Page 12 of Where We Met

“Five hundred, please.”

“Okay…” she drawls out, clearly not used to getting requests in such large amounts. She works to ring my order up and then says, “That brings your total to five hundred eight dollars and fifty-three cents.”

I hand the barista my card and steal a glance at Savannah whose eyes are opened wide in shock. She looks quickly away from me like she caught me doing something wrong. She obviously has no idea I got this for her.

We move to the end of the counter as we wait for Savannah’s drink which is ready quickly. She takes it from the barista and smiles warmly at her.

When we get back in the car, she takes a big sip and closes her eyes as she moans over her cup.

Fuck, I adjust myself in my seat. It’s like every damn thing this woman does makes my body come to life. I feel like I’m sixteen again and can’t help but get hard from the slightest thing she does.

I pull the gift card out of my wallet and hand it to her.

“What’s this?” she asks.

“I got it for you.”

She sits up straight and looks down at the card in my hand.

“You got thatfive hundred dollargift card forme?” she asks, sounding almost offended.

I don’t want her spending the last semester of her senior year drinking cheap-ass crap that she makes at her apartment. It doesn’t sit right with me when I know five hundred dollars is nothing more than a simple fix to me.

“Of course. I want you to be well-caffeinated to sit through my boring lectures.” I extend my hand further for her to take the card, but she makes no move to meet me in the middle.

“Savannah. Take. The. Card. If you don’t, I’m going to stalk you on campus and buy your coffee every morning.”

“This is too much,” she says while reluctantly grabbing the card.

“I may not know much about you, Savannah, but I can tell that this is not enough for someone like you. Please, just take it, and let’s move on.”

She takes it and tucks it into her pocket as she whispers, “Thank you.”

I know I should get her back to her car and move on with my day, but I don’t. There’s something about being in her presence that’s calming, and I’m not ready to give that up just yet.

“Tell me about yourself,” I ask, desperate to know more about her.

She looks at me as she takes another sip of her coffee, and I notice just how green her eyes are. They’re so alluring I have trouble focusing on her words.

It looks like she's pondering my question. “I’m from Cincinnati. My dad raised me on his own after my mom passed away when I was little. I’m an only child—well, I was until recently when my dad remarried. Now I have a stepbrother and stepsister from that marriage, but they’re in elementary school, so we aren’t that close. Um, I love to read, run, and cook.”

“How old were you when your mom passed?” I ask, surprised that life has already been so unkind to her. I knew I sensed that she was more mature, more deep than most women I’ve met. That tends to happen when you’re thrown into difficult situations in life.

“I was three. Cancer.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nods her head like those words mean nothing after she’s heard them so many times before.

“How did you pick your major?”

“I heard they had hot professors in the department.”

I can’t help but let out a huge laugh at that, shaking my head at her joke.

“I’m kidding.” She nudges my arm playfully. “I always loved reading growing up. It was a quiet household with just me and my dad. When I was thrust into these worlds within my books, it just sparked this desire to travel and go to these places I was reading about. It always sounded so… magical. And you know, business is always a solid degree to have. So, I tried to combine my dream with being practical, and voila: Marketing and International Business.”

“Sounds like you made the right choice.”

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