really, it wasn’t. It was only the last thing I’d drawn that I actually liked. It was a puzzle of sorts, I guess. An elephant broken into pieces, something I was considering for my next tattoo. When I’d first started it, I’d been focusing on depth and shading more than anything. Unfortunately, I was only carrying it around to remind myself that I’d lost whatever mojo I’d had before.
When he leaned closer, I retrieved the napkin, trying not to notice how freaking good he smelled as I made direct eye contact with the man, allowing myself to notice the intriguing color for the first time. They weren’t blue and they weren’t green, sort of an interesting combination of the two. Teal. A rare color that had me staring for a heartbeat too long.
Jerking my attention back to my paper, I placed another x, then another o, pretending I hadn’t been watching him, all while I fought the urge to look at him again.
Between the mussed, jet-black hair that was a little long, those mesmerizing eyes, dark eyebrows, and the weeks’ worth (at least) of beard stubble lining his jaw—a little more than what was fashionable these days—the guy had my pulse ratcheting up a notch.
It did not go unnoticed that this was the first time I’d had any sort of physical attraction to a guy in … too damn long. Needless to say, the mystery man had definitely caught my attention.
Oh, did I mention his lips? He had full lips, the kind a woman wanted to feel leaving a blazing trail of heat all over her body.
Christ. I really needed to get it together.
He looked familiar, but for the life of me I had no idea where I might’ve seen him.
Before I could spend too much time thinking about that, my cell phone rang. Glancing down at the screen, I saw that it was Gavin.
“Hey,” I greeted, keeping my voice down as I pressed the phone to my ear.
Gavin yawned loudly into the phone. “Where’re you at? I thought for sure you’d be sleeping.”
“Ran out to get coffee.” I didn’t bother to tell him that I couldn’t sleep and that I’d been awake for hours, and at this point, my day was almost over. He had probably realized that by now, since this wasn’t the first time in the last couple of weeks that I’d disappeared—and not to the shop—before he ever saw the light of day.
“You gonna bring me a cup?”
I could hear the sound of the shower in the background and I wondered if he still had company or if he really had sent them home like Gil said. “You can get your own coffee.”
Gavin chuckled softly.
“Oh,” I added, “make sure you pick your clothes up off the bathroom floor. And do not let me find your underwear in the hallway again.”
Gavin laughed, evidently amused by that. “I’ll think about it. You comin’ home soon?”
“Yeah.” Not because I wanted to but because sitting in the coffee shop hadn’t helped one bit and the last thing I needed was more caffeine. “Ten minutes or so.”
“Cool. See you then.”
I disconnected the call and tucked my phone into the pocket of my hoodie while I stared down at the page now full of tic-tac-toe boards. With a sigh, I closed the sketchbook and got to my feet.
Curiosity had me glancing down at the man’s notebook to see if he’d written anything more. I smiled when I was close enough to identify the two words he’d jotted on the page earlier: Chapter One.
A writer. Definitely not what I would’ve guessed.
“That’s a start,” I told him, grinning when he looked up at me. “If you’re at a loss, you could always go with once upon a time.”
He flashed me a brilliant smile, and the lopsided grin transformed him from ruggedly handsome to smoking hot.
“I’ll take that into consideration.”
Before my vivid imagination could undress him where he sat, I shook off the thought and smiled. “Have a good day.”
The man nodded, his eyes intently focused on me briefly before I turned and walked toward the door, tossing my paper cup into the trash receptacle on my way out.
With my sketch pad beneath my arm, I thrust my hands into my pockets in an effort to keep warm. I should’ve dug out my heavy jacket that morning, but I hadn’t had the energy nor the desire to hunt through the unpacked boxes I’d stuffed into my closet to find it.