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CHAPTER 1

CORNER CAFE

Jack sat in the coffee shop, druainst the counter His coffee rested half-ee of the mad after-class rush that wore on his nerves

He was thankful for the reprieve, so he could chill and listen to the underground Seattle rock music he favored There was a pretty new band that he liked even if they were small and local and no one else had heard of theet picked up and be popular, but he kind of hoped not He’d prefer to keep their sound original and not have them sell out

He was just ready to get off work He had a few more hours left to deal with custorab a beer and watch last weekend’s college football ga homework to wrestle with, but after the day he’d had, that was the last thing on his mind

“Large coffee, please,” sohts

“Yeah, co around to coar?”

“No, thank you,” she said, her voice tentative

Jack glanced over his shoulder, a s his face He quickly tried to school his features into order as he turned around It was that girl again Almost every day he’d worked recently, she had been here, studying at a table adjacent to the counter

He didn’t knoho she was It didn’t see, and he hadn’t found a way to bring it up during the short conversations they had when she ordered her coffee—always a large, always black She ht actually drinkhe worked here

“Here you go,” Jack said, setting the stea cup on the counter

The girl earing soft pink lip gloss, accentuating her full lips, as she smiled up at him beneath thick black lashes Under those lashes were deep, dark chocolate brown eyes as big as saucers that h quicksand Her curly brown hair cascaded out around her shoulders and over the curves of her brsts, giving her a wild look

He felt his ck twitch and leaned forward on the counter He sure as hell didn’t want anyone to notice his reaction Christ, he was at work!

“Thanks,” she said, handing him her credit card

He pro with a receipt

She s all her teeth, like she had remembered her confidence after all She quickly turned around and headed to her table where she immediately removed stacks and stacks of papers

Blowing out a breath, Jack straightened and adjusted hiet her name

He fished his phone out of his pocket and hid it behind the register His er didn’t like employees to be on their phones, but she wasn’t in today If he didn’t have any custo deal

He sighed when he saw that he had irlfriend, Danielle

Hey! Really h, I wish I would have transferred in, but now, it’s too late…