Chapter 5 Theo #2
“Nope, thanks!” Quinn spoke before I could as she grabbed my arm and started to pull me away. The only reason I went was because I liked that she was touching me. And I was still surprised by her move.
“Don’t you need it for expensing?” I honestly couldn’t recall the last time a woman bought anything for me. On the rare occasion I did go out with a woman, she wouldn’t even pretend to reach for her wallet when the bill came.
“Nope. This isn’t a business coffee.” She’d dropped her voice and did a terrible British accent.
I think she was trying to mimic me. She laughed again as I shook my head.
“Come on, Money Bags, your five-dollar coffee isn’t going to bankrupt me.
” She was still smiling at me as we settled at a table, waiting for our drinks.
I shook my head, watching her delight over the fact that she bested me. Her smile was easy, wide and full of light. It completely disarmed me.
This woman…
“You didn’t have to do that. I invited you,” I reminded her.
“I know. But honestly, seeing the confusion on your face was worth it alone.”
When I finally convinced her to go out with me for dinner, I was going to have to hide her phone when it was time for the bill.
“So you’ve lived here all your life,” I decided to move on from the paying topic for now. She tilted her head and looked at me. “What?”
“You were listening?”
“Yesterday? Of course,” I said as I watched her frown at me.
“You were on your phone the whole time.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I was listening.” She opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her interrupt. “I was working with Will, our lawyer, because a deal we were about to sign off on had some red flags pop up at the last minute after some extra digging. I should have mentioned something, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Her face held steady for a moment before it relaxed into a gentle smile. “Forgiven. Not that you owed me an explanation,” she added almost sheepishly.
“Did you have a nice night last night?” I tried not to let any irritation show but I didn’t think it worked since her smile only grew.
“I did, and you?” I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that it was unlikely that I was going to be able to get more information from her.
“Order for Knight,” the barista called.
I stood up before Quinn could move and grabbed our drinks. As I sat back down, she must have decided to move on from our back and forth about last night.
“What do you miss most about London?” she asked as she took a sip of her drink.
“Noah’s parents,” I replied without hesitation.
I could tell she wanted to know more but I wasn’t discussing that with her today.
“What do you like most about living here?” She scrunched up her nose and it was fucking adorable.
I had to stop myself from reaching for her and tucking a piece of hair back behind her ear.
“The sad answer is I’m not really sure. I haven’t lived anywhere else and I just can’t imagine picking up my life and moving,” she said with a shrug almost like she was embarrassed.
“I get it.” I wanted to make sure she knew I wasn’t judging her. “My mum never really had a reason for living here. Just that she liked it enough to stay.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at me. “But you ended up back in London?”
“It’s where she wanted to be,” I replied and then cleared my throat. Quinn nodded and then asked me if I was a dog or a cat person, like it was the most logical next question.
I’ve been told many times I’m hard to read, the guys all took time to figure me out, aside from Asher. And yet this woman seemed to know that I didn’t want to talk about a specific topic so she didn’t force it. The understanding in her eyes hit me in the chest.
I took a sip of my coffee before answering. “Dog.”
“Thank god,” she said on a sigh, like she’d been holding her breath. “I don’t know if I could've talked to you anymore if you’d said cat. Plus, you don’t seem like the kind of guy who would like cats.”
“What does that mean?”
She waved a hand up and down like that explained it. “Just look at you.” I raised an eyebrow trying to hide my amusement as she continued on. “If you did get a dog, would you want a small one or a big one?”
“Big.”
She smiled at me and nodded. “See.” I didn’t.
But I wasn’t going to let that derail her because for some reason, I liked listening to her ramble.
Normally I would find the trait irritating but I was on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what she would say next.
“You with a big German Shepherd I can see, makes sense with the tattoos and the scowl.” She waved a hand in my direction.
“You with a cat-sized dog? Absolutely not.” She tapped her chin looking at me before asking her next question. “What’s your favorite color?”
I held her gaze, the green of her eyes was bright and they almost seemed to have gold flecks around the rims. She looked so excited and even though I’d never really put much thought into a favorite color. I had an answer now. “Green.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Really?”
“What did you expect me to say?”
“You seem like the kind of guy that would say black and white or something. Mine is a sage green.”
Her smile was warm as she looked at me and it made me think I could listen to her talk all day long.
As she told me a story, she got excited about something else, lost the plot and then she would get back to the original point.
And I was just sitting here, charmed, watching her hands move as she spoke.
“So, what do you do for fun?”
I didn’t have a great answer so I just went with the first thing that came to my mind. “I run.”
“From something?” she asked cautiously.
“No.” Again, trying to hide my smile.
When was the last time I felt like smiling so much?
She shook her head, a disappointed look on her face. “I have a theory that only psychopaths run for fun.”
“Hmm,” I said thoughtfully, watching as that mischievous glint in her eyes remained as she watched me right back. “That is concerning. What are the signs of a psychopath? You know, just so I know what I need to watch out for.”
I watched as her lips twitched and she tilted her head. “I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. Your turn to ask a question.” She leaned forward, resting an elbow on the table between us.
I asked her what her favorite food was, and after saying she had too many but that pizza was always a good option, she threw the question back at me.
She then moved on to telling me how she was an average cook, and about the time she hadn’t washed some dishes off well enough and she’d ended up eating eggs that tasted like soap.
Since sitting down with her, I hadn’t looked at my phone once, didn’t even get the urge to pull it out. I’d kind of forgotten we were in a coffee shop full of people.
It felt like no time had passed when she looked down at her phone. I knew my window of opportunity was closing. Thankfully she’d managed to sit with me for a full hour like I originally bargained for.
I wanted to see her again. I liked her easy smiles and bright eyes focused on me. I wasn’t at ease around new people but something about her soft voice calmed me. I craved her attention, thankfully she kept all her focus on me and I did the same.
“Thanks for coffee, Theo.” She smiled at me softly as we got to the doors of her building.
“You bought it,” I grumbled, which made her laugh.
At that moment I decided my new mission in life would be to make her laugh so I could be rewarded with hearing it. That was problematic and yet I wasn’t going to walk away.
“I had a nice time.” Her bright eyes were on me.
“Can I have your number?” I asked, hoping I had done enough to earn it.
There was a pause before she spoke, “No,” her smile dropping a little from her face.
“Can I see you tonight?” I knew the answer already but I had to ask it anyway.
“I have plans.” She grabbed the door.
I ground my teeth together. “Another hot date?”
“Thanks, Knight, I had fun.” She turned and walked away from me, without a look over her shoulder.
She didn’t say she would see me again but fuck if I let that happen.