His eyebrows snapped down. “No it wasn’t. It was the best thing that has happened to me in a damn long time.”
“Then you need some new hobbies.”
“I have plenty of hobbies, thanks. More than I can keep up with. What I don’t have is your name.”
I took another step back and slammed into the handle of the door to Brewed Awakening. Flustered, I dropped my notebook, and he swooped down to pick it up before the snow soaked into the pages.
“Hey. Give that back.”
He took my arm and gently moved me aside as a trio of girls came out with their coffees cupped in their hands as they talked animatedly about some guy from a TV show. I smiled at them awkwardly. They were regulars in the café.
The shorter one of the three glanced at me and then at my hot mistake, tilting her head with interest. “Who’s your friend, Ellie?”
I resisted the urge to growl at Katie. Now he knew my name.
“Ellie, is it? It suits you.” His long, dusty fingers clutched my idea book easily. As if they were born for such things. Long fingers that had cupped my face so tenderly, though they’d been much cleaner then. Hygiene was important, dammit.
I reached for my notebook again, and he held it just out of reach. “He’s no one. Stranger danger.”
Katie’s demeanor changed in a second. All three girls advanced on him. “Is he bothering you?”
Callum held up his other hand. “No trouble. Just trying to get to know the woman I’m going marry.”
Katie’s sky blue eyes went shiny. “Marry?” She curled her fingers around her to-go cup and brought it up for a quick sip, foam teasing her top lip. “Like love at first sight?”
“Oh, for God’s sake. Keep the book and my favorite freaking scarf for all I care.” I rushed around the girls and grabbed the door handle. “I’m going to be late, and Macy will kill me.”
“Excuse me, ladies,” Callum said with that charming drip of honey voice before he followed me inside. “C’mon, I’m harmless. There was an instant connection between us. You felt it too, or you wouldn’t be so pissed at me.”
I shrugged out of my coat. Before I could get it all the way down my long-sleeved uniform shirt, he was there to help. I huffed out an annoyed breath even as his snow-tinged cedar scent slid around me. The same scent that had chased me into dreams last night. My skin prickled where his calloused fingers grazed my wrist.
He draped my coat over his arm, and I did growl this time. “I don’t have time for this.”
“I’ll hold onto it until your shift is over.” He tucked my look book into the messenger bag over his shoulder. “It’ll be safe with me. Same as you, Ellie. I promise.”
“That’s what murderers say.”
His eyebrow spiked. “You know a few murderers?”
“No, but I watch plenty of true crime shows. Ted Bundy was super charming, wasn’t he?”
“Not really. If you looked closer, his eyes were dead. Any woman with half a bit of awareness would see the same. You are far too wary to get tricked like that.”
Tell that to my last boyfriend who got me to pay for half of the things he called essentials that he was short on cash for. Like his cell phone service and that nifty iPad I got him for Christmas last year.
I narrowed my eyes. “Or you’re charming enough to tell stories like that to make a woman feel safe.”
His hand darted out to circle my wrist. His gray eyes went dark in reaction. “I feel your pulse skittering. You feel this thing between us too.”
“Could just be fear.”
“Not of me. I’m harmless, unlike my triplet brothers. They’re hell on earth.” He pulled on the lapel of his sweater. “Would a serial killer wear a cardigan?”
Probably not and no one should look so good in that stupid brown sweater, but he did. “Maybe a smart one would. You seem like a smart guy. Maybe too smart for your own good.”
“That’s what my mom tells me.” His long lashes swept down as he focused on my mouth again. “And I will say I’m smart enough not to let you get away again.” Then his gaze crashed into mine once more. “Not without examining just what’s between us.”
“You’re not from Crescent Cove or you’d be running for the hills, buddy. There’s no dating in the Cove. There’s only forever and so many babies you could rename us Bunny Cove.”
There. That should send him running. Most men who were smart and under thirty-ish escaped while they still could.
I couldn’t quite tell his age. There were lovely crinkles at the corners of his eyes, but that could just mean he liked to be outside.
Dammit, I needed to stop staring at him.
He swallowed tightly, and the flare of fear that he’d vanish just like I thought was quickly banked.
Or maybe I was afraid he’d stay. I couldn’t decide which one was scarier.
He slid his fingers down my hand to tangle with my fingers. “That just makes me want to hear more.”
“No, you don’t. You want to turn right around and head back to wherever you come from.”
“Wrong.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m actually trapped here until my car is done.”
“I—”
“Yo, Vanilla, I’m pretty sure my schedule still has your name on it.”
My shoulders rose to my ears at Macy Gideon’s shout. She was my boss for a little while longer. However, she’d used my order nickname so I wasn’t in real trouble.
I shook him free and pointed at him. “If you leave with my notebook, I’ll find you and chop off those dirty fingers.”
He laughed and looked down at his hand. “Sorry, I was sketching in the park.”
Of course he was an artist. If there was a guy who was ill-equipped to be an adult, I was going to be attracted to him. Not this time. I was going to be strong and not fall for someone who had no future stamped on his forehead.
I turned to head into the back of the café where a line of people were waiting to be served. I hurried to the cash register and quickly tapped in my login, and then grabbed an apron from the drawer and tugged it over my head.
“Where do you need me?”
Macy’s short hair was in frazzled spikes, telling me it had been a day already. She had three espresso pods brewing in the big purple beast that dominated the side counter. “Need a new batch of coffee in the carafes.”
“Got it.” I turned to the long counter and pulled off the magnetic timers and reset them for another three hours. Habit and auto pilot took over, even while Callum’s intrusive personality vied for space in my too busy brain. I hooked the long handles over my arm and gathered all four thermoses up and then headed to the kitchen to use the industrial-sized brewer.
I’d been working at the café since Macy opened it a few years ago. She paid well, and I could always pick up a shift when I wanted extra cash. Now she had a much larger staff, but I was one of the originals, so I always got first pick of the bonus shifts. I was also the one everyone called because I could never say no to adding more money to my savings account.
But all that was going to change.
My cosmetology certificate was finally going to let me move on the plans I’d been making for the last four years. My bulging notebook and Pinterest board would finally have an outlet. I didn’t have to only be the girl who washed hair and swept up clippings just to soak up real life experience at To Dye For, the new salon that had opened this year. I officially had my own booth rental as of Monday.