Unknown: THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME.
Unknown: COFFEE IS ON ME TODAY, BTW. There was a smiling emoji.
Unknown: I’LL BE THE GUY SITTING IN THE BACK OF THE STORE. TALL. DARK HAIR. BLUE EYES. BIG MUSCLES. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO MISS ME.
My eyes widened, and my heart slammed against my ribs. I was meeting a guy? For some reason, I’d assumed it was a girl. Maybe I should text back and tell him something came up, and I couldn’t meet with him.
I was being paranoid. I was meeting him in a very public place. Besides, Declan would be driving me, so if I needed help, he’d be there. And Larissa would know where I was, too. I’d be perfectly fine.
Me:SEE YOU LATER.
And then my heart started beating for an entirely different reason—despite my nerves, I was curious to see him in person.
CHAPTER FIVE:
Study Buddy
WHEN THE FINAL BELL RANG, I rushed out of school and found Declan waiting for me. He had the back door open, and as I approached, he smiled. I returned the gesture, even though I was exhausted. And nervous. I climbed into the backseat, and he closed the door before rounding the car and sliding in behind the steering wheel.
“Going straight home again today?” he asked just like he did every day.
“Not today. Can you please take me to Annie’s Bookstore and Café? I’m meeting someone about a tutoring job.”
Declan caught my gaze in the rearview mirror and grinned. “Tutoring, huh?”
“That’s the plan.”
Providing the guy I was meeting decided to hire me. Sighing, I rested my head on the back of the seat and closed my eyes.
Since I’d gotten the text about tutoring, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what I was doing. What if this guy was a total creep?
“Here we are, Miss Chloe.” Declan stopped in front of the bookstore.
Nerves raged in my stomach, and I blew out a long breath. I can do this. Declan opened my door, and I got out, refusing to acknowledge how my legs shook.
“I’ll be here waiting,” he said.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
I straightened my shirt, made sure my skirt wasn’t twisted, and then headed inside. Air conditioning blasted me as soon as I stepped over the threshold. A shiver worked its way down my back.
The store was quaint, which was exactly why I loved it. To my right was a small coffee bar, complete with handmade desserts and pastries. Directly in front of me were stacks upon stacks of books, neatly shelved by category and author name. I wound my way through the bookshelves to find the small cluster of tables in the back.
A tall, dark-haired, skinny guy sat at a table near the window. Headphones covered his ears, and his attention was focused on the laptop open in front of him. That wasn’t who I was meeting, was it? In his text, he said he had big muscles, and I was sure that guy hadn’t lifted a weight a day in his life.
My gaze swept the room and eventually landed on the guy sitting at the table in the farthest corner of the room. Whoa. I was pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. He sat in the chair, hands wrapped around a paper cup, face turned away from me, offering me a chance to study his profile.
He had thick, dark hair, a strong jaw, high cheekbones, and he hadn’t been lying about the muscles. His long-sleeved gray shirt stretched across his chest. One long, jean clad leg stuck out from the side of the table. He looked incredibly comfortable.
This was the guy I was supposed to tutor?
A moment later, he glanced up and pinned me with the sharpest blue eyes I’d ever seen. My breath hitched, and I blinked fast, hoping maybe he wasn’t really that hot, and I was seeing things. But then he stood, the movement the most graceful thing I’d ever seen. He hadn’t been lying about being tall, either. He had to be pushing a few inches over six feet.
“Chloe?” he asked.
Good God. His voice was deep and rich.
“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I’m Chloe.”
That was smooth. If I couldn’t even form a coherent answer to his very simple question, there was no way he’d trust me to tutor him.
He smiled, and I nearly threw my hands up in the air in frustration. Of course, his smile was as perfect as the rest of him. Seriously, where did this guy come from? Did he magically appear out of the pages of a romance novel?
“Would you like to sit?” He motioned toward the table.
I nodded. Yes, sitting was good. I reached for the chair opposite the one he’d been sitting in a moment ago, but he grabbed it before I could. He pulled it out for me, and I stared at him. I didn’t realize guys my age did things like that. Hesitantly, I sat, dropping my backpack onto the floor near my feet, and he returned to his seat.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“No, thank you.” I shook my head.
My entire body was on high alert, and I had the sudden urge to flee, to run out of this bookstore and demand Declan drive me home as fast as possible. But I had no idea why. This guy didn’t seem creepy at all—just the opposite, in fact. He was being a complete gentleman. Yet, something about him unsettled me.
“So, how long have you been tutoring?” he asked, once again wrapping his hands around the mug.
The action drew my attention, and some of the uneasiness drifted away. “Actually, you’re the first person I’ve ever tutored. I mean, if you want to hire me, that is.” I laughed nervously and
