Page 72 of The Love You Win

He nods. “Really. You’re amazing. Smart, intelligent, passionate, and so damned kind. Say you’ll be my girlfriend. I want to show you off at Griffin’s barbecue and call you mine. Officially.”

That ball of light in my chest flares brighter. I lift onto my toes and tug Maddox’s face down with my arms around his neck. My lips feather across his as I fight a smile. “I guess that would be okay. Now let’s go get coffee, and then you can tell me all about this barbeque, boyfriend. I’m craving something sweet.”

“Mmm. Me too, girlfriend.” He nips my bottom lip and grinds his erection into my lower belly. “But what I’m craving will have to wait.”

thirty-three

ISLA

We hold hands the whole drive to That’s Doppio. It’s a cute little coffee shop that serves locally roasted coffee but doesn’t take itself too seriously. Hence the name. Maddox finds a spot just up the street and opens my door before I can do it myself. Wrapping his arm around me, he pulls me against his side. I sigh happily. Women always talk about how fun it is to have a much taller, larger boyfriend, but I never really got the hype. Until now. Because being tucked into Maddox’s side like this is so cozy and comforting. I feel safe and protected.

Maddox changed out of his suit while I finished teaching, but even with his hoodie up and sunglasses on, he’s getting more than a few curious looks. We almost make it to the coffee shop when a little blond boy stops dead in his tracks, stares at Maddox with wide gray eyes, then tugs on his mom’s jacket and says, “Mom, Mom! Is that Maddox Graves?”

And that’s that. Maddox shoots me an apologetic grimace, no doubt recalling our auction date when he blew me off for a solid fifteen minutes to sign autographs and take selfies. But this time it’s different. This time I know he wants to say no and run into the coffee shop with me, but how can you ignore the bright, pleading eyes of a kid who can’t be older than eight?

“It’s okay,” I tell him with a chuckle. “Go ahead and sign autographs or whatever. I’ll head inside and get us coffees and a table.”

He rubs the back of his head, attention bouncing between the growing crowd and me. “You sure?”

“Of course. What do you want?”

“Uh, a black coffee, I guess.”

I make a face. “Really? This place has amazing lattes, and you just want a black coffee?”

Maddox chuckles, giving my hip a squeeze. “We stick to pretty strict diets when the season starts. Sadly, I will just have a black coffee.”

My nose is still wrinkled when I say, “Okay. See you in there.”

He presses a quick kiss to my forehead and watches me walk toward the cafe door before giving his attention to the little boy who jumps in place, he’s so excited. “Hey, little man. What’s your name?”

“Jude,” I hear the little blond boy exclaim. “Could you sign my sweatshirt?”

I’m smiling from ear to ear when I stride into That’s Doppio and get in line. The cafe is reasonably busy for being so close to dinnertime, but that’s normal. It’s a popular place with teachers, students, and professionals alike. The cashier greets me with a smile and asks me how school is going so far before I order my drinks and pay. It’s one thing I love about this place. They all know me.

There are a few open tables scattered around the room, so I pick the one most tucked away in a corner. I just have enough time to arrange my cardigan on the back of a chair and set my purse down when the barista calls my name.

Maddox is still scribbling autographs on the sidewalk, so I grab our drinks with a smile, settle in at the table, and pull out my phone. Might as well do some mindless social media scrolling until he gets in. I open Instagram and grin when I see I’ve been tagged in a photo Griffin insisted we take after the assembly. In it, I’m sandwiched between him and Sebastian while Griffin gives me bunny ears. I’m laughing, and Sebastian is mid-eye roll. He’s captioned it with, Stay in school, kids. You could end up with a teacher like Madds’ girl, here. He follows that pronouncement up with a winky face emoji, and I can’t hold in my laughter. He’s ridiculous. I’m mid-debate with myself about whether it’s wise to read any of the comments when a throat clears in front of me, and an all too familiar voice says my name.

“Isla? I thought that was you.”

My happy smile freezes on my face as my eyes rise from my phone. I take in a man with his hands in the pockets of his expensive gray suit. The jacket is unbuttoned, revealing a crisp white shirt and a solid black tie. Full lips I have mapped a million times with my own twist up in a rueful smile, and blue eyes rake over my body with too much familiarity. It makes my skin crawl. At one point, I loved when Alex looked at me like this. Now it just makes me feel cheap and dirty.

“Alex?” My mind stumbles in its attempt to switch gears from feeling all gooey inside to processing Alex’s sudden and unwanted appearance.

His eyes go to the two cups on the table with a frown. When he looks back up at me, his smile seems strained. “You look great. It’s good to see you.”

I narrow my eyes. I’ve been obsessed with this place ever since I first student taught at Center. I dragged Alex here exactly one time, and all he did was complain about how noisy it was and how the coffee wasn’t strong enough for him. He never came back with me. Which is why all of this is so highly suspicious.

“What are you doing here?”

Alex frowns at my tone. I’m not surprised. The last few times we spoke, it was me calling him, crying, begging him to give us another chance. I was broken and desperate, and I still thought Alex hung the moon.

I don’t think that anymore.

“I was in the neighborhood for a meeting and remembered how great this place was from the time we came here.”

I want to cough bullshit into my hand, but I’m an adult. I still roll my eyes, though. You’re never too old or too mature to give a dramatic eye roll. “You hated this place the one time we came together,” I say, unwilling to go along with whatever game he’s playing.

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