Page 7 of Grateful Hearts

Zach stared at the ugly brown stain. It wasn’t okay. He’d just ruined her sweater and potentially her day, but before he could get another apology out, he noticed something else.

She wasn’t looking at the coffee stain anymore.

Her gaze had shifted, traveling up and down his frame in a way that made heat crawl up the back of his neck. She was staring.

And Zach, as embarrassed as he felt for the spill, couldn’t help but find it a little amusing.

“I—uh—” she started, snapping her gaze back to his face like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. Her cheeks turned a deep shade of pink, and Zach bit back a grin.

“Are you okay?” he asked, trying to sound as earnest as possible while holding out more napkins.

“Me? Oh, yeah. Totally fine,” she said quickly, her voice high-pitched. She grabbed the napkins from him, her hands brushing his briefly, and her blush deepened.

Zach couldn’t help but notice how small her hands were compared to his. Everything about her seemed petite and delicate—even her slightly flustered demeanor. But there was also something quietly confident about the way she held herself, even while dealing with an embarrassing situation.

“Let me buy you a new sweater or something,” he offered, feeling genuinely terrible.

She shook her head quickly, her ponytail swishing with the movement. “No, no, it’s really not necessary. Accidents happen.”

Zach frowned, unconvinced. He could see her trying to brush it off, but the stain on her sweater was undeniable. “I still feel bad,” he insisted. “Are you sure? I—”

“Positive,” she said, cutting him off. “It’s fine,” she said, waving a hand as if to dismiss his guilt. But then her gaze flickered down again—just for a split second—before snapping back up to his face.

Was she checking him out again?

Zach couldn’t stop the small smile tugging at his lips. She was trying so hard to act nonchalant, but her eyes kept betraying her.

“You’re sure that you’re okay? You’ve been staring at me like I’ve got two heads.”

Zach wanted to laugh as she tried to respond.

“I…no! I wasn’t—” She stopped and took a small breath, looking back up at him. “Okay, maybe a little, but that’s only because—”

Jesus, she was too fucking adorable.

“Because I spilled coffee on you?” he teased.

“Exactly!” she said.

Zach couldn’t hold back his laugh this time. He then held his hand out.

“I’m Zach,” he said, figuring that an introduction might lighten the mood.

“Chantel,” she said.

“Nice to meet you, Chantel,” he said, genuinely meaning it. There was something about her—beyond the spill and her flustered reaction that had him intrigued.

“Same,” she mumbled, dabbing at her sweater with the napkins, though it didn’t seem to be helping much.

He gave her another look. There was no way he was letting her walk around with that stain on her sweater.

“Now, I honestly cannot let a beautiful woman walk around the airport with a huge ugly brown stain on her sweater, especially when I was the cause of it. Please, let me buy you a new shirt from the gift shop. It’s the least I can do.”

She blushed and hesitated at first but then nodded. “Alright. Thank you.” As they started to walk, she stopped and turned to look up at him. “Are you sure you have time? You seemed to be in a hurry.”

Shit!One look at a beautiful woman and he had forgotten about his flight.

He pulled his phone out and opened the airline’s app. A small smile spread across his lips. For the first time in his life, he was happy to see his flight was delayed.

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