Page 14 of The Best Book Boyfriend
My tummy did a little flip when he sent me a selfie holding upThe (Mis)Adventures of Becky Baxterand he’s been sending photos most days since. I would be lying if I told you I haven’t studied them a lot.
After getting myself all flustered when I saw him last week, I felt like I couldn’t really trust my memory of him, so it’s been good to have a photo to refer to. His hair is a little lighter than I’d remembered, styled away from his face, and he wears tortoiseshell glasses.
In the first photo he sent, he’s wearing a dark green crew neck jumper, with the collar of a green and blue checked shirt poking out. He has a wide smile, not fake or posed. Just a happy man, pleased to be standing in a bookshop. He has great teeth and a short beard that looks rugged but well maintained and full lips and...
Yes, I’m aware that I’m checking him out like a potential dating prospect even though I am absolutely sworn off men. I don’t think I’ll ever want to be in a relationship again, but there’s no harm in looking at an attractive man.
One thing I know for sure is that I’m bringing an extra ounce of pep to my client meetings today. I’ve got that kind of Friday feeling I haven’t felt in a long time, and it’s definitely The Luke Effect.
There are only a couple of people in Sunshine Coffee when I arrive, tucked away at the back on their laptops, an array of cups and plates at their side. Luke is refilling coffee beans, the sleeves of his green jumper pushed up to his elbows. It’s the same green one that he’s wearing in the photo in the bookshop. I wonder if it’s a favourite. Did he choose it knowing he’d see me today? I feel like it’s fast becoming my favourite colour. A sure contender for Pantone Colour of the Year.
“Hi Kara.” My name from his mouth has a sarcastic tone to it, but I like it and match it.
“Hi Luke,” I reply, cocking my head.
“Do you drink coffee this late?”
I check my watch and realise it’s approaching 4:30. “Good point. I probably shouldn’t risk it if I want to sleep at all. Could I have a mint tea please?”
“Of course. Take a seat and I’ll bring it over.” I sit at our table from last week and look out of the window at the late spring light that fills the courtyard. He’s already folded up the tables and chairs that normally sit outside, the hanging baskets slowly drip drip dripping from a recent watering.Our table. Stop it, Kara.
“Here you go.” Luke places my tea down in front of me a few minutes later, and sets about tidying the nearby tables, adjusting the squint ones and putting chairs back into place. “How was your day?”
“Really good, thanks. I had a meeting to go over plans with one client this morning, then I’ve just come from a site visit with another to review the flooring before furniture goes in next week.”
He looks confused. “I’m so sorry. I should have asked last week, but I have no idea what you do?”
“Oh,” I smile. How would he know? “I’m an interior designer.”
“Wow,” he says, his eyebrows lifting. “What a cool job. How did you get into that?”
“I renovated my own house and then loved it so much that I launched my business after that. I started with projects for a few friends and now I work for a mix of private and commercial clients. Speaking of which, whoever you hired for here did a great job.”
“Oh, this was all me.”Wow.That explains why I didn’t get a call.
“Well, I’m impressed. You’ve got a good balance between the bright walls and the bare wood. Enough decorative pieces to capture interest but not overwhelm the eye. That’s not an easy task.”
After wiping down the tables, Luke washes his hands behind the counter, then takes the seat opposite me with a mint tea of his own. I wonder if that’s his normal afternoon brew, or if he’s taken my lead. I’m captivated by the way he holds his cup, fingers interlaced around it, elbows on the table, the fresh fragrant steam of the tea rising to his face. His pose reminds me of a Pinterest photo of a woman on a health kick. Then there are those sexy forearms again, taut and lean and...Stop. It.Kara.
“So,” I cough, composing myself. “Books. What did you think ofSnowed Inn?”
“Well, I really hated Parker at first,” he says with a half-hearted chuckle.
“Oh gosh, me too! Tell me your reasons.”
“He was just such an arsehole. I would be so mad if someone I knew dated a guy like that.”My thoughts exactly.
“Some books have this thing called the Grumpy Sunshine trope. Where he, well, usually he, is really moody, and she is the happiest person on the planet who will eventually break down his walls. But Parker really took it to another level.”
“He behaved like such a little shit when they first got stuck, and then even worse when he found out they had to share a room. He was so rude to Tiffany.”
“I know. It’s quite unusual in these books for a man to make a woman cry. Sometimes it happens in dark romance, but not so much in the books I like.”
“I did really feel for him when I found out the truth, though. Falling through the ice on his grandparents’ lake as a boy would have been awful. No wonder he felt claustrophobic and trapped at the Inn.”
“Well, Tiffany certainly found his attitude easier to handle once she found that out,” I say with a smirk.
“And that’s not the only thing she handled.”He went there.I wasn’t sure he would take the bait, but we’re both stifling laughs. Feeling more relaxed, I’m relieved that this conversation has the same playfulness as our texts. “I liked that he had turned his awful experience into a positive by facing his fear of ice and becoming a hockey player.”
