Mona shrugged. “He’d probably just find another coffee shop. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of them in New York City.”
Cammie frowned. “I don’t want him to stop coming here.”
Mona raised her eyebrows up and down suggestively and nudged Cammie with her elbow. “You’ve got it bad, girl. Like, doodlingMrs. Peppermint Mochain your notebook and obsessing over his Instagram posts, kind of bad.”
Her light-hearted teasing reminded Cammie of high school, when she and her friends would gossip about boys and do the exact sort of things Mona mentioned. Cammie was twenty-four-years-old, and it was ridiculous to act like the teenager Mona had described.
Laughter bubbled up inside of her, and she let it out, causing her friend to roll her eyes and smile. “I’m not quite that bad,” she said when both of their laughter trailed off. “I’m just enjoying the view, that’s all.”
Mona’s eyes shifted to the side, and she leaned in close. “Well, if there’s more to it, now might be your chance to find out. He’s coming this way.”
Cammie’s head snapped in Leo’s direction, and she saw that her friend was right. Leo wove his way around the tablesscattered throughout the shop, his eyes locked on her. The smile on his face was subtle yet intimate, his lips curved up in a half-grin. Not to mention the almost mischievous glint in his eyes.
Cammie’s pulse skittered, and she suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands as watched him approach. She crossed her arms, then worried that seemed too standoffish. So, she impulsively grabbed one of the smallest coffee cups, only to be left standing there awkwardly with it in her hand, as he stopped in front of her, placing his drink on the counter between them.
“Hi,” she said, defaulting to her best customer service smile and friendly voice. “Is everything okay with your drink? Or did you want something else? A pastry maybe?”
“Actually, I was hoping you’d be able to join me. I’d like to talk to you for a minute over coffee.”
Is this really happening?
She’d been trying to ignore the crush she had on this guy for a month, yet here she was, nodding as she accepted his invitation to join him at his table. She made herself a peppermint mocha and joined him, nerves making her stomach jump before she’d even had a sip of caffeine.
Despite how she’d tried to downplay her attraction to Leo while talking with Mona, she had to admit she had a hopeless crush on the guy. Considering she didn’t know anything about him, it was a superficial thing, but the butterflies in her stomach when he walked into the shop and the spark of excitement she experienced when their eyes met made her think there was potential between them for something.
She wondered if he felt it too, if that’s why he’d asked her to join him.
Cammie settled into the chair across from Leo, pulling off her Santa hat and trying not to look self-conscious even as she ran her fingers through her hair.Not easy to do.
“So… are you excited about Christmas?” she asked before he had a chance to speak.
He raised a single eyebrow. “Excited? Not exactly. I’m looking forward to spending the day with my family, but I can’t say that I’ve been excited about Christmas since I was a kid.”
She shook her head, and felt the smile pull at her lips. “Then you’ve been doing Christmas all wrong.”
He lifted one shoulder. “Well… sometimes it’s a stressful time of year,” he said, wrapping both hands around the cardboard to-go cup holding his coffee. “Like this year. I can’t even think about enjoying the holiday until I’ve secured a date for my company Christmas party.”
Wondering if that’s why he’d asked her to join him, her smile grew wider. “I find it hard to believe that a man like you can’t find a date to a party.”
He smirked and took a sip of his mocha. “It’s not a problem I usually have, but this party is special. I don’t just need a date. I need someone to play the part of my long-time girlfriend.”
He proceeded to explain how he needed a woman to act like she was in love with him, to convince a client that he was a serious, commitment-type of man. Cammie’s heart dropped as her expectations were crushed. He wasn’t asking her out. He needed someone to play a part. Anyone would do, and it sounded as if he was desperate.
But she wasn’t, and she shook her head. “I don’t think I’m the girl for this.”
“Are you a terrible actress?” he asked, but the flirty tone of his voice didn’t feel as good as it would have a few minutes ago.
“I’ll have you know that I killed it in my high school’s production ofThe Wizard of Oz. I was a flying monkey.” Despite her disappointment, she couldn’t contain her normal, playful personality.
The words startled a laugh out of him, and Cammie felt it in the center of her chest. She held back a sigh, thinking that it was such a shame this wasn’t going anywhere.
“Then it sounds like you’re perfect for the job,” he declared.
Hearing him call it a job drove home the fact that he wasnotasking her out, and she hid her disappointment by taking another sip of her coffee. “I can’t just walk into your party and pretend to be your girlfriend. I don’t know anything about you. You’re a stranger to me.”
But that wasn’t the only reason she was saying no. She liked him and he wanted to use her for business purposes.
He held out his hand and she rested her palm in his, wishing she could ignore the warm tingle that shot up her arm on contact.
