I turn to see the stranger striding through the door, and my heart immediately skips a beat when his eyes catch mine.
Emeralds.
Dark green eyes ensnare me in some weird connection until they finally tear away and focus their attention on Sophie at the front counter.
"Coffee. Black. To go," he says in clipped sentences, his voice deep and gruff.
"Sure thing," she says, grinning from ear to ear and practically giddy.
She's clearly attracted to the stranger, and I can't say I blame her. He's tall, so tall he towers over everything in the store. And his suit clings to a very muscular body like the fabric was created just for him.
I surreptitiously study him from across the room as Sophie prepares his coffee.
His strong jaw is covered in day-old stubble, and his full lips look soft even though they're set in a stern expression.
He looks so serious that I can't help but wonder what he looks like when a smile graces his face.
After paying, Sophie hands him a Styrofoam cup. And then, the stranger turns, sneaks another glance at me with those strikingly dark green eyes and walks out the door.
Once he’s out of sight, I sit back in my chair and suck in a breath of air. It was like his very presence took all the oxygen out of the room.
Sophie skips back over to our table and theatrically fans herself. "Holy shit, he washot."
"Yeah, he was," I agree wholeheartedly before popping a piece of cookie in my mouth.
"I should have asked for his number or something. Not for me because I have a boyfriend, of course, but for you."
"Forme?" I cry, almost choking on that damn cookie. "I amsonot his type."
"What, the beautiful, Disney princess lookalike type?" she asks with an eye roll. "Face it, Vi, you're freaking gorgeous." She puts her elbows on the table and drops her head onto her fists with a heavy sigh. "You guys would have beautiful babies together," she comments dreamily.
"Babies?" I scoff. "The guy was probably married."
"He wasn't wearing a ring," she points out.
Clearly, I was too focused on his handsome face to check out the obvious sign of him being taken, and I'm not surprised at all that Sophie noticed. She notices everything and reads body language like it's her super power. It's hard to keep any secrets from her, but some things I have to keep buried…for her sake.
"Well…maybe he's not married, but he most definitely has a girlfriend," I reply.
She sits up straight with a frown marring her features. "How would you know?"
I stare pensively towards the door where the stranger stood only moments earlier. "A guy like that doesn't stay single long."
She sighs melodramatically and sinks into her seat. "Ah, you're right. Damn, I hope he comes back in here again."
"You've never seen him before?"
"Nope. Guys like that usually don't come into stores like this. Maybe he took a wrong turn atRalph Laurenor something."
I swig the last of my cappuccino and stand. "Well, I better get going." I reach into the center storage pocket in my sports bra and pull out the twenty dollars I keep in there since I don’t have pockets in my jogging clothes. It’s more than enough to cover the bill plus a big fat tip for Sophie.
“You know I don’t like taking your boob money, but I know better than to refuse it.”
Laughing, I give her a wave before I go to the front door. We used to argue over the amount at first, but she quickly learned that I wasn’t going to budge.
“See you tomorrow, Vi,” she says with a wave.
I walk out of the shop and decide to jog the rest of the way back to my place to burn off some of the extra calories I just inhaled.
