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BONUS POV: ALICIA

Alicia

Alicia wiped down the same spot on the coffee shop counter for maybe the fifth or sixth time; she couldn’t be sure. She should probably be restocking the pastry display case right about now, but she wasn’t about to lose this vantage point.

Namely, her direct line of sight to a certain table, where Gabe Kingman—gorgeous, golden-boy doctor who had half the town drooling out of their vaginas for him—was totally and undeniably canoodling with her snarky blond regular.

Her snarky blond regular who, though prettier than most girls Alicia knew, was most definitely a dude.

This was huge, wasn’t it? Not even the dude part, necessarily, but just the fact that Gabe Kingman might actually be officially taken. Why the fuck was there no one here to talk about this with? She had hot goss, damn it! It demanded to be delivered somewhere. Anywhere.

A shadow loomed over her, and Alicia bit back a yelp. She looked up to see familiar purple hair and an even more familiar glower. “Jesus, Colin. Put a bell on or something.”

Colin gave her an unimpressed look. It didn’t look like he was taking the bell suggestion seriously, but Alicia had meant it. The guy could move like a cat, so he should at least have the decency to accessorize appropriately. She was losing years off her life from the jump scares.

“Pretty sure you’re going to be wiping the paint off that counter any minute.”

Alicia looked down at her rag, then back up at him, narrowing her eyes. He certainly wasn’t the ideal hot goss receptacle, but what was that saying? Any port in a storm?

Here was Alicia’s obnoxiously blasé, stone-faced port.

She immediately stopped wiping, leaning in close to whisper, “Hey. Did you know Gabe Kingman was into dudes?”

“Who the fuck is Gabe Kingman?”

Alicia rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on . Young doctor? Beautiful and built and effortlessly charming?”

“The blond one who’s always hitting on you?” Colin wrinkled his nose. “I wouldn’t call him ‘effortlessly charming.’”

“What? No, that’s Monroe. Gabe is the one macking on Soren, like, right now. As we speak.”

Alicia tried to make subtle yet effective eyes at the table she was talking about, but Colin was giving her a confused look. “Who the fuck is Soren ?”

It took every bit of her willpower, but Alicia resisted the urge to strangle her manager. “Oh. My. God . The gorgeous but intimidating blond friend of the cutie you’re interviewing on Tuesday.”

That seemed to get through to him, and Colin finally looked over to the appropriate table, where Soren—speak of the creepily grinning devil—was staring right back at them with a smug look, as if he could hear them.

Which he definitely couldn’t because Alicia knew exactly the right volume with which to gossip at work without customers hearing.

She’d perfected that particular talent over the many months here, and no way had she gotten it wrong.

Still, she lowered her voice even more, just in case. “Gabe literally dropped a kiss on his lips,” she hissed. “And not a chaste one. Full PDA and everything.”

Colin didn’t look any more delighted than he had thirty seconds ago. “Why is it any of your business?”

“It’s not. That’s what makes it fun .” Alicia gave up, shaking her dirty rag at him. “You’re hopeless.”

Contrary to the end, Colin started watching the table again, his head cocked in thought. “They’re both disturbingly attractive,” he finally said. “That shouldn’t be allowed. Too much power in one couple.”

Alicia couldn’t argue with his assessment.

Gabe had clearly just come from the gym, and he was sort of, like, glistening in his muscle-baring tank top and slutty workout shorts, with one of those soccer headbands holding his golden-brown curls back from his face.

Soren always looked almost too pretty to be real, with cheekbones that could cut glass and a fashion sense way beyond what Hyde Park normally had to offer.

Which was all kind of beside the point—the point being that Gabe Kingman was clearly off the market in a big way—but Alicia would take what she could get with Colin. “You should see Gabe’s little brother and his husband. Same deal.”

Alicia had always thought Danny was the cutest guy in his grade, and his new husband, Roman, could be a literal model for those suits he was always wearing.

But Colin seemed over his ten seconds of human interest. He was already turning away. “Pastry case is looking a little bare.”

Alicia waved him off. “I’m busy.”

“Whatever,” he told her with a shrug, heading back to his office.

But Alicia probably couldn’t keep wiping this same counter spot for all eternity. She started stacking extra cups instead, since she could do that without really changing the direction of her gaze.

There wasn’t much new to report, except for that the two of them definitely seemed to be a couple. Gabe had an arm around Soren now and was absent-mindedly playing with the petite blond’s hair in a way that was nauseatingly adorable.

Alicia had theoretically understood the appeal before—Gabe was hot, and a doctor, and apparently knew how to wring an orgasm or two out of a lady (poor Cammie had been gone for him after just one night). It had never been, like, a thing for Alicia though.

But maybe that was because she’d never seen him with someone he was so obviously smitten with before. Now she got it. That was quite a man to have on your arm.

As if reading her mind—how did he keep doing that?—Soren glanced over at her again, that same smug look on his face as before. A look that said, Yes, bitch. He’s obsessed with me. Jealous?

Alicia gave him a little salute that had him grinning maniacally. She couldn’t even hold it against him. Credit where credit was due and all. He’d snagged one of Hyde Park’s most eligible bachelors, and from the look of it, that shit was locked down tight.

He got to be as smug as he wanted, didn’t he?

Touché, Soren , she thought to herself, finally turning to grab some more pastries from the back. Tou-fucking-ché.