One thing I love about Pinehive is that it's a small town so there's hardly any traffic in the roads. I was especially grateful for that today because I had woken up a little late and had to rush to an early morning appointment with Mrs Tregor, a very impatient woman who doesn't take kindly to lateness. I flew past the café lamenting that I would have to miss my morning tea to make it in time for my appointment. My phone rang and I fished it out of my bag and took a quick glance at the screen to see who was calling. I wasn't going to risk a repeat of last night. It was Kyle. I smiled and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello," I said.

"That's it? Hello?" Kyle asked.

"Uh what were you hoping for?" I asked.

"Maybe some explicit details of a morning quickie with the guy from last night or he wasn't good enough for a second round?" Kyle said laughing.

I sighed. "You're disgusting and I told you there was no guy."

"Sure beautiful. Whatever you say."

"Is there an actual reason you called me this time?" I asked him.

"Yeah. How come you didn't come in for tea today? You just zoomed past the café."

What the- "Are you stalking me?" I demanded.

"Maybe," he said laughing.

"That is highly disturbing."

"Not hot?" Kyle asked.

"Definitely not," I said as I parked next to Mrs Tregor's car.

"Darn. I'll have to try something else then. Maybe I'll sing outside your window all night."

"Please don't. I've gotta go. I'm meeting a client." I hung up before he could say anything else.

The meeting with Mrs Tregor went surprisingly well and she finally agreed to buy the house I had been persuading her to take for the past two weeks. I drove back to work feeling really happy. When I got to my office I found a blue flask on my desk and a folded up note next to it. I opened the note first and a messy handwriting looked up at me from the paper.

Hie Beautiful.

I feel like I may have annoyed you on the phone earlier and I'm really sorry for that. I got you a flask of the tea you like so much. You can either drink it since you couldn't get it in the morning or dump it all over my head for annoying you, your choice. Again, I'm sorry.

It wasn't signed but I knew Kyle had written it. I stared at the flask, then back at the letter then the flask again. I picked up the flask and opened it. A glorious scent wafted out of it. Tea, and not just any tea. It was tea exactly the way I liked it, with cinnamon and a bit of milk.

How did he know how I liked my tea?

I closed the flask and grabbed my phone. I found Kyle's number in my call log and dialed it. It rang twice before he picked up.

"Hie Beautiful."

I smiled. "Don't you ever get tired of that line?"

"I only ever use it on you."

"I highly doubt that."

"You think I'm a player?"

"A devilishly handsome man like you who flirts every single hour of the day? Of course not," I said sarcastically.

He laughed at my remark. "Since you're making jokes, I'm assuming you're not mad at me?"

"I wasn't mad at all," I said.

"Then why'd you hang up on me?"

"Because you talk too much and I had a client," I replied.

"But I'm a client too and you hung up on me when I was trying to talk to you about work-related stuff," he said.

"Really? And asking me if I had sex in the morning is work related, how?" I asked.

"It was a conversation leading up to work related stuff."

"Please tell me how that was going to lead to real estate."

"I was going to ask if you've ever slept with a client whilst you were showing them a house," he said.

My jaw dropped and I was speechless for a second. "Are you out of your mind!"

"What? It is work related," he argued.

"You are sooo weird," I said covering my face with my hand.

"So you've told me," he said laughing, "You got the tea?"

"Yeah I did. How did you know exactly what to order anyway?"

"It's one of the basic things a stalker learns about his stalkee," he said laughing and I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"No seriously, how did you know?"

"I was sitting at the café waiting for you to arrive then I saw you driving past without stopping so I called you and figured you probably couldn't have breakfast because of the client you were meeting. So I talked to the barista who knows you very well apparently because you go there every single day and I asked him what you usually order. He made your tea and put it in the flask so it would still be warm whenever you got it," he replied.

A warm feeling rose up in my chest and I smiled. "Thank you for the tea."

"You're welcome."

"So what other basic things do you know about your stalkee?" I asked him.

"Well I'm still new to the stalker business so not much yet. Ask me again in a couple of days."

"A couple of days? You think that's all you need to learn everything about me?"

"It could be if you would just let me in," he said quietly. I kept quiet unsure of what to say.

"Please give me a chance to get to know you," he pleaded softly.

"Why? I don't get it. You met me literally a couple of days ago," I argued.

"I'm not saying I'm in love with you, not yet. I like you. A lot. And I want to get to know you and someday fall in love with you and hopefully you'll fall in love with me too." I considered this for a while. I knew I felt...something for Kyle but I didn't think it would be enough to start a relationship.

"Just give me a week to show you how good we could be together and if you still haven't changed your mind about me by then, I won't bring it up again and I'll leave you alone," Kyle said.

I thought about it. He was crazy, this was crazy but it would only be for a week and then I could be rid of him and his ridiculous jokes. I decided to indulge him, maybe it would spice up my boring life and I was single anyway so no harm done. When he finally saw that I was right and that we wouldn't work out, he would move on and I could get on with my life as usual.

"One week," I said finally and he audibly let out a breath of relief on the other end of the line.

"Thank you. We start right away, I'm coming to pick you up for lunch later. I promise you won't regret this," he said.

"I already do," I sighed but he ignored me.

"I can't wait to fall in love with you. I'll see you soon," he said then he hung up.

What had I gotten myself into?    

A/N I am soooo sorry. I know I had said we'd meet Emily's bestie Laura in this chapter but Kyle absolutely demanded to have some time with Em lool.