Chapter 3 #2
“It’s just for you,” I return with a wink, loving the way it makes her cheeks pinken. “Like it?”
“What is this? Twenty Questions?” Savannah grins.
“If that’s how you want to see it, sure. I call it getting to know the attractive woman who makes amazing coffee.”
She chuckles. “Well. I work in a café.”
My eyes wander up and down her body, and I don’t try to hide it. “I noticed.” The blush from earlier comes back tenfold. “What made you want to be a barista?”
“I needed a job,” she states plainly. “Your turn, Rory. What do you do for a living?”
Normally, I tell women my job title to impress them and to eventually get them to come home with me. But for some reason that I can’t pinpoint, I don’t want that to be the route with Savannah.
So instead, I say, “I work at a security company. Where did you grow up?”
“Brooklyn. You?” She fires back.
“Queens.”
“Oof. Knicks fan? I guess that means we can’t be friends,” Savannah surmises with mock disappointment.
I scoot closer to her and place my hand on her knee, and she lets out a small gasp. “I could be a Nets fan, you know.”
She tries to sound playful, but her words are breathy. “I highly doubt that.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly,” I chide. “My turn. What is one of your bucket list items?”
Savannah’s answer blurts from her mouth. “Visit the Empire State Building.”
My mouth twists. “You live in New York. You know that, right?”
“Ha ha. Ever the comedian,” she rags. “Yes, I know where I live. It’s just that I grew up here, but I’ve never gone to places like the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, or ice skating at Rockefeller Center.
” Savannah taps her fingers against her thigh.
“I want to be able to say I did those things before I die.”
This woman. She’s a puzzle that I can’t solve. I can’t make the pieces fit.
But that’s how all people are, right? There is no “one size fits all” mold. We are too unique as individuals to be grouped into rigid categories.
Savannah is no different.
Savannah is a rare find—the most precious of gems.
Over the next hour, we bounce questions back and forth. I tell her all sorts of things about me, like the fact that I can’t sleep if there’s any light shining in my room, I have four siblings, I can’t skip breakfast, I am, in fact, a Nets fan, and I hate the idea of anything touching my eyes.
In turn, I learned that she’s an only child, her favorite color is green, she loves Italian and Japanese food, she hates the feeling of a sheet on top of her, and she enjoys reading and doing yoga.
When I ask her about her parents, she clams up, quickly informing me that they’re both dead.
I try to keep my questions light after that, not wanting to scare her away.
We get lost in our time together like nothing else around us matters or exists. It’s just Savannah and me.
Her phone vibrates in her purse, bursting the happy bubble we put up around us. She reads something on the screen, and I catch a glimpse of the text. Someone named Blake wants Savannah to meet her somewhere.
Who the fuck is Blake? Is that her boyfriend? If he is, he won’t be much longer.
“Sorry. I need to go. A friend is waiting for me.” She stands, gathering her purse, sliding on her jacket, and heads for the exit.
A piece of paper falls from her bag. I pick it up and run after her. “Wait!”
The temperature outside has dropped drastically, with the sun completely missing from the sky, causing me to shiver.
“Wait!” I shout again and jog around her, stopping her in her tracks.
Other New Yorkers grumble at us for stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, but I don’t care. They can go around us.
Savannah gives me a small smile. “It was really nice meeting you, Rory, but I have to go. I’m late.”
“I know. I was just wondering if I could get your number, and you dropped this.” Holding the paper up, I get a clear view of the printed black words annotated with red ink. “Is this code? What’s it—”
She snatches the paper away from me, shoving it into her bag. Her head drops to an angle. “You want my number? Why?”
Eyeing her closely, I go along with her intention to avoid what I saw on the page. Even though what I was able to catch a glimpse of has me wanting to get the paper back. “I want to see you again.”
“You do?” Her forehead wrinkles in surprise.
“Is that so hard to believe?”
Savannah purses her lips as the gears turn in her mind. She finally gives me what I want as she holds her hand out. “Give me your phone.”
I hand it over quickly and watch as she types in her number and saves it to my contacts. Then she texts herself, so she has my number as well. I store my phone back in my pocket when she gives it back.
Something settles in my chest, knowing that this won’t be the last time I see her.
Unable to resist anymore, I grip her by the waist and pull her close, and she lets out another adorable gasp as her hands land on my chest. Her expressive mocha irises flit between my mouth and my eyes.
“Tell me you feel it too,” I whisper longingly, desperate to know this isn’t one-sided. “Tell me it’s not just me.”
She licks her lips, and my dick stirs.
“It’s not just you,” she breathes back.
“Thank God,” I groan, then dip my head as Savannah rises on her toes, bringing our lips together.
Our mouths move in synchronicity. It’s the perfect combination of push and pull. I wouldn’t be surprised if fireworks started going off in the background.
I don’t care if that makes me sound like a lovesick teenager.
This woman isn’t like any other. She’s different. Good different.
My hands glide down to her hips, drawing her closer. Her hands roam up to the back of my neck and dive into my hair.
A whimper echoes in her throat, and she breaks the kiss. I rest my forehead against hers as we both pant, trying to catch our breath.
“I have to go,” she repeats her earlier statement.
“Okay.” I give her one more chaste kiss, then step back. The cold rushes back into my bones at the loss of her touch.
She blinks at me, like she can’t believe what just happened. I almost can’t either.
Without a parting goodbye, she moves around me and walks away, disappearing around the corner.
I need to see her again. Not only because I enjoyed the time we spent together today, but because I want to see that code again. I can’t place where, but I feel like I’ve seen it before.
In my peripheral vision, a figure I would recognize anywhere stalks away. Whipping my head in their direction, I catch the back of the man as he gets into the back of his car.
That’s odd.
What was Luke doing over there?