Page 3 of Getting Down to Business

Grayson,

I had a great time last night. Sorry there’s no food. You can help yourself to coffee. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime. Maybe not. No worries.

Liss

She hadn’t even given him her phone number.

Sure Alyssa had talked a good game, but he didn’t think it was really possible for people to have sex and walk away without any strings at all. He’d never encountered such a thing. He wanted some kind of string.

On the sidewalk, he pulled out his phone and made a note of her address, just in case.

He took a cab to his apartment across town and showered quickly so he’d have time to stop for real coffee on the way into work.

When he moved to the city, he’d promised himself he wouldn’t turn into a hipster coffee snob, but there he was in the immense line to order his double vanilla latte with foam.

The line shifted, and he looked up from his phone to notice a blonde woman in front of him. He tilted his head and studied her legs in the understated but sexy black pencil skirt. He knew those legs. They’d been wrapped around his waist for most of the night.

“Liss?” he said.

Her head instantly snapped up and she turned to face him. A look of confusion took over her subtly made-up face. With less makeup, she looked even prettier than she had the night before.

She allowed the patrons between them to go in front of her so she could stand next to him.

“What are you doing here? Are you following me?” she hissed, and tucked her damp hair behind her ear.

“No. This is where I get coffee.” He looked up at the sign above the counter. “Every morning for the last year and a half to be exact.”

“Really?” she said, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Yep.”

“I’ve never seen you here before.”

“Maybe neither of us was looking before.”

“Maybe.”

“Let me buy you coffee,” he offered. It seemed the least he could do since they’d been intimate.

“You don’t need to do that.” She pulled out her wallet as she ordered her double vanilla latte with foam.

His brows rose in surprise, and he quickly came up with a morning beverage alternative. She would surely think he was nuts if he ordered the same drink. Even if it was his normal drink. He wondered what the odds of that were as he ordered a mocha.

“Which way are you headed?” he asked.

“Up,” she answered, pointing in the direction he was going.

“Me, too. Are we allowed to walk together?”

“Sure. I’m not far.”

“I got your note and wanted to tell you I also had a really great time last night.” Great wasn’t the right word. From the ease of talking with her to the way they’d connected in bed, it had felt so different. Then she let him stay when he asked. Holding her while he slept felt right on so many levels.

“Great. We both had a great time.” He smiled at her overuse of the word he found lacking. “But now it’s the next day, and we agreed there would be no next day.” Alyssa had made it very clear she didn’t want anything from him but sex. Was there a reason? Had someone hurt her in the past? He swallowed down his urge to ask, knowing it would lead to him wanting to help.

If his past relationships had proven anything, it was that he couldn’t help everyone.

“We’re just two people walking up the sidewalk. Don’t panic.” He gave an easy shrug, at odds with how he felt. He wanted to see her again. Maybe they could have dinner and get to know each other better. Would that be so strange? People did it all the time.