LOL
I like a guy who works out.
Picture me saying that as I lean into you and touch your arm.
I actually laughed out loud, drawing a few looks from nearby tables.
Two hours had vanished in a blur of teasing messages and too much coffee.
And the strangest part? Somewhere between her last joke and this morning’s banter, I’d started thinking about two different women—one who made me grin atmy phone and one whose eyes I hadn’t been able to forget since the library.
I was about to type another question when the door to the café swung open—and she walked in.
The woman from the library.
Just like that, I wasn’t going anywhere.
CHAPTER 4
LIVVI
The bell over the Orange Blossoms Café door chimed as I stepped inside, trading the muggy warmth of a Florida March for the cool air conditioner and smell of espresso. A hint of sweat clung to the back of my neck from the walk over, and I made a mental note—again—that spring here felt a lot more like summer.
I wasn’t here for the coffee, not really. I could’ve made that at home. But something about working in this place, surrounded by the low buzz of strangers, always made it easier for me to focus.
Or it did—until I sawhim.
Talon Everhart.
Even if you’d somehow never been to one of his swim meets, you knew his face. It was impossible not to. The guy’s pictures were splashed all over campus and plastered on the wall behind the register at the café, with the rest ofthe “local heroes.”
And now here he was, sitting at a corner table, one long leg stretched out under it, a plate pushed aside, and his focus glued to his phone.
I hesitated in the doorway, my bag slipping down my shoulder. Great. Just what I needed, running into him twice in one week.
Of course he looked annoyingly perfect, like he’d just stepped out of some effortlessly cool lifestyle ad. Hair doing that careless, slightly messy thing guys probably spend more time perfecting than they admit. That strong jaw, the easy confidence in the way he sat, like the whole room was background noise.
It wasn’t fair. Guys like him were supposed to be too busy with their perfect lives to keep showing up where you were. And yet, here we were—me, awkwardly frozen in the doorway, and him, completely oblivious.
Not that I wanted him to notice me.
I didn’t.
Not at all.
… Right?
The line moved forward, jolting me out of my staring contest with his oblivious profile. I forced myself to face the counter. Just get your coffee, pick a table, and pretend you don’t notice him. Easy.
Except—when you already know the exact shade of blue their eyes are, and the way their presence fills a space—it was never easy.
The line inched forward, and I kept my eyes firmly on the chalkboard menu, like reading the wordsVanilla Lattefor the fifteenth time was suddenly fascinating. Bythe time I reached the counter, I’d convinced myself that if I ordered quickly and ducked into the farthest corner, Talon would never even realize I was here.
A few minutes later, I had my coffee in hand and my escape route planned. I slipped into an empty table by the window, the one half hidden behind a tall plant. The perfect spot to disappear.
I took a sip, the warm liquid grounding me. He hadn’t looked up once. Good. That was how I wanted it. No pretending I hadn’t nearly bodychecked him as I’d left the library.
And definitely no thinking about how up close, his eyes had been this sharp, striking blue that made me forget I wasn’t a fan. Or how my fingers itched to run across his tattoo. Nope, not thinking about that at all.
