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“It’s not a date!” Storming out of the kitchen, she gathered up her laptop and other items she would need to take with her, muttering, “I’ll ignore his muscles.”
She’d gotten a quick feel of them when he’d carried her inside.
Muscle-clad men were her weakness, but not her norm. Her past boyfriends were just as nerdy as she was.
But it never stopped her from daydreaming about men like London.
London wouldn’t be sexually interested in a woman like her. She was nothing like the women parading in and out of his apartment.
“This is just a kind gesture for not letting me fall flat on my face,” she reminded herself.
Grabbing a jacket, she hoisted her bag up on her shoulder and left her apartment.
The weather was on her side. The sun was high in the sky, its rays warming the air around her.
Pushing her glasses up on her nose, she paused at the corner of the street and waited for the light to change. Traffic wasn’t as heavy on the weekends.
Alana loved living downtown. The high-rise buildings, local events, and the community attracted her to the area.
Nodding to a few pedestrians passing by, Alana made her way to her favorite coffee shop, 216 Beans. It was owned by a friendly woman named Peggy, who by far made the best coffee in town.
“Alana!” Peggy’s warm, friendly voice called out as she entered the small establishment.
“Hey, Peggy Sue! How are you?”
With a smile, she walked up to the counter, ecstatic there wasn’t anyone in line. This time of day, the coffee addicts thinned out a bit.
“Your usual?”
Reaching for her wallet, she laughed. “Of course.” Alana was a regular, and she and the staff were on a first name basis.
Pushing her glasses up again, she turned and saw an open table near the front windows.
“Here you go, my dear,” Peggy announced, grabbing Alana’s attention.
Handing over a few bills, she eyed the cheese danishes. “These smell divine.” Peggy’s cheese danishes were famous. They were large and flaky, and the cream cheese was heavenly.
Peggy was a jolly older woman with white hair she pulled up into a bun on top of her head. Her tan weathered skin told she was a woman who didn’t shy away from laughing.
“Why do you waste your time working on Saturdays? A young woman like you should be out there enjoying life.”
Alana shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. Perfect. “I have some projects I’m working on. I figure I’ll work hard now, and play harder later.”
“Smart girl,” Peggy affirmed. “Though what you need is a beau. Someone to spoil you rotten and put a certain type of gleam in your eye.”
Alana snagged her danish off the counter, trying to keep herself from choking on her laughter.
“I’m trying, Ms. Peggy.” With that, she turned and walked toward the empty table.
If only Ms. Peggy knew how Alana had been lusting after her sexy neighbor.
Sitting down, she set up her work station and dove into the files, but a certain cocky grin kept coming to mind and breaking her concentration.
Leaning back in her chair, she grabbed her coffee and sipped the delicious java while staring out the window, getting lost in her thoughts of London. As much as she needed to work, she just couldn’t get him out of her head.
His sharp gray eyes. His dark locks, just long enough for a girl to run her fingers through.
Finishing her drink, she glanced at her watch. She’d wasted two hours and had barely touched the mountain of work she had wanted to plow through.
