way that this place was here when we were kids,” I told Layla right after I’d taken a slug of my coffee and savored the mocha flavor before I swallowed it.
It was Sunday, and the mall was busy, but once we’d ducked into the specialty coffee shop, it was a little less noisy.
She shook her head as she swallowed a mouthful of whatever concoction she’d just ordered. “It wasn’t here. It was built about two years after you left. There are a lot of high-end places here, so I don’t shop here much. But if you’ve never stopped at a specialty coffee place, this is the place to experience it first. We have the usual chains like Starbucks, but this place is special. They care about serving the best coffees on the planet.”
Layla had plucked this excursion off my never-have-I-ever list I’d given her. I’d known it the minute I’d seen the sign across the entrance to the coffee place.
“I’m surprised you didn’t pick the Coffee Shack. It’s been in town for as long as I can remember,” I mused.
She held up her hand. “Don’t get me wrong. The Coffee Shack is amazing, too, and I go there a lot, but it’s nice to splurge once in a while. They’re pretty expensive here, but they have some really exotic coffees.”
“I think I can afford it,” I teased. “And it is damn good coffee.”
Honestly, it was the best coffee I’d ever had. Then again, it wasn’t all that hard to top the cheapest generic brand I could find in the grocery store.
During med school, it had been more about quantity than quality.
Layla and I had gotten a small table in the corner of the shop where we could sit and enjoy the extra-large coffees we’d ordered.
I’d been relieved that she’d traded her sexy sundress for a pair of jeans and a colorful tank top when she’d swung by my house earlier. But I’d eventually discovered that it didn’t really matter what she was wearing. I was pretty sure I’d want to nail her, regardless of her attire.
There was something about this woman that always took my breath away.
“Is this really a first for you?” she asked, her beautiful blue eyes studying my face.
“Yep,” I said honestly. “I could never justify the money it would cost to buy my coffee at an expensive coffee place. In Boston, I could buy a whole can at the grocery store for the price of a large coffee in some of those places. I made coffee at home and carried around a very large, insulated cup when I left my apartment. Once I got to the hospital, almost every department had a pot brewing somewhere.”
She nodded. “I was pretty tight when I was in school, too. But once I started working as a nurse practitioner, I decided I could splurge occasionally.”
“I’m definitely willing to renegotiate your salary, Layla. Fortney didn’t pay you all that well.” Hell, I’d give the woman whatever she wanted. She deserved it.
She sent me a sweet smile that made my dick so hard that it was almost uncomfortable as she said, “I was fresh out of school when we negotiated that contract. I was a new grad, so he was pretty generous considering I had no experience. Even now, I’m kind of a newbie. I’ve only been at the clinic for two years, and my salary is fine. I’m still paying off student loans, and I’d like to eventually buy my own place, but I’m not complaining. It’s nice to have a little money for the extras now.”
Layla had never been a complainer, no matter her circumstances. “We’ll be reviewing the contract soon,” I warned her. “You aren’t fresh out of school anymore.”
Hell, I’d just bought a beachfront home that had cost millions, and Layla was still saddled with student loans.
She swallowed a sip of coffee before she insisted, “I’m fine, Owen.”
“I can knock out those student loans in a matter of minutes, Layla. Let me help you,” I insisted.
“Absolutely not,” she scolded. “Owen, I knew I was going to have to pay back my student loans, and it isn’t crushing me. They’re my responsibility.”
“My money grows enormously every damn day, thanks to the investments Evan helped me make.” I hesitated a second before I said, “Which brings me to a question I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
“Ask,” she encouraged.
“How would you feel about working in a free clinic? I’ve thought a lot about the change in my circumstances, and I sure