2.

Struggling to calm her racing heart, she ran all the way to the kitchen whilst still holding onto that plate like a damn shield, her mom giving her a confused look as she switched her gaze between her disheveled face and that plate in her arms.

"What are you doing? Girl, let that plate down and give me a hand in here,"

Letty gave a small nod and quickly set down the plate somewhere on the counter, hurrying to help her mother take out the steaming casserole from the oven, her mind still somewhat dazed out by the whole experience of meeting her dad's new colleague.

Never in her life did she ever feel so attracted to a person she'd just met. And much less by a man so out of her league. She could tell that he was a good deal of years older than her. And certainly more...experienced. Yet for the love of all mighty, she couldn't comprehend her own reaction. Why did her own body react so strongly to him? What was it? What made him so...alluring, beside those obviously good looks of his?

There was something about him. Something so...

"Girl, quit your daydreaming and help me carry these to the dining room!" Her ma's voice abruptly brought her back to reality -for the second time that day- her body giving out the tiniest jolt as she quickly scrambled into action and grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on, immediately busying herself.

She didn't want her parents catching a single sniff of whatever was that between her and her dad's co-worker as she knew that she'd never hear the end of it. She'd already embarrassed herself once in their eyes that day. She didn't need to add another thing on the list.

So she ran and set the salad bowl on the dining table, consciously avoiding to even look at officer Evans as she feared that he would hypnotize her again with those unknown charms of his, behaving like the good and well-mannered girl she was as she quietly helped her mother prepare and set down everything before finally taking a seat at the table, which happened to be right across officer Evans' seating place.

"So, how are you enjoying the city so far? Did you settle in well?" Officer Evans spoke, inadvertently drawing Letty's attention again as she raised her gaze from her plate, watching him express a polite smile as his golden honey eyes were trained in her mom's direction.

"Yes. It's very lovely. We didn't get to go out much since we're still installing all our belongings around the house but we like it so far. Isn't that right, darling?"

A long pause followed.

"Honey?"

She abruptly blinked a few times, lastly realizing that she'd been staring at the man again and that her mom was actually talking to her, the girl feeling a little bit of heat pinching at her cheeks as she awkwardly cleared her throat and finally answered,

"Huh? Oh yes, it is,"

Her gaze lowered on her plate again, feeling that tinge of embarrassment poke at her insides as she thought about what she just did -again- and that she could actually get caught, her insides twisting as she suddenly heard his voice again,

"I'm guessing you did leave some good friends back in Chadwick, didn't you?"

Surprised, her gaze snapped back up to meet his, quickly realizing that he must've mistaken her reaction for a saddened one as he regarded her with what could only be described as warmth and compassion.

She could feel her cheeks faintly heating up again as she rather timidly looked right back into those hypnotizing golden honey eyes, words failing to expel out of her mouth.

"It is hard, having to constantly move out from one place to another, given your dad's line of work. I get it. But you don't have to let that bring you down,"

"You are still so young, you still have so many things left to discover. Soon you'll be making new friends, new relationships. You'll discover that this city has many things to offer too," He offered a candid smile as he spoke, the girl already on the verge of swooning under that table as she continued to watch him, mesmerized.

What the hell was wrong with her?

"Yeah, we're hoping not too many," Her father suddenly intervened, the girl's emerald green eyes widening with surprise just a little bit and her lips parting open as turned her head to look at her father, noticing his rather disapproving expression.

Lukas' attentive gaze shifted between the two, noticing the awkward tension settling in as even though none of them said anything more, there was so much on their minds.

Mariah's small and awkward chuckle briefly cut through the silence, her voice light and carefully threading as she invited them all,

"Why don't we eat, shall we? The food's starting to get cold and it would be such a shame,"

**

Keeping her eyes glued to the food in her plate, Letty ate in silence for the rest of the dinner time, casually listening to her parents chat with officer Evans from time to time between her in and outs from reality, as her mind kept drifting away.

So many thoughts plagued her mind, keeping her restless as she bounced between the worry that her parents may stay mad at her forever and the mistery that this man sitting right in front of her represented.

And while that first thing did invoke a serious amount of concern within her, the other seemed all the more scary as she simply couldn't find a plausible explanation for what was currently happening to her.

Why did he have such an effect on her? She'd barely known him for a few hours now, how could someone impose such an influence on one another, and in such short amount of time nonetheless?

Was he a some kind of magician of sorts? Perhaps a skilled hypnotizer?

Maybe he actually was a some sort of supernatural creature with a great deal of superpowers.

He did look like one after all.

She agreed with herself as she dared look at those bulging and tattooed muscles peeking out from underneath his short-sleeved uniform again, lightly flexing with every move and the way his golden eyes appeared to almost glow every time he shifted his gaze on her.

A vampire, perhaps? No, his skin is too tanned for that. Maybe a werewolf, then?

She lightly giggled at her own childish thoughts, unwillingly drawing everyone's attention, including his as they all abruptly stopped talking and shifted their gazes on her, making her fake a cough and shrink in her seat at the sudden and unwanted attention, pretending to ignore them and mind her own business as they continued look at her for another moment before eventually resuming back to their previous conversation.

Silently exhaling in relief, she mentally chastised herself for such a reckless outburst, her mind still reeling and her heart pumping as she raised herself from her seat and leaned over the table to take ahold of the lemmonade pitcher and fill her glass again.

Yet before she could even realize what was going on, she let out a small yelp at the sudden and unexpected feeling of officer Evans' warm and tingling touch over her hand as he'd reached out at the same time, their gazes clashing into an intense battle as they stared at each other for a moment.

"I apologize,"

"Here, let me do it for you," He offered with a small smile, the girl only now noticing those barely visible dimples in his cheeks.

Whoah...

Completely dazed again, she remained silent and allowed him to fill the glass for her, her heart though pounding a little harder and faster as she sat back in the chair and waited for him to fill it then grabbed the glass and drank a few mouthfulls in an attempt to calm herself down.

Just what the hell was going on?

She kept wondering as she set the glass down, this time allowing herself to wander her gaze all over his frame into a rather scrutinising way, searching for any clue that would hint at the real reason behind his...unconventional attractiveness...the girl mildly startling in her seat as she lastly met his gaze again, embarrassed to notice that he was already looking at her too, albeit into a rather knowing and stealthy manner as he kept pretending to focus on his almost empty plate.

He continued to calmly converse with her parents, keeping them entertained so smoothly whilst discreetly observing her too from time to time, her body letting out the tiniest shiver and her breath stopping in her throat as for the tiniest fraction of a second, she could swear that she saw his eyes glowing the same way a cat's would in the dark, actually managing to scare her a little bit.