Page 17 of Caffeine & Chaos

6

Her.

Nadia, you come dancing with me tonight. I will show you the meaning of Cuban heat.” Ernesto rotated his narrow hips suggestively while wiping down a plate in a circular motion. The lanky dishwasher loved to flirt with everyone and everything. “We will dance the salsa and you never see another man again.” His deep voice, coupled with his sexy accent was an interesting juxtaposition to his skinny boy-like features.

“Ernesto, I told you, you can’t handle me. And you can keep your Cuban heat, Miami is hot enough. I need a nice, tall, cool drink of water in my life,” Nadia retorted, dropping her plates off and tossing the cutlery in the soaking tray, all the while grinning. He certainly had ambition and bravado.

“You want cool? I can be ice cold baby. I can be anything you need.” He leaned down under the dishpit window and bounced his eyebrows up and down provocatively. All that machismo was wasted on her, but at least his English was improving.

“Ernesto, didn’t you use that same line on Mandy just the other day?”

“What can I say? Beautiful woman is beautiful woman.” Ernesto shrugged, flashed her a smile, and turned back to the dishwasher.

Nadia couldn’t help but smile to herself. Maybe he was playing a numbers game; use the line a hundred times and it’s bound to work on one woman. She looked back over her shoulder with fondness as she walked away. Ernesto wasn’t really a player; he was sweet and funny and deserved a good girl in his life.

It was just after twelve when she came back up front. Ryan hadn’t been in yet, and it was starting to look like he wasn’t going to be. With each opening of the door, she snapped her head up, heart leaping with anticipation, only to sink with each passing disappointment.

She was in the middle of sweeping the floor when the door chimed once more. Whipping around, her pulse quickened, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ryan. But her anticipation turned to shock as she locked eyes with the unexpected figure standing in the doorway.

“Whoa, Nadia, wow, I didn’t think I’d run into you again.” Travis flashed a shy smile and shoved his hands into the pockets of his board shorts, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

So much for avoiding that awkward after-sex conversation. “Travis, hey, what a coincidence. What brings you here?” Nadia flashed a friendly smile, making a conscious effort to keep her gaze fixed on his face. Although she wasn’t at all interested in trading Ryan in for him, she couldn’t deny that he looked good. The baby blue V-neck T-shirt he wore accentuated his muscular physique and complemented his sun-kissed skin.

“My buddy said this place makes a mean java. I had a late night last night so I thought I’d stop in before my afternoon classes to get a little pick me up.” He brushed his hand through his sandy blonde hair. Nadia had seen him do that in the bar when they met. It was either a nervous habit, or his go-to flirt move.

“Well, your buddy is right, we do make good coffee here.” Nadia eyed the dark bags under his eyes. “You look like you could use an espresso maybe.”

She had almost forgotten that Travis attended the downtown Wolfson campus of Miami Dade College. For all she knew their paths might have crossed already before that night at El Palenque.

“Awesome, I’ll take one then.” Travis gave her a toothy grin and leaned onto the counter. “I’m glad I ran into you here. I was hoping to see you again.”

Slipping into her familiar routine, Nadia tilted her head to the side and offered him a shy smile. What the hell was she doing? She hadn’t noticed until this moment how effortlessly she fell into the role of a seductress. Or maybe she had never realized it was a role she was playing. Regardless, she didn’t want to lead Travis on. Straightening up, she took a step back. “Oh, yeah, I’m sorry I took off on you, I just, well, I had to get up early and I didn’t want to wake you.” Nadia smiled politely, as she turned around to the espresso machine.

“Ha!” He blasted out a loud tone. “Here I thought you were maybe trying to avoid the awkward morning after conversation.” Travis was looking at her reflection in the mirror on the back wall with a crooked grin plastered across his face.

“Oh, busted. Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ve never been very good with those, so I typically try to avoid it at all costs,” Nadia replied, placing his espresso on one of the blue and white speckled saucers before passing it him.

“Who can blame you? That weird moment when you wake up naked, next to a stranger and have to try and find your clothes, but you all of a sudden feel self conscious so you don’t want to get up and walk around naked.” Travis shuddered.

“Exactly! All the while you have to try and make small talk. It’s the worst.” They shared a laugh together and afterwards Travis stood there looking at her with misty eyes and a hint of a smile on his face.

“It’s pretty dead in here, will you sit and have a coffee with me? So far it hasn’t been awkward, maybe we’ll be able to avoid that phase.” He ran his hand through his hair again and looked at her with hope in his eyes.

It didn’t feel awkward, but sitting for a coffee with him would be a bad idea. She didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. “Travis, I have a lot to do and-”

“Just a friendly chat, I swear,” Travis declared, gently placing his espresso on the counter and raising his hands defensively.

“Yeah, okay,” Nadia relented. “Have a seat and I’ll join you in a minute.” One coffee couldn’t hurt.

Nadia poured herself a coffee and sat down across the table from Travis. “So, your friend that comes in here, he come here a lot? We tend to get to know a lot of our regulars.”

Travis shook his head, “nah, I don’t think so. He just happened to come in once and liked the coffee.” He slurped at his espresso and leaned back in the stylized wooden chair. “He might have mentioned something about there being hot baristas here too,” he offered, pursing his lips into a coy smile.

He really was charming in that boy next door kind of way. “I see. Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed that the coffee isn’t half bad either.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty good. It could be bitter tar honestly, and I’d still be sitting here happily sipping away.” He looked at her intently and leaned forward onto the table resting his jaw in his hand.

He was going to ask her out again. Sitting down with him was a huge mistake. She was going to have to try to find a way to let him down easy.

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