Page 98 of Beneath Your Beautiful

“What’s on that menu?” she asked.

“Dessert. A lot of it. I’m starving.”

“You don’t like sweet things.”

“I likeyoursweet thing.” I let out a low moan. “You taste so good.”

“Okay, you can stop now. It’s getting hot in here.”

I chuckled. If I hadn’t already reached the coffee shop, I would keep teasing her. “I’m at the coffee shop.” I saw Zeke through the window, busy doing something on his phone.

“Say hi to Zeke for me, and if Daniel’s there, tell him I missed him today.”

I snorted. Like I’d pass on that message. I stepped inside the shop, the bell over the door alerting him to my presence, and Daniel’s gaze swung to me. Was he the only one who worked here? “I’m not your social secretary,” I said. “I don’t have that kind of time.”

“Love you,” she said.

“Ditto.”

“Ditto? What kind of answer is that?”

“I’m in the coffee shop, standing in front of Daniel.”

Daniel who just winked at me and was doing a full-body scan. Daniel whose name I’d never known after one year of ordering coffee from him. But now I knew it because Eden was all chummy with him. She probably gave him updates on the progress of our relationship.

“Okay, it’s not like we need to say it every day,” she said, but I heard the disappointment in her voice.

“I love you, Eden,” I said, loud and clear.

“Sa-woon,” Daniel said, gripping the counter for support after Eden and I said our goodbyes. A little over the top there, Daniel.

I exhaled loudly. He didn’t get the message. He kept staring at me while he chatted about my relationship with Eden. “Coffee,” I reminded him, jerking my chin at the brewed coffee behind him.

He shot me a finger gun and winked. “Gotcha.”

What felt like a million years later, I had the coffee in my hand, and took a seat across from Zeke.

“Thanks for meeting me,” he said, with more formality than I’d ever heard him use before. It immediately put me on the alert. “I wanted to catch you alone. There’s something I needed to talk to you about.”

Oh shit. Zeke and I had two things in common—work and Eden. I’d only discuss one of those things with Zeke, and it wasn’t Eden.

“You unhappy at work?”

He shook his head. “No. Not at all. Listen, I could be off-base here, but I don’t think I am. I’ve known you for over a year now and…”

“Zeke.” I motioned with my hand for him to get on with it.

“Right.” He took a deep breath and let it out. This did not look good. I’d never seen this serious expression on his face before. His leg kept bouncing up and down. I wanted to reach under the table and smack it down. Instead, I took a drink of my coffee. “Okay, here’s the deal. I want to be a partner in the bar.”

“Come again?”

“I want to invest in the bar. What are your thoughts on that?”

I had a lot of thoughts on that, but I voiced the most obvious one first. “Why isn’t Louis here? He’s my partner.”

“Yeah, I know. But if you want out, I’d like to buy your share.”

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. “What makes you think I want out?”