Page 5 of It's a Brewtiful Day
“It’s customers like you that keep us in business.” He winked, and I nearly folded like a deck of cards.
For good measure and to wet my rapidly drying mouth, I took a sip. It was the perfect temperature, and the taste was magnificent with just the right amount of maple. I set it on the counter behind me, lest I somehow knock it over again.
“Thank you, Elliot. I appreciate you bringing me a fresh cup of coffee.” Wow, it was a rare treat to have anyone bring me something out of the blue; it was even rarer that the gift was coming from a sweetheart of a guy.
“You’re most welcome. It was the least I could do.”
“The least you could’ve done was nothing, so this is a giant step up.” A faint rush of heat flooded across my chest and neck, threatening to make me look like a thermometer.
Gently, he reached out and touched my fingers, and as he did, an electric jolt thrummed from my fingertips straight to my heart. “How’s the hand?”
I lifted it for his inspection. “All good. A little red, but nothing to worry about. The coffee wasn’t that hot.”
“Is that why you like it at a lower temperature?”
Of course, he was smirking, but that wasn’t my reason. “Iamclumsy, but I like it lower because I prefer to enjoy it right away, not hours later.”
“That makes total sense and something I’d never considered before. We should have that as an option – an ‘enjoy me right now’ temperature.” He glanced around the store, head bobbing as he scanned. “You know, I’ve never been in here before.”
“Like never?” I found that hard to believe.
“Nope.” He popped the p sound. “I’m not much of a reader. Brand new books are too expensive.”
My hand flew to my chest. “Oh, my beating heart, for real?”
He faced me and shrugged. “Plus, we were always forced to read in school, and I hated the books they chose. I wanted something fun, exciting, not a book where you needed to analyse every syllable and wonder why the author chose to use the word cerulean as opposed to sea blue or some nonsense.”
“Yeah, forced reading does take the fun out of it. But there’s lots in here that are good books. Fascinating reads.”
“Have you read them?”
I had to laugh. “No. I’ve read maybe one percent of them. I tend to be picky about what I read.”
“Right.” He nodded. “You’re always readingthe romance books.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Twice in one day, I felt the need to defend the genre. It was a crazy feeling.
He tossed his hands up. “It’s okay. I’m not criticizing you.” Stepping closer, he leaned on the counter and a stray curl fell across his forehead. “My sister reads them and loves them. Says they’re a great way to weed out the losers.”
I had to laugh, although that part was true. The men in romance books were usually amazing; beautiful yet perfectly flawed. Not like flawed-flawed and evil. I’d dealt with enough of those in real life to know I never needed to be with that type again.
“Are they the most sought-after books here?” The curiosity was ripe in his tone.
I pursed my lips together. “No, not really. There are some voracious romance readers in town, but I would say our bestsellers tend to be those written by local authors, either fiction or non-fiction. They’re huge hits with tourists as they want something unique. However, like the customer earlier, they also want a page-turning read to get them to their next destination.”
“Yeah. They’re like that with the coffees too.”
“For road trips, coffee is an absolute necessity.”
He shifted on his feet. “And a good playlist.”
“With singable songs.”
“Duets, preferably.”
“Really? Never thought about duets.” The only duet I could think of off the top of my head wasIslands in the Streambut as I gave a solid once over Elliot, he didn’t seem the country western type.
“A must. Have you ever gone to karaoke?”