Page 13 of Loved By the Hacker

“Go home,” I mumbled to myself. I should go home, wash my face, and hunker down in front of the TV. Knowing that I should didn’t mean I would.

I wasn’t going anywhere, and I knew it.

“Okay, fine. Go in, have something to eat, and then head home. If he’s here, he will say hi, and if he’s not, there are plenty of other fish in the sea,” I told my reflection in the rearview mirror before slipping out of my car.

I locked it with the fob and tossed my designer bag over my shoulder as I made my way inside with my head held high. I loved this dress and these heels. I had no idea why I had stopped wearing things like this.Because of Jack,a voice in my head reminded me. He hated me dressing up like that. We got in a huge argument over what I wore for New Year’s the night before we had broken up. I shook my head. Tonight, there was no space in my head and thoughts for Jack. He’d wasted enough of my time.

Just before I reached the front door, I stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood, and my skin prickled with awareness. I turned and looked towards the parking lot. Nothing seemed to be out of place, but it was almost like I could feel someone watching me. Something I had been feeling for the last couple of days. I shook my head and turned to pull the front door of the brewery wide open. I was being ridiculous. Just because I felt like someone was watching me the last couple of days, that didn’t mean someone actually was.

I stepped inside, and a small smile forced its way to the surface at how many people were there. So many were regulars, not to mention tourists now that the ski resort was slowly getting updated. I made my way to the bar and decided to sit in a different area than the one my brother was usually at. Bash and Austin were Onyx’ best friends from college as well as business partners in their venture when Bash came back from his time serving in the Marines. Both were serving drinks, but my brother was nowhere to be seen, thankfully. I didn’t need him to question what had happened the last time I was there.

“Hey, Cora.” Bash smiled politely. “Haven’t seen you in a couple of days,” he remarked, and I wondered if he noticed because he cared or because without me bugging my sisters to join me, it meant Raven, the youngest Trejo, who I was pretty sure he was head over heels in love with, wasn’t there.

“Work’s been busy.” I shrugged. It wasn’t a complete lie. As a divorce and estate attorney, I was hardly ever bored.

“I hear that.”

“But this is a good problem to have.” I smiled, reaching for a menu even though I was pretty sure that since they opened and I’d become single, I’d tried everything on the menu already.

“Most definitely,” he agreed easily, leaning forward. “Can I get you something to drink to start off with?”

“Umm…” I chewed on my bottom lip before glancing behind me just in time to see the door open, but the hope I felt it could possibly be him withered away when a couple stepped in. I sighed and turned my attention back to Bash. “Actually, can I get a sparkling water with cherries in it?”

“Not drinking tonight?” he asked without judgment as he started to make my drink for me.

“Maybe an espresso martini later. After dinner.”

“Sounds good. Oh, and we have a couple new dishes today. Beckett, the new guy your brother hired in the kitchen, is a freaking genius. I mean, in case you were looking for something new to try out.” I stared at Bash for a moment.

He was a good-looking guy. Tall and lanky but muscular because he weirdly liked to work out and be outdoors. He was all olive-toned skin and beautiful deep green eyes, and I’d known him for what felt like forever, but I didn’tknowhim. Not the way he seemed to know me and probably the rest of my sisters. Compared to Onyx and Austin, he was the quiet one and, what I was realizing, pretty observant.

“Surprise me.” I set the menu down. “With an app, too,” I added, because nervous energy made me hungry.

“I got you.” He set my drink down. “Let me go get that order in for you.” He turned and headed to the kitchen, and I glanced at my sparkling water as the tips of my fingers tapped the top of the counter.

The quiet sound of people talking and laughing, having a good time, should have been contagious, but as I glanced around, noticing just how many couples and people seemed to be enjoying the company of someone else, it made me miss him. A man I didn’t know but somehow knew the most all at the same time.

“Looking for someone?” a deep sultry voice asked, and my body seemed to be extremely aware of how close he was. Body heat whispered against my shoulder, and I glanced only to be surprised by the man next to me. The very one I had been missing.

“Someone like who?” I found myself asking calmly

“I don’t know?” His beautiful talented lips twitched like he was trying to hold back a smile, but it was his dark eyes that gave away how amused he was by me. “Maybe trying to find someone you might have run away from.” I liked that he called me out on running out and not bullshitting around like we didn’t know what the other tasted like.

“Or maybe I was trying to avoid someone like that?”

“Hmm,” his voice rumbled, and a dark brow rose on his handsome face. He leaned in even closer. Dangerously close. So close I could smell the scent that had lingered in my dreams. “Something about the way you’re looking at me has me thinking that’s not the case,babochka.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, curious, but hadn’t looked it up because I wanted to hear it from him. Maybe deep down I knew, or at least I’d hoped

“Butterfly,” he clarified easily and without hesitation. There was something sexy about the way he responded that made me shift in my seat. He’d called me butterfly all night. “I’m Oleg. Oleg Sokolov.”

“Oleg.” He finally had a name. One that I wasn’t ashamed to repeat softer than I had said anything else before. “Oleg, I’m Coral, Coral Trejo.” His hand moved off the back of my chair as he turned me to face him and came up between us. Without thinking, I took it, and as he just held it, his eyes never wavered from mine.

“It’s nice to meet you, Coral.” The warmth of his voice seeped through me, and I could have sworn my goose bumps had goose bumps. I liked the way he said my name.

“This feels a little backwards after last week.” The comment passed my lips before I could hold them back. His dark eyes flared with something promising.

“I don’t know.” He licked the bottom of his lip as his gaze dropped to mine. “Maybe it’s exactly the way it should be. Everything happens for a reason.” I shivered, and my breathing felt off. He smelled better than I remembered and was so much more handsome than my memories of him.

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