The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (novels for students .TXT) 📕

“It’s worse than I thought,” he said, scanning my face as his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Excuse me?” I scoffed, imitating him and gawking at him up and down.

“Your eyes.” He pointed in the direction of my head. “They look huge in your face. Bigger than usual. Are you sure caffeine is a good idea? You seem a little rattled already.”

My huge and bigger than usual eyes narrowed. “Rattled?”

“Yes.” He nodded nonchalantly. “Like you’ll flip any moment now.”

Biting back a couple of bad words, I took a deep breath to stop myself from flipping—like he had said—right there and then. “First of all, I am calm.” That earned me a look that told me he wasn’t buying it. “Yes. Not only calm, but also serene, mind you. Just like one of those ponds where the water doesn’t even move.”

I turned away from him, taking in Sally, who was leaning against the counter, chin resting on the back of her hand, engrossed in my conversation with Aaron. “I’m starting to miss you less and less, Sally,” I quipped and watched her smile widen as she straightened. I sent Aaron a side-glance. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work, Mr. Robot? You know, instead of out and about, pointing out how rattled random women look?”

“You are not a random woman,” he countered calmly, and then he leaned on the counter. Right beside me. “And I was, in the morning. But I have the rest of the day off.”

“A vacation?” I gasped theatrically. “Hell must have frozen over if Aaron Blackford took a day off.”

He never, ever did.

“Half day,” he corrected me.

Sally placed both our orders on the counter. At the same time. Which struck me as odd, given that I had placed mine more than a few minutes before Aaron.

I narrowed my eyes at the woman as she gifted me with an angelic smile. “There you go, guys. Nothing but the best for my favorite customers. Double espresso, no sugar. And a flat white.”

That reminded me of something she had said earlier about Aaron having a usual order.

“How often do you come here, Aaron?” I queried. Not often if I had never stumbled upon him in the past, considering how religiously I visited Around the Corner. “How do you even know this place?”

There were Google Maps, Tripadvisor, Time Out, and a million other sites that could be behind his discovery. And yet …

“Often enough,” he answered, pulling out his wallet from his pocket.

With my eyes still narrowed and tracking how his long fingers fumbled with his wallet, a memory flashed in my mind. I had talked to Aaron about Around the Corner. Or I had been talking to myself about it and Aaron had happened to hear it—whatever. It was the day he had shown up and helped me with the Open Day stuff. My back straightened with the realization.

“What’s so surprising, Catalina? I pay attention when you talk. Even when you mumble to yourself. Which you do very often. But every once in a while, you do say something interesting.”

“Are you a mind reader or something?”

“Thankfully not. I’d be terrified to know what you were thinking most of the time.” He stretched his arm and handed his credit card to Sally. “It’s on me.”

Okay. First of all, terrified? And second of all, I mumbled? Often?

Watching Sally as she took the credit card snapped me out of my stupid shock.

“Wait,” I yelped. That got both Sally’s and Aaron’s attention. “You don’t have to pay for my order. I have my own money.”

“I’m sure you do, but I want to.”

“But what if I don’t want you to?” I argued.

Sally’s gaze jumped from me to the man beside me.

I turned too, finding Aaron’s calm expression.

“And is there any particular reason why you don’t want me to, Catalina? Something tells me, if this were anyone else, you wouldn’t even bat an eyelash at getting a free coffee and brownie.” He eyed the counter. “Brownies.”

“Well, yes. There is a reason, smart-ass.” I took a step toward him. A small one. I lowered my voice. “I owe you enough as it is, and I am not talking just about the fish tacos from yesterday, okay?” Our gazes met. “I don’t need you to put me into further debt.”

If the way his face changed was something to go by, that last part of my statement seemed to really bother him.

“You don’t owe me a single thing,” he said with a scowl. “Me buying you a coffee, tacos, or anything for that matter doesn’t put you in my debt.” His head shook, a few of the usually perfectly-in-place locks of dark hair bouncing and grabbing my attention. The scowl fell off, replaced by a somewhat-distant look. “Will you ever accept anything from me without putting up this big of a fight?”

“That’s …” I trailed off, not knowing what to tell him. “That’s not an easy question to answer, Blackford.”

He tilted his head. “I see.”

Then, he angled his large body toward me, eating a big chunk of the distance that had been separating us. The motion had been unexpected, and my breath hitched with surprise. Hyperaware of how close he had come, I stuttered. Suddenly not knowing what to say or if I was expected to say anything at all.

Aaron’s arm reached out, the backs of his fingers gracing my temple. My lips parted, tingles spreading down my skin.

It was him who lowered his voice then. “Always fighting me.”

I looked up at his handsome and stern face, his assessing blue eyes surveying my reaction.

“Resisting me.”

My heart tripped, making my chest feel like I had just sprinted a mile or two.

Aaron’s head dipped, his mouth coming close to where his fingers had been a few seconds ago. Almost as close as it had been when we danced. “It’s like you want me to beg. Is that something you’d enjoy? Me begging?” His voice sounded so … intimate. Hushed. But it was his next words that scattered my thoughts all over