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My face heats with embarrassment as Blue Eyes full-on smiles at me. “Hmm, I had you pegged as more of a kitten,” he murmurs before bringing the cup to his lips.
Then, before I die on the spot, he lifts the cup in farewell and walks out of the coffee shop.
2
DRIVE BY INCUBUS
JAY
“Ithought you were going to sell the coffee shop,” my father says as he studies me over the papers in his hand. “You had your little college experiment. Now it’s time to focus on real business.”
I prop one ankle on the opposite knee and sip my coffee. Thatwasmy plan. Likely still will be. But even as I consider it, a vision of the woman with the dark brown hair and bourbon eyes returns to me.
Cat.
She wore exaggerated eyeliner around those mesmerizing eyes. I’d think with her cliché remark, she’d find it almost ironic. Maybe that was the point.
“It’s earning a profit. Basically runs itself,” I counter.
“And yet you were in there today, because you don’t know how to delegate,” my father says with a smirk. He’s got me there.
“I’ll do better,” I promise. My planwasto put Mia in charge of the shop. She’s been there for two years, and as the only female friend I’ve never fucked, I trust her.Trustedher. Until today, when I walked in to find that she’d left the store manned by a nonemployee who didn’t even know how to work a fucking coffeepot. I bite back my smile at the memory of the flustered woman behind the counter. “Give me a few weeks. I’ll get someone in place.”
He shakes his head. “Fine. Now, on to the next order of business. Your brothers will be in town for a few weeks.”
Grinding my molars, I grit out, “Why?”
My father puts the paper on his desk and sighs. “It’s their right.”
“Are you worried that I’m not focused because of the fucking shop? If that’s the problem, I’ll sell it tomorrow,” I say, irritation getting the best of me.
“That’s not what this is about. They deserve to be involved in the business too. They aren’t your enemies,” he says, narrowing his eyes and lacing his fingers on the surface of his desk.
“I’m perfectly aware of who the enemy is, Father.”
“Good,” he says, a sly grin sliding onto his face. He rises from his chair, tugging on the cuffs of his sleeves. Silently, he moves toward the floor-to-ceiling window and pours two glasses from the decanter that his father passed down to him many years before. He motions for me to join him, and when I accept the lowball glass he holds out, he clinks his against it. “It’s time, Jay. You’ve had five years to put this plan in motion. Five years to earn their trust. It’s fucking time.”
3
THERE SHE GOES BY SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER
JAY
Mia struts into my apartment and throws me a flirtatious smile as I hold the door for her. “Can I get you a drink?” I offer, guiding her to the kitchen.
Mia, being Mia, ignores my offer completely and strides toward my bedroom.
“Mia,” I growl. Dammit, she’s already getting the upper hand. The girl can’t take a fucking hint. “We aren’t going to my bedroom.”
“You might not be,” she calls, not bothering to turn around, “but that’s where I’ll be.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and grimace. Why the hell am I still friends with this woman? She fucks everything that walks and listens to nothing I say. But we bonded years ago, and there’s no turning my back on her now.
Blowing out a breath, I stomp down the hall and find Mia sprawled out on my bed, her short dress riding up her thighs and exposing her lime green thong. She pats the spot next to her which I ignore, instead dropping into a chair in front of my desk and focusing on the City of Providence out my window.
Just another thing that annoys my father. He wants me to move to Boston and finish my master’s from there. But I can’t exactly do what he wants me to do and also fucking move to Boston. I’m being pulled in so many damn directions I can’t think straight half the time.
Which is why Mia is here. I need her to grow the fuck up and take over the shop. I can’t be worried about a damn coffee shop.
