Page 9 of Sexpresso Night

Now her eyebrows winged up. “Really.”

“Yeah. It’ll be fun. But unfortunately I have to go get things set up. We’re kind of short staffed tonight.”

“Oh, of course, go on. You’re working. Wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with the boss.”

He grinned. “Hell, no, that guy’s a tyrant.”

She shooed her hands at him, but as he turned away regretfully, she spoke up. “Carter?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you need some help? I’m uh…just sitting here.”

He tipped his head. She was offering to help him. Damn, that was a rush. “Yeah. Sure. That’d be great.” He held out a hand to her again to help her down off the high stool, and had to work to keep his eyes in his head as her short tight skirt rode even higher, giving a glimpse of the crotch of—holy hell—pink panties. He instantly went hard. Dammit.

He turned and led the way through the shop to the French doors at the very back. Down boy, not now, not now, he directed Big Dick. She followed him through them into a small room.

He’d started doing tastings a while ago, another effort to increase business and differentiate himself from all the other coffee chains and fast food restaurants, and had renovated this space specifically for cuppings.

A large round table centered the room, no chairs, and equipment and cups and dishes sat on the counter running along one side of the room. Soft lighting and the ambient jazz music created a warm intimate feel.

He turned to Danya and watched her take in everything. “Interesting.”

“Do you know much about coffee?”

“I know nothing about coffee. Except that I like it.”

“Good. This will be a great time to learn, then.”

She shrugged. “What can I do?”

“We need to set out these bowls and cups,” he said, moving to the counter. “I’m going to put beans into the bowls and we’ll grind them just before we use them.”

“Can’t get any fresher than that.”

He showed her how to arrange things and they moved around the table, the hard dark coffee beans clinking gently as he poured them into small bowls. When everything was arranged to his satisfaction he checked his watch again.

“Perfect.” He met her gaze. Damn she was pretty. Thick glossy hair fell over her shoulders and he itched to sink his hands into it, twist it up, and tug…just a little…

He was getting waaaay ahead of himself here. But he had a feeling about her, the way she’d listened to his instructions, carried out exactly what he told her to do, the smile of pleasure when he’d praised her. His body tightened again.

He called in anyone who was interested in the cupping and about a dozen people crowded into the small room.

“You do this yourself?” she asked him, standing beside him at the round table.

“Yeah.” Funny. She seemed to think he just worked there. “Okay,” he said louder, putting his hands together. “Thanks for joining me everyone. My name is Carter Jarvis and I’m a certified coffee roaster, master taster and three time winner of the Western Regional Barista Competition.”

He glanced at Danya and, with amusement and pride, noted her widened eyes.

“And I’m the owner of Karma Coffee. Welcome to our cupping tonight.” Her eyes met his and he ginned at her. “Tonight we have six kinds of coffee to try.” He named the coffees and where they were from as he ground the beans.

“For a cupping, we just add hot water to the grounds in the cup.” He poured water into the cups from a stainless steel thermal pitcher. “We wait three or four minutes, and then the first thing we do is check the fragrance. First, I break the crust.” He picked up a spoon, bent low over one cup and punctured the thick layer sitting atop liquid. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply. He rose and met Danya’s eyes, locked on him. “Aromatics are a large part of the taste of coffee.” He demonstrated again, then invited everyone to work their way around the table, sniffing and inhaling the dark delicious scent.

“We need to move quickly here so everyone can get a good sniff. Really pay attention when you do this,” he instructed as everyone bent low and dipped spoons into the coffees. “This is so important when the volatiles are released.” He stopped behind Danya, close enough to feel the warmth of her body, and as she bent over the cup her very spankable ass pushed back and he longed to crowd right up against her.

She lifted her head to look at him, her face raptly focused on him and Christ, that made him hard all over again. Focus, man. “This is a very intense aromatic experience,” he managed to say. Intense. He wanted an intense experience with her. Oh yeah.

He swallowed hard.

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