This had prompted me to drive into town and retrieve my coffee truck from its overnight storage unit so I could ply my trade at the outdoor ice-skating rink. This was a Monday night, so I wasn't counting on tons of business, but I wasn't counting onhimshowing up either.
Reluctantly, I stood to face him. "Uh, hi."
Skipping the return greeting, he asked, "So,areyou?"
"Am I what?"
He grinned. "Stalking me."
His grin made my insides turn to jelly as I stared across the counter. Tonight, he was actually wearing a coat, a navy ski jacket that looked annoyingly good on him – although not nearly as good as he'd looked without it.
But hey, at least he was joking. And ifhecould, so could I.
I put on my innocent face. "Me? I'm not stalking younow."I gave him the crazy-eye. "But who knows what I'll do tomorrow."
He looked intrigued. "Oh, yeah?"
Heat rushed to my cheeks. "That was a joke."
"Too bad." His mouth quirked at the corners. "But hey, thanks for the mocha."
Too bad?What didthatmean?Now I was doubly confused."Whatmocha?"
"The one you left on the porch."
I tried to think. "Do you mean the two I made for the demolition guy?"
"Andme."His tone grew teasing. "Two guys, two mochas. I did the math. So hey, thanks."
I fought a ridiculous urge to smile. "Oh come on! You must've heard me explain."
"Explain what?"
"That I was making two mochas for him because he couldn’t decide." It's not that I begrudged the renter the extra mocha. I just didn't want to give him the wrong idea, like, for example, that I wanted to cover his abs in whipped cream and lick all of it off.Slowly.
Plus, there was the whole stalking thing.
Did leaving stray mochas count as stalking?
Probably.
In front of me, the guy shrugged. "So he decided."
I blinked stupidly across the counter. "Decided what?"
"That he liked the one with peppermint. He didn't even try the other one, just passed it over to me.Best one I ever had."
Compliment or not, I felt my face go all scrunchy. "So youlikecoffee?"
"Sure. Doesn't everyone?"
"Well, no, actually. I mean, the neighbor guy doesn't. And neither does his wife."
"What neighbor guy?"
"Youknow," I said. "The guy who left the drink that you ended up buying."
But not taking.
