Page 17 of The Best Man Problem
“Just a coffee, please.” She smiled at the young man. Not his fault he made her feel old; the kid was just being polite and a good employee. “Room for cream and sugar.”
“We have a great fair-trade medium roast we just got in from—”
“That sounds perfect, thank you.” She didn’t need a big long spiel about where the beans came from. She just wanted to get her coffee and get out.
“No fancy coffee order?” Lincoln smiled. “Nothing with gobs of syrup and a dollop of whipped cream?”
She shook her head. “I prefer the simplicity of plain cream and sugar.”
“Not me.” His grin widened. “Give me all the sugary drinks, pumpkin spice, mocha latte, so sweet and full of vanilla. I need a sugar rush with my caffeine rush.”
Ew, just thinking of a drink that sweet made her gag. She couldn’t imagine the cavities this man must get from all that sugar. Who drank coffee that was basically a warm milkshake?
“So what brings you to the shop today?”
Lincoln stood at her side by the counter—far too close, in her opinion. Hadn’t he ever heard of personal space? And the man could wipe that annoying grin off his face while he was at it. She was simply here to get coffee. No other reason.
“Just needed to grab a breath of fresh air and a cup of coffee.”
His grin widened. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Why else would you think I was here?”
He shrugged, the movement of his broad shoulders sparking memories of them bare and glistening with sweat as he moved above her, bringing her body to the peak of pleasure. She cleared her suddenly dry throat. Humor entered his hazel eyes, followed by a blaze of heat that nearly knocked her on her ass.
Dammit! He knew what she’d been thinking. Stupid, sexy jerk had probably been remembering the exact same moment. Too bad, bucko—they were a one-and-done type deal. She’d been under him, and now she was over him.
“I didn’t come here looking for you.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “I never thought you did.”
Crap!
Maybe her subconscious had led her to Déjà Brew on the slim hope of finding Lincoln here. If she was going to learn more about the man, she wanted to hear it from the source, not her friends’ internet search. Not that she did want to learn more about him. She absolutely did not.
Not at all.
“Well, um, good. So, are you enjoying your visit to Denver?” Okay, maybe she wanted to know a little bit about him. If she found out something distasteful, then she had a reason to not like him.
“It’s great, but I’m not visiting.”
“What?”
“Here’s your coffee, ma’am.”
Lilly ignored the barista as he set her to-go cup on the counter, Lincoln’s words ringing in her ears, clanging out warning bells so loud they drowned out every other sound.
“What do you mean you’re not visiting?”
He had to be visiting. The only facts she had on her Lincoln-is-bad-on-paper list were that he was the best man in one of her weddings, he didn’t do relationships, and he didn’t live here. One issue would be resolved in a matter of weeks, and the others had to stick because he’d insinuated that he didn’t do long-term. She did not want to fall for a guy who was just up for a fling, because Lilly knew herself. She didn’t fling, she fell, and something told her falling for Lincoln Reed would be a very bad move.
“I live here now,” he clarified. “Just moved into my place this week.”
“Well that’s just perfect!”
He chuckled. “Are you sure? Because you don’t sound like it’s perfect. You kind of sound like you want to throw your coffee on me. Please don’t, by the way. I burn easily.”
Oh, ha-ha, look at Mr. Sexy and Funny being all attractive and available and ruining the perfectly good wall she had in place for starting any kind of relationship with him.
