5. Eyes on the Thighs

CHAPTER 5

EYES ON THE THIGHS

MISTY

"Here we are. The Hollywood Sign View Point," I gesture to my right, pulling the steering wheel with my left into the bus parking lot. "We'll stop here for half an hour. Have fun."

One by one, my passengers disembark from the red tour bus. They smile at me and thank me, which means I should get nice tips. As part-time jobs go, this one is pretty easy. A far cry from my desire to design costumes for a living.

At least the Grand Comics Conference is coming soon to L.A., and I'm toying with the idea of making myself a Dolly Danger costume. She's the girlfriend to nasty villain Sneed from the famous line of comic books and more recently the wildly successful live-action movie of the past year.

I could show up to the event dressed as Dolly Danger and hand out cards for my costume services. Plenty of people love to dress up as their favorite characters at these things. Never one to possess the entrepreneurial spirit, lately the idea of doing my own thing has intrigued me after following some special effects makeup artists and other costume designers on social media.

Too bad I don't have a man in my life to dress as Sneed to draw more attention to me at the conference. That'd really make a splash. Of course, Sneed has a certain body type. Tall, big muscles, thick thighs, and able to look fit in green spandex.

Like Nana's naked neighbor. He could pull it off. It's been days since the encounter with him in the hallway at her place, and I'm still thinking about him. Ugh.I shouldn't because it was weird that he was there like that, even though Nana said he's a very nice man. Then I picture the ridges of his muscular back. Those perfect globes of his ass. And, ohmygod, his thick thighs. I could run my hands up those, and?—

Anastasia raps at the bus door, startling me out of thoughts about Sebastian. "Earth to Misty. You coming out?" She likes to meet me here for a walk while I'm on the half hour break.

I exit and lock the door. "I got lost in my thoughts."

"Well, get focused because I have news." She sing-songs the words in the very giddy way she's prone to when something exciting happens. We head for the trail we like to walk before she speaks again. "Guess who popped into my direct messages last night?"

I'd hoped her news would be about a job opening at her studio, but no such luck. "Don't make me guess. You know I'm bad at it. Just tell me." She's quite witty with words and, just out of boredom, I know she makes a habit of messaging celebrities to see if they'll chat back, assuming their profiles are legit. She's had amazing conversations with some, although I tell her all the time to be careful about online interactions.

"Connor Crosby," she says, wiggling her brows and fingers like she's dying to touch something. The name sounds familiar, and probably because of my blank face and lack of response, she fills in for me. "One of the hottest goalies in hockey. Plays for the Baltimore Heat. He's so nice. We chatted for two hours back and forth. His team comes to town in a couple of weeks playing against the Vipers. Would it be wild if I keep talking to him and meet him for drinks or something?"

"Really wild. But please be careful. I never understood the whole online dating thing. With my luck, I'd meet someone who would turn out to be a mass murderer or something." I snort.

"Stop. Okay? You're going to be fine once you get through this little rough patch." She continues on about her flirtation with Connor and all I can think about is how my rough patch has lasted a few years since I first met my ex, and that has to be some sort of world record.

All the signs were there, all the red flags I can see clearly now, but didn't in my relationship with Gregor, the star hockey player from Canada. He played for the Vipers the first year Dad made head coach. Full of self-confidence and manly charm, he pursued me and I fell hard for Gregor, being a na?ve young woman myself, fresh out of college. But he was a hothead. Great for the hockey games, not so much in person. He never hit me, but he definitely expected things to go his way and when they didn't, he was quick to blame anyone else or me and make me feel like shit about things.

I didn't know enough about narcissism at the time, nor had the strength to remove myself from his life. Our relationship was off and on, all in secret, never revealed to anyone for a long time. I pined away for him when we weren't together and only Anastasia was privy to the things going on. I put her in the difficult position of being supportive of me as a friend, but also trying to help me see Gregor wasn't treating me well. But love does funny things to people; to me, love kept me blind.

Eventually, his relationship with his teammates suffered, too, and then Dad wanted to trade him to Calgary.

I begged with him not to send him away, confiding at last how I was in love with Gregor. To say it came as a total shock to him that one of his players would dare date his daughter would be an understatement. There was no stopping the trade after that.

Dad became my enemy, and despite his warnings to stay away from Gregor, I continued in a committed, long-distance relationship. Or so I thought. When I decided to move to Calgary?—

"Hello? Where'd you go again? What's with you today?" Anastasia stops at the turnaround point of our walk, hands on hips.

"Actually, I've recently met someone," I blurt before I can stop myself because I don't want her to know I was beating myself up again about Gregor.

"You've been holding out on me?" She starts. I groan, knowing the twenty questions coming before Anastasia can ask more.

I sigh and dive in, telling her about the ordeal with the naked man at Nana's as we finish our walk. By the end, she's in tears laughing over the situation, and I can't help but giggle about it, too, because it was so unexpected and absurd. A naked man—possessing a gorgeous backside—in the hallway across from Nana's? We decide to call him The Ass Man. I have to admit, the entire thing was pretty comical.

"Oh, this is the best meet cute for a couple ever." She breaks out her phone, typing notes about it for some future movie as I unlock the bus and allow the tourists back on it.

"We're not a couple. I couldn't even see his face. How can it be a meeting when I don't even know the color of his eyes?" I snort to myself. But with his backside…maybe I couldn't care less about his eyes.

Why in the world do I keep thinking about his perfect round ass with creamy skin and tan lines? Clearly, the Ass Man runs regularly without a shirt on. Yes, I took full liberties dancing my eyes up and down the dude's enormous frame. I'm a short person, but I've always been overly fond of boyfriends who were massively bigger than me. The kind like a tree of solid oak I can climb up and cling to.

Wait. He'd never be my boyfriend. No matter what Nana said, he's a creeper who walks the halls naked for some reason, and I should probably complain to the management—my dad, who owns the building.

It was an investment he made after I moved to Calgary and Nana wanted to downsize into a smaller apartment. Dad wanted to be sure the building she lived in was safe, and the only way to do that was to buy one himself. Well, wonder what he'd do to Ass Man if he knew about this stunt of his wandering the halls in the nude. Probably kick the guy to the curb faster than anything.

"Okay. I have to get back to work. But promise to tell me if you run into Ass Man again. Oh, and will you see if your dad can get us Vipers tickets when Connor's team is in town? Pretty please?" We hug.

"Absolutely." Not that I want to see her get hurt by Connor or anyone. I've been hurt enough for both of us for one lifetime.

"If I keep up this flirtation with Connor, maybe I could suggest we can meet him for drinks after the game. He could bring along a teammate and we could call it a double date." I can see the hope in her eyes needs a little taming, because I'm hopeless.

"No. Dating again right now wouldn't make sense. I'm not ready to put myself out there yet."

I appreciate Anastasia's concern for me, but everything that happened with my ex is still too raw. I don't think I'm ready to move on. And nothing she can do or say will deter me in my efforts to focus on myself for a while.