I did say I loved a challenge.
Sara
“THE COFFEE ONour floor is free. Why are you dragging me here again?” I cocked a brow at Lisa when we arrived at the tiny coffee shop. There was a fall bite in the air, more than I was used to for only early September. Another adjustment I needed to make after relocating all the way upstate from Queens. I shivered in my light denim jacket.
“Well, the free coffee sucks,” she scoffed. “I’m used to it, but they make a killer latte here. It won’t break the bank, I promise. And I told you I wasn’t letting you molt in our room when you’re not working or in class.” She held the door open for me to walk through.
“Molt? I’m pretty sure I don’t have feathers.” I smirked as I strode up to the counter to read the menu on the wall.
“Hi, Sara. I guess this means I get my coffee after all.” My head swiveled to Drew’s voice. For the life of me, I couldn’t escape this guy.
“Hi, Drew. Lisa made me come here.” The words sounded garbled and defensive as they fell from my lips as I stumbled back when we made eye contact. What was it about this man that had me evaporating IQ points and any semblance of coordination?
“Coffee?” Lisa turned to me, her mouth twisted into a smirk before she looked over at Drew. “Hey, Drew.”
“Lisa,” he nodded a hello with his dreamy eyes fixed on me. Lisa and I were going to have a talk about forcing me into social situations that terrified me.
I frowned as I looked between them. “Drew let me stay late at the kitchen a few days ago and says I owe him coffee.”
“You know what?” Lisa glimpsed at her watch and moved backward toward the door. “I think I forgot something in our room, and coffee will keep me up late anyway. You should pay your debts, Sara.” I spied a quick wink before she bolted out the door.
Some friend she was. She forced me here and then ran out. I knew what she was trying to do, and her heart was in the right place—but I was going to kill her anyway.
Great, now what?
“So, you’re here, I’m here, why don’t you take a seat?” His mouth curved before he motioned to an empty table in the back. I headed over and slid into a wooden seat, sucking in a long breath and letting it out slowly, without any effect on my bobbing leg.
This was pathetic. It was only coffee. I’d be here fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, and leave. Pay my debt to Drew as he phrased it and move along.It’s coffee, Sara. For fuck’s sake.
“Looking to make a break for it?” I turned to Drew’s snicker.
“No. I . . .” I allowed myself a glance at his deep brown eyes and lush lips stretched into a smile. He was pretty and shiny, all right.
He raked his hands through his thick hair, still laughing at me, and settled across the table.
“You’re either looking to get this over with or casing the place. I don’t bite.” He raised his arms as he leaned back into the chair, his eyes falling to my bouncing leg. I stilled when his warm hand gave my quivering knee a quick squeeze. “Honest.”
My knee shaking ceased thanks to the odd, maybe a little too intimate, gesture. But I wasn’t offended or even taken aback, only embarrassed as shit for being once again an awkward basket case in this guy’s presence.
“I’m actually surprised you suggested coffee in the first place.” My lips pursed as our eyes met.
His brows crinkled as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Why would you be surprised?”
I let out a long, humiliated sigh. “Because every interaction we’ve had up to this point has somehow made me act like an awkward mess. I’m actually afraid to stand from my seat as I’ll probably trip and land right in your lap.”
His head fell back as his broad and most likely ripped chest rumbled with a laugh. “If that happens, I promise I’ll catch you and set you down in your own seat. I’ll only make you linger on my lap for maybe . . .” He shrugged with an adorable smirk. “No more than a minute or so.”
I fought the smile threatening the corners of my mouth. My eyes drifted from Drew’s dreamy chocolate orbs to my fidgeting hands on the table.
Drew tapped my wrist for me to look up, his smile fading as he scooted his chair forward. “You’re a beautiful woman. A woman who keeps slipping away from me.” His eyes narrowed. “I tried to trick you into coffee, so we could get to know each other a little.”
“Trick me?” I crossed my arms.
“I was hoping to make you feel obligated. You can still pretend you’re paying back a debt if it makes it easier.”
It didn’t make it easier, but I wasn’t as uncomfortable as when I first arrived. Drew was smooth, but no bullshit alarms went off in my head. He seemed genuine, and it would be nice to get to know people other than Lisa and her circle of friends. That’s as far as it would be able to go, and I’d have to make sure that was crystal clear, but for the first time since he suggested it, spending time together didn’t make my body go rigid with panic. Maybe acknowledging how flustered he made me would take the power out of it, although the idea of lingering in his lap made me jumpy in a whole different way.
“What can I get you? Your leg stopped shaking but I’d probably go easy on the caffeine if I were you.”
