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CHAPTER 1
BURKE
“Large coffee. Black, for…” she calls.
I step to the counter and take my cup from her. As I clasp my cup, my finger touches hers. Only the slightest graze, but I instantly feel something deep inside of me stir. The sunlight slants in through the window, making her strawberry-blond hair glimmer. Light glints off her silver-blue eyes. Eyes so pure, they nearly stop my heart. Her full, heart-shaped lips curl upward in a smile that would melt a lesser man. Not me.
“You know, I can tell a lot about a person by their coffee order,” she says.
“Is that so?” I ask.
“She nods. “I can.”
“So, what does my coffee order tell you about me?”
“It tells me you’re steady. Reliable. That you value consistency.”
I grin. “You make me sound predictable.”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. There’s a lot to be said for consistency.”
Chuckling, I raise the cup to her. “Thanks, darlin’.”
“You betcha.”
I walk back to my table in the far corner of the coffee shop and sit down. From here, I have a view of the entire place as well as one of Brynn. I was struck by the cute, pixie-like girl from the moment I set foot in here. And it’s because of her that I’ve been coming back for the last couple of months. I tell myself it’s to do some paperwork for my job, but I could do it at home. In truth, I keep coming back for her.
Brynn is gorgeous. And the moment I laid eyes on her, I had a reaction unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It was visceral. A foot shorter than me and literally half my age, this girl has fueled more than a few of my fantasies. For the last couple of months, she’s been the star of every filthy thought I’ve had while I jerk off in the shower. Just looking at the girl is fucking intoxicating.
I settle down at my table and open my laptop, keeping one eye on the screen, the other eye on Brynn. I have fantasies rolling through my head like a non-stop porn channel. They make it difficult for me to fill out these reports I need to turn in to my client. But the work needs to get done, so I do my best to muddle through. Mrs. Pringle needs to know her husband is nailing his secretary. It’s what she’s paying me for, after all.
“You look like you could use a fresh cup.”
Raising my head, I find myself staring into Brynn’s silver-blue eyes. My heart lurches, and my jeans start getting tighter as I take in the full, round breasts on her small, delicate frame. Iglance at my watch, surprised to find that an hour’s gone by. And when I look at the report on my laptop, I’m appalled to see my report is only half-done.
I sigh. “Yeah, looks like I need one.”
“Working, huh?” she asks as she sets down a fresh cup. “On the house.”
“Thank you,” I respond. “And yeah. Just doing some paperwork.”
She glances at my screen and frowns at the incident report I’m working on. “What do you do? Are you a cop?”
“PI,” I say.
She laughs. “You’re a PI?”
“I am.”
“No offense, but aren’t PIs supposed to like, blend in? Like, be invisible?”
“I blend in.”
She laughs again. “You’re way too big to blend in.”
A smirk tugs the corner of my mouth. “How big somebody is matters less than you think. Most people are so self-absorbed that they don’t notice the people around them. It’s just a matter of taking advantage of their blind spots.”
