Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
“The usual?” I asked.
He nodded. “With a cinnamon apple muffin.”
I nodded in return, then he loped off to his usual table, that being the one at the back in the opposite corner to Tito.
The morning crowd started gathering, which rolled into the lunch crowd.
Jessie came in for her shift, so did Harlow, and Hunter joined Otis.
The crowd had thinned, denoting it was time for me and Luna to take off to go shopping, and that was when he came in.
That “he” being Cap.
I knew he showed when Harlow, behind the bar with me, whispered reverently, “Holy…Mary…Mother of God.”
I looked where she was looking.
And…yeah.
Cap was enough, but with him this time was a tall Black dude with a sinfully handsome face and soulful brown eyes who looked to be around Cap’s age.
Cap smiled at me as he came my way.
Watching him do it (both the moving and the smiling, mostly the smiling), parts of my body tingled, other parts rippled.
And Harlow whispered, “I hate you so much,” before she grabbed her iced lattes and took off to a table.
“Hey,” Cap greeted when he arrived opposite me.
I approached my side of the bar. “Hey.”
My gaze went to his bud.
“This is Liam Tucker,” Cap said. “He’s one of our Phoenix crew.”
“Hey, Liam,” I greeted.
“Rachel,” he replied on a wide smile.
Super cute.
But I had other thoughts on my mind.
Primarily, Cap knew my name, and I didn’t tell him. He knew where I lived, and I didn’t tell him that either. Now I knew he knew where I worked, and ditto me not telling him.
So…how much about me did he know?
I mean, even for your average, everyday person, it wouldn’t be hard to learn certain things about me. Certain things it was nobody’s business to know, but it was public record, not to mention, it’d been splashed all over the media nineteen years ago.
Therefore, someone like Cap could probably dig even deeper and know it all.
I didn’t like this. That kind of thing was for me to share, or not, at my choice.
“You know where I work,” I said to Cap.
“Yeah, it’s kind of my business to find shit out about people,” he replied.
“Can I hold on to hope that you only did prelims on that?” I requested.
He held my gaze steady and stated honestly, “Sorry, Rachel, not with what I saw on your wall last night.”
Okay, so I had to give him the fact that what I’d meticulously crafted on my wall was something anyone, especially someone like him, would find interesting and even alarming.
But I didn’t like this either.
At all.
I opened my mouth to share that with him, all the while struggling with that bloody wound I harbored deep down inside. A wound I could ignore normally, because I’d had nearly two decades of practice. Not to mention, I’d carefully curated some kickass, comfy décor in my Citadel so I could chillout in my denial without worrying if I had the right toss pillows.
But I couldn’t ignore it right then.
However, to my utter shock, suddenly, Tito was there.
Cap didn’t miss it, and Cap dwarfed him, so Cap had to bend his neck really far to look down at Tito.
The minute his eyes hit Tito’s aqua-framed sunglasses, Tito said, “Thank you for your service.”
After he said that, he shuffled away on his tube-sock, slide-covered feet.
Evidence as to why Tito hired so well, he could read people.
Like, he was a master at that shit.
Cap watched him go then turned back to me, entirely unaffected by an odd little man in a Panama hat, plaid shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, tube socks and slides approaching, speaking, not waiting for a response, then leaving.
“Were you in the military?” I asked, even though I suspected Tito was never wrong about this kind of thing.
“Yeah. Army,” Cap replied.
“Right,” I murmured, impressed at this news, at the same time a tad bit thrilled to learn more about him (okay, more than a tad, this guy got to me, argh!).
“I came by to say, face-to-face, we got shit that came up for tonight I can’t get out of,” he told me. “I have to postpone our date until tomorrow. That good for you?”
It totally was, and it totally was not.
I got into the totally was part.
“I feel at this juncture I should repeat my uncertainty about this date.”
Though, I kinda wasn’t exactly uncertain, because, you know, he was him, so, in reality, it was more like I wanted to be uncertain, but I was absolutely not.
“So I’ll repeat at this juncture, I’m taking you out,” he shot back.
I looked to Liam.
He’d taken a couple of steps away to give us privacy and was staring at his feet.
I still saw the smile playing at his lips.
Luna slid in beside me with a “Yo,” aimed Cap’s way.
“Hey, Luna,” he greeted.
“In for coffee?” she asked.
“Wouldn’t turn it down,” he answered.