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10

Liam

I’d always known they would find the fish. I mean, sooner or later, it would become impossible to ignore.

Considering Jared had come to spy on me at the speed-dating event, I had naturally assumed he’d been sent there by his boss. But when I went in to plant the fish, under the guise of introducing myself to the owner, I’d been caught off guard. The guy was beyond nice, not at all what I’d been expecting. Hugh had welcomed me to the neighborhood, and when he learned I was new to the city as well, he’d made me a whole list of must-see locations, which included a bookstore, an art studio, and the park down the street where he swore I could get the best hotdogs in town. He gave me the name of a mechanic, an insurance broker, and a doctor taking new patients.

“And if you’re looking for somewhere for a drink, I would suggest Mickey’s. It’s got a whole 80s theme, but don’t go to The Bar Cherry without a chaperone. That place comes with a content warning.”

“Uh, thanks,” I’d mumbled, getting flustered.

At that point, I’d been seriously reconsidering the retaliatory prank. There was no way he’d sent Jared over to spy on me, and certainly not to plant cockroaches. Jared must’ve been working under his own direction. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why .

When a customer came in and interrupted us, I’d thanked Hugh for his kindness and went to leave. But then I’d thought of Jared and his maniacal laugh as he’d run off across the street after depositing those roaches. A move that could easily be seen as an act of war. If I didn’t get a little payback, he’d think he won, and that was unacceptable. So, pretending to use the bathroom, I’d snuck around the corner and quickly hopped up on a chair, pried off the vent cover, and shoved in the fish.

Since that day, I’d been watching, waiting, the anticipation building. They had to smell it by now. It’d been three days!

We’d been getting steadily busier, and I finally got a few more resumes in my email inbox, so I’d managed to hire someone to help cover a few shifts, but he didn’t start until tomorrow. For now, I was alone for the day, which put a serious cramp in my nosy spying on the café across the street.

Every time I had a lull in customers, I would wander over to peek out the window, hiding behind a massive Boston fern. I’d caught Jared more than once standing out front, staring my way with his hands on his hips, scowl ruining his perfectly gorgeous face. It was like he knew it was coming. It made me giggle, thinking about how I’d already played my hand. I kept waiting for him to storm over here and pick another fight with me, but so far, he’d kept his distance.

I was interrupted from my stalking by a customer coming in. I straightened from my crouch, an embarrassed blush warming my cheeks. “Oh, um, good afternoon,” I said, clearing my throat.

Thankfully, the guy didn’t ask about what I’d been doing skulking behind the plants. That might’ve been an awkward conversation .

“What can I get for you?” I reluctantly made my way back behind the counter.

“Hmmm…” he drawled, taking his time to read over the entire menu—twice—only to then ask, “What would you suggest?”

I stilled my fingers where they’d been tapping on the counter in impatience. “Well, how about our seasonal latte? Goes very nicely with a pumpkin scone and some maple butter.”

The guy shook his head. “No, no. I’m lactose intolerant.”

It took some effort to bite back on my irritation as I forced on a smile. “I could make it with another kind of milk, if you’d like. We have almond, oat, and soy milk.”

He made a face. “Ugh, soy milk is the worst. Too thick, and the flavor is all wrong.”

Oh, so he was the type to complain about anything I offered. I waited to see if he’d bitch about the other milks, then decided to just stand back and let him come up with his own order, no matter how long it took.

Distantly, I was aware that this wasn’t at all me. I was a people person, always had been. I was the kind of guy who loved to chat about the weather or a customer’s pet or their ailing spouse. As soon as they walked in the door, there was nothing more important than the customer. Each interaction was a personal experience, even if I would never see them again.

Now, though, my mind was thinking about Jared in the background. I wished I’d had more time to memorize the exact shade of his eyes, needed to know what his hair looked like when he first woke up in the morning. Was he thinking about me too?

I scolded myself lightly. Since when had I deemed anything more important than customers? I should’ve been worried about the shift in priorities, but also… it was impossible to ignore the buoyant giddiness this little tiff made me feel.

At long last, the customer settled on an Americano and a bran muffin—the most predictable order possible for the man. I resisted the urge to shove him out the door as he walked at the slowest pace imaginable toward the exit. He even paused to look outside as if gauging the likelihood of rain.

As soon as the door closed behind the customer, my polite smile dropped, replaced with a wicked grin as I jogged around the counter and back to my place by the window. There! The door to Crave was propped open, and I saw Jared with a tea towel, waving it around like he was trying to increase the air circulation.

I cackled, clapping my hands. “Gotcha!” I barked, and even though the door was closed and it was impossible for him to have heard me all the way over here, his head whipped up to glare in my direction. I ducked down out of sight, snickering.

When I was a child and I used to play hide-and-seek with my cousins, I would wedge myself into the very best hiding places, only for the anticipation to immediately trigger my bladder. Every damn time. Well, this was unfortunately just like that. As much as I very much wanted to stand right here and indulge in watching the outcome across the street, I needed to pee or I would burst.

Unfortunately, Aubrey wouldn’t be in for another hour, and there was no chance I would make it that long. Gnawing on my lip, I crossed my legs and debated my options. I could close up shop, but that seemed silly. I dashed toward the back. On the off chance a customer came in in the next few minutes, they would wait by the counter. I could make it !

When I came out a few minutes later, though, much relieved, I emerged from the back to find Jared there, swapping out the sugar in the glass jar for salt.

“Hey!” I shouted, and he was so startled that he dropped the box of salt, spilling it across the floor.

“Shit,” he cursed, looking around for some excuse for what he was doing, but he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Finally, he sighed and straightened up to his full height, a good three or four inches taller than me. He shrugged, unapologetic. “Come on, Liam. Did you really expect me to let that rotten fish go?” His smirk made his dimple pop.

Dammit, my stomach gave a little flip at the sight, but instead of acknowledging the dangerous water I was treading through, I doubled down. “Yes! That was exactly what I expected!”

I marched straight to the door and locked it so nobody could walk in on our argument then turned around to face him, raising my chin defiantly. “We were done! We were even! You put cockroaches in my bathroom, and I put a rotten fish in your air vent. Even Steven, tit for tat. Why couldn’t you just let it go?”

Jared stepped closer, even muscle in his body taut. “Because we’re not even, obviously. Did you forget about how you lied to me about being the owner? Acted all nice and charming, only to turn around and be all like, ‘look at me, you can’t touch me.’”

I scoffed, closing the distance until I swore I could feel the heat coming off him. “First of all, I never said I wasn’t the owner, no lie detected. Second, when did I say you couldn’t touch me?” Oops, that sounded more like an invitation than it did in my head.

“That doesn’t make it any less true,” he said through gritted teeth.

As tempted as I was to reach for him, to show him just how wrong he was, I bunched my fists at my sides, resisting the urge. “What, like we’re star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet style? ”

His upper lip curled back. “Being lovers would insinuate that what I feel for you goes beyond intense dislike.”

I felt my eyebrows jump in surprise, because when I looked at him, the way he was clearly not unaffected by me, I knew what he felt for me was anything but dislike.

Shaking my head, I clenched my jaw, seething. “Gods, you’re so… so…”

“So what?” he goaded, narrowing his eyes in challenge, leaning in until we were mere inches apart. “Say it.”

“Infuriating!” I shouted. My chest was heaving, blood rushing through my veins. And fuck, my cock was rock hard, slick dampening the back of my briefs.

We stared at each other, both of us so riled up that we couldn’t catch our breaths. He was close enough that I could taste him on my tongue, and I licked my lips, chasing the flavor. His eyes dipped down to follow the movement, and the eroticism of it forced a moan from my lips.

I would’ve been embarrassed about my reaction if he hadn’t swayed on his feet, gulping, and I wanted so badly to lick along the curve of his throat.

It was impossible to say which one of us moved first. One second, we were in an unbreakable standoff, and the next… we were kissing.