He stood.
I inadvertently looked… there. How embarrassing. Had he seen me glancing down at his crotch? And what exactly was I looking for? I never did such a thing. Geez Louise.
He was dressed casually, jeans and an olive-green sweater that made him look like he could be on the cover of some outdoor men’s magazine. Neither Mason nor Beck had a thing on this guy. He was, by far, the hottest of all three.
I made my way to the table.
The Coffee Cabin was one of those places in town that was always busy. From morning to late afternoon, when they closed in the winter, it was packed. Somehow he’d found a seat for two in the corner.
“She didn’t tell you?”
Obviously I wasn’t able to hide my look of surprise very well.
“If a text two minutes ago without any indication of who I would be meeting counts, then actually, she did,” I said, assuming he referred to Pia.
Taking off my gloves and coat, I shoved the former inside my jacket sleeves and slung it on the back of a chair.
“If you’d rather not?—”
“No,” I said, stopping him. “It’s totally fine. I was actually telling Pia,” I said, sitting down as he did the same, “it’s surprising we haven’t run into each other yet.”
What did it mean that he was here for lunch? Was this like… a date? I hoped not because I was a long—very, very long—way away from being ready to date.
A guy this good-looking though? You sure about that, Delaney?
Then, of course, there was his little problem…
“Agreed,” he said. “But Pia’s going to get it. I specifically told her to make sure it was okay with you that I take her place.”
“You know she’ll argue that she did, and that technically she was in the right.”
“Oh, I do. Pia doesn’t intimidate easily.”
“Could you imagine Mason with someone who did?” I asked.
His smile would make a dentist proud. “Not at all. So what can I get you? Need a menu?”
“You don’t have to?—”
“I insist.”
Shit. If he was buying lunch, that made it more like a date. Which this definitely was not. But what was I supposed to say? “If you insist.” I smiled. “Tuna on a croissant, unsweetened iced tea.”
“The woman knows what she wants,” he said, standing.
“If they serve tuna, I’m getting it. End of story.”
Again, that smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was such a fan. Tuna is usually one of those, ‘Sure, I like it’ but not a ‘Best ever’ kind of food.”
“I get that a lot. Even stranger, I don’t like any other seafood.”
Most people had something to say about the fact that I liked tuna, from a can only, but not seafood, but Parker didn’t miss a beat. “Like I said, the woman knows what she likes. I’ll be right back.”
I watched him head to the counter to order and nearly forgot that I’d intended to text Pia, distracted by his very fine-looking ass.
I’m going to kill you.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for her reply, which came in the form of an angel emoji. Apparently, that was all she planned to text.
