about to leave so she wouldn’t have to wait long.

At the door of the train, she slipped my jacket off and held it out to me, smiling. “Thanks for dinner, Nate, it was fun.”

“Yeah, it was,” I agreed. I cleared my throat, just needing to try one more time. “So, do I really not get your number?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Sorry.”

“Okay, never mind, but you don’t know what you’re missing out on,” I teased.

“Oh, I can imagine. I’m pretty sure I’m missing out on incredible sex, and heartbreak,” she replied, shrugging. “Anyway, thanks for tonight. I guess I’ll see you at Cameron’s christening.”

She stepped into the train and waved before walking off inside to go and find a seat. A long groan slipped out of my mouth when she was out of sight. I’d never failed at anything in my life other than winning over this girl. As a beep sounded, signalling the doors were about to close, my body reacted instinctively. I thrust out my arm, stopping it from closing and then pushed it back open. Without even thinking it through, I jumped onto the train and let the doors slide closed behind me.

My eyes widened in shock as I looked back at the door. Shit, what the hell did I do that for? She’s just a girl for fuck’s sake! I sighed deeply as the train began to pull out of the station. It was too late to get off now. It appeared I was in for a sleepless night due to my stupid and impromptu move. She’d told me that she lived a couple of hours away, so that meant I would be on the train for a four-hour round trip. Next time think things through before jumping on a train to get a girl’s attention, asshole! I sighed deeply. At least I now got to make sure she got home safely anyway. And, on a brighter note, I now had another two hours to convince her to sleep with me.

I glanced down the carriage. Rosie was sitting about half way down; her head was resting back on the seat, her eyes were closed. I grinned and walked up to her, stopping at her side.

“Fuck me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your name Claire?” I asked.

Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at me, clearly shocked, as I sat down in the empty seat next to hers. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, looking at me like I was crazy.

I shrugged. No idea actually. “Wouldn’t be much of a stalker if I didn’t find out where you lived, would I?”

Chapter Three

We chatted easily the whole trip. She told me about the school she was going to be working at. How she had graduated college, but wasn’t able to find a teaching job in her home town, so she had to come to LA instead. Apparently, she didn’t like LA very much and was going to miss her mom who she would be leaving in Barstow. She was, however, excited to have her dream job and be closer to Anna and her younger sister.

We talked a little about my job and where I lived. I continued to flirt, and she continued to reject me. Rosie was incredibly funny and smart, and I couldn’t help but admire her putdowns. During the whole two-hour trip, there wasn’t a single awkward silence. Usually I ran out of things to say to a girl after a little while – which wouldn’t be a problem because I’d just shove my tongue down her throat – but Rosie just seemed to capture my attention.

I also noticed little things about her that made me smile, like how she used her hands when she spoke of something she was passionate about, or how she bit her bottom lip when she was concentrating. How she kept brushing the tendrils of hair back that had escaped around her face, but they were slightly too short to go behind her ear so they would just fall back again immediately. How her brown eyes seemed to sparkle in the dull train lighting above our heads.

When we pulled in at her station, she smiled and stood up. “Thanks for making sure I got here.”

I stood up too. What I really wanted to do was walk her to her front door and make sure she got home safely. It was well after midnight now, and she shouldn’t be walking the streets alone.

“I’ll just find out what time the next train is back to LA,” I muttered, following her off the train to the little board that showed the times.

After a quick scan, I noted that there was a train leaving in five minutes, and then another in an hour.

“How far away do you live?” I asked, looking over the empty train station.

Rosie smiled and shouldered her purse. “It’s only about ten minutes’ walk. Thanks for dinner and the company.”

“No worries.” I took my jacket off and slipped it around her shoulders, discreetly leaving my arm there too as I started leading her towards the main entrance.

She stopped and frowned up at me. “Nate, seriously, go get a seat before the train goes without you.”

“I’ll get the next one and walk you home.” I shrugged easily, tightening my arm around her shoulders as I guided her to start walking again.

“You sure? I mean, I’ll be fine from here.”

“I’m sure. I’ll walk you.”

She didn’t shrug my arm off, so I smiled and left it there. Rosie’s petite form fitted under my arm perfectly.

“Okay, thank you.” She pulled my jacket tighter around her and smiled gratefully as the wind whipped around us. “So, what time do you have to start work tomorrow?” she asked, making conversation as we started to walk down a dark and not-very-well-lit street.

“Five,” I replied, grimacing.

She gasped. “Five in the morning? You won’t get time to sleep! You should go get that earlier train. At least then you might be able to catch a couple of hours sleep before work,” she protested, stopping and frowning.

I fought a smile at her stern expression and the concern that was clear across her face. “Rosie, will you keep walking? It’s late at night, and it’s dark, there could be all sorts of weirdos lingering down these dark streets, just waiting to take advantage of a handsome thing like me,” I joked, looking around with mock horror.

She laughed and shook her head. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll protect you.”

“Thanks.” I grinned as we started walking again.

The walk to her apartment was short, like she’d said. When we arrived at her building, I followed her up to the third floor and stopped outside her door. She looked up at me, fiddling with her keys in her hand and shifting on her feet uncomfortably.

“I can’t invite you in, I’m sorry.”

I smiled and shook my head; I hadn’t expected her to.

“It’s fine. So, maybe when you move to LA we could catch up or something?” I suggested, trying desperately not to lean in and press my lips against hers. Her bottom lip looked so incredibly inviting, especially when she chewed on it like she was doing at the moment. My body longed to press against her, to pin her against the wall, to rip her clothes off and run my tongue across every inch of her. But instead of doing any of that, I ran my hand through my hair and tried not to let my desire show on my face.