Page 10 of Gabriel & Skye

“Is this your first day on the job?” He quirks a brow.

Great. So I am that transparent.

I take a deep breath. “You can tell?”

“Kinda.”

I straighten my spine, trying not to be affected by him. Not only is he gorgeous, but he smells fucking fantastic. Citrus with a splash of amber or cardamom. It’s so damn sexy that I try not to swoon. And I never swoon over men. I’m a fairly confident person with a bubbly personality, but Gabe Bassett makes me stop in my tracks.

Yes, I know who he is even if I was too young to remember him. Gabriel.

Travis has talked about him over the years.

Why does he make me feel so nervous?

He studies me for a moment, unsure — I think — what to make of me. “I’ll bring it over when it’s ready.” I try to keep my smile plastered on my face. These people live here and I don’t want to piss them off.

I have no choice but to remake the coffee and do the walk of shame over to the table, all without Aunt May seeing. The tension is real as I quickly hide the evidence; tipping the coffee down the sink and running the offending cup to the main dishwasher inside.

I start over again. Doubling the coffee. Reading the recipe and taking my time. Probably too much time. When I glance over toward the Bassett brothers’ table, Gabriel is watching me. He has an amused, smug expression on his face. One I’d like to wipe off if I could help it. I don't understand why his coffee was bad but the others were fine.

Not one to argue, I go through the steps and ignore him. Then I calculate my timing as Aunt May trots off out back to deal with some dirty dishes. I make my mad dash, careful not to spill any, as I high-tail across the cafe.

“Sorry about that,” I say again, swallowing my pride. I set the coffee down in front of him. “I hope this one is at least hot and tastes like coffee.”

“I can’t believe you sent your coffee back,” Grayson mutters, giving me an apologetic smile.

“It’s totally fine.” I wave a hand at him like it’s nothing. “I’ll wait, just to make sure it’s okay this time round.”

I don’t mean to linger, but I need to know if I’ve messed this one up as well.

He pours not one, but two giant heaps of sugar into the cup. Wow, that’s a lot of sugar.

I keep my trap closed. It’s not up to me to remind this complete stranger about the dangers of diabetes.

He dips the spoon into the glass mug and stirs it around. I have to say; I think I made it look pretty with the swirly design I made that looks like a leaf.

A few moments later, I’m in agony as he lifts the mug to his perfect lips to take a sip. I have to squeeze my thighs together because all I can think about — especially when his tongue darts out to mop up some foam from his lip — is how good that mouth and tongue would feel running all over my body…

“He’s a tad dramatic,” Hartley whispers to me.

I give her a small smile. “Not at all. I’d hate to think I was running the Stone’s Throw name into the ground on my first day.”

She gives me a sympathetic smile.

My eyes dart back to Gabriel’s. His brow furrows. Uh, oh. Don’t tell me I screwed up again?

“Perfect,” he says.

I let out a long breath, as if I had just released the weight of the world from my shoulders.

“Really?” I blurt.

“You scorched the milk a little, but other than that, it’s pretty good.”

Pretty good?

Scorched the milk?

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