Page 22 of The Barista's Beloved

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Ben had thanked her for not sleeping with him. Maeve had thought the night they’d escaped Angelica and Naomi’s matchmaking had been embarrassing, but this went so far beyond that. It was like the difference between stubbing your toe and breaking every bone in your body. And to think she’d been on the verge of blurting out that she’d nearly called him that morning to tell him to come over and finish what he’d started.

But when he’d made it clear that he was grateful she hadn’t taken him up on his drunken offer, she’d nearly died. He wanted to stay friends? Fine, there were worse things in the world. Especially considering they did have a good thing going.

Besides, she didn’t need him. She had a date! A real one, too! And if the the looks Deli Steve had tossed her way during their brief exchange were anything to go by, he wasn’t the type of guy who’d rescind an offer of sex. Or apologize for it. Thank goodness she was meeting up with him sooner rather than later. She needed an ego boost, and he could be the perfect man to give it to her. She just hoped things didn’t go sideways there, too. She couldn’t take any more humiliation this week.

Maeve sat back down at the front desk with an audible thump. Utterly uninspired, she rifled through the papers she’d been sorting and filing when Ben had first walked in. She should feel better, shouldn’t she? He seemed confident that he could do all the lawyerly things that needed to be done to stop the developers from taking over the building. But he’d also said he knew things from the other side of the equation, something that made her belly do a sick little flop when she thought about it. She imagined Ben in a sharp suit, arguing in a courtroom, and her mind threw that up against the memory of Joan weeping behind her desk. She didn’t want to believe that Ben had been just like the people who were trying to close down this place. She just had to hope that he was better than they were.

She also needed to re-evaluate her priorities. What kind of woman was ready to rip off one man’s clothes while getting ready to go on a date with another? Poor Steve. They hadn’t even gone out yet and already she felt as if she was emotionally cheating on him. She really had to stop thinking about Ben.

The door to the back office opened, and he and Joan came out. The older woman was smiling broadly, and Ben looked cheerful, too. “So you’ll gather the info and email it over to me?” he asked.

“I’m going to get started on it right now,” Joan answered. “Maeve, can I use that computer? Most of our files are there.”

“Sure.” She rose to let Joan sit. “After this is over, let’s talk about backing up your data, though.” She heard Ben chuckle. “Do you need anything else from me?”

“Mm, not right now.” Joan’s tone was absent-minded as she focused intensely on the computer and clicked her way through the file structure. “It’s probably faster for me to just gather everything, since I know where it is. Why don’t you go to lunch?”

“Who can say no to lunch?” Maeve grinned at her boss, but the other woman wasn’t even looking at her.

“I’ll walk you out,” Ben said.

“Want to get lunch?” She waited until they were outside to ask. She didn’t need Joan to witness their new hotshot lawyer shooting her down.

But he surprised her by agreeing. “Sure. If I’m going to be researching property records I definitely need to do it on a full stomach.”

“What sort of food goes best with property records?” she asked.

“Baked goods,” he replied with an absolutely straight face.

She laughed. “The Breadery it is, then.”

The building that Youth Mentors occupied was only a few blocks away from River Hill’s picturesque town square, so they walked to lunch, chatting about the work Maeve was doing and the building they were trying to save.

“There are birds nesting in the eaves,” Maeve said. “It’s cute.”

He looked thoughtful. “Do you know what kind of birds?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never been much for birdwatching. I have an uncle who likes it, though. Why?”

“There was a case a few years ago that was referred to the Environmental Protection Agency because a rare bird was nesting in a tree in front of a building that was set to be torn down. They wound up leaving everything untouched to protect its nesting area.”

“Hmm.” She thought about it, trying to remember what the birds looked like and coming up blank. “I’m not sure, to be honest. What if they turn out to be common sparrows?”

He grinned at her as he opened the door to The Breadery. “Oh, that’s just one weapon in our arsenal. I’m just getting started.”

Something had changed in Ben; something that made him a little more focused and intense. Maybe him using his skills for good was what he’d needed to move past the burnout he’d described. Unfortunately for her, this extra confidence made him even more appealing. She needed to ignore the way his grin made her want to kiss him.

“What do you want to get?” she asked, pushing that thought deep into the recesses of her brain where it would hopefully stay hidden.

He looked at the glass case. “Do they have apple fritters today? I heard they were good.”

“Not today.” Sean appeared behind the case. “Hi, guys. What can I get you?”

“Ben needs research sustenance,” Maeve informed him. “Lots of carbs.”

Sean grinned. “Carbs are our specialty. Take your pick.”

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