Opposites Attract
Standing outside the coffee shop where I met Preston, I sigh. I want to go home, crawl into bed, and re-evaluate my entire life. But it’s too early.
In fact, it’s about the time Decker usually brings his lady of the night home for the evening. I’m still confused about my feelings—and his—and I just can’t put myself through that right now.
I push open the door and walk into the empty shop, inhaling the rich, welcoming scent of coffee. It’s honestly one of my favorite smells, and it calms me enough to believe I’m not a complete and total loser.
“Hey, Holly, right?”
I smile at Ken as he stands behind the counter in his blue apron, returning my smile with one just as warm. “You remember my name.”
“It’s kind of hard to forget the woman who stuck it out for an entire date with a man wearing cow dung on his boots.”
Laughing, I walk up to the counter and sigh. The shop closes in an hour, and no one else is here. I’m not really sure why it stays open so late, but I’m not in the coffee shop business. “That was hard.”
“How was the second date? Did he actually clean up nicely like he promised?”
“I didn’t go.”
His eyes widen. “You stood him up?”
“Oh, I’d never do that. I had to work late, so I canceled… and never rescheduled.”
“Did you really have to work late?”
There’s a playful tone to his voice, and I kind of like it. Something about Ken intrigues me. “I probably could have said no, but there really was a project my boss asked me to stay late to finish.”
“Okay, if you say so…”
“Cross my heart.” I make the motion across my chest to prove it.
Ken smiles again. “So, another bad date tonight?”
“Worse than the cowboy,” I say with an exaggerated sigh. “None of these dates are what I expected.”
“I’m sure they’re not that bad.”
“The date you saw was the best of them.”
He grimaces. “You need coffee. How about a mint chocolate latte?”
“Sounds amazing.”
With no one else in the shop, it almost feels like we’re on a little date ourselves. The hiss and steam of the milk sound louder in the empty space than I’m used to, but it’s kind of comforting. For some reason, I can see Ken serving me something fancy like this. While I’m curled up in his bed.
“Okay, tell me,” he says, sliding the cup toward me. “What was wrong with this date?”
I’m not sure he’s prepared for this. “First of all, he lives in his mother’s basement. Which really should have tipped me off, but I thought it was relatively safe to break my rule of not going to their place because his mom was there.”
“Was it safe?”
“Yeah, but I really should’ve caught on to the fact he’s probably a little weird.”
He chuckles and leans his hip against the counter. “Now, in this economy, sometimes people have to move back in with their parents.”
“He never moved out. And he’s almost forty. Oh, did I mention he’s a gamer? Trying to be a professional that records his games and uploads them to the internet. Didn’t know that was a thing until tonight.”
“Oh, there you go. Yep, I see it now.”
I laugh and take a tentative sip of the coffee, hoping I don’t burn my tongue. It’s good. It’s really good. “You don’t even have a taste of how bad this date went.”
He walks around the counter and leads me to a table. “Don’t keep me in suspense. What happened?”
“So, we’re playing his favorite online game,” I say, taking a seat across from Ken, “and it’s not terrible. He creates this avatar for me, and he shows me how to play. I kind of get the appeal once I figured it out.”
“Are you going to become a gamer now?”
Snorting, I hold up a finger. “Wait for it. Things are fine, but he smells… off. His cologne is strong enough to cover most of it, but there’s something underlying. Not worse than cow poop, but still.”
“Naturally.”
“In the game, this blue-skinned hooker-looking character with boobs bigger than her head starts flirting with Otto’s avatar—that’s my date’s name, by the way. And even though my avatar is right there, he acts like he’s not on a date.”
His eyes narrow. “He was flirting online with a bimbo avatar?”
“Yes. And I’m offended, which is stupid, but it’s basically like going to dinner with someone and watching them flirt with another person right in front of you.”
“Did you say something?”
“He wasn’t paying attention to me at all. I could’ve stripped naked next to him, and his eyes wouldn’t have left that screen.”
“You the human, or you the avatar?”
“Both!”
Ken laughs, which makes me a little less annoyed. “So? What’d you do?”
“I left when they started making out.”
“As you should have.”
“And I wish that was the end of it,” I say, taking another drink of the coffee.
It tastes like a Girl Scout cookie. I have no idea how he did that, but it’s kind of amazing.
“How was that not the end? Did he call you or something?”
I look into his gray eyes. “His mother said goodbye to me, and that she was happy her son was talking to a live person in front of him rather than through a screen. She wanted to give me her number, and I realized my phone fell out of my pocket downstairs. When I went back…”
His fingers tap on the table, his eyes wide as he stares at me. “What?”
“The avatars were having sex on the screen—and I finally figured out what the smell under the cologne was.”
Eyebrows lifted, his gaze intensifies. “Which was?”
“Lube.”
He just blinks. “Wh-what?”
“Not only was his avatar having sex with this blue-skinned hussy, but he had his hands down his pants and a bottle of vanilla scented lube sat on the desk. Vanilla! That’s not a good smell for that, by the way.”
Ken laughs and shakes his head before standing and walking to the counter. “You need something sweet for having to walk in on that. What do you want?”
I sigh dramatically and pout. “Can I have a cookie?”
“Of course.” Taking one from the display case, he walks it over to me and sits back down. “Here.”
“Thank you. I feel stupid. And I know it’s ridiculous to be offended, but I’m not wrong, right?”
“Yeah,” he says, “but it’s also really funny.”
“Story of my life lately,” I mutter, biting into the sugar cookie. “This is good.”
“Thanks. At least you’re going on dates. I spend most of my time here. I’ve finally hired enough help to keep the place running without me being here from open to close.”
His name tag doesn’t have a title on it, so I just assumed he was a barista stuck working the closing shifts. “You’re the manager?”
“Owner.”
I blink. “Really?”
“Really.”
“You’re basically the perfect man, you know that? You own your own business, make a product I’d probably die without, and you give me baked goods when my avatar gets cheated on.”
Chuckling, he winks. “If only more women saw me that way.”
“Tell me—do you make your dates coffee in the mornings?”
Ken leans forward and gives me a sultry look. “Only when they stay the night.”
“Do you have a fancy machine to make lattes and all sorts of delicious drinks at home?”
“I do. I steam my own milk and everything.”
“Keep talking dirty to me,” I tease. “Seriously, if someone brought me coffee in bed, I think it would be the best relationship ever. Even if it was just a one-night stand, that would be a great parting gift. Considerate and tasty.”
“You know, coffee shop owners are known to be addicted to their product.”
I fake gasp. “You don’t adhere to the dealer’s policy? Never use your own product?”
“Nope. And with that addiction to caffeine, we’re also known for our stamina. We also aim to please our customers.”
The glint in his eyes makes my stomach flip. “I’ve never heard that before, but someone should really test that theory.”
“Have dinner with me, Holly.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’m not some guy you met on a dating app, so this already has a better chance of going well. Plus, we’ve already met twice. How many of the others can say that?”
Narrowing my eyes, I tap the table. “Not fair.”
“But not wrong.”
I grin. “Okay, why not? I’m curious what a man addicted to coffee likes to eat for dinner.”
He rakes his gaze over me, biting his lower lip. “You might be more interested in what I like to eat for dessert.”
Damn, he’s forward. And I like it. I like it a lot.