Page 21 of A Secret Chance
He chuckled in spite of himself. “My team will be in town. If not, I’ll call the Chance Rapids Limo Company.”
“At your service,” Charlotte laughed and pretended to salute. “Good luck with your meeting.”
“Thanks,” Baxter replied. “I’m going to need it.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte said. She put the car into gear. “I hear their lawyer is a real ball-buster.”
Baxter puffed out an exhale, the cloud of steam hanging heavily in the air. “No kidding. Thanks again,” he said and closed the door.
Charlotte waved as she drove away. Well, at least one person in this town doesn’t hate us, he thought to himself. He wondered how someone as business-oriented as Charlotte O’Hare could be so averse to bringing development into the town.
As he made his way up the freshly shoveled walkway to the Sugar Peaks Café, he wondered how well she knew Lauren Bunkman.
Chapter 10
THE HAIR ON HER ARMSrose as she saw his icy blue eyes through the crowd in the coffee lineup. She took a breath and then waved as casually as she could. He smiled and nodded. Lauren stood as he approached the table, hoping that her palms weren’t as sweaty as she knew they were.
“Miss Bunkman,” he greeted her as he extended his hand.
“Lauren is fine,” she said, shaking his hand, noticing that her palms weren’t the only sweaty ones. She glanced around the coffee shop. The fire was blazing in the river rock hearth and the windows were steamy from all the people inside. They were warm, that’s all. Stop reading too much into the handshake, she told herself.
“I ordered you a cappuccino,” she said. “It should be here momentarily.” She tapped the number for their order which was carved into a round piece of wood.
“Thank you.” He held onto the back of the chair.
They stood across the table from each other. “You’re welcome,” Lauren replied. “I took a guess about your coffee. For some reason, you don’t seem like the soymilk kind of guy.”
He tilted his head at her and smiled quizzically. “How so?”
Shit. What was she doing?
“I mean, you, well...” she stammered. Come on Lauren, pull yourself together.
“You put cream in your coffee yesterday,” she blurted out. Thankful that her brain had started chugging along again, allowing her to access her memory. What she really wanted to say was that he seemed far too masculine to be into alternative milk.
“So, I did,” he smiled.
