Page 15 of Open To Negotiation

“I get it.” I wanted to make sure she knew I wasn’t judging her. “My mum never really had a reason for living here. Just that she liked it enough to stay.”

Her eyes softened as she looked at me. “But you ended up back in London?”

“It’s where she wanted to be,” I replied and then cleared my throat. Quinn nodded and then asked me if I was a dog or a cat person, like it was the most logical next question.

I’ve been told many times I’m hard to read, the guys all took time to figure me out, aside from Asher. And yet this woman seemed to know that I didn’t want to talk about a specific topic so she didn’t force it. The understanding in her eyes hit me in the chest.

I took a sip of my coffee before answering. “Dog.”

“Thank god,” she said on a sigh, like she’d been holding her breath. “I don’t know if I could've talked to you anymore if you’d said cat. Plus, you don’t seem like the kind of guy who would like cats.”

“What does that mean?”

She waved a hand up and down like that explained it. “Just look at you.” I raised an eyebrow trying to hide my amusement as she continued on. “If you did get a dog, would you want a small one or a big one?”

“Big.”

She smiled at me and nodded. “See.” I didn’t. But I wasn’t going to let that derail her because for some reason, I liked listening to her ramble. Normally I would find the trait irritating but I was on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what she would say next. “You with a big German Shepherd I can see, makes sense with the tattoos and the scowl.” She waved a hand in my direction. “You with a cat-sized dog? Absolutely not.” She tapped her chin looking at me before asking her next question. “What’s your favorite color?”

I held her gaze, the green of her eyes was bright and they almost seemed to have gold flecks around the rims. She looked so excited and even though I’d never really put much thought into a favorite color. I had an answer now. “Green.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Really?”

“What did you expect me to say?”

“You seem like the kind of guy that would say black and white or something. Mine is a sage green.”

Her smile was warm as she looked at me and it made me think I could listen to her talk all day long. As she told me a story, she got excited about something else, lost the plot and then she would get back to the original point. And I was just sitting here, charmed, watching her hands move as she spoke.

“So, what do you do for fun?”

I didn’t have a great answer so I just went with the first thing that came to my mind. “I run.”

“From something?” she asked cautiously.

“No.” Again, trying to hide my smile.

When was the last time I felt like smiling so much?

She shook her head, a disappointed look on her face. “I have a theory that only psychopaths run for fun.”

“Hmm,” I said thoughtfully, watching as that mischievous glint in her eyes remained as she watched me right back. “That is concerning. What are the signs of a psychopath? You know, just so I know what I need to watch out for.”

I watched as her lips twitched and she tilted her head. “I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. Your turn to ask a question.” She leaned forward, resting an elbow on the table between us.

I asked her what her favorite food was, and after saying she had too many but that pizza was always a good option, she threw the question back at me. She then moved on to telling me how she was an average cook, and about the time she hadn’t washed some dishes off well enough and she’d ended up eating eggs that tasted like soap.

Since sitting down with her, I hadn’t looked at my phone once, didn’t even get the urge to pull it out. I’d kind of forgotten we were in a coffee shop full of people.

It felt like no time had passed when she looked down at her phone. I knew my window of opportunity was closing. Thankfully she’d managed to sit with me for a full hour like I originally bargained for.

I wanted to see her again. I liked her easy smiles and bright eyes focused on me. I wasn’t at ease around new people but something about her soft voice calmed me. I craved her attention, thankfully she kept all her focus on me and I did the same.

“Thanks for coffee, Theo.” She smiled at me softly as we got to the doors of her building.

“You bought it,” I grumbled, which made her laugh.

At that moment I decided my new mission in life would be to make her laugh so I could be rewarded with hearing it. That was problematic and yet I wasn’t going to walk away.