10. Coffee, Tea,Me?

Iwas just finishing up another chapter of the book I was reading, because, well, there certainly weren"t any customers. Which was starting to worry me. How was I supposed to keep Cool Beans afloat without people coming to buy coffee? That marketing thing Liam had set up with the cat shelter was starting to sound better and better. But the next one wasn"t for a few more weeks.

Until then, I"d cut back on most everyone"s hours to at least try to save on labor. I had help in the mornings to open, but after that first morning rush, we were pretty much dead. Until Hayes showed up.

Right now, the only time I got to see him was when he came to the café. Xan had taken to showing up at the house most nights, pretending he simply wanted to spend time with me while I was home. I saw right through him but hadn"t yet figured out how in the world to tell him to back off. And he knew it.

Right on time, I spotted Hayes walking into the café, a grin on his face. My heart did a little flip, and I chastised the fickle organ for trying so hard to talk me into falling for him. It wasn"t going to work. This was just a fling. It was fun and short term, so no one got hurt.

"Hey, you," I said as he approached the counter. "The usual?"

He leaned in, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "If the usual includes a daily dose of caffeine and a kiss from the cute barista."

I rolled my eyes, fighting a blush. Falling into the easy banter had become second nature over the past few days. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Kingman."

We chatted as I made his usual-unusual order. He always got a latte, but he let me make a blend of flavors to surprise him and he had to guess what it was. I"d been concocting today"s drink in my mind all afternoon. No way he"d guess this one.

The espresso machine made a funny sputter and spit the last few drops into the little shot glasses. It was throwing a fit and I did not know how to placate it. A few squirts of this and a few squirts of that, and I had today"s special ready to go.

I handed it over and watched carefully as he took a few tentative sips. "You"re never going to guess this one."

"I guessed Snickers, Girl Scout Samoa cookie, and Peeps, so I think I"m winning." He took another sip and winked.

I hated when he did that because it made my tummy do the same funny flips as my heart. The two were in cahoots.

"Huh." He took a longer sip this time and narrowed his eyes at me. "You cheated. This isn"t a latte with some flavors in it at all, is it?"

"Expand your horizons, Kingman. The entire world doesn"t drink coffee." I certainly didn"t. Blech.

"This tastes like Christmas flavored coffee. I"m getting strong cinnamon, nutmeg, and something else." He smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Is that... cardamom?"

"How do you know that?"

"This is a chai latte with an espresso shot in it. Fuck yeah." He gave himself a fist pump and I wrinkled my nose at him.

"It"s called a dirty chai, just so you know, and I was sure I had you on that one."

"Kelsey makes the most amazing chai cookies. Otherwise you would have stumped me. I swear." He leaned over the counter. "Now pay up."

"Fine." I gave him the kiss he was owed, and he cupped the back of my head, taking this a whole lot deeper than was appropriate for a public place. Or maybe that was just what my imagination was doing fantasizing about what else he could do with his tongue.

I was just about to count his teeth with my own tongue as a guide when I spotted Xander"s stupid car pulling up. Again.

"Shoot, it"s Xander," I sighed. This was getting to be a damn routine. "Off you go to hide."

Hayes didn"t need to be told twice. He ducked behind the counter just as my brother walked in, another guy in tow.

"Hey, Willabean," Xander said, his grin a little too wide. "I want you to meet someone."

I plastered on a smile, my stomach sinking. I had a feeling I knew exactly where this was going.

"Willa, this is Cai," Xander continued, gesturing to the tall, athletic-looking guy beside him, who coincidentally was also wearing a DSU Dragons hoodie. "He"s on the team with me."

Surprise, surprise.

Cai stepped forward, offering his hand. "Nice to meet you, Willa. Xander"s told me a lot about you."

I shook his hand, shooting my brother a subtle glare. "Has he now? All good things, I hope."

Xander clapped Cai on the shoulder, his smile turning sly. "Oh, definitely. In fact, I thought maybe you two might like to grab dinner sometime. You know, get to know each other better."

Cai glanced over at Xander with more than a little surprise. Great, even he didn"t know this was a set up. How embarrassing.

I gritted my teeth. I was going to murder my brother. Possibly with this espresso machine, because it was the handiest weapon I could find. "That"s really sweet of you, Xan, but I"m not really looking to date right now. Running the coffee shop is keeping me pretty busy."

Cai"s shoulders relaxed, and he nodded. "No worries, I get it. Maybe I"ll just come hang out at your coffee shop sometime."

"Sure, that"d be great," I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. The last thing I needed was another complication in my already messy love life. Hanging out with any of Xander"s friends or teammates was definitely a complication. And he knew it.

Xander frowned, clearly not happy with my response. "Come on, Willa. You can"t work all the time. Live a little. Cai"s family is Hmong. You guys could swap stories of Vietnam."

Cai looked at Xan like he was on crack, and I felt bad for the guy.

"Right, I was teaching there earlier this year. But I"m stuck in good old Thornminster for the time being."

"Oh, right. Well, that"s cool. I"ve never actually been, but my grandmother sure wants me to go." Poor Cai looked like he wanted to flee the country right now.

I opened my mouth to say something about how much I liked living in Ho Chi Minh City but hadn"t yet made it the north were the Hmong people traditionally lived, when I was cut off by a sudden hissing and sputtering from the espresso machine. I whirled around, my eyes widening in horror as steam billowed out from the top.

"No, no, no," I muttered, frantically pressing buttons, and turning knobs. "Not now, please not now."

I glanced down at Hayes whose eyes were as wide as mine. Not that he could do anything. It was too late anyway. With a final, pathetic wheeze, the machine went dead, leaving me staring at it in dismay.

"What the hell was that?" Xander asked, peering across the counter.

I forced a laugh, hoping it didn"t sound as hysterical as I felt. "Just a little technical difficulty."

"I"d better get going," Cai said, glancing between me and the defunct espresso machine. "But it was really nice meeting you, Willa. Maybe I"ll see you around."

"Yep, super, come in for... a drink anytime," I said distractedly, already wondering how much a repair was going to cost. Or worse, a whole new machine. "Thanks for stopping by."

Once Cai was out the door, Xan hissed at me with the same vehemence as the espresso machine. "You could have been friendlier. I"m trying to help you out."

"No you aren"t, you're being a dick, and you told me you were going to knock that shit off." I swirled my hand in a circle. "Remember, you swore on your pizza?"

"You"re a brat." The espresso machine rattled again, and Xan stepped away. "Good luck with that. See you later, beanie."

I"d yell at him for not offering to help, but I still had Hayes at my feet.

As soon as Xander was gone, Hayes popped up from his hiding spot, his brow furrowed. "You okay?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Not really. This is a disaster. I can"t run a coffee shop without an espresso machine, and I have no idea if there"s room in the budget for repairs. In fact, I don"t even know if there is a budget at all. Accounting is not my strongest suit, and I don"t want to bother the Guncles. They"re on their way to the Drake Passage to see the penguins."

Damn, I wish I was on my way to see penguins.

"I can help you with the books." He pushed the now sweaty strands of hair from my face. "Numbers come easy to me. I even do half my family"s taxes for them."

"I can"t ask you to do that."

He stepped closer and pulled me into a hug. I melted into his embrace, some of the tension draining out of me.

"You can, and I will help," he murmured, rubbing soothing circles over my shoulder blades, right where all my tension was building up.

I don"t know how he did it, always making me feel like he had my back. But I think it was a fundamental difference in his family and mine. I"d seen it even just playing games with him and his brothers. They were all there for each other in every little way.

That was the opposite of the Rosemounts. Our family motto might as well be winner takes all, loser gets the shaft. They didn"t mean it, I knew that. But it was how they made me feel.

Somewhere deep inside where I wasn"t ready to look, I wished I was a Kingman. And not as a sister.

With a heavy sigh, I flipped the sign on the café door to "Closed" and locked up. The broken espresso machine had effectively killed any chance of staying open for the rest of the day.

Hayes followed me back to the small office, his presence a comforting warmth at my back. I collapsed into the chair in front of the laptop, rubbing my temples.

"I guess we should take a look at the books," I said, my mind laced with exhaustion before we even started. I did not enjoy digging into the details like this. I was a whole lot better with people than I was data. "Let"s see how much I can afford to spend on repairs."

I doubted it was much based on the first weeks' worth of business.

Hayes perched on the edge of the desk, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder. "Okay, let"s boot it up and see what we"re working with."

I opened up the financial spreadsheet, but the rows of numbers swam before my eyes. I couldn"t focus, and the only thing that kept me staring at it for as long as I did was the way Hayes"s thumb traced soft circles on my skin. After I entered today"s sales and the row calculated this week"s running total, I groaned and slammed the laptop shut. We were in the red. Literally. That stupid little box turned bright red, taunting me with its negativity.

Crappity crap. I hated feeling so absolutely inept. I always did whenever I was home surrounded by my family"s expectations. Which I never lived up to.

"I shouldn"t have said I could do this." I sank into my chair. I also shouldn"t have said that out loud. What I didn"t need was Hayes thinking I was a whiny, weak bitch who didn"t care about anyone but myself.

Hayes cupped my head and gave my temple a soft kiss, then slowly opened the laptop back up. "I think it"s my turn."

He pulled me out of the chair and took over, typing away, making the spreadsheet move in ways I didn"t even know were possible. He even made some pretty graphs that, while colorful, didn"t mean a damn thing to me.

"Huh. Umm, I think we"re going to be here a while, babe." He stared back at the screen and honestly, his face looked a bit horrified. "These books are a mess. Make us some tea? I"m gonna need some caffeine."

Tea? Since when did he drink tea? "Don"t you mean coffee?"

He glanced up at me and gave one of those small don"t-be-ridiculous headshakes. "You don"t like coffee."

Exqueeze me? I put my hand over my heart, mightily offended. "Of course I do. I"m working in my family"s coffee shop. I"m a barista for goodness' sake."

Hayes spun the chair around, yanked me into his lap, and gave me a long, lingering, extra tongue-filled kiss. "You taste like some kind of tea that I don"t know the name of. Never once have you tasted like coffee."

"Maybe I just don"t want coffee breath." I gave him a so-there smirk. Besides, coffee breath wasn"t conducive to getting kissed.

"The first day I was in here, you told me I was boring for wanting a cup of black coffee."

"Black coffee is boring. Who drinks hot bean water plain?"

"See, just the fact that you refer to coffee as hot bean water is disdainful. You come up with all kinds of crazy flavor combinations that taste more like ice cream than java, the cups with your name on them always have the strings with the little paper flags hanging off the side, and," he poked me in the chest, right over my heart, "you broke the espresso machine."

I had no response to that. He was on a roll now, and it was scary correct.

"Not only do you not like coffee, I think you"ve got a bit of a mad-on for it. I"d go so far as to say you hate coffee."

"I... don't..." He"d noticed all of that in the ten-ish days I"d been here and figured out what no one else in my family ever had? "I don"t know whether to be weirded out that you"ve been coffee stalking me, or relieved that you"ve figured out my deepest darkest secret."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned in for another kiss. He whispered against my lips, "I want to know all your secrets, Willa."

He was the first person I ever wanted to share the real me with, and that was bad, because I was already ignoring my own advice and getting way too attached to Hayes Kingman.