I couldn’t believe I was about to lose it all.
At the thought, I broke down again. “I’m going to lose everything, Stella! Oh, God!” I covered my mouth to keep from crying out.
“Oh no, sweetie. Don’t say that.”
My shoulders wracked and shuddered as the tears came in full force.
I was about to say something when I saw him looking at me.
Shit.
Oh no.
Of all the people I didn’t want to see me this way, he would have been at the top of that list.
But how in the hell had I missed him? As if he was hard to miss, even when he wasn’t sitting at his usual spot.
Mr. Delicious.
Yes, it was stupid and silly to think of the name Stella and I had given him now, but the truth was the man was all kinds of gorgeous.
The GQ type I’d decided to avoid. Not that any of my exes looked like this guy.
Sitting three rows ahead of us, he stared right back at me, his light gray eyes seeming like liquid silver today with an irresistible magnetism. His shiny black hair had that ruffled, but well and truly sexy, just-got-out-of-bed look. It made him look more rugged and emphasized the perfect angles of his face.
Until today, I’d looked on from afar, admiring, but never making eye contact. Even when I’d served him, he never spoke much more than to say ‘thanks,’ and he’d been coming here long enough for us to know his usual.
Always a lightly toasted cinnamon bagel with a cup of rich, black, Columbian coffee. No sugar.
Always, he’d be here at this time, in the same seat, suited and booted with his laptop and briefcase. We thought he had to be some CEO of a company, or he had some kind of financial profession because he looked and dressed the part.
I couldn’t believe I didn’t see him and had been more of an idiot to place myself in his view so he could see the mess I was with dark circles under my eyes, blotchy skin, terrible hair, and an all-around unkempt appearance.
“Things will work out,” Stella was saying, but, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to look away from the gorgeous man who stared back at me.
The way he looked at me was… well, it was as if he could see inside my soul, and how much pain I was in.
It felt like he could see the fear that gripped me as I worried about losing everything. Stella pulled me in for a hug, breaking our eye contact, but, I could still feel his eyes on me.
Chapter 4
Adam
* * *
What an asshole indeed.
It had been awhile since I got worked up enough to hit someone but here I was clutching the table, fists turning white.
Selene was called away so she didn’t get to hear anything. I was happy about that because she didn’t seem like the type who would be tactful in hearing such scandalous information.
I heard some of what happened to Wren. Not all, but enough.
The words that kept popping up were cheating, scam and Billy. He was the boyfriend—ex- boyfriend.
Then there was the debt.
That was the part I heard most, and what crushed her. By then she saw me and turned her voice down to whispers so I could no longer hear what she was saying.
Five minutes later she went out back to the break room and Stella left.
I sat for a long time after, watching the place fill up. Couldn’t finish my bagel or the coffee.
Unknown to her I was part of the problem.
That business loan was…
Well it wasn’t exactly a loan of the usual kind. It was more the sort where your friend lent you money and never expected interest. An interest free loan from me, who at the time knew nothing of this woman.
Unknown to her all this time, I was the one who’d sort of invested in her coffeehouse.
I owned the place much like everything around here when she got it. The bank manager, who also happened to be a very good friend of my father, contacted me about it when she’d first applied for the loan. The property was one I had wanted to make good use of myself, but I’d never been quite sure what to do with it.
The coffeehouse stumped me until I saw the letter Wren wrote to support her loan application. It moved me, and I couldn’t have thought of a better idea than a coffeehouse. I’d also thought the name she chose was fantastic: The Spot. It was perfect.
Unknown to her, the bank had wanted to deny Wren’s loan application because they felt she wouldn’t be able to make the substantial repayments which included a high interest rate and other charges for the location. It was almost double what she was asking to borrow. However, as I looked over the application, her financial situation, and everything else, I decided to lend her the money myself.
So, when the bank contacted her and made her aware she had a good offer for a no-interest business loan, she well and truly had a good offer.
At that point, I hadn’t met her yet. What drove me to meet her was that letter. She spoke of her love for baking and for her aunt. She spoke of wanting to bring something new to the community that would bring people together but would also be a refuge from the stresses of daily life. There was a certain warmth that came from it that got to me, so I decided to attend her opening party. I didn’t know what to expect, but I totally hadn’t expected her. The women I was normally attracted to were all the same—super model types with a “don’t care” attitude. They were the ones who could match the wildness I had; they were always good in bed, headstrong, and best of all had no expectations from me.
The minute I looked at Wren that night so long ago, I knew she was different.
People say not to judge a book by its cover, but I did it all the time. Wren was of the delicate variety. She was warm, just like the letter, and had a sort of ethereal beauty that made her seem almost angelic in appearance and personality.
I thought she had the body of a goddess with her slim figure, large breasts, long golden hair, and those coffee-colored eyes I’d seen light up when she was happy. She was the kind of woman to kill you with kindness; she was the homely kind I figured had always been faithful and loyal.
It wasn’t my style to watch any woman, and for so long, without making any sort of move. And, I didn’t take too kindly to wanting things I couldn’t have, like her.
Until now…
She was single, free of that asshole, and there was nothing holding me back now.
Was it wrong of me to see this as a foot in?
Somehow, I didn’t care about how it seemed. My interest had peaked all the more and I was going to seize the chance.
She also wouldn’t have to worry about the loan on this place. I’d sort that out.
Right now, I was more concerned with the chance to talk to her properly.
I stayed well past my usual time waiting for her to come back out. When she did she looked a little more put together in her appearance.
Being short of a waitress she grabbed an apron and put it around her tiny waist.
I watched her like a predator watched its prey as she made her way up the row across from me to take the orders from the people who’d just come in.
The place was too busy. I didn’t know how in the hell she was going to manage.
She frowned when she got back around the counter.
“Where’s Priscilla?” she asked Selene,
“I have no idea. I hope she’ll be in later,” Selene replied. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t mind me,” Wren answered. Selene left her and went out back to the break room.
I got up and walked over to the counter. I always left a tip. Usually, I’d just drop the money in the tip jar and go, but I had other ideas today.
Wren’s hair was pulled up in one of those loose high buns, and she wore a simple white blouse and a skirt, just casual enough to be comfortable. While I knew she wasn’t trying, I thought the outfit looked sexy as hell. I liked what the skirt did to her legs, and the way it clung to her ass, caressing it the way I would if I could touch her.
She didn’t see me come up and was so consumed with cleaning the coffee machine she didn’t notice the opened bottle of milk that was practically falling off the counter. It didn’t take much. Her elbow just brushed against it, but it was enough to send it to the ground, splashing milk everywhere.
“Dammit!” she cursed.
I dropped a twenty in the tip jar. Usually, it was five, but I felt it would help to some extent today. This was the part where I would go on my way, and I still could. Maybe this sweet woman didn’t need to know more about me than she already did, which was nothing. I wondered how she would react if she knew I was the person she paid her loan to.
Her Mr. Delicious. Yes, I’d heard them call me that several times.
Never being the one to pass up a chance, especially when it threw itself at me, I walked around the counter, grabbed a roll of kitchen towels, ready to help, but froze when I saw her on her knees before me trying to clean up the milk with her paper towel .
My eyes glued to her shapely behind, and I smiled. There was nothing better than looking at a gorgeous woman on her knees, and I wished this was a different setting that involved me and her naked somewhere private where I could indulge on her fine body.
When she turned around and saw me, the color drained from her face. I held up the paper towels and tore off a few sheets and lowered to the ground to join her.
“Hi,” I said with my trademark smile.
“Hi.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she brought her hand to her chest.
“I’ll get this.” I smiled wider.
“Oh no, no. I’m fine.” She looked at me as if she was trying to figure me out. It was understandable since this was the most we’d actually spoken in all the time I’d known her, or rather, all the time that I’d been coming here.
“Let me help clean up,” I repeated.
“I couldn’t possibly. You’re my customer and…” her voice trailed off when I placed the paper towels down on the milk and started soaking it up. “Thank you. I’m a little short staffed today.”
I didn’t bother to tell her she was most days. If any of my staff took the liberties hers did, they’d be fired. But then it was her nature to be sweet. People took advantage of sweet, kind people. They saw their positive traits as weaknesses.
“It’s cool.” I tore off some more and cleaned up the rest quickly so she wouldn’t have to. I placed the soaked paper towels in the bin when I was done and looked back up at her to find she was watching me.
Even with those puffy eyes and her blotchy skin, she was beautiful, and up this close, I could see the perfection to her face. I could also tell that she’d been through a lot.
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.” She stood up, and I followed. Nervously, she brushed away a lock of hair from her face but didn’t realize she’d left some milk on it from her fingers.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, and could tell from the look on her face I surprised her when I reached forward and lightly brushed the slight hint of milk away from her hair. Her face reddened. “Milk in your hair.”
I loved when women were nervous around me. It gave me the upper hand and placed me in the driving seat.
“Oh, um, thanks. I’m a mess today.” She looked like she was trying to keep her composure, but her eyes gave her away. I gazed into them, deeply, trying to read what I saw there, but it made her more nervous.
“Some days are like that for everyone,” I offered.
“Yeah, sure.”
It was the strangest thing. As I looked at her, a strange magnetic force drew me in, making me want to stay in her presence.
Something… sparked between us. I could feel it, and I knew she could, too. I would have prolonged this meeting but felt it was appropriate to leave given the freshness of her situation and circumstances.
“Things have a way of sorting themselves out, so I’m sure the same will happen for you.”
“I’m sorry I… don’t usually come to work crying and talking about my personal life.” She looked even more embarrassed now because she knew I must have heard all she told Stella about her vile, cheating, son of a bitch boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend.
I smiled, knowing exactly what to say. “It’s fine. The explanation is simple. He didn’t deserve you.” I spoke slowly and purposefully for more effect.
It worked, and the wink I gave her before I left just added to it. I smiled to myself as I stepped outside and glanced back through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the coffeehouse and saw she was still watching me, watching in wonder and awe.
I looked away and continued walking, a plan already brewing in my mind for her.
Chapter 5
Wren
* * *
What was wrong with me?
I just put the plates in the refrigerator instead of in the sink. All day, I’d been doing crazy things like that. I would have loved to say it was down to exhaustion and my dire situation, but I knew it had everything to do with a certain man who’d been like a fantasy to me for well over two years.
Mr. Delicious.
With all that was going on, I was appalled at myself.
He had definitely provided a much-needed distraction though. I imagined him to be the kind of man to be able to sweep a girl off her feet with just one look, which was pretty much what he did to me. I still couldn’t get over our encounter.
Although nothing much was said, I couldn’t deny the unmistakable spark I felt when I spoke to him and how I’d acted like the shy schoolgirl I used to be back in high school.
I hadn’t been that nervous around anyone since then, but I had to admit it was perhaps called for. The man was just Hollywood gorgeous with the whole brooding and mysterious personality to go with it. He was exactly as I imagined him to be and I was totally stuck on the fact that we’d spoken after years of not speaking.
What he said about Billy burned vividly into my memory:
He didn’t deserve you.
Would it be weird to say I actually felt a hundred times better? The words had created a buzz of bliss around me that made me feel better than I had in years. And then there was the way he looked at me. He looked at me as if I hadn’t had dark circles under my eyes and as if my hair and I weren’t a mess.
He looked at me as if he found me attractive, and he made me feel exactly that.
I didn’t think I was a beast. Far from it. I knew I could carry my own in a room full of gorgeous women and be just as elegant as one of these high-class, well-taken-care-of women who passed through the coffeehouse.
But I was tired, exhausted more like. Drained out from all my problems, bills, and stress. Those things took their toll on a person and made one pay a little less attention to themselves. Things like deep conditioning and hair treatments were not on the list of priorities when you had to get from one month to the next on nothing.
Same with makeup, clothes, and shoes. All things I used to spend a ton of money on before I took out the loans for Billy. Nowadays it was bare minimum for me, as in literally bare minimum.
However, Mr. Delicious looked at me as if I’d just stepped out of a dream myself. The strength that fueled me from his look was just what I needed to get through the day. I didn’t even get upset when neither Jami nor Pricilla turned up for work, leaving me and Selene to run the place by ourselves.
His attention gave me a buzz.
That buzz continued for the next few days and was rekindled each day I saw him. The silly girly fantasy burned out by Thursday however, when I was so exhausted I slept in late again and missed the calls from Selene letting me know she had to go back to the clinic because her bra was too tight around her newly done boobs and one of her stitches had opened up. She left a voice message in the early hours of the morning.
Stella called me too and left a text. She said she was taking care of the place, but it was just her and Louis my chef.
It was twelve when I eventually dashed inside The Spot, but what I saw made my mouth drop and I stopped in m
y tracks.
The place was busy as per usual but there were two waitresses I’d never seen before serving the customers.
But, that wasn’t what made me stop in my tracks.
What made me stop was looking at Mr Delicious behind the counter serving customers their coffee while Stella took payments.
I must have died right?
Because this couldn’t have been real.
My heaven must be this, where I got to keep my place going, and he was here working for me… or something.
When he lifted his head and saw me he smiled. It was a smile I wasn’t used to because I hadn’t dared look at him long enough to elicit such a smile.
I blinked several times, still in disbelief, but at least my brain was still functional.
I continued to the counter where he greeted me.
Stella flashed me a dazzling, knowing smile, and cocked her head toward our Mr. Delicious.
“Hi,” I said to him, trying to steady my poor heart before it beat right out of my chest.
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty of calling in some friends who were looking for work experience.” He motioned to the two waitresses.
I looked and saw they were doing an excellent job with my customers. Didn’t seem like they needed work experience at all.
“Work experience?” I knew I should have said thanks but all I could do was look back to him and stare.
“Yeah, they wanted a taste of working in a busy environment. And best of all? They’ll work for free.” The smile widened.
I couldn’t believe it. “Really, you did this? And you’re helping.”
“I hope I don’t poison anyone. I got stuck on some of the drinks but hey, no one’s complained yet.”
Probably because they would have taken whatever he gave them and still been satisfied. It didn’t escape me that there were more women than usual in here today and the line took up the runner to the door. All women.
Mr. Delicious Page 3
