Hardware

by Sara Brookes

  Now Friday, news of good coffee and decadent pastries had spread around the small town very quickly. If nothing else, people came by to see what sort of fuss the Conners brothers had made. While he wanted to talk to Allison, he also knew there were customers that needed to be attended to first because they were the priority.

  Damn responsibility.

  “Can you give me an hour?”

  Allison swung a bag over her shoulder and nodded as the completed work order was tucked into her back pocket. “That would be great. Is it all right if I grab a cup of coffee and eat up some of your Wi-Fi while I wait?”

  “We have Wi-Fi?” he questioned as he nearly burned his hand on the steam coming from the nozzle.

  She stirred a packet of sweetener into her mug of fresh coffee and pointed to the router she'd had Wil mount on the ceiling in the center of the seating area. It was tucked next to an elegantly fluted light fixture and nearly invisible to the untrained eye. “You do now.”

  As he watched her make her way to the far corner of the seating area and he continued to make orders for customers, the past few days came to mind. As hard as it had been, he'd let the three person tech team from Bullseye work without interruption. Since Allison was a part of that team, he'd gotten to watch her work in her element.

  There had been no mistake, she took pride in everything and it was evident she knew how to do her job. It had been a brilliant decision to hire the company to install the computer system at the store. However, at the same time, it had also been the worst decision of his life.

  It had been sheer torture to be in her presence and not learn more about her. He wanted to find out what she did in her free time, what sort of movies she liked, what books she read and even wanted to know how she kissed. More than anything, he wanted to tell her how he wanted to spend an entire day slowly fucking her.

  The thought reminded him of the purchase that had been made yesterday. Since he was someone who followed through with plans once implemented, he intended to make use of the items in the slim black box. But that wasn't going to happen until this rush was taken care of.

  The line of customers seemed to never end but he was finally able to join her two hours later than intended. However, it didn't look as if she minded because her focus was on the small laptop on the table. He wasn't even sure she noticed he'd finished in the first place.

  She bobbed her head a little and that was when he noticed the tiny earbuds in her ears. Though he couldn't hear the song, he guessed it was something with an upbeat tempo given her head-bobbing movements.

  Now that was charming.

  Taking a moment to play voyeur, he examined her features up close. It gave him a chance to add details to the picture he held in his mind. There was a small scar over her left eyebrow and wondered what she'd done to earn that particular badge. He also noticed she chewed on her lip when she was deep in thought as well as play with a few strands of hair that had fallen over her shoulder.

  For the three days she'd been there, she'd worn polo shirts embroidered with the company logo over the left pocket and khaki cargo pants. He couldn't help the thought that ran through his head about how she would look out of them.

  His brain certainly didn't need any more stimulation in that particular area.

  Given his reaction to her, he wondered about his sanity. His libido had kicked into overdrive to act as if he'd never had sex before. Then, of course, was the reminder that yes he'd had sex, but he'd never had sex with her.

  He tapped lightly on the table behind her laptop, but her concentration was focused entirely on whatever captured her attention on the screen. He leaned forward to prop his elbows on the small cafe table and tapped a finger against the back of her hand. “Something certainly has your interest.”

  The table between them jerked beneath his arms as her knee hit the underside in surprise. She winced in pain and slid the small buds from her ears as she blushed.

  His mouth went dry at the way she looked. Oh God, I'm so fucked.

  After he'd cleared his throat in order to push back the sudden stab of arousal, he repeated his statement. A shy grin appeared on her face. “Sorry, I didn't see you sitting there.”

  Her skin was as soft and silky as he remembered. The move had been to satisfy his curiosity to see if he'd only imagined it, but it had the added effect to gain her attention because he was certain she would have stayed in her own little world. He certainly wouldn't have minded, but he wanted to apologize for making her wait.

  “We were busier than I thought. Friday afternoon rush wasn't what I expected it was going to be.”

  She grinned and something inside him clutched tightly in reaction. “No problem, I was catching up on my emails. How's business been going?”

  “Steady since we opened Monday. I'm hoping the trend continues and isn't just because it's opening week.”

  He scanned the store to see customers hovering over their coffee. The atmosphere was one he and Nick worked toward even though a lot of it was left up to chance. All they could do was serve good coffee and hope the customers would continue to return. So far, they'd been successful and it certainly lightened the stress load that came along with opening a business.

  “I've noticed a lot of the same regulars in this week while I've been around. New people, too.”

  “It's those new people I'd love to make regulars.” Regulars were the backbone of any small business and the more of them you had—and could keep happy—the better off it would be in the long run.

  The coffeehouse already came with a group of regulars who didn't care who owned the store as long as it was open and served good products. However, he also understood those very same customers would tell their friends and those friends and so on and so forth. Word of mouth was golden and not just because it was free. The trick was to keep up the momentum once the season changed.

  “Most of them will be back.” She shrugged as she leaned back against the chair. “You've got a good product and your prices are just slightly less than the other place down the street. Customer service goes a long way and watching how you work, I think you've got that in spades.”

  “Watching how I work, huh?” His stomach twisted at the thought, even as the idea thrilled him.

  Suddenly, she seemed desperate to find somewhere else to look other than him and as far as he could tell, she was embarrassed at her admission. “I just meant how you interact with the customers. You make each one feel special and your entire focus was on them for those few minutes you're making their coffee. If I lived further away and came here for a cup, I'd be more likely to return again based on that treatment alone.”

  The opportunity to tease her was too tempting to resist. “Well damn. Here I thought it was my good looks and come to find out it's merely my charming personality.”

  One of her eyebrows winged up in surprise and a wry smile twisted her mouth as her fingers tapped over the keys of her laptop. She closed it and returned it to the messenger bag at her feet. “Ready to find out what you're in store for?”

  His mouth went as dry as the Sahara Desert—again. He knew she meant the computer system her team just installed, but his mind thought of all the other things that question could mean. He scolded himself to slow down in order not to scare her off and nodded. It was clear she was oblivious to the double entendre. As he watched her pack the rest of her equipment, he decided the process of explaining it in detail to her would be exciting. Tortuously slow and very explicit details.

  “Sure.”

  Two hours later, he was certain his head would explode.

  It was impossible for anyone to keep all of the information straight that Allison dumped on him in such a short period. He'd always considered himself a smart guy, but this experience put a big, ugly dent in that logic. “Wow, I never realized how much went into all of this. It certainly gives me a new appreciation for the desktop computer sitting at home.”

  “You'll get the hang of all this and in no time you'll be a pro.”
She handed him the work order, which he signed with the pen provided and returned both to her.

  “Only because I suspect you'll beat it into me when I keep calling and bugging you for information on how to do something.” He scratched the back of his head and tried not to think about how delightful the idea of calling her sounded. In fact, a simple thank you just wasn't going to cut it. It didn't seem like enough for the favor she'd done for him and his brother. Struck by sudden inspiration, he barreled headlong with the decision. “Can I take you to dinner as a thank you?”

  There was a lip chew again. Obviously the habit occurred more than just when she was deep in thought. Nervousness perhaps?

  “I actually have plans tonight.”

  As luck would have it, he didn't give up easily. “Well, see that's the odd thing about dinner. I have to eat it again tomorrow night. What about then?”

  She hesitated again and Patrick scolded himself for the leap forward when he should have backed off. He'd pushed too hard because there was something he wanted to have. Her.

  Just when the apology was about to trip off his tongue and his hand lifted to wave off his invitation, she surprised him. “Listen, do you like movies?”

  Unease crept across her face and intuition told him it wasn't because of the invitation. She seemed to be afraid he wouldn't accept. He had news for her, he would have accepted if she'd asked him to walk across the bottom of the Pacific Ocean without scuba gear. “Sure, who doesn't?”

  Her expression relaxed as she shoved her hands into her back pockets. Another nervous gesture? “I have tickets for a film festival this weekend and since my friend bailed on me, I have an extra ticket. Do you want to come with me instead? It starts tonight at nine.”

  He glanced at his watch and saw it was nearly eight. How the hell had the time gone by so quickly? “That sounds great actually. I can get Mitchie to close the store for me. I'm not going to give up on dinner though, you should know that.”

  “Let's see if you still say that after we sit through a movie marathon together.”

  Allison still asked herself what drove her to invite Patrick to the movie festival as he stepped inside the theater a bit later. It wasn't out of the ordinary for her to go to the movies with a man, but generally he was one of her gaming buddies. Usually, the entire group bought tickets to attend the weekend long festival together. But various work projects kept everyone else tied up this time and she was left to fend for herself.

  The group used Friday nights as the standard gaming night. However, they broke tradition once a month to attend whatever movie marathon session Cooper threw. It was a nice way to show support for his hobby. Tonight would mark the first occasion she would attend with someone she hadn't pulled an all night gaming session with.

  It wasn't as if she objected to the thought of some sort of all-nighter with Patrick—especially one not of the gaming variety. However, it was also the first time in four years she'd been on anything that could be classified as a date. In her mind, to call it a date was a stretch.

  He probably thought he was doing her a favor. To think it was a date was foolish. Still, nothing said a girl couldn't dream. Or continue to dream.

  The past few days of work at Perfect Shot had been stressful, but it wasn't solely because of the installation job. That could be done blindfolded. No, instead she had been afraid she'd do something stupid in front of him. Being a bit of a klutz, to fall flat on her face at any moment, was always a high probability.

  She shook all doubts away because she knew her face would read like an open book and the nervousness would clearly show. It was better to seem completely at ease. Calm, cool and collected—even though she was anything but.

  Patrick, who looked comfortable in jeans and black cotton tee under a loose blue shirt, held the door open for her. It was the main entrance to the floor seats in the theater. She shook her head with a sly grin and pointed to the stairs on the far side of the lobby.

  The balcony was a favorite part of the monthly film festival. Both she and the rest of her friends agreed, it was technically the best place to sit because of the way sound carried and the view. She secretly loved the experience of sitting so high and completely removed from the rest of the audience. It made her feel transported to another world.

  Patrick moved behind her as they carefully made their way up the curve of stairs and she finally acknowledged the fluttering in her stomach. She grabbed on to it and let it spread through her. To dismiss it outright would just make it worse later. The feeling melded with the rush experienced every time she entered the theater. The sensation caused her to close her eyes as her hand wrapped around the cool metal of the oversized handle on the swinging door.

  This theater wasn't about coming to see a movie or a date where you both tried to grab popcorn from the same bucket. It was the experience of a few nights of entertainment in one of the towns’ oldest and grandest movie complexes. Most people preferred to spend the extra cash and drive to Charlottesville for the big, multi-screen house that boasted a clearer picture and state of the art sound. While that was great for some of Hollywood's newest releases, this type of movie festival deserved so much more.

  The theater was smaller, ornate and definitely more intimate.

  Patrick let out a low whistle as he stepped up behind her. “Impressive. Even more knowing we're the only ones up here. Is that normal?”

  She led him to a row of seats closer to the front and sat down in the center seat. “It is if you know the projectionist. Cooper puts on these festivals once a month, a different theme each time. This month is Hitchcock.”

  “An impressive storyteller.” A line formed between his eyebrows as he frowned and looked around. “But I would think your friend would cut you a better deal on tickets. You're so far removed from the crowd.”

  “How do you think we got the entire balcony to ourselves?” Friends in high places—if a projection room in a theater could be considered a high place—was certainly an advantage. She would have to remember to thank Cooper the next time they saw each other even though he wouldn't have a clue what she meant. “Crowds have their place, but not right now. Dilutes the sound quality.”

  Patrick smirked. “Well now, that makes sense. Movie buffs would go for where the sweet spot is in the theater. Place this size, that spot has to be up here in the balcony.”

  “We try to mix it up once and a while. Move around a little but we usually stay right around here.” She shrugged off the light sweater she'd worn to keep away the chilly spring night air and straightened her tank top. Comprehension sunk in and she turned to find him smiling almost expectantly. “Wait a second. You know about the sweet spot?”

  His smile widened and her insides melted a little. Great, as if I wasn't already infatuated enough.

  “My life isn't just about coffee and tea, Allison. I may not be as technologically savvy as you are, but there are a few things I can hold my own with.” His voice dropped a bit as he leaned over the padded armrest to poke her lightly on the shoulder. “And just for clarification purposes, I know about quite a few sweet spots.”

  The theater plunged into darkness as the auditorium lights were cut and the movie began. She was grateful there had been no chance to respond to what he'd just said. There were words to reply even if she'd had the time. Ever since she'd first met him at the coffee house, struggling with the poor equipment, there had been something about him that she found herself drawn to.

  For all outward appearances, he was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything about him, from his brown hair to the deep color of his eyes and even the fabulous build, were all things that would undoubtedly send most women's mouths watering.

  It didn't for her though. While it certainly helped, it was the brief flashes of ink hidden under the hem of his sleeves and the few suggestive comments he'd made that told her there was more than met the eye when it came to Patrick Conners. Those were the things she was attracted to. Never let it be said she was normal when it came to
what she found attractive about people.

  She wanted to get to know him better and learn what it was that made him tick. Maybe learn if there was more to those comments than mere words. It was a normal, healthy reaction for an adult woman, right?

  However, a small voice inside her wouldn't stop nagging. It repeated over and over that his comments were meant to be friendly and were nothing different than the ribbings from her friends. She faced that reality long ago when she realized men would more than likely classify her as a friend than as a companion.

  The house lights blazed to full as the heavy red curtain slid back over the screen. She'd missed the entire movie and scolded herself for getting that caught up in her own head. As she turned to face Patrick, curious if he enjoyed the show, his gaze was already on hers. Suddenly nervous, she took a sip of the soda she'd bought before he arrived.

  The interest in his eyes knocked her for a loop. Men didn't look at her like that—at least sane ones. “They'll have intermission for ten minutes before the next film starts. Gives everyone a chance to stretch and maybe get a refill or two. Empty the bladder, you know.”

  His head tilted in acknowledgement. “And what are we in for next? Action? Suspense? Horror?”

  Hitchcock had produced and directed a number of films, so they could be in for anything. Cooper never played them in the same order twice. Since they'd just finished North by Northwest, which could be classified as an action movie, she suspected they were in store for something a little heavier.

  “Thriller, I think.” She pulled out the slip of paper she'd picked up earlier. “Strangers on a Train. Easily one his best movies, in my opinion. Two men sit within the small, confined space of a train and discuss murder. Movies like that would bore most audiences today. They just don't make movies like that anymore.”

  “May I kiss you?”

  “What?” she stuttered, surprised. It was an effort to cover her astonishment. Here she'd gone on about movie audiences today and he'd just ask to kiss her. Who did that?

  “I asked for permission to kiss you.”