Page 31 of The Air You Breathe

“I think you might say yes because you're annoyed he won't ever stop. Isn’t he like fifteen?” he asked, with a little annoyance in his tone.

I laughed. “He is eighteen, but he is seriously harmless.”

“I know his mom, so if he tries anything, let me know,” he said, looking at the menu. I don’t know why I found the offer so endearing but I did.

“I’ll keep that in mind. What can I get you?” I asked, leaning over the counter. “Or should I whip you up that brown sugar and cinnamon latte?”

“I would like that, I desperately need the caffeine,” he said, in an exhausted voice. That's when I noticed he did look a little rough with dark under his eyes that screamed he hadn’t slept well.

“Well, being outside the coffee shop so early will do that to you. Is everything ok?” I asked, trying to appear unconcerned.

He shrugged. “It’s just some stupid shit with the garage. It’s exhausting.”

“At five in the morning?” I asked, a little suspicious.

He looked around, then leaned in, making me lean in too. “We had someone try and break in a few nights ago. Jaime wanted us to see if we saw anything suspicious.”

“Oh, that sounds serious,” I said, still leaning over. We were close enough that if I wanted to, I could bend forward slightly to kiss him. He glanced at my lips before leaning back.

“Yea, it is,” he said, before he licked his lips, sending my mind spiraling into thoughts about what that tongue could do.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, turning around to start his coffee.

“Actually, I am. Do you have any of those burritos?”

“Yeah, I think we still have some in the back, let me check,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to catch him staring at my ass. Well, I’m pretty sure he was, but his eyes shifted too quickly. I walked to the back with a little more sway in my hips.

What the hell was I doing?

I had flirted with a guy at a bar for my birthday, we exchanged numbers before we made out but no matter how many times I pulled up his phone number, it didn’t feel right. Of course, I thought of Evan and that stupid note he left at my home a couple of weeks ago. It took everything I had in me not to call or text him. I thoroughly believed our ship had sailed and nothing good would come of us trying to get back together.

Then I thought of Dev. There was no reason to think of him but his expressions on my birthday were startling. He looked almost as angry as Evan, sending me a thrill of excitement at the possibility that he might be jealous, but when he left with Kelsey, it left me unsure. This is why I was always too hesitant to date; all these doubts and feelings made me feel out of control.

“Your head looks like it's going to explode,” Mary said, while I checked to see what burritos we still had in the back.

“I think it might,” I admitted.

“Care to quickly unload?” She wiped her hands on a towel and leaned her butt against a table.

“I think I like Dev but…” I couldn’t finish the sentence because I had so many buts.

“Child you complicate things so much.” She walked over to me. “You’ve always been a woman with a lot of buts—in her vocabulary,” she said, winking at me, making me laugh. “Forget the buts and go with what you want. Stop selling yourself short, stop overthinking everything, stop hesitating, do this for yourself and no one else.”

She pulled me in for a hug. “I don’t know what I would do without you, Mary,” I said, squeezing her just a little tighter.

“Well, you obviously wouldn’t be thinking about getting railed by a gorgeous man with tattoos,” she cackled, going back to work.

“Mary!” I hissed at her, praying that Dev did not hear her, and I wouldn’t have to stand there embarrassed.

“Child, you can’t hear shit out there, plus if he did hear, then that is the push you need to get over yourself.” She went back to work.

I rolled my eyes at her as I grabbed the burrito and prayed that he didn’t hear anything. When I looked for him, he was on the phone sitting at one of the tables that were off to the side. Relief flooded me, making me feel at ease that he couldn’t have heard that I might like him, or that I was thinking about getting railed by him.

Fuck my life, I did not need to be aroused at work.

I started to think about everything that was not sexy as I put the finishing touches on his coffee. I delivered his coffee and burritos. He nodded at me as he said something in another language. Did Dev speak Italian?

It was hard not to focus on his conversation too much, but the switch between English and Italian was really fucking sexy. Thankfully more customers came in, taking up my time and giving me a chance to stop hyper focusing on everything that was sexy about Dev. At one point he laid a twenty on the counter while I helped someone else. He nodded at me before he left, leaving me disappointed.

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