"I notice you're working up front behind the counter instead of in the back of the store." Opal counts change for a customer and hands her a box of baked goods. "Have a nice day, honey."
I turn around, ready to wait on the next customer and ignore Opal, but there are no more customers in line. When I glance over at Caveman again, he's behind his newspaper. As much as I’m irritated that he’s here again, when I look at him I can still feel his lips on mine, and my breath quickens the same way it did when he stormed in here and kissed me.
6
Killian
"What are you doing here?"
I look over the edge of my newspaper when I hear her voice. "Enjoying a relaxing morning with a newspaper and a cup of coffee. You?"
She narrows her blue-grey eyes and her nostrils flare again. I think that might be the most seductive expression I've ever seen on a woman. Or I'm just hard up and it's been too long since I've gotten laid. Probably the latter. "I'm working. At my job. I know you're not here because you like the coffee."
I fold the newspaper and lay it on the table. "You really shouldn't sell yourself short. Your coffee is good.”
Lily raises one eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest. “That is not my coffee,” she says, eyeballing the tall glass on the table.
“It’s your brew. I just doctored it up my way.”
“Don’t you have someplace to be?” she asks. “Other than here, I mean?”
“Nope.” I decide to push my luck. I don’t know why this girl makes me want to push my luck with her but there you have it. “Besides, I like the scenery here.”
My eyes stay fixed on her as a faint tinge of pink rises to her cheeks. “Do you usually stalk girls you kiss?”
“That was hardly a kiss.”
She coughs out a laugh. “I guess our definitions of that word are totally different.”
“I can show you what a real kiss is, if you'd like." I'm joking, just egging her on, except with the way she looks standing here in front of me with her lush lips slightly parted, there's nothing more I'd like to do right now than feel those sweet lips on mine again.
She raises her eyebrows. “You’re so generous.”
“What can I say? I’m a giver.”
“You’re something,” she agrees, tossing me a look over her shoulder as she walks back toward the front counter. I watch her walk away, although walk away isn’t the right term for it. She practically sashays, her hips swing seductively as she takes long strides. I’m far too fixated on the way her ass looks in those jeans for my own good.
Cupcakes and Cappuccinos is comfortable, a decent place to have a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. That was what I told myself when I got into the truck this morning and drove thirty minutes into town for a cup of coffee. Total bullshit, of course. The view of her walking away just now made it worth the drive.
I open the newspaper back up to the sports section, because if I stare at her from over here any more, she’ll be justified in thinking I’m a stalker.
Not more than ten minutes later, she’s back and standing in front of my table. “Here. Try this.” She sets down a glass of iced coffee on the table.
I peer into the liquid. “Coffee ice cubes?”
“And espresso. So it’s not watered down. You said you needed caffeine.”
I take a sip of the coffee drink. “You’re alright, cupcake. This is good shit.”
“Enough with the names.”
“Sure thing, muffin.”
She glares at me. “Never mind. I take back the coffee.”
“Too late, bear claw.”
She shakes her head slowly, one hand on her hip, her lips pursed.
I shrug. "You’re right. Bear claw wasn't very good. I'm pretty much out of pastry names, unless you want me to call you doughnut. Or cream puff? Wait. Hang on – what are the long ones with the cream inside?"
She narrows her eyes at me. “Is that a crude innuendo?”
“It wasn’t, but I like where your mind is at.” I remember the pastry name. “éclair.”
Lily rolls her eyes. “I’ll get you a to-go cup for that coffee, then.”
“Nah, I’m just fine here, sugar,” I call to her retreating back as she passes the counter, the kitchen doors swinging behind her.
I don’t know if it’s the coffee or seeing her, but there’s an extra spring in my step when I leave the coffee shop. Halfway down the block, I run into Luke.
“Am I losing my mind or did you just walk out of a bakery?” Luke asks. “A cupcake bakery with a pink sign over the door?”
“Shut up.”
Luke laughs. “Tell me you went in for one of the froufrou coffee drinks in there.”
I shrug. “So what if I did, little brother?” I ask, wrapping my arm around his neck and putting him in a headlock. “Maybe I like little froufrou drinks.”
Luke makes a faux strangling noise and I let him go. “What are you doing in town?” he asks. “I thought you were all about shunning us and staying up in your cabin. Are you coming down from on high to grant us with your presence?”