Close to You

the form-fitting
black pants, and she had on another pair of silly high-heeled
shoes. Red this time. She looked stunned as he walked in, but then
her smile radiated out through her eyes.
    “ I knew you’d get hooked on
my mocha,” she said.
    It wasn’t her mochas that he wanted.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be here.”
    “ My business, therefore I’m
here till closing, at seven.” Gesturing to a bar stool, she went
behind the counter. “Sit. I have something you’ll like.”
    She had a lot he liked. Taking off her
his leather jacket, he sat where she’d pointed.
    The view was excellent. There was the
way the pants fit her (he wasn’t blind) but he also liked watching
her move. She had a graceful economy of movement. Efficient but
thorough.
    Before his thoughts shifted from her
efficient hands to how they’d feel on him, he said, “They say you
own a business, but really it owns you.”
    She glanced over her shoulder. “You
own your own business too?”
    “ I’m a contractor. I have
several sites going at once.”
    “ That could be a logistical
horror.” She came back with a cup and a plate. “I made you a
macchiato because it goes better with the boudino. Tell me what you
think.”
    He sipped the coffee and had a bite of
round chocolaty cake. It melted in his mouth, a rich, dark
explosion. It was silky, earthy, and just a little sweet, the way
he imagined Eve would taste. “You’ve found my Achilles
heel.”
    She smiled wide. “I’m only buttering
you up so when I want to expand you’ll give me a good
deal.”
    With the exception of work for his
mom, he did big commercial jobs exclusively. Usually. “Are you
planning on expanding soon?”
    “ I wish.” Leaning on the
counter, she wrinkled her nose. “I have this garden space I’d like
to convert. I know it’s often foggy out here in Laurel Heights, but
I think with the right sort of wind guard and heat lamps it’ll be
nice.”
    “ But...”
    She sighed. “Money, of course.
Renovating this place took a bigger chunk than I’d thought, and I
had to cut the garden project to make it all work
financially.”
    “ I could take a look,” he
offered before he could stop himself. What was he thinking? He
wasn’t in the business of saving women any longer. Would he ever
learn?
    “ You’d be willing to
look?”
    But how could he resist that smile?
“Now, if you’d like.”
    She glanced at the clock. “I close in
fifteen. Can you hang around until then? I’m on my own in the
evenings.”
    He wasn’t going to turn down spending
time with her. “Sure.”
    “ Do you live in the city?”
she asked as she started wiping down the counters.
    “ In the Marina.”
    She stopped and studied him
suspiciously. “You don’t look like the Marina type.”
    “ What’s the Marina
type?”
    “ Khaki pants wearing,
preppy guys.” Her cheeks flushed adorably. “I think your hair is
way over the acceptable length to allow you to live
there.”
    “ Where do you
live?”
    “ Here.” She pointed at the
ceiling. “Upstairs.”
    “ Nice commute.”
    “ Can’t beat it.”
    “ But you’re a pearl
necklace short of looking like a Laurel Heights maven. I can say
that because my mother lives a few blocks away.” He leaned forward.
“She thinks my hair is too long too.”
    Her lips twitched with amusement. “I
said it was too long to be acceptable in the Marina. I didn’t say I
don’t like it.”
    “ Do you like
it?”
    She flushed from her neck up, but
before she could reply someone stepped up to the register. She
excused herself to go help the person.
    He took in the café and its patrons
while she finished up business for the night, with a few last
minute books sales and pastries to go. Every now and then, Eve
would look at him and smile.
    He knew then it was inevitable—he had
to kiss that mouth.
    He shook his head. It’d been
inevitable from the moment he’d seen her through the window, the
first time he’d come in for his mom—he just hadn’t wanted to admit
it. He’d tried to rationalize it—he’d tried to resist—but who was
he kidding?
    It was just a question of
when.
    After she flipped the sign
in the window to closed , she walked toward him, undoing her apron. “Ready to take a
look at my backyard?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ This way.” She walked
ahead, confident even in those shoes. She led him past the restroom
to a sliding door at the end of the hall. She flipped a light and
motioned him outside.
    It was a large space. The