Page 4 of Love You A Latte

Her big blue eyes turn on me and I’ve never been more tempted in my life to pull the emergency break. I want to kiss that forlorn look right off her face, then pummel her ex in the throat, then whisk her away to my loft and keep her there forever.

That’s completely unhinged.

I force myself to look back at the road. I clear my throat and widen my eyes at myself, trying to get a grip.

“Yeah, that sounds crazy. I’m really glad you’re getting out of that situation. When are you supposed to hear back about the transfer?”

If it’s not in the next two hours, I fear my spleen might rupture from how badly I want this for her.

“I was supposed to hear back today, but,” she pauses to check her phone, “nope, nothing yet.”

Addison sighs as her hands fall to her lap, dejected. My heart falls right along with them.

“What do you like to listen to?” I ask, willing to listen to anything that will bring her smile back, and before I know it, I have her singing along to Chappell Roan with me as we fly down the desert highway toward home.

~~~

“Thanks again for the ride. I really don’t know what else I would have done,” Addison says.

Her eyes are an impossible shade of blue. Wide and round as she gazes at me from the passenger seat, bright as the sky on the outside with a ring of lighter, pale blue around the center.

“Okay, um,” Addison shuffles in her seat as she breaks eye contact and opens her door.

“Right, yeah, no problem,” I say, shaking myself out of whatever trance that was as I unbuckle and step out of the truck. I think she might have been casting a spell on me.

I open the back and reach out to grab her suitcase when my hand closes over hers on top of the handle. I look up right as she turns in my direction, and I instinctively squeeze her hand in mine. She’s a few inches taller than me, so when her throat bobs with a hard swallow, it’s impossible to miss.

“Frankie?” Addison whispers, and I want to hear all the different ways she might say my name.

“Yeah,” I say, my own voice quiet and laced with want.

“Um,” Addison looks down at our hands on her suitcase, and I jolt, then decide to make the best of it.

I stroke my thumb along the soft skin on the back of her hand, then slip my fingers around and under hers.Addison’s eyes shoot back to mine, wider than they were before. I lean forward, and her body mirrors mine until my mouth is just below her ear.

“Let go, sweets,” I keep my voice low and soft, eager to see how she’ll react.

Her hand springs open, letting go of the suitcase, and I shift my grip to her wrist before she can pull away. Her eyes dart between mine, the moment stretching as she wonders what I’ll do.

I quirk my lips into a half smile as I squeeze once, then loosen my grip, allowing her to slowly pull away. Addison’s cheeks flush and she pulls her hand into her chest, then tucks an errant strand of wavy hair behind her ear. I whistle the last song we were listening to as I pull her bags out and pile them up on the porch for her, right in front of the door. Addison stares at me the whole time until I shut the tailgate and lean against it, crossing my arms.

“I let Moose out and fed him this morning, the key is in the lockbox, you have the code?” I say.

She blinks a few times before registering what I’ve said and I bite my lip to keep from chuckling.

“Yep, got it right here.” She waves her phone as I nod.

“Alright then, let me know if you need anything else. You know where to find me.”

“Right! Thanks again,” Addison says.

I get back in the truck with a wave, and she returns it a little too enthusiastically, throwing on the fakest smile I’ve ever seen as I pull out of the driveway.

It makes me angry for some reason, thinking about her soft lips stretched around a fake smile, and I clench the steering wheel as I navigate into town. Addison shouldn’t have to fake anything around me. I want the real version of her, not the one she gives to people she doesn’t know. My thoughts stumble when I realize that I am one of those people, though. We don’t really know each other. We haven’t for nearly a decade, despite her being my best friend’s little sister. Still, I never want to see that smile again.

I’m planning how to remedy this problem when I unlock the coffee shop’s back door to find another unaddressedenvelope has been slipped under it. My head jerks up as I whip around, my gaze darting up and down the alley as I walk around the building to check the main street of our quaint little town, but there’s no one suspicious to be seen.

My lips pinch with irritation as I step inside and quickly shut the door behind me, locking it while I stoop to snatch up the envelope. I already know what I’ll find inside. I have a whole stash of them locked in my desk upstairs. I know I shouldn’t open it, that I should probably take it to the police, but I also know there’s nothing they can or will do, since it’s only a letter.

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