“Why would you do that?” she asked, genuinely not understanding. Then, it was his turn to look away.
“Don’t worry, it wasn’t on purpose or anything,” he said, voice cavalier. “I ended up making extra and thought it would be better to bring it along instead of throwing it out.”
“Oh,” she said, though she still hesitated about taking the thermos from him.
“Besides, you can be quite devilish before your morning caffeine, so I thought it would be good to have on hand in case you didn’t get any this morning,” he continued, and the fact that he knew such a thing made her feel a sharp emotion she couldn’t quite pin down.
He said the words easily, as if they were excuses he had practiced. She didn’t know if she should believe him or not, but the fact remained that she desperately needed caffeine.
Hesitantly, she took the thermos, taking off the lid. Steam rose from the top. “Thank you,” she said, looking up at him.
He smiled. “’Course.”
Just as she was about to take a sip, he said, “Oh, and I poisoned it.” She paused, pulling the cup away from her mouth to glare at him. He gave her a boyish smile. “Just kidding.”
“I am going to choke you,” she threatened, then took a sip.
“Dirty talk, Sterling?” he said, checking his watch. “This early in the morning?”
She almost spat the chai out at that, and he snickered to himself. She clenched her jaw.
After setting down her things, she took off her jacket, revealing one of her favorite black dresses: a lacy number that fell to just below her knees. The bookshop was always warm, so she wasn’t wearing any stockings today, just knee-high suede boots. After hanging up her jacket, she slung her purse back on her arm. Luke sat down in his usual seat, but turned when he saw she wasn’t sitting down beside him.
Grabbing the thermos, she stalked outside. A moment later, he had followed her out.
“I see we’re changing tactics,” he said.
“Weare not doing anything,” she replied curtly, walking over to the side of the bookshop, stopping by a bookshelf. He followed.
“Any particular reason you wanted to come in on a Sunday?” he asked, watching as she pulled her notebook out of her purse. Taking a sip of chai, she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she replied. He waited, curious. Maybe this was how she would get back at him for being so irritating, by not telling him.
Emmeline was in the center of the bookshop, with a clear view of the front door and the front desk. Sipping her chai (which was really quite good), she watched as customers entered through the front door, the first of the day. It was a couple with a blue-scaled azura baby dragon bouncing by their feet.
“Fine,” Luke said. “Don’t tell me.” He leaned against the other side of the bookshelf. She was momentarily distracted by the long stretch of his torso, the muscles of his arms as he folded them across his chest.
Blinking, she shook her head.Insufferable.
Emmeline turned her attention to the bookshop. She could feel Luke watching her, but she refused to glance over at him. Instead, she made a note of when the couple had entered in her notebook. A few moments later, the front door dinged; an old man entered.
She continued watching, making notes whenever anybody entered. About fifteen minutes later, the couple with the azura baby dragon left without purchasing anything, and she wrote that down as well. Then, five minutes later, she saw the old man go to the front desk to pay for a book.
She wrote that down. Along with studying how busy the bookshop got, she was studying how long customers spent in the shop, since customers who stayed longer would be more inclined to purchase a coffee as they browsed as opposed to customers who were only popping in to quickly make a purchase.
“Ah, so that’s what you’re doing,” Luke said, not even hiding the fact that he was reading her notes from over her shoulder. Closing her notebook with a snap, she threw it back into her purse. She turned her face to glare at him.
As she did, she startled; she hadn’t realized he was standing so close.
Her pulse quickened as she stared into the depths of his dark eyes. There were fine lines around his eyes, a sign of age that hadn’t been there when they were twenty-two. For some reason, she wanted to press her finger along the crease, to feel just how much he had changed.
Seven years was a long time. There was so much about him she didn’t know—and suddenly, she realized she wanted to learn more about him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Emmeline said, taking a step away from him.
“You’re studying how long customers stay in the shop,” he said. “I’ll bet you’re trying to work out what percentage will be likely to buy coffee as they browse.”
“No,” she replied, but he was clever, which was irritating. Unfortunately, his competence was also very attractive.
