Gestures that made Lexi go wild and hard -part 2

I took the box from her and stared at it for a minute. I felt a lump rise in my throat; I couldn’t believe she had thought of me.

“Thank you Lana,” I said quietly.

“No worries, “she winked at me. “Just some sweets for a real sweetheart.” She laughed. “I know that’s not as good as one of your lines, but I’m pretty rusty.”

“Well, this makes me feel even better that I did this then.”

Pulling out the rose, I handed it to her.

“Happy Valentine’s Lana.”

If I’d had any doubt that she would enjoy the rose, it was erased by the look on her face. Her already big brown eyes widened, and as she took it, she swallowed hard, and I recognized that she felt the same as I did.

“Oh Lexi, thank you.” She whispered. “This is…” she shook her head. “So beautiful.”

“Well I don’t know about that,” I said, after all it came from Cumberland farms. “But you said purple was your favorite.”

“Twenty years of marriage and my ex thought my favorite color was blue.” She said softly, more to herself than to me, then shaking her head said, “I say it once to you and you remember.”

Reaching out, she took my hand in hers and flashing me her trademark smile said, “Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Well you taking me to see aunty meant a lot to me,” I said then reaching back into my shirt and giving her the card. “Here, this is for you too.”

“Lexi, this is too much…”

“Nah, it’s only a card.” I told her, but was thrilled with the look in her eyes as she held it.

“Yeah but, a few dollars is a lot for you Lexi! I mean….” She sighed. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“I don’t have to do anything, remember?” I asked.

Lana looked at the red envelope and then again at the rose. Putting the card down, she reached out, put her arm around my shoulder and tugged me towards her. Caught off guard, I felt like an idiot as I all but fell against her car. That feeling quickly faded as she wrapped her arm around my neck and hugged me.

My face was buried in her neck and between the scent of her perfume and the sensation of her soft hair against my cheek I felt as if I were in heaven. I frowned at the thought that I was pretty sure I didn’t smell anywhere near as nice, and my own hair probably felt kind of nasty.

Again thoughts were pushed away by the thrill of her lips grazing my cheek. Still hugging me she whispered in my ear, “You made my day Lexi, you really did.”

“You make mine all the time.” I told her quietly, and risking it, gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Hey lady! Make sure he showers first!” a voice called out, ruining the moment.

I pulled away, looking angrily in the direction of the voice, but the light was green and the cars were whipping past.

“Ignore them,” Lana said quietly. “They’re just assholes.”

She looked at her watch and sighed.

“I’m sorry Lexi, but I have to go. I’ll look at the card later, okay?”

“No problem,” I told her. Part of me was relieved, I would rather she read it without me in front of her, just in case I had gone too far with what I had written. “You have a good day,” I winked at her. “And don’t do anything wild tonight.”

“Oh, please.” She laughed. “Wild for me these days would be using my left hand.”

“I…” I stopped speechless, trying to fight off the visual that remark conjured up. I could see my face getting hot and Lana laughed.

“I got you to blush! How cute are you?”

“Cute,” I managed to get out. “Yeah that’s me.”

“Sorry, Lexi, but you’re so nice all the time I couldn’t resist.”

“Glad I could get you to laugh.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“You always do.” She said, and then turning serious added. “You’re going to get warm soon, okay?”

“I will.”

“And thank you again Lexi, this was very thoughtful.”

I simply nodded and smiled, as she pulled away she called out, “Enjoy the candy.”

Looking down at the box in my hand, I shrugged and untied the ribbon, opened it to grab a chocolate. When I removed the lid I laughed, there was a ten dollar bill folded on top of the candy.

I spent another half hour on the corner. By then I had finished my coffee, and eaten most of the chocolates. I also made another ten dollars so not a bad day all in all. Although I certainly didn’t mind the money, the morning couldn’t have gone badly after seeing the smile on Lana’s face.

I was proud of myself; I had made someone who deserved it, happy today. By this time most people had arrived at work and there wasn’t much traffic coming through. Between that and the cop I spotted several blocks away harassing my buddy in the army jacket it was time to leave.

I figured I would walk downtown, get a haircut then swing by the restaurant and see if Kate had gotten any calls from the jobs I had applied to. Slipping my sign under my sweat shirt, I crossed the street and started walking. I made it about three blocks, when I heard a horn behind me. I turned and was surprised to see Lana pulling up next to me. She had rolled the window down and called out, “Hey Lexi, wait a minute!”

I walked over to the truck and frowned as it looked as if she either was upset or had been recently.

“Hey Lana,” I began as I stopped in front of the door. “Everything okay?”

“Lexi, get in the truck for a minute, I want to talk to you.”

I felt my stomach flutter, that didn’t sound good. I started to open the door, then stopped and started looking around. “I don’t think I should get in. What if…”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Lana rolled her eyes. “Just get in.”

I quickly got into the car, wondering what was wrong. Then it hit me, she must have…

“Lexi,” Lana cut into my racing mind. “I just read the card a few minutes ago.”

Oh shit, I thought. I’d gotten carried away and she was going to say something about it. I could feel my face already starting to flush. I’d made myself look like an idiot.

“Umm, look Lana…” I stammered not even sure what I was going to say. “I…”

I stopped as she reached out, and putting her hand on my shoulder said softly, “That was the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in longer than I can remember.” She paused and I was shocked to see that her eyes were misting up. “Thank you Lexi, that card means more than you know.”

Before I could speak, she leaned forward and hugged me. Unlike last time, she got both arms around me and pulled me close to her. I hesitated, before awkwardly putting my arms around her shoulders. Again my face was nestled into her, but this time it was the soft skin of her neck that I felt my face against. She smelled and felt amazing, and I had to fight off the insane urge to kiss her neck. Lana released me, and sitting back in her seat looked at me as if she were embarrassed.

“Sorry, I… Well that card was just what I needed today.” She shrugged. “Valentine’s day has always been tough for me.”

“Since the divorce?”

“No, much longer than that.” She shook her head. “I was lucky if we went to dinner and most of the time I’d get candy or flowers, and only because his secretary would send them.” She paused then added quietly. “The one he’d been seeing for years.”

“I’m sorry Lana.” I said.

“Don’t be,” she smiled. “You turned a bad day good Lexi, what you wrote was perfect.” She looked away for a minute then turned back, put her hand over mine and asked, “Did you mean it?”

“Of course I did!” I exclaimed. “Lana you are the best person I know, I meant everything I wrote.”

“Even the part about me being beautiful?” She smiled. “On the outside?”

I immediately blushed and unable to look her in the eyes said, “You’re very pretty Lana.”

Lana laughed and I felt like a fool. Pretty. What was I a kid? Well of course I was, at least to her anyway, and apparently I was trying to enforce that view by acting like one. “No one has called me pretty in years.” She said, “Or beautiful for that matter.”

“Well you are.” I told her. “You have gorgeous eyes.”

“Thank you,” She smiled. “Your baby blues aren’t so bad either you know.”

I didn’t reply as I was too busy wondering if she really meant that.

“Lexi,” Lana began. “Would you do something for me?”

“Anything.” I said quickly, a little too quickly I thought.

“I want you to go out to dinner with me tonight.”

“I…” had I just heard that right? “Dinner?”

“Yes, dinner.” She nodded. “I’ll pick you up and we can go to my favorite restaurant.”

“I…I don’t know Lana.” I put my hands out. “That, ummm… well it wouldn’t look right.”

“To who?”

I found I didn’t have an answer to that, and just sat there, staring like an idiot.

“Look Lexi,” Lana said, squeezing my hand. “I haven’t gone out on Valentine’s Day in years and I would love a chance to dress up and go out.”

Gestures that made Lexi go wild and hard -part 2 will continue in the next page.