“I should.” St. Clare takes a long sip from his drink. “Damn, that’s good.” He nods my way. “Have a dood gay …” His eyes flick toward my name tag. “Perry.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

ST. CLARE

“That’s your third coffee today,” Lars mutters as I lift it for a sip.

“Are you caffeine shaming me?” I ask, squinting at my computer and trying to make heads or tails of these fucking spreadsheets. “After the ordeal I just went through?”

Lars chuckles, lounging in the chair across from me, occasionally clicking or typing loudly on his laptop in a way that’s so sporadic it’s making my eye twitch. “Sure. The ordeal. That’s what’s caused this sudden addiction. Not the new barista you’re thirsty for.”

I’m not surprised that Lars has picked up on it when I’ve done nothing to hide my interest. Not from him or me … or Perry. Fuck. He’s so hot. A sweet, rambly mess with shoulders that look too broad for him to know what to do with. Then there’s the way his smile lights up his whole face like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Watching him move around that tiny cafe counter is like watching an overexcited Doberman in a china shop.

Truthfully, Perry isn’t the kind of guy I normally go for, but something in his voice gave me this instant hit of familiarity, and the more I see of him, the more interested I become.

“Good thing they serve drinks there, then.”

“Something tells me the tall glass of water you want isn’t actually on the menu.”

I finally let my attention free of the spreadsheets. “Why?”

“He hasn’t asked for your number yet. Any queer dude would have gotten your message by now.”

“Maybe he’s closeted?”

“Maybe. Which is another reason why you should let it go.”

Lars is right, and normally it would be easy to leave it alone, but I swear, every time I go in there, it’s like he wants to say something to me but holds back. That, combined with the flustering and rambling, are all giving me good signs. I shrug. “He’s cute.”

“We get plenty of cute guys in here every night, and from what Onyx says, a lot of them are on the lookout for you.”

That’s not good when I’m supposed to be disappeared right now. “What’s Onyx been telling people?”

“You’re on a business trip.”

“Good.”

“Might want to stop visiting the cafe next door if you want people to believe it though.”

Back to this again. I could stop visiting and consuming enough caffeine to wreak havoc on my blood pressure, but then how will I ever have a chance with this guy? Maybe Lars is right and I don’t have a shot in hell anyway, but Perry can be the one to tell me that.