He flushed. “My grandfather, umm, Elwood, told me about you. I was… I was bringing him coffee. And—um…” He glanced at the bakery bags in the street. “Snacks. For the meeting. Well, they were snacks. Now they’re roadkill.”
I felt my mouth twitch as who he was clicked for me. Elwood’s grandson.The DeclanI’d heard so much about.
“Declan, huh?” I asked.
“That would be me.” He gave a sheepish grin. “Declan Hawthorne. World’s worst delivery boy. I should come with a warning label.”
Cute.
“I’ll, uh…” He bent to grab the bakery bags. One was ripped open, the other completely squashed. He held them up like trophies. One enterprising cookie shifted and poked through therip where it promptly plummeted back to the sidewalk. A raven swooped down and grabbed it before Declan could retrieve it. We watched the bird leave with its prize. “What was I saying again? Oh, right. I’ll, um, go back to the bakery.”
“You do that. I’ll go change, and then I’ll see you over there.”
Chapter Three
And it isn’t even a full moon…
Declan
How mortifying.
I mean, I wasn’t the most graceful guy in the world, but I didn’t usually go around scalding handsome strangers with coffee either. Not that I was admiring how good-looking Elwood’s neighbor was. Really. I barely noticed Gideon’s neatly trimmed beard, the striking amber color of his eyes, or how solid and muscular his body had felt when I’d slammed into it.
“Right…” I clutched the bags of spoiled baked goods to my chest and nodded. I hooked my thumb toward the coffee shop. “I’m gonna…”
“Do you…” He wrinkled his nose in an exaggerated way. He’d been sniffing and wrinkling his nose ever since I’d given him a coffee bath. “What’s that smell?”
I shrugged. I didn’t think he was talking about me. I’d showered after lugging my bags up to my grandfather’s apartment. After sitting for hours on a bus, I’d needed it.
Gideon made a production of sniffing the air. He tugged at his wet shirt and lifted it to his face. He sneezed and rubbed his nose. I got the impression he wasn’t a fan of whatever he’d discovered. “Where did you buy that coffee?”
Was this a trick question? “The coffee shop?”
Gideon nodded toward the shop sandwiched between the antique store and the grocer across the street. The neon sign in the window saidThe Witch’s Brewin glowing green letters. “That one?”
“Yes?” I nudged my glasses up a little on my nose.
“It isn’t a quiz,” the guy said with a smile.
Holy mackerel, that smile was dangerous. I bet he had all the locals and tourists falling all over him.
Ugh, why was I even thinking about that? It wasn’t my business, and it wouldneverbe my business. I needed a break from guys, especially the attractive ones. My next relationship—at some faraway, distant point in the future—would be with a nice, boring, average-looking man who liked to do nice, boring, average things. Gideon was not that guy.
“Yes.” I nodded. “At first, I was going to get regular coffees, but then I saw the peanut butter and jelly flavor. PB & Jinx, I think it was called. It sounded fun. The barista said it was the next big trend. Bigger than pumpkin spice lattes.” I shrugged. As someone who liked mixing things up in the kitchen, I loved supporting other people’s experiments. I knew all too well how reluctant some people could be about accepting new things. Besides, it was just coffee. How dull did your life have to be if you couldn’t take a risk on a five-dollar coffee? “I thought I’d try it.”
“I’d say you dodged a bullet. Lily’s creations are more infamous than famous.” Gideon shook his head. “If you’regrabbing coffee for the meeting, you should go to the Twinkling Thistle Café around the corner.” He pointed to the corner he meant.
“Oh, um, okay,” I said. “Thanks.”
He nodded.
I was reluctant to leave him for some reason.Weird.
But I needed to move it. So, I dumped the ruined food into the nearest trash can and hurried down the street in search of the café. And I absolutely ignored the pang of disappointment that shot through me when I glanced over my shoulder and he wasn’t standing where I’d left him, watching me. Of course not. What had I expected? The poor guy had to change his shirt, for pity’s sake.
And why would he watch me? That’d be creepy.Right?
The Twinkling Thistle Café windows were covered in houseplants, but inside, it had a 50s-style diner vibe going on. Although the last time I was in Ravenstone, this place had been a shoe store, so none of this was original. But it felt original with its black and white tile floor, red leather seats, and shiny chrome—lots of chrome—around the edges of every table and the face of the long counter that ran the length of one wall. And the pie case by the till held a variety of baked treats, not just pies.Perfect.
