AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, Mr. Moore, you don’t have to do that!” The happy-go-lucky, ma’am-ing barista from a moment ago is now panicked and flushed. “Please, let me.” She bends down to take over, but he politely brushes her hands away.
“No problem. All done.”
He pops back up and tosses the napkins into the trash, offering his hand to the girl still crouched down by his feet.
“Oh, ah, okay.” Nodding, she maneuvers back behind the counter, leaving me with Thomas Moore.
“Well, okay, then.” I lift my half-full coffee. “Thanks again for the napkins. I’ll… uh, see you around.” I turn toward the door, but he stops me before I can walk away.
“Wait. Please.”
I stop, but at the questioning look I throw at him, he looks down, almost sheepishly. “I, uh, may have been waiting for you.”
My expression remains the same. “I don’t understand. Why would you wait for me?”
“I was hoping to speak with you.”
I look behind me, then back again. “Me?”
His smile reminds me of Chase. It both guts me and endears me. “Yes. You.” He gestures to an open café table. “Do you have a minute?”
“Well, I was going to…” How can I not think of anything I have to do, but a minute ago I was coming up with a plan for global dominance?
Thomas takes one step closer, his hand resting on my arm. “Please?”
The café employees are watching us, and it reminds me of how fast and furious work gossip can spread. I don’t want to cause a scene that will get back to Chase. Sigh. “Okay. Just a minute.”
“Thank you, Bell.” My nickname sounds odd with his formal tone. Ever gracious, he relieves me of my heavy laptop bag, placing it on one of the four chairs around the open table.
I nod, sitting in the seat he pulls out for me. I rest what’s left of my creative mojo juice on the table.
He’s charming, but stiff. Thomas doesn’t have the ease with which Chase moves or acts. Or his smile. I bet Thomas would look ridiculous if he tried to wink at someone.
Ugh. Stop thinking about Chase. You need to focus on making his beloved store a worldwide leader in luxury goods, not on how attractive your boyfriend is.
Oh my god. I have a boyfriend.
“Holy shit.”
Thomas blinks. “I’m sorry?”
“Uh, nothing, nothing.” I shake my head at myself. “You were saying?”
He gives me a strange look, one I deserve but ignore. Instead I focus on his tie. It’s a Windsor knot. A perfectly symmetrical Windsor knot. Further study has me realizing that, with the exception of his part, which is on his left side, the rest of Thomas Moore is perfectly symmetrical. His hairline, eyebrows, eyes, even the bow on the top of his lips is evenly arched.
I read a study once that said symmetry is the leading factor in determining a person’s beauty. That humans are subconsciously drawn to those with symmetrical features.
Yet nothing about Thomas’s symmetry fires up my nether regions. I can appreciate his beauty. I acknowledge his handsomeness. But, all in all, I’d rather look at Chase’s perma-smirk, the way one side of his mouth quirks higher than the other. The slight bump on the upper right side of his nose, and how the hair at the start of one eyebrow sticks up straight, while the other smooths perfectly over his eye. All of Chase’s variations are slight, but as a whole they make for a more interesting picture. A sexier man. A man I love.
Who would prefer Thomas’s cold perfection over Chase’s warmth and realness?
“Campbell?”
Pulling myself from my thoughts, I offer Thomas a simple “Hmmm?”
“Are you humming ‘Suspicious Minds’?”
“Uh… no?” I so totally was.
