Page 3 of City of Sin (Men of Manhattan 1)

I handed the barista the company card.

"Sorry, our register is being weird this morning. It's not scanning cards. Cash only."

"Oh, okay." I opened up my purse and rifled around. I had handed the homeless person my last dollar bills. But there was tons of change at the bottom of my purse. "I'm so sorry." I started pulling out quarters and placing them on the counter. I could feel my face turning even more red. This was mortifying.

"God. Don't you see that someone who's actually ready is waiting behind you?"

I turned around and looked at the woman behind me. "I'm really sorry. It'll just be a second." If she thought I was rude, she shouldn't be yelling into her phone in a small coffee shop.

"This is ridiculous," she snapped. "I'll have a latte. Whatever your biggest size is. With coconut milk and no foam."

Of course her order is as pretentious as Mr. Ellington's.

"Umm..." the barista looked at me.

"It's fine. I need another minute anyway."

"Okay," the barista said. "That will be $4.75."

"Here," the woman said and handed him a ten dollar bill. He pulled her change out of the register and handed it to her.

"And if you think you're getting a tip for not making me wait, think again." She grabbed her change and walked toward the other end of the counter where the pickup line was.

"What a bitch," the barista said under his breath.

I laughed. "I'm sorry I took so long." I slid the quarters toward him. I had ended up finding a few extra quarters. "Keep the change."

"Thanks." His big smile returned from earlier as he dumped the extra change into the tip jar. "I hope you have a great day."

"You too."

***

"It's cold." Mr. Ellington looked up at me.

"What?" I had walked back as quickly as I could. There was no way his coffee was cold. I bit my lip. Maybe it's cold. It was freezing outside.

"Well, room temperature."

"I'm so sorry, I..."

He held up his hand. "It's fine, Bridget. Please just warm it up for me." He handed it back to me and looked down at the papers on his desk.

I grabbed the cup out of his hand and went to the break room.

"Hey, Bee. You're running late today," Kendra said. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee out of the communal pot like a normal person. "Please tell me it's because you went out last night and had a good time?"

I laughed. "No, I was just picking up coffee for Mr. Ellington. Cold coffee, apparently." I poured the cappuccino into a normal coffee mug and put it in the microwave.

"He still has you fetching coffee for him? You're not an intern. You need to stand up for yourself."

I sighed and leaned against the counter. "I'm not sure there's any difference between an intern and a secretary in his mind."

"Well, except for how much he hits on his secretaries."

"Uh." I put my face in my hands. "Kendra, what am I doing here?"

"Warming up coffee?"

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