Love Unexpected by Anne Leigh

walked a few steps to the couch. The short trip gained me unobstructed view of his sexy ass. Oh, he was really sexy all over. I could wrap myself around him, feel his muscular arms, and maybe mess his hair up a bit.
     
    Why was I having such dirty, naughty thoughts? Granted he was a sexy man. But I’ve seen tons of handsome, sexy men. Only Zander elicited such primal, naughty thoughts from me. I tried to focus on the sound coming from the TV. It didn’t help when all I heard was ‘Yummy’, ‘Delicious’, and ‘Mmmm’ from the host.
     
    I signaled Zander to sit. The man actually waited for me to invite him to sit! Who did that, nowadays?
     
    He took up most of the room of the small sofa.
     
    I broke the silence first.
     
    “What’s up?” I bit on my lower lip, trying my best not to have those lustful thoughts be reflected in my eyes.
     
    He slightly averted his eyes when he said, “I kinda thought we had fun last night, but maybe I was wrong.”
     
    Yeah, he was right. I came to the same conclusion today. He was wrong for me. I was wrong for him. I did not like the havoc that his presence created in my life. I did not want to feel this burning feeling every time he was near me. I did not want to have lusty thoughts! I wanted to be the same, old me.
     
    He continued, “I haven’t heard from you today. Makes me think that you’re blowing me off,” I gave him my phone number last night before he left.
     
    He was rubbing his palms together, looking uncomfortable in the sofa. He touched his tongue to the top of his teeth and all I could stare at was the movement of his tongue.
     
    He cleared his throat.
     
    Again, I was mesmerized by this man. I felt my face heat up. My ears, revealed by the low ponytail I was wearing, was probably redder than my face.
     
    “I’m sorry.” Obviously, I need to pay attention to what he was saying. Concentration was a task when his eyes were piercingly beautiful and his face was absolutely gorgeous and his mouth looked wickedly good.
     
    “Don’t take offense, Sedona-” he started to say, the edge of the right side of his mouth turning up.
     
    “For what?” I fiddled with the remote control in my hand.
     
    “Even your blush is sexy,” as soon as those words came out of his mouth, I felt the temperature in the room spike up. My heart lurched in my chest; I was probably experiencing hot flashes in my 20s. Was this normal or was this Zander-induced hyperthermia?
     
    “Oh,” as I swallowed. How did a girl respond to that? I tried to change the subject.
     
    “I didn’t mean to blow you off, Zander.” But I’d really like to blow on you. What? Where were these errant thoughts coming from?
     
    “Really?” He looked unsure, his head slightly tilting to his right.
     
    “Yeah, I turned off my phone. I just wanted some peace after being splashed on the front pages of a college gossip website.” I took my gaze off of him and looked at the TV. I lowered the volume a couple of notches down and tucked my feet under my seat.
     
    “I heard about that stupid website,” his eyes glared. Zander stood from where he was sitting and took the space on the right side of the couch, inches away from where I sat.
     
    “I just want you to know Sedona; I have nothing to do with that. I don’t even know why people bother with that stuff. John texted me the picture of us this morning.” At close length, I smelled his aftershave and it smelled sexy. He must have shaved before coming here. I kept my hand from reaching out to his face. He touched my hands and slightly rubbed them together, while he quietly said, “I don’t mean for you to be dragged into something like this. I honestly don’t know why it’s a big fuss who I hang out with,” His head shook while his hands continued to graze mine.
     
    I pursed my lips, “Zander, I think it’s because you’re a popular guy,” I reflected, “First of, you’re a star athlete. Second, your parents are headline-grabbing