The back of Emma's neck prickled, she was being observed once again. She knew who it was before she even turned around. Sure enough, her shift manager, Liam, was staring at her. It wasn't a leering gaze however, not one that frightened her or grossed her out. Was it curiosity? She never could quite put her finger on it. Normally, she just smiled and continued on, but today the need to know burned within her.
"What?" Emma asked with a small laugh, her cheeks pinkening as she confronted him, not used to being so forward.
Liam was leaning against the counter smiling back at her, all dimples and dark spiky hair, looking sexy as sin. He shrugged and pushed away from the counter, the muscles in his arms tightening with the effort. He grabbed a rag and busied himself with cleaning the counter, glancing up at her from time to time. Emma sucked her lower lip in and ran her teeth across the smooth skin, the flavor of vanilla chapstick hitting her tongue. She wasn't ready to let it go so easily.
"No seriously. Do I have something on my face? In my teeth?" She prodded as she moved towards the counter. The place was absolutely dead besides Liam, her and some new dishwasher in the back.
His responding laugh was rich and warm, the sound making her smile involuntarily as he locked his soft green eyes on her deep blue ones. "No. You don't."
"Then what is it? Why do you keep staring at me?"
"I wasn't staring..." Liam let out a small exasperated sigh and shook his head, a small smile turning up the one side of his mouth like he harbored a secret.
"Yes you were." She pressed on, intrigued by his responses. "Don't give me that."
He turned away and shrugged, avoiding her gaze entirely. As he reached over to refill the peppermint bowl, his long sleeve lifted slightly, revealing an intricate tribal tattoo in black ink. Liam turned back to her with an intensity that made her freeze. He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes, his brows lowering with whatever he was wrestling with.
He shook his head and smiled, giving in. "Okay, this is kind of embarrassing, but do you want to hang out this weekend?"
A slow smile spread across her face, her eyes lighting up in amusement as she teased him. "Like a date?"
"Well, uh, no. You have a boyfriend or something right?" Liam's cheeks turned pink at her assumption.
"Yes. I do." Emma's smile faltered slightly with the admission, her eyes flickering with a deep sadness that didn't make sense to him.
Liam's eyebrows raised a bit, but he didn't comment on her expression. "I'm not very good at this. I'm sorry. I was wondering if you both wanted to hang out. I don't know if that's weird or not, but I haven't lived here long and there just hasn't been much time to go out and make friends."
"Oh!" Her eyes danced once more, this time with surprise. "Yeah sure, I'll have to ask Shane, but I'm sure we're free. He's, well, in between jobs right now." Emma cleared her throat, her gaze lowering as she brushed her amber-colored hair off of her shoulders.
"Okay, cool. Just let me know your number and we can set something up." Liam replied.
Emma could feel him observing her intently and it made her feel strangely warm. She was glad when he didn't press her for more information. His eyes pulled her, like a magnet, and she snuck a peek at him out of curiosity. Looking at him felt like too much all of a sudden and she couldn't begin to explain why her mouth went dry. She could only nod mutely and scribble her number on a scrap of paper.
His eyes twinkled, his smile contained, as he took the slip from her outstretched hand. Emma quickly dropped it before he could even grasp it, and it fluttered to the counter. She bit her lower lip and looked down at her messy handwritten note immediately after Liam did so, the strange spell broken. A blush made its way across her cheeks and settled into a dark near-magenta hue.
"Sorry. I'm so clumsy." Emma glanced away and chuckled softly, trying to laugh off her embarrassment.
"It's fine, hun. Don't worry about it. See?" He held up his phone and grinned at her. "I already put it into my phone."
"Okay." Emma's blush deepend at the term of endearment and she pressed her tongue against her teeth to stop herself from grinning like a fool.
"Crap. A bus of people just pulled in." He crossed his eyes at her and she laughed out loud. "Ready?"
Emma stuck her tongue out, the indent of his cheek dimple catching her eye when he laughed. "As I'll ever be..."
*****
"Geez. Some people are pigs." Liam stuck out his tongue and observed the messy dining room with his hands on his hips.
Emma chuckled wryly as she grabbed a busboy tub from the kitchen. "Yeah, that's for sure."
Liam reached over and took the overflowing dishes container from Emma. "Glad that was our last table. Now to clean up."
"Me too." Emma sighs in relief, bussing more tables and filling up another one of the tubs. "Hey, thanks for helping out by the way. You didn't have to."
"The motivation is completely selfish on my part." Liam said over his shoulder as he took the dishes to the back where the dishwasher was located.
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she shouted after him, "Oh really?"
"Well yeah." Liam's loud reply floated to the front as he popped back into view, resuming the conversation in a normal tone. "If I help you, we'll both get out early. Then we can both get home faster. Win win right?"
"Right." Emma said, pronouncing the word in such a way that it sounded like a two syllable word. She cast her eyes downward, swiping yet more dishes into the nearly full tub she had resting on a wooden dining chair. "Totally. That makes sense."
Liam grabbed the other tub from her and offered a smile. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just tired," Emma responded quickly as she met his eyes, wiping the sheen of sweat from her forehead.
Liam's eyebrows knit together for a nano second and he licked his lips before speaking. "Yeah for sure, me too."
She smiled weakly, grabbing a tray from the counter and pulling out the salt, pepper and parmesan cheese containers to refill the shakers on the tables. Liam took the last tub to the back and thunked it down on the metal counter, the sound echoing in the nearly empty building. His footfalls shuffled against the faux-wood, linoleum of the floor as he made his way back up to the front.
"So," he began, clapping his hands together softly. "I'll get the back, if you get the front. Sound good? Then, if I finish before you do, I'll come help you and vice versa."
"Okay. Sounds good." Emma nodded and smiled over at him, the beautiful sight leaving him momentarily stunned.
Liam cleared his throat, his eyes shifting away. "Cool cool. Well, i'll be in the back if you need me." And with that he strode quickly to the back, seemingly in a hurry to get started.
Emma popped in her earbuds and cranked up the music on her phone, tucking the device into her apron pockets. The EDM soundtrack thrumming against her eardrums, pumping energy into her veins as she began to fill the shakers. She danced as she worked, making the time pass quicker as she vacuumed, swept, wiped things down and made sure to take everything from the salad bar to the back.
She dropped off the utensils off for Liam to wash, her head bobbing in time to the beat and her lips moving as she mouthed the lyrics silently. Emma was so lost in her music, that she didn't notice right away when Liam smiled over at her as he watched her dance. As the song ended, and the silence filled her ears before the next song, her eyes flicked in his direction and he was caught. He offered an awkward wave and turned away. She couldn't help noticing how red his face and neck were in contrast to the creamy off white shade of his hoodie.
She couldn't help but smile to herself. Emma had a boyfriend, that was true, but it was complicated and frankly she was tired of all the drama with Shane. As she finished taking the salad bar cart to the walk-in at the back of the store, she thought of their argument just before she had to get ready for work. It still had her all worked up and angry. He had been yelling at her about her not keeping the house clean enough.
God knows she tried her best, but he never seemed to be satisfied with anything she did. She was beginning to think that she would never be good enough. She threw the fact that he kept quitting jobs in his face and he had just lost it, punched a new hole in their apartment wall. As if they weren't having enough trouble trying to stay afloat financially. Now she had to earn money for the wall as well.
The coolness of the walk-in and the loud rhythmic pounding of her music had her calming down within minutes. She danced as she worked, knowing that she was alone in the small enclosed space since Liam had no reason to come back here. Emma really let loose, even going so far as to sing loudly, not really caring whether it was soundproof or not. She dropped one of the lids in her haste to get the food containers filled and covered.
"Shit," she muttered as she quickly squatted down to get the lid.
It rolled under a rack holding dough that was proofing and she was soon on her hands and knees trying to retrieve it. She had her arm shoved all the way under the pizza dough rack when she felt the cold air rush away from her quickly as the walk-in door opened. She froze for a second, her hand resting on the smooth plastic of the lid. Slowly she turned her head around to look behind her. What she saw stole her breath.
Liam was staring intently at her butt pointed up in the air, his eyebrows low and his eyes dark. Involuntarily, she gasped again as liquid heat rushed to her pussy. He bit his lip when their eyes met, locked on one another. He didn't turn away. He didn't so much as move a muscle as he continued looking at her. Her mouth gaped open as she she sat back on her legs, the clear lid in hand. He clenched his jaw and blinked hard, shaking his head just once before exiting the way he came in without so much as a word.
