Chapter 32
KELSEY
I spin the tablet around to let the customer pay for their lunch order. When they step aside and no one is in line behind them, I grab my iced Honey Badger and take a long sip until it’s finished. Even then, I try to suck out every last drop of my favorite drink.
“Did you just slurp down another one of those?” Monica looks at me from behind the espresso machine.
My cheeks hollow while I try to make sure there’s nothing left. “Maybe?”
She rolls her eyes, but I don’t miss the snicker she makes. “That’s what… your second one?”
I just shrug. It’s actually my third, but I’m not going to correct her.
Fueling my nervousness with more caffeine should be a recipe for disaster, but somehow it calms me down.
Growing up in Cowgirl Coffee with our grandmas, they’d let us make our own espressos and coffee concoctions all day.
By the end of high school, I was already drinking multiple shots of espresso, so I’m just conditioned to it. And I need it today.
She finishes making the drink and hands it across the counter before turning back to me. “Let me guess, you’re seeing him after your shift?”
I nod and set my empty cup down. I know Sutton got back last night, but I was having dinner with my parents and stayed in Rodgers. So I’ve been bouncing off the walls all day waiting for my shift to end because he’s off today and planned an afternoon date.
Taking advantage of the brief lull before the lunch rush picks up again, I check my phone. No messages from Sutton which is surprising because we haven’t stopped talking for days now, but I do have another unread email from my landlord.
Subject: Reminder! Lease Extension
Seeing those three words makes the exhaustion of the last two weeks hit me like a freight train.
It should really read ‘Reminder - We Want More of Your Money.’ Despite picking up extra bartending shifts at Gloria’s and all my hours here, even staying at Sutton’s extra apartment to give me more time to work and less time to commute—I know this isn’t sustainable.
No amount of caffeine is going to let me keep this pace up.
If I want to keep up with my rent, I’m going to have to find a better solution.
The bells above the front door jingle. I tuck my phone away and look up to see an imposing figure filling the doorway. My heart flutters in my chest when Sutton smiles back at me. He was only gone for a few days, but I instantly feel a full body warmth knowing he’s back and he’s here.
Another round of jingling startles both of us and our eyes find the source.
Felix has gotten off his bed and trots straight to Sutton’s side, who reaches down and scratches him behind the ear.
As he starts walking toward the counter, my eyes fall to his shorts, or to be more precise—his thighs, because those shorts are short.
Seeing his muscular thighs and the traditional floral tattoos above his knees on full display makes my mouth go dry. Then there’s that hat. I don’t know why, but his backwards black baseball cap just adds to the whole look.
“Hi,” he says that one word so simply, but that soft yet deep voice, tells me everything—he’s missed me just as much as I’ve missed him. I force my eyes up to meet his.
Part of me wants to climb across the counter and hop into his arms, but I don’t think Monica or our customers would appreciate what that would probably lead to.
As easy as it is to be relaxed around him, I still enjoy antagonizing him.
I also think he likes it, which somehow makes everything between us more charged.
I fight every impulse in my body to launch myself at him and instead slide a lunch menu across the counter. “How I can help you today, Pretty Boy?”
He grins, making those dimples pop and a muscle in his neck tick. He takes one finger and flicks the menu back across the counter. “Do you happen to have a dessert menu?”
I shake my head. “No, but I hear Gloria’s has a half-way decent dessert menu. You should check it out.”
“Interesting. I heard dessert comes first there, just like y—”
I reach across the counter and press a finger to his soft, warm lips. I can see that he hasn’t shaved while he was gone and that little bit of rough around the edges makes it that much harder to resist him right now.
“OK. You made your point. I missed you, but what are you doing here? My shift doesn’t end for a while.”
He looks down at Felix who’s still by his side. “I figured I’d take this guy for a walk. Have some one-on-one time since he’ll be cooped up at the apartment while we’re out.”
I don’t normally swoon, but a man coming to my job to make sure my dog gets exercised before our date really does something to me. I’m ready to forget there are customers here—right freaking now.
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Where’s his leash?”
I turn to look at the coat hooks on the back wall, but before I can grab the leash, he steps behind the counter and takes it off the hook. He drapes that long bit of leather around his neck and my brain stops functioning because now I’m picturing him with no shirt and that leash in his hand.
He’s in my space, behind the counter, and there’s only inches between us.
This must be what he feels like when I’m behind the counter at Gloria’s, because my mind is a mushy mess.
I look up from those practically bare thighs I want to lick, and into those stunning blue eyes and I melt—the rest of the room or my worries about life having ceased to exist.
I stand there motionless and he steps right up to me, dropping one hand to my waist. He leans down and our lips meet in a kiss that feels like an eternity but also far too short.
He breaks the kiss and presses his forehead to mine, giving me a chance to soak in his warmth and breathe in his comforting scent.
“Where are we meeting later? Your place or mine?” I ask.
He chuckles. “Neither. Meet me at the trailhead by the creek when you’re off. Dress for a short hike.”
“Will you be wearing those short shorts for this short hike?”
He huffs a laugh. “They aren’t that short. I’m just tall.”
I pull back enough to give him a skeptical look, straining not to look down again. I know that if I do, my brain will try to solve the puzzle of what he’s wearing under them that’s keeping his big cock in check.
“If you say so. But can you give me your definition of a ‘short hike’ today? When we went out the other day, you got winded after an easy half-mile hike. So are you one of those just-another-twenty-minutes type and it turns into three hours, or more like the when-I-say-twenty-minutes-I-mean-exactly-that type?”
His lips curl into a smug grin. “Less than a couple hours of actual hiking, but I’m more concerned about you. And I wasn’t prepared last time. You hike fast for being the stops-every-five-minutes-because-you’re-distracted-by-something-pretty type.”
“I hate to interrupt this adorable reunion, but—” Monica stops herself and looks at us before her eyes fall to Sutton’s exposed thighs.
She smirks at me before turning back to him and continuing.
“I know you haven’t seen your girlfriend in days, but sir, this is a family-friendly establishment.
Can you not wear your hoochie-daddy shorts here? ”
I feel my entire face go red. Not just for pointing out his shorts, but also for calling me his girlfriend because we haven’t had that conversation yet.
Things are going fast, but I think I want things to be serious with him.
Everything feels so easy and natural and I just hope he wants that too, but the self-conscious bitch in the back of my head has managed to rear her head again and plant that seed of doubt.
I ignore that for now and glare at Monica. I grit my teeth and start to whisper-shout at her, but his laugh stops me. “It’s fine. I was just about to take Felix for a walk.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “See you soon, girlfriend.”
I nod. “Sounds good.”
Just like that, he eased my anxiety and answered my question that I didn’t even have to ask. He flashes that boyish grin and reaches down to clip the leash to Felix’s collar.
When he reaches the door, he waves before heading out onto the sidewalk. Watching him walk away with Felix turns me into a puddle melting across the coffee shop countertop.
A dream creeps into my mind. Could this really be my life? Is there a future where I have a boyfriend like him and live in my hometown again? Days where he drops in to see me at work and walks my dog? Nights where I drop off a coffee for him at Gloria’s?
“Well that was adorable.” Monica snaps me out of my daydream. I glare at her out of the corner of my eye, still facing the windows overlooking the sidewalk, wishing I’d get another glimpse of the man that has already stolen my car and my dog, and is on his way to stealing my heart.
Monica leans against the countertop next to me. “Girl, you’re down bad.”
I don’t say a word because she’s right. I have no quippy comeback. I have been down bad for him for two years, even if I didn’t want to admit it.