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“You keep waiting around for Prince Charming but Prince Really Good-Looking And Is Totally Into You may walk right on by. In fact, I believe you danced with him the other night and are meeting him for coffee this morning.” She tapped her lip with her finger, adding the dramatic flair that was all her sister.
“It’s just coffee. There’s no way for you to know that he’s into me.”
“Sure there is. I saw how he looked at you when you were dancing. And Jeff told me.” With that, she sprung from the bed and left the room.
“Wait. What?!” Noelle scooted out of her room after her sister. She found her in the kitchen, pouring herself a mug full of coffee. She moved to the kitchen table, if one could call it that. It was more of a nook table that could fit just two chairs. It worked in the space though. Theirs was a two-bedroom apartment, one bath, with a decent-sized living room, a tiny kitchen, and a space for a table. The one where Holly sat, sipping her coffee.
“You want some?” She raised her mug to Noelle. “Oh. Right. Coffee date. Sorry.” She sipped again acting as if she hadn’t moments before dropped a gossip bomb in Noelle’s room.
Noelle claimed the chair across from her sister. “Speak.”
“What?”
“Don’t give me that. What did Jeff say?” Although she and her sister were in their late twenties, it wasn’t lost on her that they sounded like junior high girls at the lunch table. She didn’t care.
Jeff was Wes’s friend that Holly ended up dancing with at Grey’s. The one with the smooth, or not so smooth move that ended up spilling wine on them as a way to ask them to dance. It had worked. Holly and Jeff had gone out twice since then and Noelle was headed to her first date… No. Not a date. Coffee, with Wes.
Holly shrugged, picking up the newspaper on the table and pretending to look at it. “Nothing, really. Just that Wes was mesmerized by you at Grey’s and the whole bumping into us bit was more for him to meet you than anything else.”
“Whatever.”
“Believe it.”
“Wait. Doesn’t that bother you? I mean, to have Jeff tell you it wasn’t to meet you?”
“Our third date tonight tells me that I’m completely fine with it. And he did want to meet me. They were in it together. But Wes made himself sound like an innocent bystander. And there’s no innocence there, my dear. He was all in on the clumsy move.”
Noelle sat back in her chair. If he was so eager to meet her and as Holly pointed out “into her,” then why hadn’t he tried to call her or ask her out?
“You’re going to hurt yourself one day with your tendency to overthink things.” She laid down the paper and looked at Noelle. “He didn’t contact you because he’s caught up in some big business deal his dad has him working on. Jeff hasn’t even seen or talked to him since that night at Grey’s. But he knew at some point Wes would ask. He comes across as a man who gets what he wants. If he wanted to find out who you are, he’d find out.”
Noelle had no argument there. In the short period of time she’d spent with Wes St. Claire, it was easy to see he was someone who went after what he wanted. And rarely walked away empty-handed.
She looked at the clock on the wall. “Crud! I’m running late.” Making Wes wait was probably not something he was used to either. Showing up late made a bad first impression. Noelle shoved her feet in her snow boots, wrapped up in her scarf and coat, and headed out the door, with a wave and “I love you” to her sister as she went.
*
Wes St. Clairewas not a man used to being stood up. He looked again at his watch and then to the door of the Java Café. Still no Noelle. He’d chosen a table near the back in the corner, giving him the ability to see the entire room as well as offering some privacy for him and Noelle. Wanting to be aware of his surroundings, he didn’t like having his back to a room, and with a small town like Marietta, the less gossip about him and Noelle the better. Not that two people having coffee was much to write home about, but he’d been caught in a rumor mill enough times to know how to avoid it as best as possible.
The bell above the door jingled. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as Noelle walked through the door. Limped was more like it. He was on his feet and by her side in one swift move.
“What is it?” He put his arm beneath hers and helped her to the chair across from the one he’d just vacated.
“Ugh. I’m fine. I slipped on the ice like an idiot.” Her attempt to make it sound less than it was fell flat.
He knelt on his haunches beside her. A hair had strayed from the braid that flowed down her back. Without thinking, he tucked it behind her ear, the gesture causing a surge of heat through him. Her cheeks flushed as she copied his movement, tucking the hair again even though it was unnecessary. It was obvious she was flustered so he stood and took the seat across from her.
“What do you need?”
“A hot tea would be nice.” Her smile sent warmth through him as well, but this time as if she’d wrapped a giant blanket around him on a cold day.
“I was thinking more like ice for your knee, or ankle… I’m not sure what you’ve injured.”
She waved a hand. “It’s really fine. Tea would be lovely.”
Her words said she was fine, but her other hand rubbed her right leg as if she’d pulled something. However, Wes knew better than to argue with a woman. Better to take his time, see what he could glean from her over coffee. Or tea, as was the case.
“Hot tea it is.”
