“What kind of books do you like to read?” I asked, surprised by how much I wanted to know the answer.
“Honestly, anything. Thrillers, mysteries, romance. It doesn’t matter. How about you?”
“I mostly read romance.” I could feel myself blushing from my confession.
Jax nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”
“Really?” Most people were surprised when I told them that. I guess they expected me to pick something boring, or at the very least, more thought-provoking.
“Oh yeah. I know we haven’t spent a ton of time together, but you always struck me as a hopeless romantic.”
“Emphasis on the hopeless part,” I said with a chuckle.
“Now, that, I find hard to believe.”
I tried my best not to let Jax’s flirtiness get me flustered. If I was going to be living with her, I had to get used to it. This was clearly just her personality. “You should probably get back to work. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
Jax shook her head and smiled that trademark smile at me. “I took my fifteen-minute break so I could be the one to bring this to you.”
“Oh, well, thank you.” I took a sip of my drink, which might have been the greatest iced latte to ever cross my lips. I closed my eyes and had to stop myself from humming in pleasure. “It’s very good.”
“Yeah?” Jax’s face lit up even more. “That one was my creation.”
“No way.” Seriously. This was good. If Jax had come up with the recipe for this, she was seriously talented.
She nodded a bunch of times. “Yep. I mean, it’s a sugar cookie latte, so there’s only so much you can do with the recipe,but I added my own special touch to it. That’s what makes it so good.”
“And what is that special touch?” I couldn’t help but smile. The happiness that radiated from Jax was contagious.
“You’ll have to stick around a little longer to get that secret out of me, roomie.” Jax winked, and it made my stomach flip.
Shit. I hated the way my body reacted to pretty girls. It was probably because it had been so long since I had been with anyone. My ex was my only. Only girlfriend, only kiss, only sexual partner. Six years of complete celibacy was destined to do this to a girl. It was fine, though. I didn’t have time for any of that. I just had to deal with the fact that I was constantly on edge because of it.
“Speaking of being roomies, how is your first full day in New York City going?”
I thought about the blank “New Carter” list, and for the first time since arriving at the cafe, I wished I was back at the apartment so I could finally make some notes. I didn’t want to waste even one day of my new life. I wasn’t going to share that with Jax though, so I simply shrugged. “It’s pretty good. I’d call finding my favorite cafe on day one a success.” It wasn’t a lie. I knew I’d be spending a lot of time here. I loved the atmosphere so much.
Jax looked around before setting her eyes on mine once again. “It’s pretty great, right? Are you hungry? Do you like grilled cheese? You’d think grilled cheese is just grilled cheese no matter where you get it, but I’m telling you, here, it’s special. If you’re even the littlest bit hungry, you should try it. You won’t regret it.”
It took my brain a few seconds to catch up to everything Jax had just said since she was talking at a mile a minute. “I ampretty hungry. I actually wanted to ask you where you normally get your groceries. I texted Olivia, but she hasn’t answered yet.”
“There’s a local grocery store between here and the apartment that I normally hit up on my way home from work. I pretty much only buy what I need for the next day or two, and since the extent of my cooking is microwaved meals, there’s never too much in the fridge. Sorry about that. Do you cook?”
“I’m not amazing at it, but I try to cook as much as I can. It’s hard when you’re only cooking for one. Most recipes have more than one person in mind. I normally end up having a lot of leftovers.”
Jax chuckled. “I get that. It’s why I normally just grab something quick to eat. Olivia couldn’t cook either, so even when we ate together, we normally just picked something up or heated our own individual meals.” Her eyes suddenly went wide. “Quinton is agreatcook though. I loved whenever he visited your sister, because he would cook for us, and it was alwaysso good.I think that might be one of the most important factors for a successful relationship—one person who is able to cook. I’m no relationship expert, but I bet it would suck if neither person could cook.”
Jax had packed so much information into one breath, I had no idea how to respond. “Do you mind telling me how to get to the grocery store?”
“No problem.” Jax looked up at the clock. “I have two hours left here. Not sure if you had other plans, but if you want to stay in this general vicinity, we could go there together after I get off.”
Wow. Jax was really jumping into this roommate relationship. I just hoped she wasn’t expecting me to be her stand-in best friend in place of Olivia, because I was sure she would be sadly disappointed.
“I can definitely keep myself busy, if you’re sure you want to go together.”
“Of course, I’m sure.” Jax jumped from her seat. “I have to get back to work, but I’ll have a grilled cheese sent over for you.”
Before I could tell her that wasn’t necessary, Jax skipped away from me. I picked up my book and started to read again, only putting my book down once to eat the grilled cheese, which really was magical. It felt like no time had passed at all when I looked up from my book to Jax standing in front of me.
