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One quick look to my outstretched hand and he stopped encroaching on my personal space, shaking with a firm but pleasant grip. “It’s been a… a few years. How are you? You look…” A hot, sweeping gaze roamed up and down my body before he settled back to hold me in his gaze. “Wow, you look amazing, Cara.”
My eyes scanned him as quickly as I could without it being weird because despite the passage of years, he looked amazing – slightly older, and yet, still the same; tall, broad shoulders, blond hair, with the addition of a well-maintained beard. The only thing missing was the playful sparkle in his dark-brown eyes. Guess we all lost that at some point.
I pushed my shoulders back and planted on a smile, falsifying my confidence. “Normally, I’m good, but I’m having quite the day. There’s some kind of issue with the bank and my cards aren’t working. I can e-transfer you the total if you give me the email address.”
“Don’t worry about it. Honestly.” He waved a hand through the air. “I’ve got this, Harry, thank you, you can go back to the counter.”
I glanced over Carter’s shoulders to the young man, who with a quick nod and ayes, sirscurried out of earshot. Thrums of energy coursed through my fingertips as I tightened my grip on my phone, but I blamed the coffee.
“No way. I pay my own way.”
A hard and fast rule I never broke. Never.
“Cara, it’s good. One customer won’t break the bank. Could you imagine?” He tipped his head back and a low, throaty giggle escaped.
Well, hot dang, his laugh hadn’t changed either and the sound still had the power to fire me up from the inside, and with it, came the strange ability to also set me at ease, as if he had some kind of power over my moods. Didn’t I wish?
Guess that’s why when he chose a different path than the one we were on, it sent me in a tail spin, and my being back in his presence was bad news. He had been my kryptonite, and if I didn’t leave soon, I was in big trouble. And I was still upset.
“Really, can’t I just transfer you the money?” My hands flew through the air; the double espresso was making me vibrate.
“No.” He tipped his head to the side and stared past my eyes into the depths of my soul. It was all too easy for him to access. “Everything okay?”
I swallowed and shifted on my heeled boots, which lifted me to chin-height with him, but I turned away. “I’m just having a bad day, and this is the icing on the cake.”
“Well, hopefully, it’s the sweet, delicious part, and nothing bitter.”
The soothing sound of his voice drew my gaze back to him. “No, this place is delightful. I enjoyed my donut and double macchiatos.”
I rocked on my feet. Was it the espresso shots causing a hum inside my head, or was it all Carter? At this point, it was hard to tell.
“But if I’m honest, I really don’t like being comped. That leaves more of a bitter taste in my mouth than any bad coffee ever could.” My finger tapped against the edge of my phone in a wild and weird pattern.
“Well, that’s an easy problem to solve.” He cleared his throat, a habit I guessed he never grew out of, and sauntered back behind the counter, pulling out his wallet. After tapping on the screen, he inserted a twenty into the cash register. With an easy-going smile on his face, he winked. “Hope you don’t mind, but I left a healthy tip for Harry. And now it’s not comped.”
Heat exploded across my face faster than ever and I took a few tentative steps forward, unsure of what to do or who to look at. Rather than check out either guy standing there, I let my gaze wander across the hardwood floor.
“Thank you, Carter. You didn’t need to.” The words were stronger than I felt, and my shoulders mirrored that.
“Seriously, it’s all taken care of.” He came over from behind the counter and stood exceptionally close. “You’re not okay, are you?”
I sighed and breathed him in – every sweet and java-scented molecule – before I stomped my foot down like a petulant child. “Just having an incredibly bad day, and I hate how you’ve paid the bill for me.”
“Yeah, I can see that, but it’s all good.” The blond hairs on his taunt forearm shimmered under the glow of the lights. It wasn’t helping the situation at all, and it most certainly wasn’t working to keep those resurfacing feelings at bay. Not at all.
“It’s not.”
“Cara, I own this store. I assure you, it’s all good.” He cleared his throat as his thick lips pushed together. “Come over here.” He gently tugged me back to my window seat and motioned for me to sit down. “What’s bothering you? I know you well enough to know when something’s not right.”
I sat and crossed my legs, leaning back against the metal ladder frame. “Youused toknow me.”
He clasped his hands together, nodded, and released a huge expulsion of air. “Yes, it’s been many years, but some things don’t change. You’re bugged. Clearly.”
My life wasn’t an open book, not anymore, and most certainly not with Carter Cross, who sat across from me like an ocean hadn’t kept us apart for years.
A family walked by below on the street with a young child swinging between his parents until his boot flew off. The mother’s gasp was practically audible inside the Coffee Loft.
“What is this place?” I watched as she put the boot back on, laughing and kissing the tip of her kid’s nose.
