I swallowed hard, wringing the poor fabric between my fingers. “I’m actually getting off right now.”
The pleasure that flooded his face made my heart swell with joy. Or lust. It was probably lust. “Care to go for a drink?”
“Um...”
He grinned. “Just a drink. No kissing.”
I felt my coworkers, Mira and Amy, watching me, probably wondering why this hot guy was giving me attention, but I kept my eyes on Xavier. “How about coffee?”
Not only could I use a jolt of caffeine, I was also not in the drinking mood. I was a lightweight, and I had a suspicion that even the small amount of alcohol the night before impaired my judgment. It was best if I stuck to staying completely sober around this incredibly sexy man.
“Coffee sounds great,” he answered.
“Great,” I repeated. “Great.”
I made my feet move before I embarrassed myself by saying “great” a third time. Going into the staff room, I grabbed my purse and met Xavier on the other side of the counter.
“Shall we?” he asked.
I nodded, and he held the door open for me, his hand on the small of my back to guide me through. He possessed all the manners of a gentleman, but I had to wonder how respectful a playboy could truly be. If he was sleeping with a different girl each weekend, wouldn’t it mean that he held no real respect for womankind?
“There’s a good coffee shop right up here,” I said, pointing the direction but not looking at him. His presence felt so intense, his heat so strong, that walking next to him was like being pulled into a strange, magnetic force field. Looking at him was hard. Running away impossible.
“How was your day?” he asked.
I bit down on my lip. I needed to say what was on my mind before I lost my courage. “How did you find me? Did you hire a private detective or something? Or did you have someone follow me home and then to work? Because I have to say, it’s pretty creepy.”
I glanced over at Xavier. He just looked back at me with humor in his eyes. “That’s a pretty long answer for ‘How was your day?’”
A sharp exhale left me. This guy, who I possessed very conflicted feelings about, had very suddenly shown up at my place of work. There was absolutely no reason he should have known that I was at Crumbs. Put simply, I was not in the mood for playing games.
“Facebook,” Xavier finally admitted. “I looked you up on Facebook.”
“Oh.” I took a second to absorb that. “Did you add me?”
I didn’t know why I asked the question. I guess it just seemed like the next logical thing to say.
“I don’t have an account, but your profile is public. I saw you post a picture of cupcakes this morning and write that you were working all day. There was a link to Crumbs’ page. It was all pretty simple. No real detective work involved.”
“Oh,” I said again. If I ever once looked like an idiot in my whole life, it was right then. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to accuse you of stalking me or anything. I mean, I know I said that you were being creepy, but that was harsh. I wasn’t thinking.” I bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself from talking.
“It’s all right. It’s funny, actually. You have a lot of information up. For instance, I also know that you work at a bar called Joe’s Tavern and that you have a penchant for cat memes.”
“Great,” I answered, my cheeks burning like fire. I decided that the minute I arrived home, I was getting on all my social media accounts and deleting anything and everything that could be even remotely embarrassing.
“Don’t worry, I mean that in an endearing way. Is this the place?”
We’d arrived at the coffee shop without my noticing. There was no line, and we went right up and ordered plain coffees. Xavier pulled out his wallet before I could protest.
“Let’s call this the start of an official date,” he suggested.
My heart thumped loudly. An official date? Could it be that Ann-Marie and I had it wrong about him? Or was that just wishful thinking? One date didn’t make a committed man. Players took girls out on dates all the time.
And then they screw them and never call them back.
We took our coffees and settled into two armchairs in the corner of the place. We’d hit the shop at a good time. Usually, the place was so busy there was a slim to none chance of nabbing a seat.
“It’s nice here,” Xavier said.
I sipped my coffee and winced when it burned my tongue. “Yeah,” I agreed, taking off the paper cup’s top to blow on the drink. “I come here a lot in between shifts.”
“You work doubles at the bakery?”
“Not usually. But I go right from the bakery to my second job quite often.” I wrapped my fingers tighter around my coffee and took a more careful sip. The liquid was still dangerously hot, but at least drinking it gave me something to do. It made me feel a little less awkward about this whole situation.
“And where is Joe’s Tavern?”
“Williamsburg. It’s a lot closer to my apartment than the bakery, which is nice.” I looked away. Just the mention of my apartment, in which waited my bed, made me self-conscious. It was like I couldn’t say one single thing around Xavier without becoming flustered.
“You’re a busy woman.”
I shrugged. “I guess. Look, about last night...”
“I apologize.”
I peered at him. “You don’t know what I was about to say.”
Xavier extended his palm. “Sorry. I stole the floor. I assumed you were going to tell me that I was out of line for kissing you.”
“No. Not at all.” I paused. Knowing his mind went directly to him being in the wrong made me warm up to him somewhat. “I was going to say I’m sorry for leaving all of a sudden. I just… it’s hard to explain, but you took me by surprise. And it’s not that I didn’t like it… I just...” I shook my head, giving up.
“My kiss came out of nowhere. I understand. Again, I’m sorry if I was too forward.”
It was just what I needed to hear. With my next exhale, half of the tension in my body dissipated. “Thank you.”
Xavier set his coffee down on the table between us. He leaned forward, hands clasped between his knees. His eyes locked onto mine and held my gaze. “That being said, I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night. When I woke up this morning, I knew I had to find you.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a grin. “Luckily, you’re pretty easy to track down.”
I snorted and broke our eye contact. This man was doing something to me. It felt good, but I knew it was probably bad. If I gave in, who knew how things would end. I’d dated a couple guys who played the game I was fairly certain Xavier was a pro at. So had Ann-Marie. Between the two of us, we weren’t easily fooled anymore.
“Go out with me,” Xavier whispered. “Tomorrow night.”