Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Charms and Clauses

-NATALIE-

A sigh escaped my lips as I ran my fingers along the charms hanging in the little antique store on the corner of my neighborhood's shopping center. The sun streaming through the large front windows reflected off the stars, butterflies, snowflakes, fairies, letters, and other silver designs to give them all a glittering appearance. I paused on a star and carefully took it off the rack to inspect.

Truth be told, I didn't have any particular need for the charm or anything else in the antique store—I'd long hand-crafted all of the Christmas gifts that I planned to give to my family and I was saving up all my Christmas money to help go towards the fancy two-thousand dollar Wacom Pen Computer that I wanted to buy for my birthday in January. However, in order to keep my nerves from getting the best of me and worrying myself into a frenzy, I decided to try to stay busy and not think about the time ticking away on my wristwatch.

After a couple of minutes passed, I became so engrossed in gazing at the little details on the charm that I didn't notice that I was no longer all alone on the shopping aisle until I felt someone invade my space and breath tickle my neck.

"There you are, Brown Eyes."

A yelp escaped my lips as I glanced behind me to see the guy from the skating rink—Heath Jagger Rivera looking down at me with amused eyes as a smile played on his lips. His dark hair wasn't so wild today, but he still had his classic chain hanging around his neck. He was dressed in a jacket with a jean vest and tan-colored leather sleeves on his upper half, while his lower half was covered in dark jeans and black boots.

"You startled me," I breathed and clutched my chest.

He chuckled, "I kind of figured that from your Drew-Barrymore-in-E.T. scream. You forget about meeting me? I was driving all around outside looking for you for a good ten minutes."

I blushed and cleared my throat. "I didn't forget. I just kind of thought you were standing me up when I couldn't find you in here. Why were you driving around outside?"

"I was thinking we were meeting in front of the store, not necessarily coming inside," Heath shrugged and brushed a strand of hair that fell onto his forehead back to blend with the rest.

"Miscommunication then, I suppose."

"I suppose because only a fool would stand you up."

I really hadn't expected to ever hear from Heath again after giving him my number. I was pretty sure he was at least a couple of years older than me and just from looking at him I knew he had a lot more life experience than I did. I couldn't possibly see why on earth he could be interested in me, but I'd gotten a text from him that night and he'd continued mercilessly flirting over the phone and text for the last few days.

I wasn't all that adept at keeping up with sending witty responses back, but in the midst of everything else going on at home, I'd found myself enjoying his constant doting messages and attention. Everytime a new text from him popped up, I felt a sense of warmth filter throughout my body and now it was even more intense as I watched his eyes trail me up and down in the same shameless manner that he'd gazed at me at the skating rink.

Heath tilted his head to the side and leaned into my ear, "It's like I told you last night, you're your own kind of sexy, Brown Eyes. Own it. You look amazing today, just like I knew you would."

I blushed, "I borrowed the shirt from my mom and the rest is just jeans and a jacket."

"Well, you're working the hell out of it," he insisted and my cheeks flamed a little hotter as he stood back and gaped at me once more.

My face flamed, "Thanks."

"Mmhm," he nodded and his eyes landed on the charm in my hand. "You want one of those?"