I have to have her.
“You wouldn’t think walking and carrying coffee could be such a hazard,” Danielle says nervously, her eyes lowering to the brown stain on my white button up shirt. “Oh no...”
I look down and see my suit jacket has been damaged from the accident too. Little brown spatters of espresso all over the gray fabric will make this virtually useless.
“I’m fine, I swear,” I say, smiling for the first time since being here. I don’t care about the annoying Christmas music playing around us or the fact that my skin is still stinging from the burn. “Are you okay? That was quite the fall.”
She’s clearly frazzled after everything, and she jumps to her feet, nearly slipping on some of the coffee still on the groundbefore I grab her arms and steady her. She doesn’t acknowledge that as she rushes to the counter and grabs a rag. Before I know it, she’s back in front of me and holding the rag against my chest to try to soak up any coffee she can.
“The suit is completely ruined. I’m so sorry,” she continues in a panic. She shakes her head and wrinkles her eyebrows in disappointment, whispering under her breath. “It looks really freaking expensive too.”
I can’t help my smile at the use of “freaking” instead of a proper swear word. It’s so innocent, sweet. I’m intrigued. It’s not often in my line of work that I meet women who are truly innocent like this.
I want her even more.
“Hey,” I say, putting a hand on hers, holding it in place to stop her from dabbing the towel against me. Her eyes glance up from the coffee stain back to me. She bites her lip nervously, and I don’t know if it’s from fear that I might somehow retaliate against her or if it’s a similar attraction to what I feel. “Take a breath. It was an accident. The suit is just fabric; it’ll all be fine. Now, did you hurt yourself?”
She takes a deep breath, the wild frenzy in her eyes fading as she looks down at herself, then at the mess on the floor. She shakes her head. “My pride has definitely taken a bump, but that seems to be about it.”
“The good news is, pride injuries aren’t fatal.”
“Are you a doctor?” Danielle asks, raising her eyebrows playfully.
“No,” I say. I’m not exactly in the business of helping people. “I’m Ivan, by the way.” I hold a hand out to shake hers. She smiles at me and extends her own hand. It’s small in mine, frail even.
“Danielle,” she says, as if I couldn’t tell from her conversation with her coworker. Her name tag, too. “If you don’t mind waitinga few extra minutes, I’ll get this cleaned up and get you a new drink on the house. I promise I won’t spill it on you this time.”
“I’m happy to wait,” I say, stepping aside as she goes to get a mop for the coffee. While she’s gone, I pick up the broken glass pieces so she doesn’t have to. If she’s as clumsy as she appears, I don’t want her cutting herself.
I take a seat once again as she moves behind the counter, my eyes moving between her and my phone. Now that I’ve spoken to her, seeing her up close, she has to be mine.
I don’t know how I’m ever supposed to live in a world where she and I are nothing but strangers anymore.
I text Lev, my second in command. He replies right away without asking me any questions about who Danielle is or why I need to know everything about her. I know that soon enough he’ll have a brigade doing deep dives into her life to figure out everything I need to know about her. I’ll have a full report by the end of the day with her last name, social security number, where she’s going to school, what she dreamed of last night.
When I know everything there is to know about Danielle, I’llmakeher mine through whatever means necessary.
I heard her talk about some scholarship she can’t afford to lose. If I can find out what that is, I might have some power here. People are easy enough to manipulate, and if she doesn’t have that to fall back on, she might need my help.
I watch her as she makes a new drink for me, a swell of excitement in my chest at all of the possibilities waiting for the two of us. She doesn’t know it yet, but her whole life is about to change.
Chapter 2
Danielle
Over the past few days,I’ve gotten used to seeing Ivan walk through the front door of the cafe. The first day he came back, I was a little bit embarrassed. Sure, the coffee is good, but it’s not good enough to make repeat appearances for by itself.
The second day he came back, I was excited to see him. It’s a little unusual to get the attention I get from a man like him. Boys at school flirt with me, but they’re not anywhere near as put together as Ivan.
Ivan came in the first time I met him in a suit that looked like it cost thousands of dollars. It was perfectly tailored to his body so I could just make out the fine muscles underneath the fabric. It didn’t hurt that I accidentally felt him up when I tried drying some of the coffee off of his shirt.
Not only is he ridiculously handsome, but he’s cut like a statue underneath all those expensive clothes. He’s got a sharp, rugged face with a full beard that I keep finding myself wanting to reach out and scratch. His hair is dark brown and cut close to his head, but he keeps it neatly styled in a way that looks perfectly effortless. On top of that, I’ve always had a thing for tattoos, and just by the myriad of tattoos covering his hands, I know they’re all over his body.
Today, he walks in, and my eyes linger on him as he flashes me a soft smile and waves. He takes a seat at his usual table, and my coworker, Leah, just nods for me to go over to him. After she tried flirting with him the first day he was here, she deemed him an asshole for not being interested in her.
“Looks like your man is here,” Leah teases, nudging me playfully on the arm. She pretends like it’s a joke, but I know she’s mildly offended that Ivan has somehow chosen me over her.
Honestly, I’m kind of surprised too. All my life, I’ve been constantly outshined by the people around me. Leah included. Whenever we have a group of cute guys that come into the cafe, they usually all focus on her, the tall, leggy blonde with glittering blue eyes and a pretty smile. Even at school, I’m used to being overlooked. I have to work three times as hard as everyone else to get noticed. I don’t come from money, and I might not be the most glamorous person at NYU.
