Page 24 of Meeting Mr. Adorkable
“Your pickup truck.” What did Arlo think he meant? Oh… This time, it was Lucian’s turn to flush.
“Oh, sure. Yeah. It’s better for… picking stuff up from town, and a lot better in bad weather than the car. You know, in the snow.”
Lucian looked up at the sky, a perfect cobalt blue. “Well, best be getting on, I suppose. Things to do.” What they were, Lucian hadn’t a clue.
“Like what?” Arlo leaned back into the wall.
“Erm… I’ve got the afternoon off, and I thought I’d just… wander around…” Fuck, he couldn’t have made himself sound more pathetic if he tried.
Arlo laughed, but it was good natured, so perhaps he hadn’t sounded quite like the saddest, most pathetic fucker in the universe after all.
“What about wandering toward the coffee shop?”
“Oh, yes please.” Lucian swallowed his cringe, along with the neediness in his voice. He coughed. “What I mean is, that would be good, but only if you can spare the time? If you’re not busy. Doing pickup truck type things.” And looking like sex on legs.
“Pickup truck type things? You mean like picking things up and putting them in the truck?”
“Hmm, I suppose so.” He’d just made himself sound like a fully certified jerk, but he didn’t care, not when Arlo was smiling down at him. “But a coffee would be good. And it’s my treat, for lunch the other day.” The day of the almost kiss, which they’d agreed would have been a big, fat mistake.
“I’ve got time. I might even let you throw it all over me.”
Lucian groaned. “You really aren’t going to let me forget that, are you?”
“Not in this lifetime.”
Unease dissipated in Lucian, like a soft mist in the breeze, as they set off. Minutes later they were in CC’s, open once more after its emergency closure. Although busy, the lunchtime crowds were thinning out. Arlo made to go to the counter, but Lucian stopped him with a hand on his arm. A warm tingle made him pull back.
“My treat, remember? You grab a table.” Lucian dashed off and joined the short line.
“Hey,” the barista — or Cameron, as Lucian remembered from previous visits — gave him a lazy smile before leaning across the counter; he tilted his head to the board behind him. “Wanna read out the specials? Nice and slowly, just take your time.”
Lucian groaned. Why did this always happen? He might not have sounded like a born and raised Collier’s Creek local, but his accent couldn’t be that much of a novelty…
Cameron laughed. “Just kidding. What can I get you?”
Lucian gave his order for his own drink — and stopped. He hadn’t the faintest idea what Arlo would want.
“Sorry, I’m going to have to ask my friend—”
“You mean Arlo.” Cameron smiled. “Thought you’d know how he takes his coffee, what with you being his friend.” His smile turned to a grin, sprinkled with more mischief than a CC’s cappuccino was with chocolate powder.
“Erm…”
Lucian’s face throbbed. Had he and Arlo become a juicy morsel of gossip for the locals to chew over? No. No way. There was absolutely, totally, one hundred percent nothing about him and Arlo to gossip about.
Cameron laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’ve got his order. Arlo’s our easiest customer: black coffee, nothing added, nothing taken away.” His gaze flittered across to Arlo before settling once more on Lucian. “I’ll bring them across,” he said, all but shooing Lucian off before he get to work.
Arlo had found a table on the other side of the coffee shop. Lounging on what should have been Lucian’s chair was a cop, his muscles stretching his shirt tight. The cop leaned forward and said something to Arlo, who laughed, the rich, gravelly sound sending a shot of heat through Lucian at the same time it speared him with jealousy. Whatever the cop had said had been for Arlo’s ears alone, and Arlo was still chuckling to himself when he reached the table. The cop looked up at Lucian, his gaze sliding to Arlo and then back again, before he got up.
Jesus… The guy was huge, his tight uniform barely containing him. Even his muscles had muscles… Closely cropped hair and a face so chiseled it was almost a caricature completed the look. He put his cap on and pulled the peak down before donning sunglasses.Oh my god, he looks like something out of Tom of Finland.A giggle rippled up through Lucian’s body. He pressed his lips together and prayed he wouldn’t get arrested for disrespecting an officer of the law.
The cop stepped away from the chair, leaving it pulled out from the table, inviting Lucian to take his place.
“Lucian, this is Ted. Or perhaps I should say Deputy Sheriff Warren.”
“Ah, Ted’s fine. Good to meet you, Luci-Ann.” Ted held out his hand, a huge paw, and Lucian had no option but to take it as he braced himself for his fingers to be crushed to a pulp.
“It’s… errr… You too.” Maybe correcting Ted of Collier’s Creek finest wasn’t the wisest of options.
