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It was just unfair.

He shot me a knowing smirk.

I jerked, realizing I was just standing there.

Staring.

I hopped back a step to keep from spilling a cup of coffee straight down my blouse when I realized the cup I was holding had tipped to the side. The splash I’d dodged hit the floor.

“Sorry about that,” I muttered to the customer, turning to make a new coffee.

From the corner of my eye, I kept watching him, the way he began to meander around my shop rather than get into line.

His fingers drummed over the displays, as if he couldn’t fully appreciate something without touching it. The imported boxes of teas and packaged goods in gift baskets wrapped in clear cellophane and big bows.

The large cups with inspiring quotes.

Tumblers with the store’s logo.

Not that I was paying attention or anything.

Jenna squeezed by to get to the latte machine. She elbowed me in the ribs when she did, and her voice lowered conspiratorially. “Looks like someone has a visitor. Look at all that deliciousness standing right there. Told you he’d be back.”

“I’m sure he’s just here for a cup of coffee,” I defended under my breath, facing away as I filled a medium cup with hazelnut.

“Well, you just keep on thinking that, Harley Hope, but that man right over there is thinking about you naked.”

I swatted her. “Stop it.”

Her eyes went wide with innocence as she dipped into the case to get two pumpkin muffins. “What?”

“You know what. I swear that you are nothin’ but a pain in my ass.”

“What you need is a good kick in the ass.”

“I need nothing of the sort,” I mumbled, lidding the three cups. I turned and slid them to the customer waiting for her order. “There you are. Have a great day.”

She uttered a thank you and moved on her way. I was quick to fill the next customer’s order, trying not to pay attention to Kale, who’d taken note of the big lollipops displayed in a pink wooden decorative box. To keep them all standing, the sticks had been stuck in Styrofoam, which had been hidden by the fake moss that covered it.

So what if Pinterest had become my lover, keeping me company in the lonely nights.

From the side, I took in the way his blue, blue eyes narrowed in curiosity, the way he pulled one out.

I bit down on my lip.

Damn it.

Normally, I wanted everyone to buy them up. But there was something about the man holding one that made a rush of unease slip and slide through my body. That achy place throbbing and needy.

As if he was holding a piece of me that was sacred.

All of them were the same. Colorful swirls with a clear wrapper and a white label on the front.

It was just my luck Jenna noticed at the second the last customer I’d been helping walked away with his coffee and half dozen muffins.

“Those are for charity,” she called over the counter.

Cocking his head, he studied the label before he looked up at me. “Anything’s possible if you have a lick of hope?”

He asked it like a question.

As if he were wondering if I really believed it.

Heat flooded my cheeks. The uneasy kind. The kind that had me shifting on my feet.

“Yep,” Jenna said. “Hope here makes those herself. Every last cent goes to charity.”

For a moment, he stared at me, something soft fluttering around his lush mouth before he tucked the stick back into the Styrofoam.

I didn’t know if I was relieved or disappointed.

That was right before he scooped the entire box up under his arm. “In that case, I’ll take them all. I think I have an idea of where I can put them to good use.”

“If you’re taking them all, you should come back and help Hope here make some more. You know . . . philanthropy . . . not at all because you want to hang out with her or anything.”

I sent a glare at Jenna. What are you thinking?

What? She mouthed back with an innocent shrug.

If she what-ed me one more time when she knew exactly what she was doing, I was going to strangle her.

I would have right then, but I was too busy trying not to shake when Kale approached the counter, filling the air the way he did.

All potent, persuasive power.

The space between us growing so thick it made it difficult to draw a full breath.

“Why do you need all those, anyway?” I all but demanded, feeling out of sorts. Hopeful and eager and awed, and that made me scared.

Because him standing there with those lollipops made me feel as if he were stepping into an area that was off limits.

As if he’d dipped his fingers in the places of my life that I protected most.

Touching on the things that were most important to me when he couldn’t come close to understanding.


Tags: A.L. Jackson Fight for Me Romance