The car that pulls into my driveway couldn't look any more out of place and unexpected. I'm surprised Ed let it through. There's a rusty little company sign attached to the roof of the car with a pizza logo that almost explains things, but even still, Ed knows we seldom order pizza, and if we do, the delivery services don't look like that.

I cock my head as I look out from my balcony, watching as the car parks and a slender young man climbs awkwardly out.

I nearly swallow my own damn tongue as I watch him. He's small, too small. His every movement is slight and sharp and clumsy like his limbs just aren't long enough to do daily tasks. Its so fucking endearing that it takes my breath away, and I watch him silently as if any harsh sound might scare him away.

He's wearing a t-shirt that looks like it's seen one too many washes and loose jeans that have holes worn in the material the old-fashioned way.

As he leans into the car, scrambling for something, his shirt rides up a little and the glimpse of that little bit of soft, naked skin sends a jolt all the way through me and settles at my cock.

It's insane and irrational, but there's something about him that warms my blood. I can't look away from him. Everything about the way he moves—the sweet softness to him as he gathers himself and marches up to my front door—it's all so...captivating.

He runs a hand through his messy brown hair that my hands are itching to get into, and I almost call out to him, but I can't. I'm somehow frozen in place, unable to do anything but keep staring at this magnificent beauty with insecurity written all over his face as he walks up to my front door. And why was that so fucking attractive? Why was he so fucking attractive?

I try to listen when Ed opens the front door. I want to know what he sounds like, if his voice is as soft and delicate as the rest of him or if he defies all expectations with a low and heavy voice that sticks to you in all the right ways. I want to hear him so badly that if I could have forced my body to move, I might have been leaning way too far over the balcony to get within earshot.

The sound of the door closing snaps me out of my stupor, and I'm finally able to get my body to cooperate.

I rush inside the house and bolt for the stairs. I have to get to him before he makes it back to his car and pulls off. With my one-track mind, I almost forget there are other people inside, and I come within an inch of running square into my best friend Derden's chest when I make it to the bottom of the steps.

Derden steps back. "Whoa. What's the rush?"

"Who ordered pizza?" I ask quickly.

Derden cocks one of his thick, dark eyebrows. "What?"

I don't have time for this, so I blow past him.

"Jeeze," my brother Chester says from the sitting room sofa. "What's got your panties in a wad?"

"Did you order it?" I snap at my brother as I continue running for the door.

"No." Chester shrugs. "But I'm sure as hell going to eat it," he says with a chuckle as my house manager, Ed, sets the pizza down on a small coffee table in front of him.

"Don't worry, sir," Ed says to me. "It's been paid for, and the delivery boy was handsomely tipped regardless."

"Where?" I ask Ed. "Where did it come from? The pizza, I mean," I say, my brain still a fuzzy, jumbled mess. Whoever that delivery boy was, he's got me all twisted up, and I'm not sure I'll ever get untwisted.

I push past Ed and go for the front door, knowing he won't still be out there but hoping.

I yank open the door and breathe out a sigh of disappointment. As expected, he's gone, and for some reason, I feel my chest ache.

Ed places a hand on my shoulder and stares at me in concern. "Are you okay, sir?"

"Where did the pizza come from, Ed?" I ask, still staring out at my empty driveway.

"A little place downtown. It's called Ma's."

I nod and sadly close the front door. "Okay," I say. "Thank you."

I head back into my living room, knowing the guys are going to give me hell for acting like an insane person. But honestly, I could give a shit. The only thought running through my head is, I have to find him.

"What the fuck was that?" Chester asks as he stuffs nearly a whole slice of pizza into his mouth. "Mmm," he hums as he chews. "That's good shit."

I roll my eyes as I watch my brother gorge himself on pizza so greasy that oil drips into his hand and runs down his arm until it disappears in the dark lines of his tattoos.

"I wanted to catch the delivery boy," I say.

"Why? Ed told you we paid for it," Chester says. "Also, even if you wanted to give it back, half the pizza is gone now."

I shake my head in frustration. "No, I didn't want to return the pizza, Chester."

Derden plops down in a chair across from Chester, who offers him a slice of pizza, but Derden shakes his head. No surprise. He's got more rules and restrictions about what he can eat than any of us can keep up with. Some are self-imposed and others are dietary rules imposed on him by his agent for whatever movie he's filming for at the moment.

"Then what's the deal? Why are you chasing after delivery boys?" Derden asks with a snicker.

"It doesn't matter," I say, grabbing a set of keys off the end table. I inspect them and realize they're Chester's keys. "Can I borrow your car?" I ask. "I'll explain later, I promise."

Chester looks me over for a moment and shrugs. "Yeah, I guess." Chester wipes his greasy hands down jeans that are way too expensive to use as a napkin. "Don't look in the glove compartment," he says. "Oh, and if you get pulled over, definitely don't let the cops search the car. Also..."

"You know what, nevermind." I wave my hand and put his keys back down. It's my own fault. I love my baby brother, but he's always been interested in the grittier aspects of life. It's the reason our father left the company to me after his death. I'm the responsible one, the one who would pick up where he left off without making waves. Sometimes I hate that about myself. Sometimes I wish I was as fearless and reckless as my little brother, and other times, like now, I'm just glad I don't lead a life where someone can't borrow my car without getting a list of potential dangers.

I shuffle through some things on the table and pick up Derden's keys. "I'll take Derden's car," I say, clutching them up without even asking him.

"Or you could take your own," Derden offers.

I nod. "Sure. I'll do that. Did you assholes park like normal people or did you block the entire garage?"

The guilty looks on their faces tell me all I need to know.

"Fine. Take my car," Derden says.

I nod and bolt out of the house. I have no idea what or where Ma's is, so it takes me a minute of Googling to figure out where I'm going.

I'm glad Ed gave him a sufficient tip because the place is easily a thirty minute drive away if you follow the speed limit, which I most certainly am not going to do.

Leaving the boys behind, I walk to Derden's Shelby, hop in, and peel out of the driveway. Luckily, when you have the kind of money I do after my father left me his business, you don't worry about the cost of a speeding ticket, because I blow every speed limit there is on my way to Ma's Pizzeria. I want to catch this guy before he heads out on his next delivery, or worse, his shift ends and he's gone for the night.

The pizza shop sits in a tiny shopping center in downtown San Marcy, Texas. It's small enough that the only real parking is on the street, and I have to squeeze Derden's car between two SUVs.

Heading inside, I roll my shoulders trying to shake off the obvious infatuation that has me a little too excited for a pizza joint.

When two guys who don't remotely hold a candle to mine walk out to greet me, my excitement all but crashes like a wave slamming into a cliff. I don't know what I was expecting. Possibly that I would walk into the pizza shop and immediately see my guy? That he would maybe run into my arms and just know that we were meant to be, the same way I somehow knew it was true.

But the two bleach blonds gawking at me as I walk into the pizza shop bring me crashing down to reality. This isn't a kid's fairytale. I'm going to have to work for my guy, apparently.

"How can I help you?" one of the blonds asks. He's slightly taller than the other, but the two of them are nearly mirror reflections of one another everywhere else.

He's not even trying to hide the way he's ogling me. Normally, that doesn't bother me. I'm used to the attention from men and women, but even if I wasn't looking for someone very specific tonight, he's not my type.

"Holy shit!" The second blond's mouth parts a little as his eyes widen. "It's the Texas King!"

I offer a forced smile. I didn't love that title, but ever since my father's passing, every media outlet in Texas has dubbed me the new king. My father had never been as much of a public figure as I feel I am. People treat me like a celebrity around town, and I can't say that I love it. I just want to do my job and do it well, not be in the public eye. My father's father immigrated to America with nothing but the clothes on his back and the shoes on his feet. He started a business, and he passed that business on to my father and now, my father to me. All I want is to make them proud, not to gain five-million social media followers.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," I say as pleasantly as I can without inviting more conversation about my media-given title. "I'm looking for a delivery boy. He just dropped a pizza off at my house. I didn't catch his name, though."

"Fucking Eli!" The taller one grits his teeth. "What did he screw up now?"

I bristle and clench my fist. There's something about his tone that I don't really like. "No, it's nothing like that," I offer.

"We can give you a discount," he continues. His eyes do a slow walk up and down my body, and he bites his lip as his eyes settle just below my waist. "Or, we could make it up to you in better ways."

I blink at him. What the fuck is this place? Who the fuck are these guys? "Not interested," I say flatly. "In either of those. I'm just looking for the delivery guy. Eli, right?"

Both of the blonds frown at me. "No, he's not here. He's M-I-A tonight," the taller one says.

"Unreliable little shit," the other chimes in. "I can't wait for the day we can fire that little asshole."

In one step, I close the space between me and the counter they are behind. I plant my hands on it and lean in to make sure they can see the seriousness in my gaze. I'm taller than both of them, and as I loom over the counter, they both straighten a little, snapping to attention.

They both take a step back and glance at each other, a worried expression briefly crossing their faces.

"You talk too much," I growl. "Both of you."

I can see the Adam's apple on one of them bob, but neither of them speaks. Good. Glad that I got my point across.

"Is there a number where I can reach him?" I say.

The big guy's smug look returns, and he crosses his arms like he thinks it makes him look tough. I almost laugh. "We don't just go around handing out our employee's phone numbers, even if they are a pain in the ass."

I glare at him, but the other guy steps up beside him and mimics his pose, and it is clear they aren't giving me anything. Slapping my hand on the counter, I smirk when both of them jump, but I head back out to my car.

On the way home, I try to remember if I've ever gone through so much trouble for a guy, but I already know that answer is no. Finding a guy has never been a problem for me. I've never had to chase one down, not even when I was a kid. Men just fell at my feet even though most days back then, I just wanted to learn the business from my father. Boys hadn't been of much interest to me until my twenties, and even then, the interest has only been sexual...until now.

There's something about this guy. The innocence that seemed to echo off him, and the clear way he had no clue just how fucking sexy he was without even trying. I have to meet him, even if that means going back to that pizzeria everyday until his next shift.

***

"Olivia, print out the financials for the first two quarters this year and bring them to my office," I say as I stroll by my assistant's desk and into my office.

"Of course," she says with a nod that makes her blunt-cut bob sway with the movement.

Olivia is my executive secretary, and I swear I'd be lost without her. I'm not blind to the fact that I'm a little nicer to her than some of the other staff, but she works her ass off and has earned my full respect time and again. If it wasn't for her, I'm not sure I would have made it running the place.

When my dad died suddenly and out of the blue, I became C.E.O. of a multi-billion-dollar empire, and I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. I made rash decisions, million-dollar mistakes, and it took me a long time to reconcile with the fact that I couldn't do everything all on my own. Insert Olivia. My backbone and the support system at work I didn't know I needed.

I hear the gossip about how much softer I am toward her in comparison to the rest of the staff.. Some of the rumors even involved her and I naked on the conference room table. I think that one came from Janice in Accounting and is derived more from wishful thinking that if I would sleep with one girl at the office, maybe all of them had a chance...but it won't be happening with her or anyone who works for me, even if I wasn't already mentally taken by my mysterious delivery boy. He's been on my mind nonstop, and all I can seem to do with myself is daydream about the next time I might see him.

I close my eyes and try to piece together what it might be like to touch his beautiful, messy curls; to run my fingers along his soft, gorgeous cheeks.

The click of my office door opening pulls my head out of the clouds, and I am glad I'm sitting behind my desk when Olivia walks in with a handful of financials and sets them in front of me. I don't need her catching me with a boner in the office. If that got out, I'm sure it would only fuel the flame on the rumors Janice is stirring.

"I made sure to highlight the areas where certain departments went over budget," Olivia says, "and you'll see I put a star by the ones who not only stayed in budget, but helped increase profit margins each quarter."

I pull the reports closer and begin skimming through them. "Did you see any pattern in the departments that are consistently over budget?"

"Yes. If you look at the last page, I broke down the most profitable departments and those that seem to just be out to cost the company money."

Nodding, I flip to the last page and I feel my blood pressure rising. "How the hell does Accounting keep going over budget? All they really have to budget for is employee salaries and office supplies."

Olivia is shaking her head when I look up at her, and from the expression on her face, she's just as pissed as me. "They've got a couple clock-riders down there. Can never get their work done and are always clocking in for overtime and taking advantage of the night and weekend shift differential. I believe that's considered time card fraud. That or they're really lousy at their jobs because there are enough of them that they should be able to get their work done in a forty-hour work week. But, when your manager doesn't hold you accountable, that is what happens."

I nod at her. "Thanks, Olivia."

"Do you need anything else?"

"No." I hold up the financials. "I'm going to get this taken care of today."

Once Olivia is out of the office, I dial Jason's extension. He's my other life-line, both in this place and out of it. When I first took over, I never would have thought Jason would be the person I called to take care of financials, but here we are.

He and his twin brother Jensen are two of my best friends, but the two of them were athletes. National MMA fighters who'd made massive names for themselves. Or at least they used to be. Jensen still fought, even now, he was away at training camp. But Jason had taken another route. After his injury, he'd put down the gloves and came to join me at my father's firm, and he was the smartest businessman I'd ever worked with.

"What's up, cuz?" Jason answers on the first ring, and I chuckle. Smartest businessman I knew, but he lacked finesse and especially phone etiquette.

"We need to talk about these financials, and I think it's time to do some revamping of the Accounting team."

"Be right there."

***

"Overall, things are looking good," Jason says, reviewing the final recap on the financials for the third quarter.

"I agree. We surpassed our net profit goal by 1.7 million, and we still have a month left before we'll have all the numbers from the fourth quarter. I want to give some bonuses to the staff. Can you get with payroll and make that happen? I'll email you the approved numbers."

"Yeah, no problem. What are we doing about these issues in Accounting with employees riding the clock? At the least we should make sure they don't get the bonus."

"Agreed. I think it's time for new management there. Not only is Regina letting them get away with time card fraud, from what I've been gathering, she doesn't like to enforce any policy. And she's been leaving early almost every day for the last quarter. I want her gone, and Janice, too. Gossip isn't going to be tolerated. Put the others who were milking the overtime on a final notice. Hopefully they can get their acts together under better management. If not, they'll be out the door, too."

Jason nods. "Do you have anyone in mind to take over the manager's position?"

A notification comes through on my phone, and I glance at it before responding to Jason, only it's the time that catches my attention. I look at my watch like I expect the time to be different and stand up and walk around my desk.

"Shit," I say. "Time got away from me. I trust your judgment to put an interim manager in charge. We can talk about looking for a permanent replacement tomorrow. I've got to go. Sorry."

Jason frowns at me. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get to that pizza place."

Jason's brows draw together, then suddenly shoot up like he made the connection. "This isn't about that delivery guy from this weekend, is it?"

I shrug as I walk toward the door of my office. "Yeah. So?"

"So, what are you doing?" Jason stares at me in concern. "Stalking him? For what?"

"I'm not stalking him," I argue, not sure if I'm lying or not. Certainly, if I knew where he was, I couldn't say for sure that I wouldn't be hunting him down like a wolf. "I'm just..." I let out an agitated breath. "I don't know, okay. I just have to meet him. Get it out of my system or something." That part I know is a lie. I know that seeing him again will just be a gateway drug. I'll want more. But I can't say that without sounding like a crazy person.

Jason's brows pull together, and he stares at me for a long time. I stare back without batting an eye.

He shrugs. "Okay. I guess you've got to do what you've got to do," he says with a sigh. "Just don't get arrested. Or at least call me if you do so I can make the press release."

"Noted." I nod and walk out the door, leaving my office wide open.

"Don't worry. I'll lock up for you," Jason calls behind me, and I don't miss the sarcasm in his voice.

I don't have a clue what Eli's hours are at the pizzeria or if he's even going to be working there today, but I'm betting based on the time of day when he delivered to my house that he works evenings and nights. I do know one thing this time around. His name is Eli. At least the blockheads from the pizza shop were good for that.

Once again, I catch myself breaking every speed limit from my office to Ma's Pizzeria. It occurs to me as I'm pulling up to park along the curb for the second day in a row that no guy has ever gotten under my skin like this one. Especially one I got a three-second glance at from the second story balcony of my home.

Looking at the building, I consider briefly how crazy I'll look to Eli just showing up here when he has no clue I even exist. "Screw it," I say to myself, then I hop out of the car and head inside.

As soon as I'm inside, I wish I'd been lucky enough to run into Eli on the sidewalk, or anywhere but in here for that matter. The jugheads are once again front and center. This time, they're wearing name tags. The big, mouthy one is Cole, and his smaller sidekick is Corey. Judging by the trajectory of Cole's eyes, right down my body yet again, it's clear I didn't do a good enough job of getting my point across last time.

Flexing my fists, I'm getting ready to paint them a vivid picture when someone walks out the side door that leads to the back of the shop, and I turn just in time to see Eli walk out the door with a pizza bag in hand.

He's wearing worn skinny jeans and the same fitted work t-shirt, and I've never seen clothes look so good. When my heart starts doing backflips in my chest, I rub my chest, trying to get it to calm down. What is it about this guy that gets me so amped up when we've never even met? He's a virtual stranger, and yet somehow, he feels so completely and utterly mine.

The swinging of the door as it shuts behind him pulls me out of my stupor, and I dart back outside.

He's crossing the street towards his car—not sure how I missed the beat up vehicle when I pulled up—and I run across the street to catch him. No way he's getting away this time.

As soon as he's within reach, I put my hand on his shoulder and say, "I'm so glad I found you."

He stiffens under my touch for a second before he jumps away from me, an utterly startled expression on his face.

The pizza bag that was in his hand goes flying through the air, and I lurch forward to catch it before it hits the ground. But Eli moves at the same time as I do, and we meet in the middle. Our heads collide so hard, Eli almost falls backward on his ass, but I change direction and move quickly, catching him before he hits the pavement. Fuck the pizza! I'd rather it splatter across the ground than to not catch my beautiful angel before he does.

My arms wrap around Eli, and the moment he's in my grasp, warmth spreads through me. It hits me like a 747. An immense pressure in my chest followed by a screaming voice in my head. He's mine. He's mine. He's mine.

I know in that moment, just from touching him, that there is no way I'm letting him go. I'll die chasing him if I have to.

I stare at him in my arms, his beautiful, sweet, wide eyes stare back up at me in alarm.

"Damn, you're beautiful," I whisper, reaching to touch his messy curls.

"What?" Eli's voice cracks, and he quickly jerks his head out of reach.

I clear my throat because, hell, I hadn't realized I'd said that out loud. How was I already fucking up this hard with him?

I pull my hand back from trying to touch his hair, but when I realize he isn't trying to get away from me anymore, I smile at him.

He seems to settle against me and, unable to stop myself, I go for his hair again and run a finger through those wild brown curls of his that I can't seem to get off my mind. "Beautiful," I say again.

For a second he stares back at me, but then he scrambles to get up again, so I help him.

When he turns away from me, I have to fight the urge to grab him and make him turn back around so I can get another look at him. Just staring at him could quickly become my favorite pastimes.

"Shit," he says with a sigh. He bends down to retrieve the fallen pizzas, which I only now realize have fallen completely out of the bag. Pizza is everywhere across the ground, but they all still seem to be safely in their boxes.

I go around him and grab the boxes from the ground, opening each one, and the pizzas are good.

"Looks like they survived," I say, smiling at him, but he doesn't smile back right away, and a strange feeling hits me. "I, ugh, I'll still pay to replace them, of course. I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that. I've just been waiting to meet you, and I couldn't let you get away again..." I trail off as I realize I'm rambling. It has been a long time since anyone has made me so flustered. I'm usually the composed guy. The one you want at the head of every table in every business meeting. I'm the 'quick on his feet' guy, not the rambling idiot who headbutts the gorgeous guy he's been stalking for two days. What the hell is Eli doing to me?

Eli rubs the back of his neck as he stares at me like he's looking for something, the punch line maybe. "I don't understand," he finally says.

After pushing the pizza boxes back into the bag, I hold it up. "It's my fault you dropped these. Let me pay to replace them."

"No." He shakes his head. "Sorry, that's not what I.... Why were you waiting for me? Did I screw up your order or something?"

"What? No." I start laughing, but it's tense and psychotic sounding, so I stop. "I'm the one who should apologize," I offer. "I'm sure I sound crazy. You delivered a pizza to my place on Lakeshore Cove. I tried to catch you that night, but you were gone so fast, and then those guys inside said you were off the rest of the night." That wasn't exactly how they'd phrased it, but I wasn't repeating their crap to him. Something about the way they talked about Eli told me it wasn't a secret they had it out for him.

Eli's eyes drop to the ground, and he starts fumbling around in his back pocket. He pulls out his wallet. "Sorry, I tried to tell the guy who answered your door it was too much, but he insisted he didn't want change."

Okay. Now it was my turn to be confused. I arch my brow, but before I can ask what he's talking about, he's holding a couple twenties out to me.

"I'll have to grab the rest from the ATM," he says, "but I can bring it back after this delivery if you want to wait. Or I can take it to your—"

I wave my hands. "Wait, no..." Clearly, I was doing a piss poor job of whatever the hell I was trying to do with Eli. I guess calling him beautiful wasn't enough to get my point across.

I reach out for him and wrap my hand around the wrist of his outstretched hand and pull him in close until our bodies are only a breath apart, and I swear if he fits against me this good on a sidewalk outside of his job with a pizza bag in my free hand, I can't wait to see how well we are going to fit together without all these pesky clothes in the way.

"I'm not here for money," I say, keeping my voice low and even. "I'm here because I haven't been able to get you off my mind since I saw you at my house. Let me take you to dinner...Please."

Eli's eyes go even wider, something I didn't think was possible. His breaths begin to do some sort of rapid hiccuping hitch thing that makes my whole damn head spin. I want him so much.

I run my tongue over my lip, and the craving to take his mouth is so strong that I'm barely keeping my shit together. Then his eyes drop to my mouth just as my tongue sweeps over my bottom lip, and I fight back a groan. How is he doing this? He was barely scraping five-foot-two and hundred and ten pounds at best, but he already had complete control of me. There wasn't a single thing he could demand that I wouldn't bend to.

"I don't understand," Eli says, his lips pursed in confusion. "Why would I go out with you?"

"Ouch," I say, placing my hand to my chest. It wasn't often I asked men out on dates, but when I did, they never said no. This was a first, and it cut deep. "I guess I deserve that," I confess. I had been a complete weirdo who banged into him.

Eli's mouth drops open and a look of pure panic crosses his face. "N-n-o, no. I didn't...I just mean...why are you asking me out?" His eyes drop to the ground. "I mean you're...Just, I think you've made a mistake asking me out is all."

Eli begins to fidget, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt and mussing his hair like he's trying to get it to lay down, and I'm suddenly struck by the most ridiculous realization in the world. He hasn't the slightest idea how jaw-droppingly beautiful he is.

I smile as the lightbulb goes off in my head. I vow to spend every day trying to make him see himself the way that I see him. I mean, really, how can a guy be this gorgeous and have no clue? It is a crime against nature that I plan to fix.

"Eli," I start, pulling him back in closer to me. "It's pretty clear you don't know this, but you're quite possibly the most beautiful man I've ever seen. And I want to take you to dinner to see if your outside beauty is complemented by inside beauty."

Eli moves back, putting some space between us, his breath beginning to come in those hiccupping hitches again, and it takes everything in me not to melt into a puddle on the damn sidewalk.

After a minute that feels like an eternity, Eli reaches out and takes the pizza bag from my hand, and I immediately miss the heat of his body close to mine.

"You don't have to do that," he says quickly. "The pizzas are fine, but I should really get going. Need to get them to the customer while they're still hot."

Closing the space he created between us because damn, I don't like it at all, I put a finger under his chin and tilt his head up toward me.

"Look at me," I say, then I wait until he listens. "Obviously, if you're not interested, that's one thing, but I want to be clear, Eli. I'm not asking you out as an apology or for any other pitiful reason you've concocted in that beautiful head of yours. I am attracted to you. Very attracted to you. I've been looking for you all weekend. And I very much want to take you out on a real date, the kind with dinner and hopefully a nice, long kiss goodnight. So, if you don't want to have dinner with me, I need to hear you say those words. Tell me you're not interested in me, or else I'm going to pursue you, Eli. With every damn thing I've got."

Eli's eyes drop to my mouth again, and he bites his lip—holy hell, the things I'd love to do with that mouth of his—but for now, I know I have to give him time to think my invitation over.

"I can't go with you tonight," Eli says so quietly I almost miss it.

But once I hear it, a pain strikes through my chest so sharp that I'm afraid I may topple over.

"Oh." I run an awkward hand through my hair. I am so certain we have a connection. I don't know what went wrong, but I hate that I somehow fucked it up. "Okay. I guess I'll...leave you alone." Even as I say the words, I'm not sure I believe them. I don't know if I can really walk away from him, as crazy as it is. I barely know him, but he feels like some vital piece of me.

"No!" Eli's entire face turns red as he shouts out the word. "I just mean I've got to work till closing."

Those words bring a little hope back, and I smile. I slowly reach out to touch his arm, and my grin widens when he doesn't pull away.

I run my hand down his arm and chuckle to myself when I feel goosebumps popping up on his skin beneath my touch. Good. I'm glad to know that my touch has an effect on him. At least I'm not the only one feeling the electricity between it.

I reach down, crouching a little to lace my fingers with his. "Okay," I say, leading him across the street to his car.

I pull open the driver's side door and help him inside, bending to buckle him in without thinking about it.

"Uh, thanks," he says, looking confused.

I quickly shut his door and walk around the front of his car to hop in the passenger's side.

"What are you doing?" Eli asks.

I take a second to buckle myself in, then I turn back to him and wink. "If you can't come with me, then I'll come with you. We can spend the car ride getting to know each other."

Eli shakes his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Sure it is," I say, reaching over the console to put my hand on his thigh, and I smirk when he sucks in a sharp breath. He might be shy, but at least I know I'm not the only one affected by the crazy chemistry between us, and, enclosed in his small car, it's thick enough to cut with a knife. "We can have a conversation. And there's food, even if we aren't the ones eating it. And it's private. I can't think of a better place for a first date."

He stares at me so long my palms start to sweat, and I'm convinced he's about to tell me to kick rocks, but then he turns towards the steering wheel, starts the car, and puts it in drive. "Fine. You can come, but you can't slow me down anymore. If I don't get my deliveries done fast enough, the customers get a discount, and I can't afford that."

Mixed emotions are doing gymnastics inside me because part of me wants to ask about how the discount affects him personally, but a bigger part of me just wants to focus on the fact that he said yes. I get to spend the rest of the night with him, and that is a win I will take.