Page 36 of Tied Up in Riches
I stare at him blankly. “Where?”
He gives me a pointed look that says, “I’m not luring you to your death. Trust me,” so I take his hand. It’s an innocent hand holding. Our fingers aren’t linked or anything. He simply has a firm enough grip to tug me gently toward the path ahead, but the warmth of his hand in mine soothes my entire body like a cup of tea.
We only take a dozen steps before he lets go, gently setting his bag on the cement path. “Take off your shoes,” he tells me, kicking each of his off by the heel with the opposite toe. When he reaches to pull his socks off, he freezes, glancing back to where I’m staring at him in confusion. “It’s called ‘grounding.’ Your bare feet touching the earth is thought to help realign your electrical energy.”
He tugs his socks off, tucking them into his shoes, then steps onto the patchy grass lining the path. “I started doing it whenever I would change time zones. Someone told me it helps with jet lag by resetting your inner clockwork.”
“And it works?” I kick off my shoes and tug on my socks without waiting for him to respond and step onto the dirt patch next to him.
“Might be a placebo effect, but I feel like it does.”
“I think I saw something about this on the show Down to Earth.”
Recognition sparks in his eyes. “Yeah.”
“You’ve seen it?”
He chuckles. “Dean’s sister, Sophie, made me watch it with her when she lived with me.” Wait. He's lived with a girl before? But surely not in a romantic sense? Maci would have mentioned if he dated Dean’s sister. “It’s good info, though. After watching that show, I did more research on it. It’s not meant to be a microwave type of fix for anything, but over time and with consistency, it’s supposed to benefit you physically and mentally.”
“Doesn’t seem like there’s a reason not to try it then.” I wiggle my toes, feeling a few small pebbles between them.
“Exactly.”
“Thank you.” I look up from the ground to meet his gaze, realizing he’s extremely close to me. If I took a step forward and reached out I could easily slip my hands under his coat and lean into him. If someone told me they saw a grown ass, fully dressed man barefoot outside of an airport, I’d think they were talking about a homeless person. But watching Marcus not giving a shit where we are just to try and help me–or even if it’s just to center his own body–it’s a turn on that I’d never have put on my list in a million lifetimes.
Movement on my phone screen breaks through the temptation to touch him, though. Our car is arriving soon. I flash him a half-smile and my phone screen, and without another word, we put our shoes back on and walk toward the rideshare pickup.
Just in time, a silver Civic pulls up to the curb, the driver confirming it’s me before popping the trunk. Marcus effortlessly slides both our bags in the back, then ducks into the backseat next to me. “Hey.” His words are barely audible over the annoying rap song the driver has on half-blast. He reaches out like he’s going to touch my leg to comfort me. Instead, he shoves both hands in either pocket of his jacket, twisting so he’s facing me. “It’s going to be fine. Do you want to go over the plan again?”
I nod. I love the idea of grounding, and handsdown, I’m adding it to my daily regimen, but like Marcus said, it’s not an instant fix, and not even the power of the earth can immediately flip all my negative energy to positive.
“We kept it simple, remember. Everything is exactly the same as it happened. Except for the dating part. We met a month and a half ago when you came to visit Maci. You’ve been helping me at the bar, with Emma and Charlotte, and spending so much time together just transitioned into more.”
“But we’ve hardly spent that much time together.”
“Enough to know we like each other.”
I ignore the flutter tearing up my stomach. He’s just talking about the plan. He doesn’t actually feel that way. “Okay, but when did you realize you liked me? My mom is going to ask you that.”
“The day we went hiking,” he says easily. “You were so focused on your glimmer that you didn’t even notice me watching you. That’s when I realized you were mine.”
My mouth falls open just barely before I shake my head. This is not real. “Oh yeah. That’s good. She’ll eat that up. Or at least pretend to.”
His eyes shift over mine. “What about you?”
“What about me, what?”
“When did you fall for me?”
“When you handed me a cup of real Thai tea.” My answer comes as easily as his, but it doesn’t mean anything.
“That was the first day we met.” He chuckles.
I shrug. “What can I say? I make impulsive decisions when it comes to my heart.”
“Alright then. See we got this. What about your dad? Anything you want me to know?”
A small smile fights through. “Nah. He hasn’t spent enough time around me and a guy to know if something is real or not. Plus, I’ve already told him about you.”