Alex:Pick up coffee on your way back.
Damn it!I don’t think I could ever despise someone as much as I do Alex Rogers.
9
Isabelle
"You can stop hiding, you know," jests Harlow. "He hasn't returned here since he left you that card on Monday."
I’ve been eating lunch at a local burger and fries co-op every day this week just to avoid any more run-ins with Isaac. I can’t trust myself to be in the same room with him. Just one look at his deliriously handsome face and my inhibitions fly out the window.
When I returned to the bakery bright and early Tuesday morning for the agents’ morning coffee fix, Harlow handed me Isaac’s business card. On the back of the card, he simply wrote, “When you stop denying what your body wants,” with his cell phone number at the bottom.
I crumpled the card up and tossed it to the ground, but no matter how hard I acted as if it wasn’t there, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from it.
By the time Harlow finished preparing my order, I’d gathered the business card off the ground and shoved it into my jeans pocket, where it has remained the past four days.
“Do you work seven days a week?” Harlow hands me two crates of coffee.
I freeze as I struggle to think of a legitimate reason why my cover as a secretary would be collecting so many coffees on a Saturday morning.
“Umm, no. It was a big night for a few friends and me last night. I was the designated driver, which also means I'm responsible for the morning caffeine fix.”
I cringe at my pathetic excuse, but when Harlow smiles, I realize she’s accepting my explanation.
“Do you work seven days?” I ask since I’ve just realized she is here every morning right alongside me.
"It is a requirement when you're the owner," she answers, staring into space. "I miss late nights and long sleep-ins.”
I gawk at her in surprise. Harlow seems around my age, which is young to own a business already.
Noticing my expression, she smiles. "I've always loved to bake. This was a dream of mine since I was a young girl." She gestures her hand around the bakery. "But I'm slowly realizing dreams don't always turn out how you envision them."
I nod. I was so excited when I was accepted into the FBI Academy. I thought I would live a life of suspense and intrigue, but I'm learning what I visualized for an FBI agent varies a great deal from what I do every day. I have nine months, two weeks and one day left on my contract to work with Alex's department, then hopefully I'll be reassigned to a better unit, and the dreams I envisioned might transpire.
I offer Harlow a sincere smile before I head for the exit. Just as I’m about to walk out into the street, Harlow calls my name.
“If you have any more exciting nights planned, can you throw a dog a bone?”
Smiling, I once again nod.
It is only when I’m in the alcove do I remember I’m going out with Brandon tonight. I invited Brandon out with me under the strict understanding it is a friends going out for drinks night only invitation. No assumptions, no false promises, just friends. He readily agreed.
I dart back inside the bakery. Harlow’s head lifts from the cash register when she hears the bell hanging above the entrance door ring.
“Do you have any plans tonight?”
She smiles and shakes her head; excitement is beaming out of her.
“It isn’t a raging party, just me and another friend having some drinks. You’re more than welcome to tag along,” I inform her, smiling.
Since I don’t have a car, Harlow offers to pick me up from Regina’s house at nine tonight. By the time I walk back into the office building located across from Isaac’s nightclub, the coffees I purchased are stone cold.
Alex grumbles under his breath as he reheats his coffee in the microwave in the galley kitchen, but his angry mood can't sour my excitement. I haven't been out dancing in months, but even more thrilling than that is the fact I've made a friend.
I miss having the close connection of a girlfriend. As much as I love Regina, she mothers me too much for me to consider her a confidante. I need a female companion to discuss the conflicting emotions I'm currently feeling for Isaac Holt.
Hold on, what?
