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“The hot chick with the attitude. The one who’s always here on the weekends, though she hasn’t been around in a while.”
Nate stilled. He looked over the counter and, sure enough, there was Kris, sitting at her usual table by the window.
“You think she’ll go out with me?” Elijah sounded dreamy. He’d gone on and on about Kris since he first laid eyes on her at the beginning of the summer. It had been annoying then, but it was downright irritating now.
A muscle ticked in Nate’s jaw. “Doubt it.”
He resisted the urge to yell,that’s my girlfriend!Because that wasn’t accurate, was it? He and Kris put on an act around Gloria, but in their free time, they were free to do whatever—and whoever—they wanted.
The thought incited alarmingly murderous thoughts in Nate’s head.
“Ye of little faith.” Elijah’s eyes remained on Kris while he swiped his tongue over his lip ring. Nate wanted to yank the damn thing out. “I may not be a pretty boy like you, but I know how to get a girl all hot and bothered.”
“Not if you keep saying things like ‘hot and bothered.’”
“Watch and learn.” Elijah ignored Nate’s barb and sidled off to take Kris’s order, even though she was sitting in Nate’s section.
Nate watched, pastries forgotten, as Elijah said something that made Kris smile.
There was no way Elijah was her type. He couldn’t imagine a princess like her going for someone with blue hair and facial piercings.
But what did he know about her, really? He knew she was from Seattle and had a summer job working for top Hollywood publicist Bobbi Rayden—not of her own volition. He knew she was Filipino and that her father earned his first fortune in the video games world before he branched off into other sectors like e-commerce and technology. He knew little things like her favorite color (green), astrological sign (Scorpio), and the way her nose scrunched when she saw something she didn’t like. He knew she was beautiful and sarcastic and made him want her more than he’d ever wanted anyone in his life.
But he didn’t knowher.What made her tick. What made her afraid. What type of guy she liked.
Nate assumed Kris went for the douchey trust fund types. The ones with college degrees who summered in exclusive European resorts and bought girls diamonds on the third date because they could.
That wasn’t Nate. But that wasn’t Elijah, either.
Elijah took out his phone and handed it to Kris.
Nate stifled a snort. There was no way Kris would—
What the fuck?
His jaw unhinged when Kris input what had to be her number and handed it back to Elijah with a smile. Who was this girl? Sheneversmiled that much. Scowls? Yeah. Eye rolls? All the time. But smiles? Those were few and far in between.
Now she was smiling at Elijah like he was Harry Styles and she was a tween fangirl.
Nate’s eye twitched as Elijah bounced over with a huge grin on his face.
“I got her number,” his friend said, sounding giddy. “Told ya. I’m irresistible.”
“Congrats.” Nate remembered the pastries and shoved the remaining croissants into the pastry case with more force than necessary. “Good for you.”
He hadn’t told Elijah or anyone else about his arrangement with Kris. As far as his friend knew, Kris was just another customer—one who’d given him her number.
Nate’s eye twitched again.
“She’s nicer than I thought,” Elijah mused. “I talked to her once or twice before, but in passing. I thought she’d be one of those stuck-up types, but she’s not so bad. A bit prickly, but she’s hot as hell, so I don’t mind.”
“Did she place an order?” Nate abruptly changed the subject. The last thing he wanted was to listen to Elijah ramble on about how hot Kris was. He had eyes, thank you very much.
“Oh, yeah. Vanilla oat latte with a double shot of espresso and a blueberry scone.”
“I’ll make it.” Nate started the order before Elijah could argue. “There’s another customer.”
While his friend took care of the overly bleached blonde in a pink tracksuit, Nate put the order together and stalked over to Kris. He couldn’t slam the drink on the table unless he wanted another spill situation, but the plate with the scone hit the wooden surface with an angrythud.
