Chapter 3 – Harrison
THREE
HARRISON
No one has ever talked to me that way.
I sipped my coffee and stared out the window. I’d expected a little pushback after skipping everyone in line, but nothing like what that gray-suited woman served me.
Nothing remotely close to that.
With auburn waves that fell just below her breasts, deep almond eyes, and a suit that hugged her curves in places I wanted to explore at first sight, she was easily the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
And it only took a few lines from her soft, bow-shaped lips for me to realize we shared the same sense of sarcasm.
Usually, people withered in my presence and backed down from pressing me on anything—whether I was right or wrong.
She seemed blissfully unaware of that rule.
If the customers hadn’t turned on her, I had a feeling she would’ve pressed me even further.
“Harrison?” Aaron waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you there?”
She had deep dimples and freckles, too…
“Harrison.” His clipped tone snapped me out of my thoughts.
“What, Aaron?”
“Do you have a game plan for what happens when we get to Sweet Seasons headquarters today?” he said. “Or are you just going to barge in and beat on your chest declaring, ‘Mine. All mine’?”
“I was planning to kindly ask Mr. Lewis to meet me in the lobby, but now that you’ve mentioned it…” I set down my cup. “That latter option sounds better.”
“It was a joke.”
“You didn’t give me a chance to laugh.”
“Well, good,” he said. “Just try to be nice, calm—pretty much the opposite of who you are—for all of five minutes, and then—”
“Driver, turn this car around.” I interrupted his spiel, completely uninterested in strategy talk at this moment. “Now.”
“Uh, yes sir.” He shot me a confused look through the rearview mirror, but he nodded and switched lanes.
“What the—” Aaron shook his head. “We’re five minutes away. What are you doing?”
“I left something at the coffee shop,” I said. “I need to get it.”
“Send someone on your staff.”
“No, I need to handle this myself.” I looked at the gift card the woman had thrown in my lap. “It’s important.”
He crossed his arms, looking at me like I was out of my mind.
Ignoring him, I kept my gaze out the window, straining to see any woman dressed in gray.
She couldn’t have gotten far. Not that fast.
When we neared the café, I stepped out and returned inside.
There were only a few customers this time, and she was long gone.
“Back so soon, sir?” The barista blushed as I neared the counter. “Do I need to make you another order?”
“No, I need the name of the woman who was getting mad about me skipping the line earlier.”
“What do you need that for?”
I really have no idea. “She seemed like a regular, so if you know it, can you give it to me?”
“I have a name.” She batted her eyes. “Do you want mine?”
“I can see yours quite clearly.” I glanced at her name tag. “Raina.”
Her cheeks flushed even redder.
“Can I have the woman’s name now?”
“No, sorry,” she said. “It’s against company policy to give out information on our customers. It’s a violation of their privacy, you know?”
No… “Let’s pretend that policy will be changed in the coming days,” I said, pulling out the gift card. “I need to give this back to her.”
“Oh! Well, I can do that whenever I see her again.” She snatched it from my hand. “Now that she’s out of our picture, though… What’s your name?”
“It’s Mr. Cross.” I didn’t bother giving her my first. “I appreciate your terrible attempt at help.”
“Anytime.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice. “I work here six days a week, morning shift.”
I turned around and returned outside, glancing up and down the block before getting back into the town car.
“Well?” Aaron asked.
“Well, what?”
“Did you find whatever it is that you left?”
“No,” I said, looking out the window. “Unfortunately not.”
“If you tell me what it is, I can put someone on it.”
There was no way I could tell him—or anyone on my staff—to pull security footage from the café and hunt down the sexiest woman they’d ever see, so I shook my head.
“No, that’s okay,” I said. “Let’s focus on what we came here for. Business.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” He patted my shoulder, and the driver coasted onto the streets once more.
I pretended to listen to his words as we drove, still looking out the windows for the woman in gray, until reality set in.
If one glance was enough to derail my entire morning, it was probably for the best that I never saw that woman again.