I can’t let this opportunity go to waste. This is the best opening I’ve had with her yet. I have to follow up on it and ask her something else. I have to …
Carmen grabs Felix’s cup and turns around to fill it with coffee. She turns back and sets it on the counter. “First refill is free,” she answers in a quick, clipped tone, before stepping to the side behind the counter and crouching down to count something on the lower shelves.
Like defenders swarming me on the ice to shut down an attempted breakaway, I feel the window of opportunity slamming closed.
Distracting her more while she’s doing her work would just be obnoxious. I head back to our table.
Felex leans over the table toward me after I set his cup in front of him and retake my seat. “Well?” he asks, eagerness on his face. I swear, sometimes I think Felix is as invested in me getting closer to Carmen as I am.
I shrug, not wanting to reveal just how enthused I am to have gotten a minuscule piece of personal information from her. I’m aware of just how pathetic it is. “Well, I found out she likes snow.”
Sebastian nods his head slowly, a skeptical arch on his brow. “Hm, that’s … something. I guess.”
“Plenty of things you can do with that,” Felix says, and I can already hear the teasing in his voice. “Like bring her a big box of snow as a gift. She’ll love it.”
I roll my eyes.
“Or you could get here before one of her shifts and build a snowman for her beside the door.”
Carter raises his brow at Veikko from across the table. “Damn, Veikko. Didn’t know you were such a romantic under that robotic exterior.”
“An ember of passion flickers deep in my chest, ready to be stoked to a roaring blaze, but it is rarely accessed.”
The way Veikko delivers that unexpected line in his flat monotone has every pair of eyes pointed at him, surprise and wonder splashed on our expressions. Maybe it’s in my head, but for a second I sense an unreadable expression ghosting over Felix’s face as he looks at him.
“Veikko, have you been raiding Sebastian’s Shakespeare collection?” Felix asks after shaking it off.
“I have not yet read Shakespeare in English. Why do you ask?”
The rest of the guys keep talking, but I tune them out again, instead watching Carmen as she walks across the shop to the front door. When she passes our table, I let my gaze fall to her backside. Her ass is framed so beautifully in her dark jeans that all I can do is close my eyes and shake my head. Have mercy.
When my eyes open, Carmen’s standing in the doorway, propping the door open with her shoulder as she talks to a delivery guy. He holds out a paper for her to sign, and quickly tugs it back after she does so.
“Sorry, miss,” the deliveryman is saying, his voice full of hurry, “but the snow’s gonna start any minute, and I gotta double-time it if I’m gonna make my deliveries before these roads become undrivable. You’ll have to bring the boxes in yourself today.”
Before Carmen can respond, he’s already racing back to his delivery van and hopping into the driver’s seat.
Carmen’s face twists as she looks down at the stack of big, bulky boxes.
I can help her.
I shoot up from my seat so fast that I lift our table with my thighs. Cups clatter, liquid spills over mug edges, cell phonesslide across the tabletop; in general, I make an embarrassing racket just trying to stand up.
I can skate around the ice and handle a puck with style and finesse, but I somehow turn into a clumsy oaf whenever I’m here at Last Word while Carmen’s on shift.
Ignoring the reactions of my teammates, I rush to the front door, where Carmen’s angling a nonplussed look at me thanks to the clamor I’ve made.
“I’ll help,” I say, my brow raised and my voice perky, feeling entirely too much like an over-eager puppy.
A skeptical, almost distrustful look swims in Carmen’s brown eyes. It’s like she’s not used to someone offering her help, and her default response is to wonder what exactly the catch is.
Then she glances back at the stack of boxes. They’re big, and I can sense how heavy they are. With Carmen’s small frame, I have no idea how she’d get them through the door and all the way to wherever they need to be. One thing I do know is that there’s no way I could sit down and watch her struggling to try.
“Come on,” I nudge. “You telling me you really think you could get those boxes in all by yourself?”
Her brow lowers. There’s a flash of defiance on her face. But there’s also a flicker of recognition in her eyes. There’s only so much arguing you can do against physics.
“I guess …”
