Page 43 of Unforgettable
She shook her head, casting the thought from her mind and kept her gaze forward, focusing on small things — the menu board, the rhythm of orders being called, the ease with which people reached, carried, lived without thinking. Without any effort.
Her turn came.
“Onemedium coffee,” she said, her voice steady. “And… a blueberry muffin.”
She paid, stepped aside, and waited.
Behind her, the door chimed again.
Brew stepped inside, his attention already pulled to the phone in his hand as he scrolled through a list of messages. His expression was focused, distant—caught between work and the rare moment he had allowed himself to step away from.
He mindlessly moved into line without looking up absorbed in his messages.
The barista called Randi’s order.
She stepped forward, carefully taking the bag with her muffin inside and placing it in her oversize bag slung over her right shoulder. Then she picked up her cup with herleft hand. It wasn’t graceful, but it worked.
That mattered.
She turned.
And walked straight into the moment neither of them was prepared for.
Brew looked up at the sound of her name being called and their eyes met.
He froze.
Randi stopped just short of passing him.
For a second, neither of them spoke. Didn’t move. Didn’t seem to know how.
Her heart lurched at the sight of him. Gorgeous as ever. Muscles bulging through a tight white tee.
Holy crap!
It was a casual side she never saw on him before and he looked enticingly desirable. She gulped her amazement.
His muscles were sculpted and clearly defined under a shirt that fit like a skin.
She gulped, slowly raising her eyes.
“Hi,” she said first.
Simple.
Careful.
Too careful.
His expression shifted almost immediately - surprise giving way to something warmer, something that reached his eyes in a way it hadn’t been allowed to in weeks.
“Hi there,” he returned.
Another pause.
The world continued around them—orders called, cups set down, voices overlapping but for a moment, none of it seemed to reach them.
“You look… good,” he said, and then seemed to reconsider the wording. “Better.”
