“Is it you?” he asks, following my lead and dropping his phone to the table. His eyes don’t move from mine.
“Is what me?”
“Are you the woman staring at me?”
“What? No…”
“Then I don’t care.”
“You’re telling me you suddenly don’t care about all of the women falling at your feet?” I cross my arms and cock my head to the side, unwilling to let go of this stupid argument I started.
“Yep.” He shrugs. “And it’s not sudden. It’s been this way for months. I care about one person in here—the woman sitting in front of me, tryna bait me into a fight.”
“I am not!” I say in a huff. But my bravado fizzles as soon as he calls me out. When he hits me with that smirk, I let out a giggle. “Okay, fine. Maybe Iwas, but seriously, Hunt. It’s like this everywhere we go. It’s exhausting.”
“Let’s go home, then. Yours or mine, doesn’t matter to me.”
“We can’t just stay home all the time.”
“I agree. So what do you want? I can’t control the staring, Ash. All I can do is reiterate that you’re the only one I’m tryna see.” He tugs my hand free from my grumpy stance and presses kisses on my thumb.
Although I roll my eyes, the heat filling my cheeks gives me away. I’m melting entirely, and he’s the one responsible for it. Ilikeit, clearly, since I’m still here letting him affect me.
“Hunter!” the barista calls from the counter. He doesn’t move for several seconds, keeping our little moment alive. Another kiss on my hand is the pièce de résistance before he grabs our drinks. But the giggling behind the counter flies right to my ears, bringing back that annoyed heat in my chest. I try a few deep breaths before he gets back to the table, but when he slides my drink to me, I see red.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Rolling my eyes, I turn my to-go cup around to him. Scribbled on the brown sleeve is a handwritten name and phone number.
“Give me your drink,” he says, reaching forward.
I pull it back. “Why? What are you going to do?”
“Just give it to me…”
Hesitantly, I push the cup forward. He slides the sleeve off, folds it in half, and tosses the number in the garbage can behind him. “There. Problem solved. Now come here so I can kiss you and shut them all up.”
“Wha—”
He pulls me from my chair and kisses me like we’re the only people in the room, giving everyone in the coffeeshop a show that removes all the giggles from behind the counter. He pecks another small kiss on my lips and nods to my coffee on the table. “We good?” he asks with a smirk.
Trying to catch my breath, I nod quickly, my entire face burning while he leads me out to the car. I wasn’t expecting him to stake his claim in public like that. Didn’t expect to like it so much either.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ASHLIE
Trevor
Last night in town. Quick dessert date after work?
Me
Yeah! What did you have in mind?
Trevor
Ice cream on Layton’s Pier? 6:00?
Me
