Steal Your Heart Away Read Free Page A

just man up and call him, I thought. I should ask him if it was okay and this whole thing would be put to bed. I picked up the phone but found myself distracted by another message from Lexi.
     
    “Netflix and takeout at your place tonight? You host, I’ll pay.”
     
    “OK,” I responded.
     
    I did a quick run through of my house to make sure it was fairly clean. I hadn’t had company over in months and had kind of let the place go. I knew I still needed to call Steve but my better judgment subsided and I pretended that Steve didn’t exist.
     

Chapter 7
     
    When the doorbell rang I lingered for a few minutes so she wouldn’t think I was too eager. When I finally answered the door she stood there smiling, hair up in a messy bun wearing leggings and a hoodie. Perfect movie watching gear. I, on the other hand was much too overdressed. I was in black jeans and a gray button up. I suddenly felt ridiculous. I was trying too hard.
     
    “Hi!” she walked right in like she had been there a million times. “How are you?”
     
    “I’m good,” I guided her to the living room and helped her set up the Thai food on the coffee table.
     
    “I feel like I should have put a little more effort into my look.” Her eyes gave the look of concern. I laughed to myself at thinking I was overdressed just a few minutes before.
     
    “I think you look great! In fact, I might go change.” I hated to make her feel bad.
     
    “Really? Yeah, do it!” The excitement returned to her eyes.
     
    I retreated upstairs to my bedroom and changed into some comfy sweats. I made sure they were nice, no holes or stains. It was so odd, I had never been dressed like that in front of a woman.
     
    When I got back down stairs Lexi had already found herself a blanket in a nearby closet and was all snuggled up on the couch. I was a little disappointed to see that there was a second blanket on the other side of the couch for me.
     
    “Are you a documentary or a sci-fi kind of girl?” she asked.
     
    “You choose.”
     
    “Chick flick it is,” she winked.
     
    “Hey, that wasn’t on your list of options!”
     
    “That’s what you get for letting me choose.”
     
    How could I argue with that cute face? I still didn’t know how old she was. She couldn’t be more than 30, my guess was 28. She had a little splash of freckles on her little turned up nose that I hadn’t noticed the night at the club.
     
    “What are you looking at?” she asked, clearly self-conscious.
     
    “You.”
     
    She looked at me confused at first but then blushed and smiled, turning her attention to the TV as if to avoid any awkwardness.
     
    The movie started and I stayed on my side of the couch. Towards the middle of the movie I noticed Lexi’s eyes beginning to flutter. I could tell she was tired. It was so hard to watch the movie when all I wanted was her to curl up in my arms.
    She caught me staring at her more than once and I hoped I hadn’t made her feel uncomfortable.
     
    When the credits started playing and the movie was over, Lexi let out a big yawn and stretched out her arms. Her head came down in to my lap and she laid there looking up at me. My heart jumped.
     
    “Do you believe in true love?” she caught me off guard.
     
    “Yeah, I suppose so. Why do you ask?” I noticed a tear that had dried on her cheek. “Are you okay?”
     
    “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a sad movie, don’t you think?”
     
    “Very sad.” My fingers made their way to her hair and I carefully pushed a strand back behind her ear. She frowned for only a second before smiling at me.
     
    “You’re nice,” she said.
     
    “Thank you?” I couldn’t tell what she meant by that. She stared up at the ceiling blankly and I wondered what she could have been thinking about. Her eyebrows said she was concerned but then the corners of her mouth would curve up almost towards a smile. Was she just as confused about things as I was?
     
    “Tell me what you’re thinking.” I