Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

God, I must be hungry, she thought, averting her gaze.

“Thank you. Have a seat and we will bring your order out to you shortly,” Becky said as Dan placed a hand on the curve of her back and coaxed her away.

He guided her to another table and as they sat down, he gestured to the corner of his lips with his thumb. “Um, Bree, you got a little...”

He trailed off as she felt her cheeks heat up even more. Hastily wiping away the drool, she wondered how she managed to drool again. Awash with embarrassment, she hid behind her hands as she pressed them to her face. This day could not get any worse.

Dan chuckled. “Don’t worry. The food will get here in a minute.” He leaned his chin against his hand, propped up on the table. His head was tilted slightly, where the tips of his hair brushed against the wall.

She glanced at the man who just came in at the counter, feeling her heart skip a beat. She suddenly felt boxed in, like the space shrunk and the stranger was standing right next to her instead of twenty-five feet away.

Long blond hair fell a few inches past his shoulders. He had it tucked behind his ear so her eyes could trail along his defined, square jawline, where a thin beard grew, making him look like he’d just stepped out of the woods after two weeks of being lost. He had to be close to thirty, maybe twenty-eight, and about six and a half feet tall with a thick, muscular built. A simple cotton white tee clung to his torso, drawing attention to this broad shoulders, thick biceps, and visible six-pack abs.

His piercing blue eyes met with hers for a split second before she quickly diverted her gaze.

Holy cow on steroids!

Luckily, before Dan could catch her eyes growing wide, his attention focused behind her, the food came out and was placed in front of them.

“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” the woman, a younger petite brunette, said before she hurried off.

Aubree stared at the food. She could still feel the man’s gaze on her, making her gulp.

“There you go,” Dan said, picking up a fork and knife and plunging them into a heavenly smelling cinnamon roll. “Dig in.”

She couldn’t though. Not while the stranger stared at her.

Not wanting to worry Dan, she picked up a chocolate croissant and bit into the warm flaky roll. Upon melting in her mouth, she immediately forgot about the staring stranger. “Mmmm.”

“Good, huh?”

“It was worth it.”

He raised an eyebrow at her as she continued to moan. Glancing around, he shifted in his seat before leaning forward and whispering, “Do you have to sound like you’re having an orgasm?”

"Foodgasm,” she corrected, licking the chocolate from her fingers. “It’s not the same.”

A muffled chuckle caught her attention and her eyes flicked to the man still standing at the counter. His blue eyes danced before his expression grew serious again.

Crap, did he hear that too?

Ignoring the heat flaring up again in her cheeks, she turned back to her food and began to eat more quietly, stifling the desire to express her fondness for the delightful flavors mingling with her taste buds.

Through the corner of her eye, she saw the man take a large paper cup from the counter and stroll to the table she had previously glanced at by the window.

The frothing machine swirled and bubbled before her coffee and Dan’s cappuccino came out.

She chatted idly with Dan while they ate and drank. Aubree told him about the animal she’d almost hit last night, and he expressed concern and understanding about her unhappiness given the disaster that had been his apartment only hours ago.

Every so often, when Dan turned his attention to his cappuccino, she looked over and caught the gorgeous man staring at her as he sipped on his coffee.

She didn’t know why he kept staring at her, but it made her heart pound and her stomach flutter in anxiety. What was his deal?

Soon it was time to go, and they got up and headed out. They stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things and returned home. All the while, they fell back into step, the way they had been in those early months of dating. He’d steal her around a corner and sneak a kiss before pulling her back along the sidewalk.

It was like things had never changed between the two of them.

That night, she finally got the sex she’d been hankering for, with fleeting thoughts of the mysteriously handsome stranger from the café.

The weekend flew by, filled with washing Dan’s laundry and unpacking all of her things—or rather, unpacking as many of her things as she could. She needed a wardrobe for her to put her clothes in. Until then, the majority of her clothes had to stay in her luggage.

Dan had to work on Monday, and she didn’t start her new job until the following week. This gave her time to get familiar with the neighborhood and go shopping for a new wardrobe.

She didn’t get that weird feeling again since that first day she stepped out with Dan.

It wasn’t until minutes of leaving the café Monday morning, coffee in hand, that that unsettling feeling welled up within her again.

Looking around her, she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. How could it be gone one minute and then back the next?

Something inside her told her that she was being followed. Not wanting to take any chances, she knew she had better try to lose the stalker in case he followed her home.

Entering a plaza, she crossed the parking lot and hastened to the grocery store. Once inside, she hurried into a corner where she could get a good view of the entrance while concealing herself behind a wall of produce.

A woman and two children came in, followed by a senior couple.

She wondered how long she’d have to wait until a questionable looking man walked in. A few minutes passed. She pretended to look at the bananas in front of her, all the while growing more anxious.

What if she was imagining things? What if this creepy vibe she was getting had nothing to do with feeling watched and everything to do with feeling like a newcomer in a strange city and still trying to gather her bearings?

Sighing, she attempted to convince herself that it was the latter making her edgy.

She decided to pick up some fabric softener while she was there. Dan was getting low, and she bet she’d be doing most, if not all, of their laundry, just to ensure her delicates were washed on the right setting and hung to dry.

Maybe she was over-reacting to the state his apartment had been? It could have been worse, and he did pick up after himself since she arrived. But what if he started to slack off in a matter of weeks and left all the housework up to her?

I’ll have to make sure he helps out and not do everything myself, she told herself as she paid the cashier.

Marriage was hopefully in the near future, but if he wasn’t willing to pull his weight around the house, that might complicate matters. She wanted to be his wife, his equal, not his personal housekeeper in addition to working her own full-time job. That’s not even considering the children she was hoping to have in the future.

She shook her head to clear it as she headed out the door. Have a little faith in him.

Two steps out of the sliding glass doors, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

She felt it instantaneously, like a jolt of lightning struck her and she jump at the intensity of it. Her eyes grew wide as she turned and saw him leaning against the brick wall between the grocery store and the next shop down.

It was the same man from the café. Aubree couldn’t help but stare back at him, unable to move under his piercing blue gaze.

Her mind went blank.