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I gave her a snide look. “Oh of course. For the greater good.”
She started skip-walking backward. “So you’ll be on the lookout for me?” She lifted her hand to her ear, pinky and thumb out to mimic a phone. “And call me as if he stops in here.”
“Yes, because all I have to do with my day is watch out for your next hookup,” I said dryly.
“See? I knew we were besties for a reason.” She shot me a wink as she got closer to the door. “See you soon. Loveyoubye!”
“Wait! You didn’t pay for the”—she fluttered out of the store, the door closing behind her—“cereal,” I finished on a sigh.
“That girl,” Georgia stated with a fond shake of her head. “One of these days she’s going to meet a man who knocks her on her ass, and I can’t wait to see it.”
That made two of us.
Chapter Two
Sawyer
I pushedinto the coffee shop later that day, in desperate need of caffeine to beat back the afternoon lull that usually hit me around 3:00, making it nearly impossible to stay on my feet or keep my eyes open.
“Hey, Mon,” I greeted, brushing my wind-blown hair out of my face. She stood behind the counter, her elbow resting on the wooden top, her chin in her palm as she stared off. “How’s it—?”
“Shhh!” She waved her free hand in my face to silence me.
I clamped my lips shut and rolled them between my teeth. It was then that I noticed the coffee shop was eerily quiet. “What’s going on?” I whispered as I looked around. It seemed every woman in the building was staring in the same direction as Monica.
“New guy came in a few minutes ago,” she whispered back. “And holy walking orgasms, Batman. Pretty sure my panties went up in smoke the minute he pulled the door open.”
“You’re as bad as Luna.” I shook my head good-naturedly. “He’s just a man,” I continued as I turned to look to the person everyone was gawking at. “You’d think no one here ever saw one before—holy God.Is that him?” I hissed when I finally caught sight of the man sitting at the small, round table in the corner.
His rich, chocolate-brown hair was a little long, flipping at the ends around his neck and ears. As I stared, totally transfixed, he raked his fingers through the dark strands, pushing them back from his face and giving me an unobstructed view of his profile. And what a profile it was. From that angle I could see he had thick, arched brows, a straight nose, a strong, square jawline that hadn’t been shaved in a few days, and distinct, chiseled cheekbones.
Golden tanned skin stretched around a thick, veiny forearm and a bicep that bulged as he lifted the coffee cup to his mouth and took a sip. There was no missing the fact that his hand was so big, the mug looked dwarfed beneath his long fingers and a wide palm. But what had to be the hottest thing about the guy just then was that he wasn’t just sitting there messing around on his phone, oblivious to anything other than what was happening on the screen. No, on the table before him was a hardcover book that held his complete attention.
There was just something about an attractive guy reading a book that made him off-the-charts hot. At least to me. And from the collective sigh that filled the air from every ovary-carrying adult in the room as the stranger turned the page, it was easy to tell I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Monica gave me a snide look, arching a brow. “You were saying?” she teased.
“Whatever,” I grumbled, forcing my gaze from the stranger. I’d been staring so hard I was beginning to feel like a voyeur. “I’ll admit he’s attractive—”
“Oh no, honey. ‘Attractive’ doesn’t begin to cover it. Get close enough to a man like that and I’m pretty sure your eyebrows will melt right off your face.”
“Colorful,” I said on a chuckle.
With a sigh, she returned her chin to her hand and resumed her gawking. “What is it about a man reading a book in public that sets my lady parts all aflutter?” Monica asked, voicing my earlier thought. Well, all except for the lady parts bit.
“I’m sure your husband would just love to hear that.”
She waved me off without a care. “Meh. It’s like when I read a particularly steamy book. I get all hot and bothered, and he gets to reapallthe benefits... if you know what I mean,” she added with a wink.
I pushed down the cringe that came with that overload of info, as well as the unsettling feeling that came from being drawn to a man I’d never seen before, and tried to pretend that everything was normal. It was just another day. There was no dude who looked like he belonged on the cover of a romance novel, his shirt hanging open and fluttering in a breeze as he ripped the bodice of some duchess’s dress in half with his bare hands, sitting in the corner of my local coffee shop.
It had been alongtime since I’d been with a man, and the last one had turned out to be a nightmare in the very truest definition of the word. It was a road I had no intention of going down again. My reasons were totally different, but just like Luna, I refused to do relationships. However, unlike her I stayed away from intimacy altogether.
“So, can I get a coffee or what?”
She blew out a raspberry in mock frustration. “Fine, Debbie Downer. You want the usual?”
“Yes, please.” I focused harder than necessary on Monica as she went about making my drink, tracking her movements like I was going to be tested on them later. It was either that or leer at the stranger, which was a big fatno. My eyes tried several times to drift in his direction, and I had to actively keep myself from glancing back over. It was a whole hell of a lot harder than it should have been.
