I frowned, something sounding very familiar about that order. Black, bitter, and soulless, just like—
“Coming right up, Aaron.”
My spine stiffened as I kept my head straight ahead while my eyes widened.
“Thank you, Sally.”
That voice. It belonged to the man who would be boarding a plane with me tomorrow. The one man who I would be introducing to my family as my dear fake boyfriend.
Turning slowly in his direction, I was welcomed by a pair of ocean-blue eyes, wrapped in a serious expression I knew very well. My mouth opened, but I didn’t get the chance to say anything.
“It’s worse than I thought,” he said, scanning my face as his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Excuse me?” I scoffed, imitating him and gawking at him up and down.
“Your eyes.” He pointed in the direction of my head. “They look huge in your face. Bigger than usual. Are you sure caffeine is a good idea? You seem a little rattled already.”
My huge and bigger than usual eyes narrowed. “Rattled?”
“Yes.” He nodded nonchalantly. “Like you’ll flip any moment now.”
Biting back a couple of bad words, I took a deep breath to stop myself from flipping—like he had said—right there and then. “First of all, I am calm.” That earned me a look that told me he wasn’t buying it. “Yes. Not only calm, but also serene, mind you. Just like one of those ponds where the water doesn’t even move.”
I turned away from him, taking in Sally, who was leaning against the counter, chin resting on the back of her hand, engrossed in my conversation with Aaron. “I’m starting to miss you less and less, Sally,” I quipped and watched her smile widen as she straightened. I sent Aaron a side-glance. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work, Mr. Robot? You know, instead of out and about, pointing out how rattled random women look?”
“You are not a random woman,” he countered calmly, and then he leaned on the counter. Right beside me. “And I was, in the morning. But I have the rest of the day off.”
“A vacation?” I gasped theatrically. “Hell must have frozen over if Aaron Blackford took a day off.”
He never, ever did.
“Half day,” he corrected me.
Sally placed both our orders on the counter. At the same time. Which struck me as odd, given that I had placed mine more than a few minutes before Aaron.
I narrowed my eyes at the woman as she gifted me with an angelic smile. “There you go, guys. Nothing but the best for my favorite customers. Double espresso, no sugar. And a flat white.”
That reminded me of something she had said earlier about Aaron having a usual order.
“How often do you come here, Aaron?” I queried. Not often if I had never stumbled upon him in the past, considering how religiously I visited Around the Corner. “How do you even know this place?”
There were Google Maps, Tripadvisor, Time Out, and a million other sites that could be behind his discovery. And yet …
“Often enough,” he answered, pulling out his wallet from his pocket.
With my eyes still narrowed and tracking how his long fingers fumbled with his wallet, a memory flashed in my mind. I had talked to Aaron about Around the Corner. Or I had been talking to myself about it and Aaron had happened to hear it—whatever. It was the day he had shown up and helped me with the Open Day stuff. My back straightened with the realization.
“What’s so surprising, Catalina? I pay attention when you talk. Even when you mumble to yourself. Which you do very often. But every once in a while, you do say something interesting.”
“Are you a mind reader or something?”
“Thankfully not. I’d be terrified to know what you were thinking most of the time.” He stretched his arm and handed his credit card to Sally. “It’s on me.”
Okay. First of all, terrified? And second of all, I mumbled? Often?
Watching Sally as she took the credit card snapped me out of my stupid shock.
“Wait,” I yelped. That got both Sally’s and Aaron’s attention. “You don’t have to pay for my order. I have my own money.”