“Do you take cream or sugar in that?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Take cream or sugar in your coffee?”
Thrown by his question, she shifted on her feet. “Why do you want to know?”
Gavin paused for a moment, a grin softening his mouth. “Well, I’m trying to find out as much as I can about you. I figured coffee was an easy enough topic to conquer. I may be wrong though.”
A light laugh escaped Emily’s lips. “Seems a little stalkerish. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Mmm…a stalker. That’s a new one and pretty brutal,” he laughed, amusement lighting up his eyes. “I’d like to call it curiosity.”
She shook her head and smiled. “Okay, so you haven’t answered my question. Would you like cream or sugar?”
“You haven’t answered my question.” He arched one, perfect brow. “Do you take cream or sugar with your coffee?”
Seeing it was a battle she was sure to lose, she gave in. “Yes.”
“Ah, opposites do attract. Perfect.” He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “I’ll take mine black, please.”
Emily blinked once and then twice more, taking in his sensual face for a few more seconds. She turned away, striding back to the party of five; she asked if they needed anything else and dropped off their check. She made her way to the coffee bar, again feeling breathless by this stranger. As Emily prepared his java, Fallon promptly made her way over to her.
With her hair dyed jet black today, her mouth dropped open in Gavin’s direction. “Country, do you know that guy?”
Emily drew in a deep breath and looked to where Gavin was sitting, his attention now on a newspaper in his hand. “No…well…kind of, I guess.” She placed his coffee on a tray.
Fallon yanked Emily’s pad from her apron, scribbled her name and number on it, and handed it back to her. “Puh-lease give this to him. My eyes have never feasted on such extreme fucking hotness in my life.”
“That would be an understatement.” Emily started to walk away and then turned back to Fallon. “Wait, what about your father-aged boyfriend?” she laughed.
Fallon placed her hands on her hips and smirked. “I make myself available to any age, race, or gender if given the right opportunity.”
Shaking her head, Emily laughed and made her way back to the table. Trying to control her pounding heart, she tried to guess his age. She didn’t think he looked a day over twenty-five. With a shaky hand, she set the coffee down in front of Gavin.
He gave her a wide-eyed smile and placed the newspaper beside him.
“Have you decided what you want to eat?” she asked, glancing down to his onyx cufflinks and expensive-looking watch.
“Actually, I haven’t even looked at the menu yet,” he replied, picking it up to scan it over.
“Okay, I’ll be right back then.”
“Wait,” he said with a grin. “Can you recommend anything in particular?”
“The only thing I’ve eaten here is the Asiago cheese and portabella mushroom panini sandwich.”
“Good suggestion. I’ll take that then.”
She went to write down his order but stopped. “It has spinach on it, too. Is that alright?”
Slowly dragging his bottom lip between his teeth, Gavin smiled. “Does it include your name and number with it as well?”
Damn him and those lips, Emily thought to herself.
Trying to act as if she was unriveted by his question, she pulled Fallon’s number out and handed it to him. “No, not mine, but she wanted me to give you hers.” Emily crooked her neck in Fallon’s direction where she was standing at the host station watching them. “Hope she’s your type.”
Gavin didn’t take his eyes off Emily, not even for a second. “I’m not interested in her,” he answered evenly, sliding the piece of paper to the edge of the table.
“How do you know you’re not interested? You haven’t turned around to look at her.”
Resting his elbow on the table, a smile softened his perfectly sinful mouth. “I know I’m not interested in her because the only woman’s name and number in Manhattan that I want is standing right here.”
Emily shifted on her feet, her breath catching in the back of her throat. “Well, I’m sorry. I have a boyfriend.”
“I assumed you did,” he replied, casually crossing his legs. “It would seem almost impossible for you not to have one.”
“You assumed I did, yet you’re still asking me for my number?”
With the stroke of his gaze shifting to her left hand, he smiled. “Yes, but I don’t see a ring on your finger, and while there’s not a ring on your finger, there still may be hope for me.”
Emily raised an incredulous brow. “So you’re basically saying that you’re a cheater?”
“I’ve said no such thing,” he laughed.
Smiling, she tilted her head to the side. “Well, you’re assuming that I would cheat on my boyfriend to go out on a date with you, so that right there makes you a cheater.”
“I’m hoping you’ll break up with your boyfriend and go out on a date with me,” he quickly countered with a wry curving of his lips. “That right there makes me an honest man.”
She started writing down his order. “Honest, no. Conceited, yes.”
“I prefer to use the term hopeful,” he replied, studying the way she nervously bit her lip. “Can I at least get the name of the breathtakingly beautiful waitress who’s taking care of me then?”
Heated by his words, but not wanting to reveal her real name, Emily simply replied, “Molly. My name’s Molly.”
Gavin opened his mouth to speak when Antonio called out from across the restaurant.
“Country, you have a phone call.”
Emily unwillingly tore her attention from Gavin. She sauntered over to the host station where Fallon stood with a curious look molding her face.
“Well, what did he say?” Fallon asked.
Emily frowned. “He has a girlfriend.”
“Fuck, and I waited, too,” she blurted out. Picking up her purse, she headed out the door. “Guess the old man will have to do for now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After a wave to bid Fallon goodbye, Emily reached for the phone and found it was Dillon calling to make plans for the evening. After they hung up, she was glad that he called. It brought her thoughts back to where she knew they should be. Drawing in a deep breath, she strolled over to the computer and entered Gavin’s order. She greeted a family of three and completed her side work for the day.
Eventually, she risked a glance over to Gavin when she took a seat at the coffee bar to wait for his order. She felt inordinately overwhelmed as their eyes met and locked. She was confused. She didn’t know why she was shaken by his gaze and hated the fact that she actually liked the way he stared at her. Emily suddenly snapped from her coma-like daze when she heard one of the cooks call for her. She went into the kitchen, picked up Gavin’s food, and grabbed a coffee pot.
“One Asiago cheese and portabella mushroom panini sandwich with spinach,” she said, placing it down in front of him. “And here’s a little more coffee for you.”
“Thank you.” Gavin’s eyes flicked to her neck as she leaned over to pour the coffee, the sweet scent of her body teasing his nose. Picturing his lips sliding against her beautiful skin, he brought his attention back to her face and gave her a smile. He cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of the vision.
Emily’s heart thumped erratically as he stared at her. “Can I get you anything else for now?”
“Actually, yes. I’m sorry,” he said, trying to pull himself from the odd spell she’d cast on him. “I received a call notifying me that I need to get back to the office. Can you bring me a box to put this in?”
“Oh…I’m sorry it took so long,” she said, picking up the plate. “I’ll just put it in a box for you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I should’ve said something earlier.” He rose to his feet, shrugging into his suit jacket. “Take your time.”
Emily turned away, striding toward the kitchen door.
Gavin took out a business card and two $100 bills. He wrapped them around the card and covered it up with a $5 bill.
Emily returned with the box and handed it to him. “Again, I’m sorry it took so long,” she said, staring into his eyes. Her senses automatically became heated again.
Gavin leaned himself in, inches from her face. Reaching for her hand, he placed the money-wrapped card in her palm, his breath soft against her ear. “And I told you not to worry about it.”
Emily froze as her breathing became as ragged as her heartbeat. His warm breath so close to her body almost sent her over the edge. He radiated a palpable, sexual energy that she couldn’t deny—and she was pretty damn sure that no other warm-blooded female would be able to resist either. Unable to form a sentence, she didn’t answer as she looked up into his eyes.
His mouth curved into an alluring smile. “Call me if you change your mind, Molly.”
With that, he turned and walked out the door while the eyes of every woman in the restaurant followed him.
Emily let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She thumbed through the cash not only shocked to see how much he’d tipped her, but that he’d left his card, too. Blank side up, she fought with herself to not turn it over. She let out a sigh, inwardly furious at herself, as she tried to brush thoughts about this man out of her head. It was no use. He was invading every corner of her mind.
She couldn’t deny that she found him beyond attractive; she’d been startled into staring the first time she saw him. There was something mysterious about his eyes, which were a shade of blue so light they almost begged her to submit to him, obey him, and do some of the naughtiest things with him that her mind could conjure up. Maybe it was the curve of his cheekbones, which fell slightly short of being too high. Possibly, it was the smooth, raspy tone of his voice, which basically disarmed her every cognitive thought the first time he talked to her.
Of course he has a bedroom voice to go with those bedroom eyes.
He was definitely a fuckable, bedroom-voice-and-eyes-bearing specimen. Fuckable or not, Emily knew she’d have to resist as long as her sanity ruled over her subconscious mind. It took everything she had in her to make her way into the kitchen without looking at his name and contact number. Against every sexual demon in her head that screamed at her to go for it, she threw the card into the garbage, her fingers tingling from its absence.