Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 38053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
I pace the tiled floors of my shop, waiting for February to get here. To say I’m highly anticipating seeing her is an understatement. This will be our first interaction without one of us catching the other peeking through the window like a peeping Tom. I feel like a kid waiting for my first date to show up. I’m excited, nervous, and I hate to admit it, but I’m kind of horny.
I scrub my face, letting out a moan. “Get it together, Harrison.”
“You always talk to yourself?”
I spin around and find February standing there with a beautiful smile on her face. My heart beats faster at the sight of her as I take a step closer. “Only when I want the advice of someone smart and talented.”
“But you didn’t even know I was here,” she says with a laugh.
The sweet sound echoes around me and instead of pushing her against the wall and taking a kiss, I nod for her to follow me into the back of the shop.
“How’s your shop?” I ask her, worried about her. I press the on button on the espresso machine.
She shrugs as it hisses to life. “It’s going. The extent of the damage is worse than we thought. Jack got some numbers together, so after this I need to go see if I can afford it all.”
“This shouldn’t be out of your pocket. Have you spoken to Mitch? He doesn’t screw people over. His reputation as a business owner is far too important to him.”
She glances around. She takes in the stainless steel prep tables next to the storage area. “Your shop is bigger than mine.”
“So, are you telling me size does matter?” I lift an eyebrow and she blushes. Damn, the way the pink runs up her neck and onto her cheeks is sexy as hell. She turns away from me and I grin.
Not wanting her to be uncomfortable, I step next to her and grab a white mug. “This isn’t about taste, so we’ll just do a simple vanilla latte.” I turn my head toward her and find her eyes locked on me. “It’s the foam art that matters.”
Her eyes bounce between mine and there is this pull between us that I can’t explain. But she quickly clears her throat and looks down at the espresso machine.
“I have Deanna coming by to judge too.” She looks up at me, narrowing her eyes. “You know, to keep it fair.”
I hold up my hands and grin. “I’m a lot of things, but a cheater isn’t one of them.” Her face falls, and I quickly realize my mistake. That douchebag ex of hers. I rest my hand on her slender shoulder as I try to make her understand what I mean. “Failure isn’t something I handle well, so I push my boundaries to win.”
“I knew what you meant. Let’s hurry and start because I need to meet with Jack.”
My latte is finished and I steam my milk to make the design. As it finishes, she clears her throat next to me, catching my attention.
“I’m sorry to hear about your dad’s passing,” she says just barely above a whisper.
“Thank you.” I peek down at her and she’s focused on the task at hand. “He’d love this. If he were here, he’d be trying to make me screw up, so you’d win,” I say, laughing lightly.
“My dad probably wouldn’t be able to make it in here before my mother pushed him out of the way to make sure I was doing everything perfectly,” she says, laughing.
“You have a big family?”
“Huge.”
“That must be nice.”
“It has its pros and cons. I mean, I love them all, but sometimes they are a little too into my business. My sister, January, just had to pretend her boss was her boyfriend to keep my family from flipping out.”
I laugh and turn to look at her. She’s not laughing, and I realize she’s serious. “Wait, seriously?”
“Seriously. Don’t get me wrong, it all worked out and they are disgustingly in love now, but it was a bit of an awkward Christmas.”
Well, shit, I’ve been in some awkward situations before, but I’ve never had to pretend to be something I’m not. I’ve never had to lie about a relationship. I can’t imagine a more awkward predicament.
“Yeah, okay, I can’t imagine that.”
“Like I said, pros and cons.” She makes a little excited shriek and stands back. “Finished.”
Just as she says it, I finish mine and glance at her. “Me too,” I say with a wide grin.
It was nice getting to know a little about each other, and I’ll admit I’m disappointed it ended so quickly, but I know she needs to get to her shop, so I don’t argue about getting the judging underway.
We walk to the front of the shop, and both place our cups down on the counter to have Bren and Deanna judge them.