August (The Moore Men)

Chapter 1

1

August

C limbing out of my truck, I scan the empty parking lot before heading inside. Like every morning, I’m the only one here, their first customer of the day. It’s the only coffee shop in a fifty-mile radius that opens this early, and thankfully, it’s a quick ten-minute drive from the ranch. Makes getting my morning cup of Joe nice and easy.

Some upbeat pop music plays in the empty lobby as I wait at the front counter for somebody to come help me. For the last month, it’s always the same guy every morning, at least during the week. No clue what his name is because he’s never wearing a name tag. He’s on the shorter side, with kind of shaggy dark blond hair, and he always looks extremely uncomfortable taking everyone’s orders. He’s awkward, but fuck, is he cute.

It's only a minute before he pads up to the register, giving me a strained smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. No eye contact. “Morning,” he chirps. “Same thing as always?”

Wearing a visor on his head adorned with the coffee shop’s logo, he’s got a matching apron tied around his front over a plain white t-shirt. He’s wearing glasses today, which is new. I don’t think I’ve seen him in those before. Kinda digging it.

“You know it, sweetheart.” I smirk at him, pulling out my wallet.

He glances up at me, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red. Taking my card, he rings me up before grabbing a cup beside him and properly labeling it. “Give me just a minute.”

“Do y’all get a lot of business this early?” I ask as he gets started making my drink. Typically, I’m an in-and-out guy in the morning, not much small talk, but something about seeing him in those dorky glasses has me wanting to chat.

Maybe make him squirm a little bit.

I don’t know.

Corrupt him a little. I bet he’s corruptible. He looks sweet and innocent.

Whoa . Where’d that come from? Five-thirty in the morning is a tad early for thoughts of corruption and innocence. Leave it to me.

“Um, not typically for another half an hour,” he murmurs. Handing me the cup of coffee, he gives me another half-smile. “Have a nice day.”

“Yeah, you too.”

He disappears into the back again as I head over to the self-serve area, putting the perfect amount of cream and sugar in the hot beverage. Truthfully, I probably could buy one of those coffeepots for my place and save myself seven bucks every morning, but fuck that. Why do that, when I can drive here and have somebody else make it for me?

Once I’m finished perfecting my drink, I toss the garbage in the can beside the counter, and head out to my truck.

Or at least, I try to, but before I can make it to the door, I collide with a very hard body, my coffee cup flying out of my hands and up into the air as a huge cloud of white forms in front of me.

“Oh, fuck!” I mutter as I try desperately to steady myself. It’s futile. Losing my footing, I fall on my ass, the body I collided with collapsing right on top of me as a giant container of whatever the hell is covering us hits the ground beside us with a loud thud . Very fucking hot coffee and white powder coats the both of us, and as I get a better look, I notice it’s the same guy who just took my order.

Scrambling to his feet—it’s proving to be a little difficult with the mess around us—he curses under his breath, wiping his hair out of his face, but all it does is smear whatever powder-turned-paste is on his face all over.

“I’m so sorry,” he blurts out, eyes wide behind his now-crooked glasses. “I thought you had already left. I didn’t even s-see you.”

Standing up, I attempt to wipe off the mess all over the front of me, but it’s no use. I’m going to have to chance when I get back to the ranch, no doubt. I look around, swiping the hat off the ground that flew off my head. It, too, is covered in coffee and whatever the fuck he was carrying.

“What the hell is this?” I ask, wiping as much as I can off the hat.

“It’s flour,” he mutters, and when I glance over at him, he’s looking up at me with big, apologetic eyes. “I’m so sorry, I swear I thought you already left.”

“Why the fuck were you carrying so much flour?” I can’t help but breathe out a small chuckle as I take in the vast size of the container that’s now lying on the ground. It’s nearly half the size he is.

“The kitchen where we bake all our pastries and desserts is behind you. The truck just delivered our shipment, so I was bringing it back to the kitchen so our baker could have it by the time she gets here.”

He’s still trying to brush himself off and getting nowhere as somebody strolls through the door. Glancing up, I recognize her as one of the other employees. She freezes as soon as she gets inside, eyes darting from me, to him, then to the mess all over the floor before she bursts out laughing.

“What the hell happened here?”

The guy whose name I still don’t know squirms beside me, clearly embarrassed. Feeling bad for him, I jump in and say, “Like the clumsy fucker I am, I wasn’t watchin’ where I was walkin’, and I ran straight into him.”

His head snaps in my direction, looking up at me, confused.

“If you hand me a broom or a rag, I can help clean this mess up,” I say to the woman in front of the door. “I’m sorry, guess I’m not quite awake yet.”

She smiles, shaking her head. “That won’t be necessary,” she says, waving me off. “Accidents happen. You go on. Tripp and I can take care of this mess.”

Tripp. Now I know his name.

“Thank you, ma’am, but are you sure? I don’t mind helpin’. ”

“Nonsense. I’m sure you have to get to work. We got this, but thank you.”

Giving Tripp one last look, he gives me an awkward smile before mouthing thank you to me.

“Alright, well, y’all have a nice morning. Sorry again about the mess.”

I feel kind of bad leaving, but she’s right, I do need to head back to the ranch, change, and get started with work. I’m already running late. By the time I park my truck in front of the barn, everybody is already awake and outside.

“What the fuck happened to you?” my cousin, Hollis, asks as he’s loading bales of hay onto the bed of his truck.

“Had a fun night with strippers and cocaine, of course.”

Finn, my other cousin, laughs, shaking his head. “With you, I wouldn’t even be the least bit surprised.”

I flip him off as I glance back at Hollis. “No, I was at the coffee shop gettin’ my morning cup, and the barista ran straight into me with an industrial size vat of flour. The coffee and the flour went everywhere .”

“Oh, fuck.” Hollis barks out a laugh. “That’s very fuckin’ unfortunate for you.”

“Yeah, you’re tellin’ me. Not only do I have to go change, but I’m not caffeinated.”

“You know,” Gentry, my uncle, drawls as he strolls out of the barn. “You could be like the rest of us peasants and drink the coffee from the pot inside the house.”

“Well, I’m gonna have to now,” I mutter.

“Get your ass changed, and then meet Hollis in pasture three,” he grunts out as he slips his hands into his gloves. “Maybe if you’re lucky and Hollis is feeling generous, he’ll have coffee waitin’ for you. ”

“Wouldn’t hold your breath,” Hollis calls out after me as I start toward the ATV I’ll drive toward the cabin I call home on the southwest side of the property.

Luckily, because my cousin loves me—or because he didn’t want to hear me bitch all morning—there’s a cup of coffee waiting for me once I finally get changed and meet him in the field. Hollis and I spend the next several hours under the hot sun checking the fencing around the pasture and fixing any issues. It’s early in June, so summer is just getting started, but I can already tell it’s going to be a brutal one.

“Do you ever go to that coffee shop?” I ask Hollis after we’ve been working for a while.

“No, I make my coffee here like a normal person.”

“The barista who ran into me this morning, I think he’s new in town.”

Pulling a pack of smokes out of his pocket, he places a cigarette between his lips, lighting it as he takes a puff. “Okay, and you’re tellin’ me this because?”

Out of both of my cousins, Hollis is the closest in age to me, with him being twenty-six and me, twenty-three. Finn, his brother, just turned thirty last month. Hollis is snarky as hell and, to most people, he comes off as a total jackass, but it’s just his personality.

Their dad, Gentry, owns this cattle ranch. It’s been in their family for generations. I call Gentry my uncle, but technically, he isn’t. His ex-wife, Raylene, is my aunt, but her and Gentry got a divorce several years back. I’ve always been close with Gentry and my cousins, though, so even after the divorce, I still call him my uncle.

I’ve worked on this ranch since I was a teenager, and I don’t see that ever changing. This place is my home. My parents moved out of Texas to Montana when I was seventeen, and instead of going with them like they wanted me to, Gentry let me move into the cabin here. It’s where I’ve lived ever since.

“He’s cute,” I tell him, grinning as I remember how flustered he looked covered in coffee and flour this morning. “Think I want to take him out.”

Hollis barks a laugh. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, think I could have some fun with him.”

Taking another drag, Hollis leans against the back of the ATV. “And you got all of that from one literal run-in with the guy this morning?”

Shaking my head, I say, “Nah. I’ve seen him in there almost every single mornin’ for the last month.”

“Shit, that’s quite a long time for you to wait to pounce on your prey, Auggie,” he teases. “Going soft on me?”

“Fuck you.” I chuckle as we get back to work. “He’s different than most people I’m into, so watching him has been fun.”

“Different how?”

Like me, Hollis is bisexual and happily single. Neither of us has been in a relationship since high school, and we both enjoy the company of a partner some nights, but that’s all it ever is with either of us. A night. Between watching my aunt and uncle’s marriage fall apart and getting to witness Finn go through a divorce with the mother of his child, I think I speak for both Hollis and I when I say we have no interest in going down that road any time soon.

Or maybe ever.

“He’s all shy and awkward,” I explain. “But like, in an endearin’, kind of sexy way. Every time I try to make small talk with him or flirt a little, he clams up.”

“Maybe he’s just not into you,” Hollis drawls.

“Doubtful.” I snort.

“Oh, because you’re just sooo irresistible.”

Grinning at him, I nod. “Exactly. You get me.”

Hollis rolls his eyes and shakes his head, breathing out a laugh as we finish up our task. By the time we get back to the barn, it’s nearly lunch time so I make the snap decision to run back up to the coffee shop before we return to work. One, so I can get a proper coffee because the sludge Finn brought me this morning was fucking nasty, but also, two, so I can see if Tripp wants to go out with me.

As I pull into the parking lot for the second time today, I wonder if he’ll still be working. Maybe his shift has already ended. Thankfully, I spot him as soon as I step through the door. Still behind the counter, but in a change of clothes, he must’ve run home to change after our incident this morning. Getting in line, there’s a couple of people ahead of me, but it doesn’t take long to get to the counter.

Tripp’s back is to me as I approach, and as soon as he turns around to greet me, his face falls. “Oh, it’s you,” he mumbles, using his index finger to push the glasses up the bridge of his nose. And would you know it… that same shade of red is back on his cheeks.

“Well, don’t look so disappointed, sweetheart,” I tease, flashing him a smile.

“I just figured you’d never step foot in here again after what happened this morning. I’m sorry again, by the way.”

“Quit apologizing.” I wave him off. “It was an accident. Besides, it wasn’t all bad. ”

Cocking his head to the side a little, his brows dip with confusion. “It wasn’t? Did we experience the same thing? Because from where I was standing, it was pretty bad.”

“Nah, it wasn’t because I got to learn your name.”

He looks even more confused now. “You wanted to know my name? Why?”

I stuff my hands into my pockets and shrug. “I like to know the cute barista who serves me coffee every morning.”

In the matter of seconds, the flush overtaking the apples of his cheeks spreads down to his neck and up to the tips of his ears, and I watch with absolute glee as his Adam’s apple bobs with a swallow. Fuck, he’s so shy. It’s adorable.

“How about you let me take you out Friday night?” I offer. “To make up for this morning.”

“But it was my fault,” he murmurs flatly.

“Perfect, then say yes.”

“Um…” Tripp glances around, as if seeing if anybody is around to hear this, confusion etched into every feature on his face. “You’re serious?”

With a toothy grin curling my lips, I quip, “As a heart attack, baby. So, what do you say?”

Quiet for a moment, he finally breathes out a very questionable, “Sure?”

I pull my phone out of my pocket and unlock it, handing it over to him. “Plug in your number. I’ll text you to make a plan.”

Fuck yes.