Elias worked on spooning quite a bit of sugar in the mysterious drink before pushing it toward me. “It’s a Spris, half coffee and half tea. I order it so I can drink more and still be able to sleep. Habesha love their bunna and chai breaks, and I can end up drinking too much caffeine if I don’t watch it. As you already found out, Desta.”

Oh man, winking.

Sexy winks were not going to be good for me.

I cleared my throat in another weak attempt to keep it together. “Interesting. I’ll try that next time.”

Another wink. Yep. I was in trouble.

I tried to regroup and went with a topic that wouldn’t lead us down a path that risked more appearances of the dimple, or more winking with perfectly lashed brown eyes. “So how long have you been working for Aid USA? Do you like it?” I asked, holding back a whimper after taking a second sip of my incredibly delicious macchiato.

Elias swirled his spoon, trying to dissolve all the sugar he put in his very short cup of tea/coffee as he talked. “About five years. I got the driver job while I was still in university.” He talked as he took careful sips. He licked his bottom lip every time, and I needed to find another spot on his face to focus on, because this was going to end poorly.

“So you worked full time while in school? That’s a lot.”

He shrugged, fiddling with the cutlery the server had brought us. “I went to Addis Ababa University, and their classes are very demanding. I didn’t really work the first three years, but I got this job the last year.” This time he ran his tongue over the little spoon. Oh God.

I nodded, trying hard to focus on what he was saying, but it was a struggle.

“I wanted to do an online master’s degree from a school in the UK right after I finished my B.A., and the embassy jobs pay well. I also had a lot of time to read in between drives,” he said, smiling. “And they helped with school, which is nice. The logistics coordinator position is interesting too.”

There was something in how he said that made me want to ask more questions.

“That’s great.” I knew in a lot of the places I’d worked in, U.S. Embassy positions, even service ones, were coveted because of the pay and benefits. I also knew of colleagues in other countries who took jobs that were completely unrelated to their actual degrees because the pay was better. “What’s your degree in? Did you enroll in the master’s program?” I asked, genuinely interested.