Given Time

♡31♡

I'm standing in the Blue Bottle Coffee shop, pouring a sweetener into my coffee cup, when I feel two large arms entwine around my waist. I recognize who it is immediately, and when I look down at his bare arms and see the familiar heart tattoo, I smile.

I spin around to kiss his lips, wrapping one of my arms around his neck while I hold my other arm away from us, so I don't spill the coffee. We embrace for the next few seconds, and when he pulls away, there's a huge smile on his face as he caresses his thumb across my cheek.

"Good morning," he says huskily.

"Good morning," I say sweetly back.

He quirks a brow and looks down at my cup. "I see you've got your usual coffee."

"Well, I need some caffeine in me to get prepared for my classes," I quip. "You should join me."

He holds onto my hips as he pretends to give it some thought. "Okay. Go take a seat over there, and I'll join you in a minute."

He gives me one more quick kiss on my lips and goes to join the short line. I turn away from him and go to the windowsill bar and pull out the metal stool and climb on it.

Wondering how long I have until I need to get to my first class, I check my watch and see that I have a good twenty minutes before I have to leave, so I pop the lid off my coffee to help it cool faster and tap my foot against the stool leg, waiting for him to come back to me.

"Impatient, are we?" he murmurs deeply in my ear soon after, carrying his own cup.

My body shivers as I feel his warm breath tickle my ear, and I roll my back to rid them.

I grab him by his arm and pull Tanner down on the vacant stool next to me, and he immediately places his legs over mine and moves his hand beneath my stool and pulls me closer to him.

He kisses me on the nose and grins. "Much better."

I sigh and stroke his hand. "I've missed you."

He leans forward and runs his nose up and down my cheek. "Me too. I wish I had you naked in my bed this morning, especially since I wanted your hand rubbing my-"

"Tanner!"

I cough on my coffee, and my eyes go wide at his dirty words. I quickly glance over my shoulder to see if anyone else in the café heard him, but luckily it appears no one has.

His blue eyes are alight, and he continues touching me by stroking his finger back and forth across my arm. "You seem lost for words, Leah."

I stutter. "I don't know what to say to that."

He laughs. "Just you missing me is enough. So, where's Ben at?"

"Um, he's going to meet me in class. He missed his alarm, so he's still getting ready."

"Shame. But then again, I get you all to myself."

I like that he would want Ben here with us. It's funny to think that not so long ago Tanner was jealous of the thought of Ben and I being an item and now they get on like a house on fire.

He's about to lean in and kiss me again, but I put my hand up to stop him before I get sidetracked. "Hang on. I want to talk to you about something."

He leans back and takes a sip of his drink. "About what?"

"My mom called me last night asking if I want to come home for the week, seeing as we'll be on a break. I was wondering if you want to come with me. That way, we can spend it together."

He smiles. "I'd love to. Have you booked your ticket yet?"

I'm over the moon that he wants to join me for our mini vacation. I did wonder if he was going to spend it with his fraternity brothers so I was prepared for him to turn down my offer.