Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Alonzo
A n hour to the end of my shift, the flow of customers finally tapered down. Everyone was settled with their drinks, pastries, and textbooks laid across their tables, and I fixed another double espresso to power myself through closing time and a night of readings.
I wondered if Maya liked her new rental and if it lived up to its listing. Pulling out my phone, I took one look at my notifications and opened Maya’s text.
Maya
u messed w my bag?!!!
Guess she finally saw the cash—and the note that went with it. The timestamp said she’d sent the message more than an hour ago, so I hurried to reply.
“Ahem.”
My head snapped up, eyes widening at the sight of Maya herself tapping on the counter. “Well, well, well,” I murmured, unable to keep from grinning.
“I thought Manila’s all about good service?” she drawled. “You’re slacking.”
“My bad. I was busy replying to this girl I know,” I said as I held up my phone. “Didn’t expect she’d come to see me.”
The corners of her mouth pinched together. Digging into her pocket, she drew out the familiar folded-up cash and plopped it onto the counter. “This is yours.”
I made no move to take it. “Did you come all this way just to give me your money?”
“And to tell you to keep your hands off my stuff. Didn’t your sisters teach you that?”
“They did, and I’m sorry. I promise I didn’t mess with anything else.” I cocked my head to the side. “So you didn’t come here because you wanted to see me?”
“Of course not,” she snapped.
I expected it, but the disappointment still hit. Trying to keep it from showing, I tapped her money. “If you’re that determined to give this to me, let me get you a drink. What do you want?”
She stared at me, her eyes giving nothing away. Finally, she spoke. “Hot chocolate. And I did want to see you.”
For the second time in minutes, she caught me by surprise. It was the last thing I thought she’d say, and it nearly catapulted me to cloud nine. “You just made my day, you know?”
Maya harrumphed, evading my gaze. “I thought you were getting me a drink?” She sounded impatient but also uncomfortable, as though she knew she shouldn’t have offered that admission.
But she had.
That sent me careening way past the territory of happy . The word paled next to the vivid emotions bursting inside me.
“Grab a seat and I’ll be right with you,” I told her, fighting to maintain some semblance of professionalism instead of acting like a boy with a crush.
But as I prepared her hot chocolate and toasted a sandwich to go with it, all I could think about was how I might actually have a chance with Maya Cruz.
Cam
I didn’t intend to wait for Alonzo to finish his shift, yet I’d already wiped out my hot choco and grilled cheese and still I stayed.
Between checking my emails and applying for new projects, I watched as he chatted with people at the counter.
He smiled just as easily serving them coffee as he did fielding complaints about the limited menu.
Only the twitch of his left eyebrow and the slight clench of his jaw gave away his annoyance.
If it had been me, I would have told them to take it up with management.
But this was Alonzo. I’d pegged him as the typical rich kid with the perfect grades and the promising career.
The carefree guy who was everybody’s friend and most girls’ dream date.
Beneath his golden boy facade, he was flawed and confused and struggling like I was, and that did nothing to dull his shine.
It just showed me that he was human too, and a genuinely kind one at that.
Damn if that didn’t make him more appealing.
At ten, he flipped the sign up front to closed and said good night to the customers heading out. One girl walked up to the counter, and seeing him smile at her set off a burning sensation in my chest. His gaze flickered to me, and I dropped my eyes to my phone.
Shit . He’d caught me watching him and instead of holding my ground, I’d looked away like a wimp.
To distract myself from my embarrassment, I scrolled through my phone and paused on my dating app.
Restless energy buzzed inside me, and I chalked it up to me being back in this city.
Since I couldn’t get rid of my tension by surfing, I was left with two options—working it out in the gym or on a mattress. Only one alternative appealed to me.
“Bumble?”
I looked up at Alonzo’s dismayed face and shrugged. “There are more options here compared to in Juana.”
His eyes flared. “Are you kidding me? You were glaring at me while I was talking to that girl, and now you’re on some dating app.”
“I wasn’t glaring at you. And me using Bumble is none of your business.”
“What if I want it to be?” he demanded. “Why are you looking for some random guy when you have me?”
“I’m not looking for a friend, Alonzo.”
“Then tell me, Maya. What are you looking for?”
The challenge in his tone sent my back up. “A hookup.”
“A hookup?” His voice sounded raspy, deeper than usual.
I shrugged.
“Why not me?”
My breath hitched as he stepped toward me. “You,” I repeated.
“You enjoyed that kiss.”
I kept my expression blank. Casual. “I liked it in the moment, but it’s nothing special.”
Leaning in until his face was level with mine, he whispered, “Liar.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. This has to be the first time you outright lied to me. That tells me something.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, hating how he seemed to see right through me. “Really? And what is that?”
“That you’re scared of how attracted you are to me.” He said the words without a trace of doubt.
My jaw dropped. “You are so full of yourself.”
“And yet you haven’t denied it. Because if you were honest like you usually are, you’d admit that you’re into me.”
“You couldn’t handle me.”
“Want to bet?”
My heart nearly pounded out of my chest. The seconds seemed to stretch into hours as I weighed a decision I knew would change everything. The safe choice was to play it off and walk away.
But then I’d always wonder if Alonzo could, in fact, handle me, or if I’d worried about nothing.
Pursing my lips, I met his eyes. “One chance.”
His eyes lit up, then narrowed with his next blink. “One night .”
“What is this, a negotiation?” That’s what I got for dealing with a future lawyer.
“Technically, that only gives me until midnight,” he murmured.
I snorted. “You think you could last that long?”
“No. But I can go again.”
The promise in his words had my core clenching. I almost told him to prove it right then. Forcing myself to appear unaffected, I said, “I’ll give you until two a.m., and that’s my final offer.”
“Deal.” He reached for me, but I stepped back.
“Forgetting something?” I nodded toward the kitchen, even though my body groaned at the delay.
“Shit,” he muttered. Breathing deeply, he dipped his head back and rubbed his palm down his face. “Right. I need to cool down anyway.”
I laughed. “You quick on the trigger?”
“With you? I can’t promise I won’t be.”
That shouldn’t have been a turn-on, but the way he stared into my eyes, then slowly, deliberately tracked his gaze down my body? It was as if he was imagining what he would do to me—and he wanted me to know it. His jaw tightened, and without a single touch, arousal coursed through me.
He shook his head and moved farther away. “Give me fifteen minutes, okay?"
Putting my phone away, I busied myself with unabashedly watching Alonzo work.
I took in his every motion, admiring how his forearms and biceps flexed as he wiped tables.
His coworker—who I’d forgotten was even there—came up to him.
They spoke for a bit, then Alonzo nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.
Next thing I knew, he was heading toward me and ushering me out with a hand on the small of my back.
I frowned at him. “You’re ditching your coworker?”
“He insisted we go ahead, said he owed me for covering for him before.”
“Oh.”
Now that we had an agreement, I felt extremely aware of each small contact between us.
How he nestled me against his side as we walked to the curb and swept a stray strand of hair from my forehead as we waited for a jeepney to stop.
It should have been harmless, far from the usual things that got me worked up.
But each touch snowballed off the other, amping up the tension that coiled inside me.
We squeezed into a jeepney so packed he had to sit near the edge of the bench to leave room for my hips.
The side of my boob ended up pressed against his bicep, and even though he tried to give me space, every lurch of the jeep thrust my chest toward him so he probably felt my peaked nipples through my bra.
With my thighs squeezed together, the engine vibrating beneath the seat, and Alonzo’s hard body next to mine, I was way too aroused—and he hadn’t really touched me yet.
“You okay?” He raised his voice over the noise around us.
“Yep,” I answered, and he laughed like he knew that I was all worked up.
Annoyingly, he was right.