Page 4 of Sexpresso Night

Carter Jarvis watched Danya leave Karma Coffee with her two friends. Damn, she was sweet. Every time she came in, a deep, visceral hunger spiked inside him. And those times she came in without her friends and they’d talked, he’d felt a connection that had startled him.

It wasn’t just her looks. Yeah, she was gorgeous. Her long glossy caramel and honey-streaked hair, smooth golden skin and big green eyes created an enticing outer package. But intelligence and humor gleamed in those liquid green eyes and the way they fastened on his intently when they talked made him sense something deep down inside her that she kept hidden—maybe even from herself.

“Oh quit mooning over her.” Maria snapped a towel at him. He jerked out his reverie.

“Huh?” he said, playing dumb “Mooning over who?”

She grinned, cracked her gum, her darkly lined eyes narrowing. “You know damn well who. Why don’t you just ask her out?”

“She has a boyfriend.” He frowned.

“How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “I hear her talking about him all the time.” He grabbed a plastic bin and went to clear tables. With no customers lining up at the counter at the moment, he didn’t hesitate to do any jobs that needed to be done.

Too bad that damn boyfriend was in the picture. What was his name? Chris.

Dammit.

“Carter.” Juliet approached him. “I need next Saturday off.”

“But it’s our busiest night.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She bit her lip. “I asked Samantha if she’d work for me and she said she would.”

Samantha wearing the skimpy little outfit that Juliet normally wore on Saturday nights might not be such a good thing. But he hesitated to say it. He struggled enough with worries that he was exploiting his female staff by making them dress like that, even though they did seem to enjoy it. “Oh.”

“I’m really sorry, but my ex says he can’t take Jake that weekend and I haven’t been able to find a babysitter.” The corners of her mouth turned down. “The asshole. It’s his weekend.”

“It’s okay, Juliet. Don’t worry. If Samantha can take your shift, that’s fine.”

Staff problems were never ending. He considered himself fortunate that he had a relatively stable team working for him, experienced and loyal, not to mention some top quality baristas, but the reality of his business was that many of them were students, working a couple of part time jobs to put themselves through school, much like he had years ago, and often other things in their lives took priority over work. Like parties. Fun. Games.

Much like him years ago. A smile tugged at his lips.

Juliet was a single mom working on a degree in Communications. She worked hard and rarely asked for time off, so he didn’t hesitate to agree, even though it messed up his scheduling.

“Thanks, Carter. You’re the best.”

He patted her shoulder. “No problem.”

And really, that was the least of his worries. This recession was hitting everyone hard. Competition was fierce. Even fast food restaurants were serving specialty coffees now, goddammit.

Of course they couldn’t compete with a coffee geek like him. Everyone who appreciated fine coffee—the best beans from around the world, perfectly roasted, combined into his own secret blend and brewed or steamed to perfection—would rather come and spend a little more money at Karma Coffee than at a drive-through burger joint. And he’d come up with some unique promotional ideas, like his Saturday “Sexpresso Night”, which was bringing in good revenues.

But still, business was tough these days and he had some difficult decisions to make about his other stores and whether his next buying trip to Matagalpa in South America was worth the expense. He loved that part of the business—meeting with the growers, building those relationships, finding incredible new coffees—but it was costly.

But thoughts of a sexy little honey-blonde temptress pushed aside his worries as he returned to work behind the counter.

* * *

“Danya. Is it five o’clock already?” Chris stood in the door of his apartment, late Saturday afternoon, shirt rumpled and hair sticking up all over the place.

She swallowed her sigh and moved into his arms. He gave her a tiny hug then stepped back, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah.”

“Damn. I got busy.”

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