She rolls her eyes. “Do you always have to spell sex?”
I shrug my shoulders.
She puts her hand on her hip and gasps. “Oh my God, you do! Say it, Jenna. Say sex or I’m screaming it again.”
I can feel the heat racing up my neck and onto my face. I know Madison, and sure enough, if I don’t say it, she’s definitely going to scream it. “Sex,” I say calmly, and by now, my face is as red as a ripe tomato. Damn my pale skin.
Madison just laughs it off. “Good, now go and see what the stranger is doing here.”
I try to act like I don’t care. “How do you know he wasn’t interested in you?”
“Because everything I asked him was a no, and he kept looking at you the whole time. Not once did he make eye contact. He’s definitely interested in something, but it’s not me.”
“Did you offer to refill his coffee?”
“He’s not drinking coffee. He’s drinking water.” She rolls her eyes. “Who comes to a coffee shop and doesn’t drink coffee? Plus he’s been here”—she holds her wrist up to look at her watch—“for almost six hours.”
I start to walk away. “Maybe he needs the Wi-Fi. What’s the big deal? He’s not hurting anyone.”
Madison growls. “He could hurt me anytime.”
My shoulders tense, and my heart misses a beat. There’s that feeling again. Why do I feel so territorial about this man? I peek around the opposite edge of the counter, and it’s like he’s looking for someone on the other end. Madison’s head appears over mine, and she starts to whisper, “See, he’s looking for you. Just go talk to him. Ask him if he wants another cinnamon roll. He devoured the one from this morning.”
“Fine,” I mutter.
I say fine, but it takes me another ten minutes to get the nerve up to go and talk to him. I grab a pitcher and fill it up with fresh ice and water. I put on my best smile and walk toward him. When he sees me, he sits up straighter, closes his laptop, and watches me. His gaze burns a trail down my body and back up again. I sometimes hate being the center of someone’s attention, but with him, I don’t. Oh my God, Jenna, why are you swinging your hips? My hand with the pitcher starts to shake, and I switch it to my other hand. Nerves are making me crazy, and just when I get next to his table... I walk right past him.
Shaking my head, I pick up some trash off a table and throw it away before walking along the wall to get behind the counter. I don’t stop until I’m behind the tall side of the booth, and only then do I let out the breath I was holding.
“What the fuck was that?” Madison asks in a loud whisper. Her eyes are wide as she’s staring back at me. I’m waiting for her to start making fun of me, but the look on my face must be stopping her. She honestly looks as freaked out as I feel. “Are you okay?” she asks me.
“I can’t do it.”
She shakes her head. “Why not?”
I shove the water pitcher into her hand, and thankfully she catches it or else it would fall to the floor. “I literally couldn’t stop. The way he was staring at me. My God, the man is hot, capital HOT.”
She sets the pitcher down. “That’s right... staring at you. He’s stared at you all morning. Don’t let what your dumbass ex said about you make you start to second-guess every good-looking guy out there.”
I’m still shaking my head.
“Jenna, you don’t have to marry him or anything.”
Still I’m shaking my head.
Madison grabs me by the shoulders. “Jenna, you are a successful, beautiful, kind-hearted woman. You obviously like this guy, and he can’t keep his eyes off you. Obviously there’s something there. And if there’s not, so what? You’re not asking him out or anything; you’re literally asking him if he wants a refill. Nothing has to come of it if you don’t want it to.”
I stare wide-eyed at my best friend. She’s right. I know she’s right. I also know that everyone needs a Madison in their life because she’s always pumping me up and even helped me deal with Paul when it all went south.
She keeps nodding her head. “So you know what you need to do?”
I gulp. “I need to go talk to him.”
“Excuse me,” someone says from the counter.
Madison rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be right there,” she tells the person and then gets right back in my face. “All right, now do it. Just ask him if he needs a refill. That’s it. See what happens.”
I nod, and finally Madison releases me. She gives me a stern look before going to help the customer.