Page 38 of Falling for You

The door chimes as we walk in, and the woman behind the counter gives me a professional smile. Still, as soon as she sees Taylor walking in beside me, her smile turns flirty, and she quickly fluffs up her black hair. Then she unbuttons at least three buttons on her top, showing her bright pink bra despite seeing his arm around my waist.

I can’t help my reaction as jealousy fills me, and the urge to punch the girl hits me so hard it knocks the wind out of me, making me tense.

“Hmm, good to know,” Taylor whispers in my ear as he moves behind me, wrapping his arm around my stomach, pressing his body up against mine, and damn my body for giving me away because, of course, I relax into him as his heat warms me.

Oh yes, this will be very difficult because our connection is there, and it is all-consuming.

I clear my throat and go to walk forward, but he tightens his hold, making me roll my eyes.

“Good to know what?” I reluctantly ask, already knowing the answer.

“That you're jealous of other women taking notice of me, I can work with that,” he rasps then kisses my neck, sending tingles all over me and making my core tighten.

Crap…

Taylor gently pushes me towards the counter when I don’t move but doesn’t let go of me, and of course, the woman doesn’t cover up; instead, she licks her bottom lip.

The fire that burns deep, I’ve never felt this feeling before. I want to smack her.

Double crap.

“Hi, you’re Taylor Evans, right?” she asks, fluttering her false eyelashes, and I narrow my eyes.

“I am. Can I have two lattes and two club sandwiches, please, brought over to the table?” Taylor says politely, and my jealousy kicks up a notch because the ass is not pushing her down. Okay, he doesn’t need to, he’s single, but still, it ticks me off.

Triple crap.

The woman bites her bottom lip as she twirls her hair in her finger, writes down our order, then rings it up and says, “That’s $15.89, but for you, if you take me to the back, it can be free.”

My mouth parts in shock.

She did not just offer her body for fifteen fricking bucks while he has an arm wrapped around someone.

Taylor snorts as he uses his other hand that isn’t wrapped around me and takes out a twenty, then says, “Keep the change,” before pulling me away from the bitch I’m going to hit really, really hard.

She narrows her eyes at me, and I narrow mine back as I fist my hands. Taylor whispers, “Down, firecracker,” and gently guides me to the back of the café, slides me into the wooden bench seat near the wall, and then slides in next to me, shocking me.

He smirks, “Can’t wrangle back in if you’re across the table from me.”

I open my mouth to refute his words, but two mugs are slammed down in front of us, and my patience with this bitch is gone.

I raise a brow at the snarky waitress and ask, “Does your boss know that you act this way all because your favorite hockey player has walked in with a woman?” Curious more than anything now because, well, Taylor hasn’t even looked at the woman or given her any indication that he wants her and yet she’s acting like I’m standing between them.

It’s quite pathetic, really.

Her eyes widen that I called her out and she looks at Taylor, eyeing him again as he picks up his mug and I continue, “Have you slept with him, is that your problem?” Taylor chokes on the liquid and I can’t help my grin.

He coughs, “No, I haven’t fucked her, and I never will!”

The woman growls and then stomps her foot before walking away but tenses when I say, “If you spit in my food, I’ll report you to your manager for your behavior.”

Taylor chuckles, and I look at him; his eyes take me in as he wraps his arm around the back of the bench seat, his fingers going straight to my hair, twirling it, sending shivers down my spine.

“I want to get something out now,” he starts, and I raise a brow. “Sonia and I were never together,” he confirms, and my mouth parts in shock and he smiles and continues, “She threw herself at me and Elena,” I cut in, “the she-witch,” and he chuckles but nods, “yes, she claimed I had to ‘date her’ to keep bad press away from the team after we won the Stanley Cup. I just wanted you to know I didn’t spend the night with you and then move on. I didn’t want to give you the impression that it meant nothing.”

I swallow hard, a lump forming in my throat, and I lie, “It doesn’t really matter; it’s your life,” when really the whole scenario, even though I was the one who left without leaving any form of communication, hurt, it really did, and even now I don’t understand why, or I do, I just don’t want to admit it.

“It does matter,” he states firmly, “because let’s face it, what we shared that night, it meant something I just,” he sighs, “I have spent months trying to find you, fuck, I ran after your sister in the streets a few months ago.”

---