Unexpected Trouble by Lauren Wood
Tracy
Istared at the empty apartment and looked around a little bit. I could finally pay attention now that Steven wasn't here. He was quite a man to look at, and I wasn’t able to take my eyes off of him while he was there. To see him without a shirt on really messed with me. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get him off of my mind after that view, but I needed to try.
Most guys wanted me. It's just that simple. I'm not saying it in a way that would make me sound vain hopefully, but it was just a fact. I had a comely face and body, and I usually got a certain reaction from men. When I smiled at them in a certain way, I always got a similar reaction. Well, almost always. This time, I didn't get that similar reaction that I was looking for. This time he ignored me completely and when I tried to flirt, he definitely didn't flirt back. I was more confused about that than anything else.
It was a little off-putting because I wasn't used to it. I was used to men looking at me a certain way. They would look at me like they wanted me. I wasn't stupid, of course. So, what was it about Steven? Why didn’t he want me when everyone else did? What made him different from all the rest?
The biggest problem, of course, was that I wanted him. He was gorgeous. He was tall, about six-foot-four, and he had the nicest smile. His eyes were dark brown, but they had a greenish tinge around them. I think they were hazel. There had been a little bit of white that was tucked underneath his pants when he’d opened the door, and I wondered if the rest of him was as light as that. I wouldn't mind at all, chasing his suntan to see where it went.
Getting those thoughts out of my head was a little bit more complicated than it should have been. I shouldn’t have been thinking about Steven in that way. He was going to be my landlord. There was no way that I should think about pursuing him. But then, why did I want to so badly? The even bigger problem was that I didn't think he was interested at all. Maybe that's why I felt so strongly about pushing this scenario. Why didn’t he want me?
It took a little while to settle in. It was about a week before I had all of the boxes unpacked that had filled the apartment to begin with. I had tried my best to stay light in the move, but there were certain things that I had to take with me. I had to take my bed, no matter how far I moved. I had no problem dragging it across the country if I had to. I also had a 100-year-old wooden secretary desk that my grandfather had used. It was the only thing that I ever wrote on, and I was a little superstitious about it. I couldn't leave home without it, and even though I had gotten a dirty look from Steven when he saw me struggling with it, I just smiled and waved at him. He didn't ask me if I needed help and I didn't ask for it. I still didn’t know what to think of Steven, but he was a different kind of guy, and I was going to have to relearn how to deal with him. The same tactics didn’t seem possible to work on him.
I came to realize that my new landlord was a bit standoffish. He very rarely had a smile on his face, and I didn't know what he would even look like with one. He usually had this frown on his face, though he was still quite handsome.
He always looked at me like there was something wrong. I didn't even know how to describe it. He was just unexpecting of me or something. I still tried to be nice, I still even flirted with him, but it was all a waste of time as far as I was concerned. The man obviously didn't want to have anything to do with me.
Most women would just let it go. Obviously, I was not that other woman though. I knew that I should let it all go and stop bothering him, but every time I saw him, I started a conversation. It could be about something or nothing. It could be a question or maybe a comment about the area, but it was always something. I was trying to get to know him. I was almost desperate in my attempt, but no matter what I did, Steven just wasn't giving an inch. He didn't want to get to know me, and he acted like I was just annoying him by even talking to him. It felt strange to be treated in such a way, and I didn’t know why I didn’t just walk away from it. Maybe I should have.
It kept going on for another couple of weeks in this way. It was almost a month into my new tenancy before Steven stopped trying to run off. I think he had learned that I was going to talk to him one way or another, so he might as well just go along with it. I hated feeling like I was annoying him, even though I knew I was, but I just couldn’t help myself. Why didn’t he like me?
I asked him how his day was, and he got that look on his face, the one that said that he wished that I wasn't there talking to him at all. I'm still not even really sure what his problem was. He just was such a fascination to me. He was so different from anyone that I’d met before.
Why was he like that? I didn't ask him, but I had heard a few things about him in town. Jefferson was a very small town, which meant that everybody there knew everybody else’s business. It wasn't a good thing, if you were trying to hide a secret. But, it was a good thing if someone like me was trying to get information and you were the one being gossiped about. It was a good thing if you were trying to find out about somebody.
It didn’t take long for me to get the scoop on Steven. A lot of the women wanted him in town, so before I even had to ask about him, I was hearing stories about him. I just didn’t know that the man they were talking about was the same man that I was renting my apartment from. I didn’t know what to think of what I had found out about him. It wasn’t good news. Hell, I didn’t know if it could even be considered bad news. It was a reason though, a damn good reason if I did say so myself.
He was the way he was for a reason. Of course, he had that attitude because he wasn’t ready to deal with the world. After hearing what I had about him, I was starting to think that I was wrong to give up on Steven. I just needed to try harder, in a different way, that’s all.
From what I’d heard, Steven used to be different. He used to be a funny, carefree guy, but something changed all of that. His wife, his heavily pregnant wife was in a car accident, and she was killed. The baby was pulled from her dead body, but it died too. He only got to hold the baby for a few minutes before it succumbed to the injuries that it had experienced in the womb. Ever since that happened, he had been cold to everyone, but especially the fairer sex.
It hurt to think about someone suffering like that. I wanted to do something to help him, anything, but I didn’t know what to do. I was hoping that something would come to me, but nothing was. I wanted to help him, be there for him. I knew that most people were afraid of him. Women were afraid of his sharp remarks, and the men were afraid of his fists. It would seem that Steven had quite a reputation. By the way he was described, I wouldn’t have believed it was him. But I knew it was, and I wondered how I could bring back the fun-loving guy that Steven used to be.
With my mind made up, I made dinner, something that no man had ever been able to resist, and I brought a plate to Steven. He was surprised when I showed up at the door, even more surprised when I gave him dinner.
“I’ve already eaten.”
“Well, this is better. You will try it, and I am sure that you will find room for it.”
I laughed when he said that I didn’t know what he’d had.
“Trust me, Steven, this is better than anything that you had.”
“You seem sure of yourself.”
“I usually am. You changed that about some things, but not this. Enjoy.”
I walked away, knowing that it was going to have to be in baby steps. I was going to have to take it slow with Steven, even though I didn’t necessarily want to. He was delicate and I didn’t know why I was so sure of it, but I just knew that he would be worth it. He was hiding the old Steven behind the rudeness and anger that he showed now. I just knew I had to crack that exterior and then I would get to know the real Steven, the one I’d heard about. He sounded like he was worth getting to know.
