“I doubt that,” he mutters, grinning. He winks. “What can I do for you? No, wait,what can I do you for? Ah shit, I mean,can I do you?”
“Theo Collins, you better go wash that mouth out with soap and apologize to Miss Compton—”
Theo laughs out loud, winking at me again as he turns to our second-grade teacher, Mrs. Greene. “I promise you, it’s not what it sounds like—”
“Oh, I think I want to hear this apology, Theo,” I say with all the seriousness I can muster. My lips twitch. He glares at me out of the corner of his eyes, and I roll my lips in between my teeth to keep from laughing, too. “You have been awfully naughty lately.”
He glares at me for a heartbeat longer before grinning winningly over at our old teacher. “Mrs. Greene, I’m sorry you had to hear that. Noelle, I’m sorry for my depravity. I’ll do better.” When Mrs. Greene finally nods and shuffles away with her cappuccino, Theo braces himself on his hands on the counter, leaning over it toward me. He winks, then lets those blue eyes travel down to my mouth before raising them slowly to look me in the eyes again. This stare is intense and heated. It makes my breath stutter and my heart pound in my throat. “You have no idea just hownaughtyI can be, Angel.”
Oh.
Those butterflies are back, wreaking havoc on my insides. He’s so close, if I just leaned forward the slightest bit, our noses would touch. And if our noses touched, it wouldn’t be that far off to tilt our heads just the tiniest bit until our mouths did, too—
Yanking myself back half a step, I suck in a much-needed lungful of air. My eyes are bouncing between his, my brain not fully processing where my own thoughts had taken me. What the shit is my brain even doing?
He licks his lips, dropping his eyes to my mouth once more, before pulling himself upright behind the counter, putting necessary space between us again. “So, what can I get for you this morning?”
“Umm. Coffee,” I stutter lamely, then wish I could slam my head into the nearest wall when he grins slyly, as if he knows just how much he’s rattled me. The asshole. I shake my head and straighten my shoulders. “Coffees for Willow and Val and myself, please. Big ones. I overslept and they’re threatening to offer me up as a sacrifice to Krampus.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” Theo chuckles, tapping on the large touch screen in front of him. The cashier till dings and slides open, and he closes it swiftly. “Beau says anything you girls get today is on the house.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, dropping my purse at my side. I still stuff a twenty into the tip jar just because. He glowers at me, but I just shrug. “Is he nervous?”
“He’s in the back room compulsively cleaning and organizing the stock racks,” he says, chuckling as he begins making our coffees. “We had a rush about an hour ago but we’re in a lull, and once that hit, he was back to panicking. We’ll get another rush in a bit; it’ll take his mind off of it for a little while. I’m glad we’re closing early, I’m not sure I can handle a whole day of him losing his mind.”
“You know what, when you finally get around to finding some woman that you want to propose to, I’m going to remember this,” Beau grumbles as he stalks out of the back room, a large box of cups and lids in his arms. He sets it down on the counter beside them and starts unloading the contents. “And I’ll give you as much shit as you’ve given me in the last two weeks.”
“Maybe if he got around to asking hismystery girlon a date—”
“Mystery girl?” Beau asks, turning to Theo, who has his back to us as he tops the three coffee drinks with whipped cream and green and red sprinkles. “What mystery girl?”
“I don’t have a mystery girl,” Theo snaps over his shoulder at his brother. I grin over at Beau. Theo spins toward me, pointing one finger at my chest. “And that was a private conversation, you traitor.”
“So thereisa mystery girl.” Beau grins, too, folding his heavily tattooed arms across his chest. He isn’t decked out in Christmas gear like Theo, though he does have a red, white, and black flannel pulled on over his usual black t-shirt. The sleeves are pushed to his elbows, and he has on a pair of faded, well-worn black jeans. His dark hair that’s threaded through with silver is worn longer than traditional, falling over his brow and curling slightly at the nape of his neck.
Willow once told us he reminded her of Skeet Ulrich, and I haven’t been able to un-see it since.
Theo turns toward me, coffee carrier loaded down with the three decked out coffees in three of the spots, a handful of wrapped, house made chocolate biscotti standing straight up in the last. I wiggle my fingers together in front of me in excitement. That will definitely get me out of the Krampus Sacrifice. Hopefully, anyway.
He snatches the carrier back before I can grab hold of it, though. He glowers at me. “You owe me.”
“Yes, yes, whatever you want,” I mutter, waggling my fingers outward, silently asking for the carrier.
“That’s a dangerous promise,” Theo murmurs quietly, setting the carrier in my outstretched hands. My fingers brush across the backs of his as I take hold of it, and the electricity that zaps through me has nothing to do with static cling. I swallow hard, my eyes shooting up to his. “I will be collecting on that, Noelle.”
Chapter Six
Noelle
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! But I come bearing Christmas coffees—with sprinkles—and chocolate biscotti!”
I plunk the drink carrier down in the center of the stainless-steel work table in the back room ofThree Blossom Haven, between Val and Willow. Val is glaring daggers at me, but Willow is just grinning as she plucks her coffee out of the carrier and snags a biscotti.
“Told you the Krampus thing would work,” she mumbles to Val out of the corner of her mouth as she unwraps the biscotti, and Val rolls her eyes.
Val points the heavy-duty floral shears in her hand at me, waggling them ominously. “You’re lucky it’s Christmas and I’m feeling generous today. And that Theo is always saving your ass.”
“Hey! He isnotalways saving my ass—”
