couldn’t see what she was drawing, but I decided to leave her alone, not wanting to interrupt.
Instead, I got up to stretch my legs and went back to the counter.
“It looks like you’re writing,” Kim said when I approached. “Tell me it’s true.”
“It’s true,” I confirmed.
“Your next book?”
“Maybe.”
Her smile widened. “What can I get you?”
“A large coffee and whatever she orders,” I said, nodding toward the table Presley was at.
Kim gave me a knowing grin. “One large sugar-free vanilla soy latte and a large coffee. Coming right up.”
I paid and waited for the drinks while I watched Presley. She seemed to be lost in her own world, and it gave me a chance to admire her from afar. I had so many questions I wanted to ask her, but I knew it would be rude to interrupt, which was one of the reasons I had opted to get her coffee, hoping she could pause long enough to chat.
“Here you go,” Kim said, pushing two cups toward me. “Good luck.”
I nodded with a smile.
Luck.
With Presley, it felt as though luck was already on my side. Seriously, what were the odds that I’d see her three times in two weeks in a city the size of this one? It didn’t seem likely unless some higher power was tossing me a favor.
That and the writing. For whatever reason, since last night, the writing was back with a vengeance, and I had a feeling I could thank Presley for that.
“Brought you this,” I announced as I stepped up next to her table.
Presley sat up straight and that was when I noticed the drawing. Thankfully she took one of the cups because I would’ve dropped it as soon as my brain registered what I was seeing on her paper.
The drawing. The woman’s face. That was…
No, it couldn’t be.
I lowered myself into a chair, still admiring the sketch.
When Presley started to place her hand over it, I instantly reached for her. The moment I touched her, I felt an electrical current start in my fingers, winding through my body until it stopped somewhere dangerously close to my groin. Lifting my eyes to meet hers, I tried to see if she felt it, too.
Her eyes were locked on mine and I noticed she swallowed hard.
That electrical spark thing… I’d honestly thought it only existed in romance novels. Yeah, sue me for writing about shit I’d never experienced before. I’d really thought it was something someone had made up, but based on the tingle in my arm and the throb in my dick, I could now say it was real.
Breaking the spell between us, I released her hand and mumbled an apology before dropping my gaze back to the drawing. “This is amazing. It looks like one of my characters.”
“Jill,” Presley said softly, hitting the button on her phone and then holding it up for me to see.
I leaned in, scanning the words on the screen. “You’re reading my book.”
“Guilty,” she said.
Regaining some of my composure, I leaned back in my chair and realized I was sitting at her table, not my own. Still, I didn’t move. “What do you think?”
Presley gave me a one-shoulder shrug and the most adorable smile I’d ever seen. “It’s all right.”
“That’s exactly how I imagined her,” I told her, tapping the paper with my finger.
“I drew her based on your description. I have to say, it wasn’t hard.”
“Are you saying I’m good?” I smirked at her, loving the way she blushed slightly. It wasn’t something I would’ve expected from her considering all the badass tattoos and piercings.
“I didn’t say that,” she offered with an easy chuckle, picking up her latte and taking a sip. “I’ll have to keep reading to determine that.”
“Well, by all means.” I got to my feet and moved back to my own chair. “Don’t let me stop you.”
Presley’s eyes met mine, and it was in that moment that I realized I wanted this woman to be important, to be something more than a meaningless fling. It felt as though there was a reason she’d been put in my path, or I in hers.
Either way, I was looking forward to finding out more.
Chapter Twenty
Presley
As I walked back to my condo, clutching my sketchbook to my side, I continued to replay what had happened back at that coffee shop over and over in my head.
Not the part where I’d been transfixed by the sexy, brooding author, either.