I open my mouth, glancing down the street then back to him, laughing awkwardly. “Aren’t you annoyed with… you know, at the bar, the way I acted…”
He slips his hands into his jeans pockets. “Yeah, well, we were both a little out of line. That’s why I thought it might be good to talk.”
“Totalk?”
He chuckles. “Yeah. That’s usually how people work things out.”
“Er, okay. Sure. Coffee.”
“Great.” He leads the way toward a coffee shop further down the block and I trail after him, bewildered.
He gestures for me to find a table and goes to order for us both. A moment later he’s pulling out a chair and sliding into it with an easy grin. But it’s not his cocky, smug smile that I see at the bar; it’s a genuine, almost boyish smile, that doesn’t quite fit with the image I have of him in my head.
I feel a rush of guilt as I remember the way I stormed off. “Listen, I’m sorry about the other night. I’m just having a hard time with my store at the moment and you pressed my buttons with all that stuff about my dating, and you were kind of a dick…”
His mouth twitches. “Is this your first apology?”
A laugh escapes me. “Shit, you’re right.” I rub my forehead and inhale, meeting his gaze. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. And, you know… for judging you. What you choose to do on your own time is up to you, and it’s not my place to comment.”
Our coffees arrive but his gaze doesn’t move from mine. “And you think what I do is take women home from work?”
“Well, yeah.” I reach for the sugar. “You tried to take me home that first night we met, and I’ve seen you with the women at Bounce.”
“No,” he says, still not moving. His brows draw together in a frown. “I asked you to have adrinkwith me. That’s not the same thing. And as for the women, I mostly just flirt to get tips. It helps a lot to give compliments and flirt. The extra cash is good.”
I take a moment to process this, not entirely convinced. “Right. Well, anyway, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. So, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I should probably apologize too.” He sighs, cradling his coffee. “I didn’t mean to stick my nose in with the dating stuff. And as for your website… I don’t think I went about this the right way, but I was trying to offer to redo it for you.”
“What?”
“Like I said, it’s pretty outdated. I’d be happy to redo it for you.”
“Do you… know how to do that?”
His forehead wrinkles humorously. “Uh, yeah. I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t.”
“Oh,” I say, taken aback. I had wanted to redo the site, but after everything fell apart a few months ago, I’d been forced to put it out of my mind. Right now it’s the last thing I need to spend money on. “That’s really kind, thanks. But I’m sort of, well, a bit short on funds, and I don’t think—”
“No, I wouldn’t charge you for it.”
“What? Why not?”
“Believe it or not, bartending is not my life’s passion.” Little creases form around his eyes. “I want to start my own web design business, but I need to put together a portfolio before I can charge clients. So if I create a site for you, it would help me out too.”
Huh. A web design business. I didn’t see that coming.
I stir some sugar into my coffee. “Well… I guess it would be good to have it updated. I’m not sure how comfortable I am having you do it for free, though.” I raise my cup to my lips, savoring the malty taste on my tongue, thinking. “I can’t afford to pay you right now, but… maybe we can barter? I make clothes. Is there anything I could make you?”
He smiles. “I don’t know, maybe. You don’t need to pay me, honestly.”
I run my eyes over his sincere face. I’m not sure who this guy sitting in front of me is, but it’snotthe same guy from Bounce.
“I’m happy to help,” he adds. “Cory said you were having some trouble with your landlord, and I thought—”
“Wait.” I hold up a hand. “Cory told you that?”
He nods, his expression shifting at my tone.
