The girl is not giving me any confidence here. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“I’m telling you, man. Take the free sub,” she urges, and I smile. “But can you help me with these three problems to make sure I do it right before you go for the sub and the epic turndown my sister is gonna provide you with?”
I flash her a grin. “Wow, you doubt me so easily. I’m known to be a smooth talker.”
“And Aviva is known to make grown men cry. Ask our landlord.”
We share a look that tells me I’m walking into a lion’s den and I should run the other way. Problem is, I need a sub for my best friend’s girl who doubts me, and I need Aviva to smile. Hopefully she’ll go on a date with me.
All that involves me going into Willz.
I want to go in.
I will go in, and maybe, just maybe, the lioness won’t bite my head off.
Chapter Six
Aviva
When the bell over the door rings, my eyes cut to the entrance to see how much I need to speed up. Big party, fuel to the fire. One person, I can keep my speed. Two people, a little faster. But none of that matters when he walks in. Nico Merryweather. Super-hot dude with a real nice ride. Who also asked me out for no damn reason at all. I’ve been going over and over it in my head to try to figure out his motive, but I can’t come up with anything. It’s obvious he’s got money. And he also can have any girl he looks at, but he wanted to take me to lunch? After I hit him? Makes no sense whatsoever. But now he’s here.
What. In. The. #7?
Highway to Ham.
A little sub shop humor.
I cut the sub for Mr. Tuna—that’s not his name, but he legit gets a tuna with bacon every day. What can I say? I know how to add mayo to a can of tuna, and people eat it up. I am still a little worried about buying mayo from the gas station next to where I hit Nico, but I’ll know soon enough what Mr. Tuna thinks. All that doesn’t matter, though, because it’s hard to pay attention with Nico taking up the whole doorway. I mean, the whole damn thing. He has to bend over to enter my shop, and seeing him…it rattles me. Thankfully, I don’t cut myself as I quickly check Mr. Tuna out. As I start on the next customer, I notice Nico doesn’t get in line. Instead, he lowers his gigantic self to the table by the door, and he distracts me.
I’m somehow able to make the #2, It’s Gonna Be Beef, but I can’t stop glancing back at him. When I first saw him earlier, I thought he was handsome, but I didn’t realize he is completely gorgeous. He’s got a boyish look to his face. Thick cheeks, but a sharp line to his jaw. His eyes are a dark brown, and the color somehow seems to make his eyes look bigger. Or maybe it’s his lashes. He has this wild blondish-brown hair that isn’t long but is not short either. Surfer-style, almost. His nose is wide, and Grilled Cheese Jesus, he has the whitest teeth I’ve ever seen. That smirk he’s wearing is dangerous, and of course, I almost cut myself when he flashes it my way.
He must have noticed that I noticed him.
Damn it.
When the door opens once more, Callie appears, and I almost cry out in relief. She comes around the counter quickly, throwing her books down as I ask, “You’re done?”
“Yup,” she says as she starts to check people out. “Your admirer is a math genius.”
That does make me cut my finger. “Son of a beef sandwich,” I groan as I turn to the sink to wash my hand. Behind me, Callie puts on a pair of gloves and gets to work as I clean my wound. Of course, it’s hard to put on a damn Band-Aid when I’m shaking everywhere. First, I didn’t suspect Nico would be a math genius. Second, I didn’t anticipate the whole admirer thing. Surely Callie is messing with me. After wrapping my finger with tape and a fresh pair of gloves, I jump back in line. Soon we get through our dinner rush.
When the bell rings over the door with the exit of the last customer, I glance over at Callie. “Don’t mess with me like that when I’m making subs.”
Callie just grins, and her gaze moves past me. I follow it to find Nico looking down at me. I come to his shoulder, but still, he towers over me. Even with a cooler of sub fixings between us, I feel him all over. He takes up the whole room. When he licks his lips, every single fiber of my being is set on fire. Man. Two minutes. That’s all I would need with him. Shit, probably one minute, given my hiatus.