Aubrey (Revolving With Axis)

002:

"I'm fine, thanks." I took that step to show him I was about to exit the garage into my house. "What can I do for you, Rafe." I pronounced his name with a flair, a hip-hop flair, that maybe I shouldn't have, it certainly sounded a trifle sarcastic.

His face swiveled back to mine, ascertaining how serious I was. The tone had been clipped. I cocked my head to soften the annoyance I felt. Our eyes met. Now I could see that his were a deep blue, like the ocean outside my bedroom windows, like the sky on a crisp fall day.

This was neither. I smiled. "Rafe...?"

His answering smile was again so infectious I almost dropped my purse. It flashed a brilliant comedic dimple into both of his cheeks, and his eyes crinkled too. I realized he fairly oozed charisma.

And I was very used to charisma. My dad had more charisma in his little finger than just about anybody alive. And his eyes were just as piercing and darkly fringed as Rafe's.

"God, you're gorgeous!" He breathed, losing all his relaxed tension in one complex breath. "Do it again.... give me that drop dead incredible smile...."

My eyes puckered slightly again in annoyance and I bit my lip to keep from smiling for him. "Do you need something? Are you from around here?"

"Uh huh. Uh huh. I am. I am. Next door. Next door." He jerked his head to the left and his eyes rolled to indicate which next door he meant. I hadn't met any of my neighbors in the year I'd lived here.

I shook my face back and forth and shrugged to show him I was at a loss as to what he needed from me, and took another small step to show him he was blocking my exit. My eyebrows rose to frame the obvious question.

"Yeah, okay. I'm bugging you when you just got home from-- work--I take it. Where do you work?" He stepped back and I could see that he wore no shoes, and his toes reminded me of his fingers, knobby and white. Most people at least wore flip-flops or slippers. He actually stopped before the back of the car and put up one very well-muscled and tattooed arm. It wasn't covered in just a few tattoos either, but completely covered in a myriad of many, many tattoos. My eyes were drawn to the artwork as he'd obviously meant them to be.

I had to think to remember where I worked. "I just came from USC Medical Center where I helped deliver quintuplets." I sniffed and eyed the arm again, where he was now very obviously blocking my path. I wasn't the least bit flustered by his stance, it wasn't threatening, in fact, he seemed like a young rock star, strutting his stuff. If he had made a move to threaten me, I knew I could take him, muscles or no muscles, I was trained in martial arts, and unlike my sibs, I still kept up with the taekwondo forms and progression I had started as a child.

I blew out my breath, though, feeling the tiredness seep into my being. I'd been at the hospital about twenty hours. Before that, I'd been at my practice seeing patients. Before that, I'd been at ABCSC on a consult.

He blew out his breath too and lifted his arm for me to pass without backing away. If I wanted to pass I'd have to endure a very close proximity to him. He started making those rap type voice percussion noises again. He sounded suspiciously like one of my older brothers.

Even in heels, I wasn't nearly his height. I wasn't the shortest of the Mann girls, but I wasn't the tallest either. Megan and Melia were taller than all of us at five foot six inches. I was around five four and a half. Three-quarters, I smiled.

"You still haven't answered my question, Rafe. What do you need?" I started to move past him and he whipped out that corded arm again.

"Smile."

I flashed a cursory, annoyed fake smile and moved past him, around the back of my car.

As I rounded the edge, he leaped in front of me and grinned a lopsided grin.