"You've worked in a café before, haven't you?” I smile up at her, surprised at how my hands are dying to reach toward her. To pull her into my lap and keep her there while she tells me her whole life story.
Her light laugh is like sunshine dancing. "How could you tell?"
"You remembered the napkins."
She laughs again. "It's all in the details, right?"
I pull the plate closer to the middle of the table, and her eyes widen in delight. "Man hands!"
"Excuse me?"
She smiles again. "Man han – sorry, let me start properly. I'm Jenna. Nice to meet you."
The pressure in my chest softens as I take her hand in mine. Holy shit.This is my person. A strange excitement washes over me as I try to appear calm. "Kellan Wolfe."
"Oh – like the mountain family?"
"One branch of the family tree, yes."
Jenna grins. "I take stock photos for a site. They send me a list of shots they're short on, then I take as many as I can to boost their variety. There’s a high demand for certain types of shots, but clients don't want to be too repetitive."
"Makes sense. I've had to buy stock photos before and thought ‘hey, wait a sec, I recognize that one’."
"Anyway, you have great hands," she continues. "Very masculine, but not too hairy. May I take a bunch of shots of you holding your coffee, the muffin, maybe your phone?"
"Of course."
Oh man. My brothers are going to love hearing how I was a hand model for a hot second. I obey Jenna’s direction as well as I can – tilting, lifting, posing according to her instructions.
Once again, she zones out, totally engrossed in her work. I don't think she even realizes that she's touching my hand, angling my wrist, and getting into my space.
A lesser man would be staring down the front of her t-shirt. I attempt to be a gentleman and barely glance for a split second. But I'm already semi-hard just from the sugary sweet scent of her skin as she leans past my nose and pushes the plate away to concentrate on the mug. If she doesn't back away soon, I might not be able to stand up comfortably.
After a few more minutes, Jenna straightens up, apparently satisfied. Then she blinks in surprise. “Oh – I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to just grab you and arrange you like that."
“No problem. You were focused on your work."
She flashes an adorable grin, sinking into the chair across from me. "I also…I'm not sure how to say this… You're very comfortable for such a big guy. Normally I'd have my guard up around someone like you, you know what I mean?"
"I think so. Yeah. That's nice to know."
Jenna smiles again. “Alice said that you paid for my pastry tab. Thank you for that. It was…a lot."
"You're very welcome."
"I don't make a ton of money from these photos. Just enough to survive, really. So… I hope you'll forgive me for not being able to pay you an official modelling fee?" She looks at me anxiously.
"Don't be silly." My mind is already spinning. "Actually… Are there any other shots with men's hands you need? On a steering wheel, a gearshift, that kind of thing?"
"Wow – yes!"
“What if I take you to lunch in Cedarvale? I need to get a birthday gift for my mom, and she knows all the stores here intown and the stuff in them like the back of her hand. I could really use a woman's opinion. And you can take photos all the way there and back."
She hesitates for a moment, so I add, "You can and ask Alice if I'm a trustworthy guy. Ask anybody. The entire town knows me."
Her shoulders drop a quarter inch. Hopefully that’s a point in my favor.
"Can we be back by four at the latest?"
