“I’m a barista.”
He shook his head. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.” Unlike most things I used to fill my time with, there was no pressure in making coffee. I didn’t have to beat myself up if I got an order wrong. Fine, yes, I had in the beginning, but I’d figured it out. It turned out you could perfect coffee making faster than a double axel. Now I never disappointed anyone.
“I would’ve guessed you’d be interning at Barbanel or something.”
I made a face. “There’s nothing I want less than to work in accounting.”
He sipped his coffee. “Doesn’t your family also have a media company?”
“Danziger Media, yeah. My grandma’s family.” I let out a sigh. “Isaac makes it seem like a lot of work, though.”
Tyler’s brows rose. “Who’s Isaac?”
Oh no. Oops. “No one.”
He put his mug down. “Are youblushing?”
“No,” I said quickly.
“Why are you blushing?”
“I’m not. I wouldn’t. I was just thinking.”
“Liar.” He leaned forward and smiled a taunting, beautiful smile. “Isaac?”
I looked down at my bowl, trying to find an extra oat I hadn’t yet scraped up. “He works for my uncle.”
“You’ve been holding out on me,” he drawled. “You like him.”
I shrugged and held myself stiffly, posture perfectly correct.
“Wow. Okay. What’s his deal? Why are you into him?”
I didn’t need to think; I’d gone over this list so often. “He’s smart and ambitious and driven.” Every time I saw Isaac, even at a corporate event my family was sponsoring, I was blown away by how impressive he seemed. He knew exactly who he was, exactly what he was doing. I—someone who had no idea who I currently was—found that intoxicating.
“And hot?”
“It doesn’t hurt.” Hot in a completely different way than Tyler; less Hollywood, more Byronic. Like someone you could take seriously, who would talk about important things, not someone who would flit around from girl to girl like an indecisive hummingbird.
“Smart and ambitious and driven,” he mulled. “Are those the most important traits someone can have? What about funny? A good listener? Kind?”
“Sure,” I agreed. He was probably all of those, too. “And he seems serious. Like someone who commits.”
Tyler made a face. “That’sthe most important trait?”
I straightened. “It’s pretty much the only important one if you actually want to be in a relationship.”
“And that’s the most important thing to you?” He tilted his head. “Why do you want it so much?”
“What do you mean,why?” I lifted my chin. “I don’t know. I’d like someone to make out with.”
His eyes locked on mine. “You don’t need a relationship to make out with someone.”
My cheeks were as fired up as I was. “It’s what I want.”
“Right.” He looked away, breathing a little harder than before. “Okay, then.”
