by Cari Quinn
“Uh huh.”
A horn blared from behind us. “Can we just get moving?”
“Nope. Not moving until you spill it.”
I clicked my seatbelt into place and crossed my arms. “Nothing. To. Tell.”
She simply arched her perfect brow.
“Nothing you would count as anything. How’s that?”
“Now I’m even more intrigued.” She stomped the clutch and released the break as she zipped into traffic.
I grabbed the door. Some days I wondered why I went with Tabs. She was a maniac. Then again, I hated parking and driving in the city, so I guess taking my life in my hands daily was my tradeoff.
Tabs lifted my mug to her mouth.
“Hey.”
“Man, that’s good stuff.”
“I know. I’d like to drink it.”
“Your boyfriend’s penchant for the heavy coffee is rubbing off.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend.”
“A friend that is trying to get to know your tonsils?”
I frowned. “No, actually.”
“No? You have rugburn on your neck and you haven’t Frenched him?”
“We’ve barely kissed. Okay, we have, but let’s just say he hasn’t kissed me first.” And that was a fundamental detail, considering how the kisses I instigated tended to go.
“Oh, Piper. Now you have to tell me everything.”
I scrunched down in my seat, my fingers wrapped around my phone. I wasn’t sure how that had happened, but we hadn’t actually kissed yet. In fact, the only parts of me he’d touched so far were my breasts and, um, my hands.
He really liked to hold my hand.
Or at least he said he did while he was teaching me how to not flinch away from simple handholding. God, I was such a freak. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t held hands with a guy before. I’d done it plenty in high school when everyone else had.
Otherwise, I’d been perfectly fine with maintaining my space. I’d never been a clingy sort. And yet last night had happened. Me falling asleep in Hudson’s lap. Sometime in the night we’d ended up curled on the couch together, but the details were fuzzy.
Exhaustion from a streak of working double shifts, then the mother of all orgasms had been better than any sleeping aid on the market.
“Guess he kissed other places instead. At least according to that smile.”
I pressed my lips together before clearing my throat. “We have a very unorthodox thing going on.”
“You’re telling me. I heard the lessons thing in the conversation. At least snatches of it.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, well, I have non-existent game. Hudson’s sort of teaching me how to have some.”
“You’re very weird.”
“You wouldn’t know what it’s like.”
“Me? I live in the land of the beautiful. I know how to fake it really well.”
“You’re gorgeous.” I smoothed my hand over the bumps of my scraped back hair. “I’m a mess.”
“You’re not a mess. You just don’t make girl things a priority. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Yeah, except that men looked through me as if I was Plexiglas. And about as interesting as it too. “Hudson seems to find me intriguing enough.”
“Yeah, he does.”
I glanced at her. “You really think so?”
Tabs laughed. “Honey, if nothing else, he finds you to be a challenge and that’s the best space to be in right now. Just don’t make everything easy for him. And most of all—” She broke off and revved the engine as she spotted a parking spot on the street. In a flash, she snaked her way into the spot with her little sporty car. She cranked the emergency break and turned to me. “Have fun.”
I got out of the little white car and followed Tabitha up the street to the cafe. “Easy for you to say.”
“Easy for anyone to say. Hey, you have one of the hottest rockstars in the world all up in your business. Enjoy it.”
I unlocked the front gate and lifted it to open the front doors wide. The padding footsteps of a half dozen felines greeted me as I opened the back room and went to the food bins for the cats.
Three of the shop cats leaped up on the feeding station. Rosie sat up on her perch in the highest cubby. Her tail twitched in silent reproach.
“I’m sorry.” I took her favorite treats out of her locker. “I didn’t mean to leave you here last night.” I climbed up on the ramp and perched on another of the cat cubbies to her left. “I thought I’d be back after dinner.” I settled a few treats in front of her. “Forgive me?”
Her tail swished twice before she finally lowered her head to eat, then she bumped her head against my hand.
“There we go.” I jumped down then stroked my hand down Hank’s back. “Hi, buddy.” He wasn’t nearly as particular as his sister. He twined around my ankles with a purr, then both Abyssinians followed me to their food dishes.
Tabitha had already started the various coffees for the carafes we kept on hand. Most drinks were made to order, but we had a few people who liked regular coffee.
By the time we were halfway through prep for the day, Maya decided to come out for her food just as Levi came over with the day’s bakery items.
“Morning, gorgeous ladies.” He held three boxes with a sack on top.
Tabitha leaned on the counter. “Whatcha got there, Levi?”
He set the boxes down with a flourish. “Your usual suspects. Cupcakes in one, fritters in the others.”
I groaned. Seriously, my jeans weren’t going to fit by the end of the day. They were already pinching off circulation.
“And in the bag?”
“Ah, the bag. That’s a special little test. I figured I could try out a new morning treat on my favorite ladies.”
Tabs rolled her eyes. “Laying it on a little thick.”
Levi straightened. “I’ve been fighting with my sous vide all damn morning.”
“Oh?”
He reached into the bag and brought out two wrapped packages. He set one in front of each of us. We both tore it open and found flaky croissants. Except instead of the usual crescent shape, they were square and the buttery scent fairly knocked me over.
“Oh, no.” Inside the sandwich was a finely cooked egg with thick cut bacon wrapped around it and a crust of sharp cheese.
Tabitha had no such problem with the masterpiece. She instantly picked it up and bit into it. The egg was just slightly soft and her eyes rolled back into her head. “Yeah. You can make me one of these every day.” She took another bite and spoke around the food. “Every hour.”
Levi was practically preening.
My stomach roared at the scent and I lifted it for a bite. I could feel my ass expanding with each blissful bite. “Can I make an order for these?”
He nodded. “We’ll write up a menu?”
“Definitely. You are evil incarnate.”
He grinned and tucked a golden curl over his ear. “Some asshole opened up a cupcake shop across the street and now I have to bring my A-game.”
I popped the last bit of the pastry in my mouth and held up my hand to finish chewing. “Rainbow Sprinkles?”
“Yes, I thought it was just going to be a fluff outfit with overly sweet cupcakes, but it’s run by these two guys. They’re partners in every sense of the word and have cornered the market on the cute guy and Instagram love fest. It’s disgusting.”
I laughed. “Everyone tries to find a gimmick. Yourself included, Jewish-Mexican boy.”
He waved it off. “I had to find something to get people in the doors. I can’t compete with romance and sugar, for fuck’s sake.”
“Well, you did it.”
He gave me a smug smile. “I sure did.” He stood up straight. “Thanks for being my guinea pig. And if that rockstar of yours comes in, make sure you get a picture of him eating one.”
“I’m not giving you shameless promotion via Hudson’s social media.”
“Come on. If yo
u’re hooking up with the dude, at least get something out of it.”
“Who's says I’m hooking up with him?”
“The beard burn on your neck and your relaxed shoulders.” He snatched the empty bag and his thermos of coffee Tabs had brewed. “I can always tell when a woman has had a good night. Too bad I wasn’t the one giving it to you.” He winked and headed to his side of the building. “I’ll be back with the afternoon order.”
I gaped after him. What the hell had that meant? Too bad…him? Levi and me?
“You’re smoking over there, Piper.”
If my eyes got any wider, they’d probably pop out of my head. “Did you hear him?”
“Of course, I did. Levi has been looking for an angle to get into your pants for six months.”
My mouth dropped open. “How did I not know this?” I swore under my breath as the first of our customers came through the door. “We will discuss this later,” I said out of the side of my mouth as I smiled and took an order from the trio of women.
I didn’t have time to look up again until it was almost eleven o’clock. I may have told Levi I wouldn’t use my…whatever it was with Hudson to my financial gain, but all it had taken was a bit of talk and a mention of my shop and we’d doubled our foot traffic after Callie’s baby shower.
The good thing was I had half a dozen people interested in adopting a litter of kittens I’d been watching for Love and Paws. They were out and about and being all sorts of cute in the cat room today.
Hank and Rosie were being their usual acrobatic selves and my phone was lighting up from tags of the shop on social media.
What it wasn’t doing? Showing a text from Hudson.
I knew he was working and I couldn’t expect him to actually text me like he said he would. Maybe later tonight when his and my day were over.
Didn’t stop me from checking my damn phone fourteen times.
Luckily, most of them were because of a notification from Instagram so I didn’t look like a demented, lovesick idiot.
Maybe I should have set his phone to a ringtone. My phone buzzed again and Tabitha just smirked.
No. Definitely not on the ringtone. Then she’d know if it was him texting me for sure. Or not.
Oh God, I was being ridiculous. I needed a cat infusion. “I’m heading in back to collect dishes.”
“Sure. Don’t forget your phone.”
And because she said that, I left it on the counter and stalked into the cat room. Rosie and Hank were mid battle as I walked in. That wasn’t unusual. The fact that Maya was in on the fray, however, was.
“Hey!”
My voice was enough to distract Hank. Which gave Maya the in she needed. She rolled into him and took him out flat. Rosie arched away in one of her crazy acrobatics and landed on one of the protruding cubby stations along the wall.
I swore she was a reincarnated ninja.
Hank raced for me and climbed my jeans until I snuggled him up against my chest. “Hey, buddy. What’s going on in here?” Hank only purred and tried to climb onto my shoulder.
Maya turned away and started cleaning her paw.
I glanced up at Hank. “I know there’s trickery afoot here, but I don’t know why. Please don’t kill Maya.” Hank’s reply was an even louder purr. “Mmm-hmm. Charmer.” I scratched the top of his head and dumped him into the cubby next to his sister.
The back wasn’t quite as trashed as I thought. Our second string of help had come in around nine and they were very good at keeping the place picked up, even with a line out to the street and the cat enclosure packed.
I stacked cups and plates and put them on the table by the door. I needed a second to just breathe. I collapsed onto one of the couches and tipped my head back. A furry butt landed on my lap. I opened my eyes to find Maya calmly washing herself as she perched on me. Since that never happened, I sat very still.
“Hi.”
She turned baleful blue eyes on me as she licked her paw and coasted it over her ear. And she definitely didn’t have an inkling to move faster. I lifted my hand to the side of her neck, but her tail twitched and her eyes narrowed.
Nope.
Evidently, I was good for furniture and that was about it. By the time she got to washing her back, I was done. She dug her nails in, but I picked up her squirming little body and narrowly missed losing a finger.
Tabitha came in with wide eyes. “Maya let you pick her up?”
“No. Definitely not.” I didn’t have it in me to explain. “What’s up?”
“I’m heading out for lunch. Want anything?”
“What are you getting?”
“Tacos.”
“Oh, bless you. Yes, I’ll have my usual. Take money out of the tip jar.”
“Perfect. Be back in a few.” She paused at the door. “Your phone buzzed by the way.”
My heart rate skittered. “It’s been buzzing all day. Instagram is crazy.”
“Yes, but there may have been little green text bubbles.” She held up her hands. “I didn’t look. Much.”
I rolled my eyes. “Go.”
“He has perfect punctuation in his texts. That’s unreasonably hot.”
“Go!”
“Going!” She closed the door just before Maya slipped around her feet.
I pointed at the cat. “No, ma’am.”
She leaped onto the overstuffed chair and sat up straight, then curled her tail around her feet, the tip twitching.
“Don’t even think about attacking, you little heathen. Or pulling a Houdini.” I collected the dishes and sneaked out before she could make a move to escape.
I told myself I wasn’t rushing to my phone, but that was a lie.
Because I’m a masochist, I forced myself to load the dishwasher before I checked my cell. And a basketball team’s worth of people came in for orders just as I was picking it up.
I huffed out a breath and tucked my phone into my hip pocket. Little pulses came from it as I was grinding beans and building espresso shots and lattes. Another three pulses came through as I was trying to make one of my designs on a flat white.
It had to be Instagram.
Not him.
Nope.
Couldn’t be.
As I was waiting for the credit card machine to go through, I sneaked a glance at the cell screen and sweet mercy. They were all from him.
I quickly flicked through the dozen texts. The last one made me blush enough that I had to put it away.
The girl in front of me flashed a smile. “Must have been some text.”
I cleared my throat. “He thinks he’s funny. I’ll reply to him in a few minutes to disabuse him of that fact.”
The customer let out a delighted laugh. “That’s right, girl. You make him work for it.”
My lips twitched, but I didn’t answer her. “Thanks for coming in.”
She dropped a five in the tip jar. “I’ve been coming in for months and have never seen a smile like that on your face. Make sure you text him back.”
I frowned, but the customer was already heading out the door.
What did that mean? And how did she remember me when I didn’t remember her at all? I was usually good at knowing my regulars.
Ten minutes later, Tabs sailed behind the counter with a white bag. “Go eat.”
“I’ll just…” I glanced at the line that never seemed to end.
“Me and Jen have it covered. Go eat before they’re stone cold.”
“Are you sure?”
“I ate mine in the car. I’ve got this.”
I huffed out a breath, but I was starving enough to take her up on her offer. And dammit, I wanted to read the texts. I headed to the small break area in the back and collapsed on one of the plastic chairs.
I unwrapped one of the soft tacos and took a bite as I unlocked my phone.
Sorry I had to run out this morning. Totally forgot about the flight I had. I much prefer your coffee. I don’t make it right. Tasted only half as good.
Zach snores. I’ve never really contemplated murder when it comes to my bandmates before. Okay, that’s a lie. I almost drowned Reed last month.
I just realized that I spent the entire night with you and I know the taste of your pussy, but not your mouth when I’m in charge of the kiss and it’s a little less…toothy. That will need to be rectified. Lesson three?
I nearly choked on the last bite of my taco. Lord. And what about lesson two? Or had my orgasm been the second lesson? Touch then orgasm? I thumbed to the next text.
Lesson two has not been forgotten.
I snorted and continued reading.
In fact, I’m going to start it right now. I’ll need your cooperation or this is going to be a long day of boredom for me.
Since you’re not answering, I’m going to take that as a yes. Either that or you’ll have to block my number. Are you making my delicious coffee? I’ve been dreaming about it. Oh, and your legs wrapped around my head. Was a good daydream. Much more interesting than the radio interview I’m sitting through.
Lesson two is starting now. Do you need to hide your phone? Have you already hidden it? Is it in your bra? I think I like the idea that my pervy texts will be nestled there.
Oh, did I not mention what lesson two was? Sexting.
I choked on the next taco as that text came in while I was reading. I didn’t know how to sext. I didn’t even know what went into it. And evidently, I shouldn’t be eating tacos as I was reading his texts.
I nibbled on my lip as I formulated an answer in my head, then tapped back a response.
Sorry. I was working and just now picked up my phone. You might want to see someone about your murderous intent. I don’t think Reed deserves your ire.
I hit enter and started the next text but he was already replying. I tried racing the little bubbles at the bottom of my screen, but he’d already gotten one through.
Reed deserves everyone’s ire. Are you twisting your hair as you try to figure out how to reply about sexting? Or are you nibbling on that delectable mouth of yours?
I pressed my lips together. What? Did he have FaceTime on? I didn’t bite on my lips that much. Did I? And did I read that right? I read the text again. Yeah, he said delectable. I’m pretty sure no one ever said delectable about any part of me before. I moved my cursor up to the top of my text and added an extra line to my reply.