Dangerously Sweet (MxM)

Chapter 3

Kalen Davis

The next day, our mysterious customer hadn't arrived at his usual time. At first, I thought maybe he was running behind. Although, after an hour or so, I started to imagine the worst.

I had gotten into the routine of things. Waking up at 4 am, heading to the store, and spending somewhere around two hours preparing everything. Then I'd open the store at 6 am, which immediately was met with a line of customers for our first rush. Finally, after the store cleared some, my favorite customer would appear. 

Only today when the rush died down he never showed.

Even as I pumped out all the orders Sarah was sending back to me, my thoughts were elsewhere. Focused on a certain pair of blue eyes and plump lips. The same set of eyes and lips that were missing today, which worried me beyond belief.

What if yesterday was a fluke and he really had no interest in me? Perhaps he realized his mistake and wanted to save me the embarrassment by ghosting me. Or, perhaps he literally ghosted me! What if some horrible accident happened after he left the store yesterday and he was hurt somewhere or laying in a hospital?

The thoughts were spiraling all over the place as I worked consistently through the morning and afternoon. Soon enough, the time came to close the store, and still, the man hadn't shown.  

Sarah had already left for the day since the store usually slowed down considerably after lunch, so it was just me. I finished up the last few closing tasks, like washing the remaining mugs and gathering all the unpurchased pastries from the display case. 

I always closed the store at 2 pm, still early in the day. That left me with a good chunk of the day left, although I always ended up heading home to relax alone. I was leaving the shop, bag of left-over pastries in hand, and locking the door when I felt a familiar presence beside me. 

When I turned to meet the person, I was met with a pair of fierce blue eyes, which took me by surprise. The bag of pastries slipped from my grasp, landing on the sidewalk between us. I groaned, bending down, but the familiar man had the bag in his hand before I could. He was holding it out at me, and all I could do is gawk at him.

He smiles, genuinely, which was a rare sight. It eased my nerves for the moment. I retrieved the bag from his hand. A small, "thank you," pushed past my lips as we both rose to stand straight.

"No need to thank me," he stated. He was crossing his arms over his chest. Today he looked different than he normally did. He wore the same Chelsea boots, but instead of dress pants, his legs were clasped in denim jeans, which weren't tight but definitely accented his body well. His usual button-down was replaced with a casual white henley t-shirt and wrapped around him was a thick leather jacket. Hanging from his neck were multiple necklaces, but one stood out. It was a chain that looped through a bullet. There were small letters etched on the metal, but he stood too far away for me to make them out.

I bit my bottom lip as I eyed him over, greedy for the same yet new view of the man. I slowly became aware of how long we had been standing in silence. Though, I could tell he was also aware due to the sly smirk playing on his lips. 

"I wasn't..." I started to explain only to reconsider. 

I didn't want to put myself too far out there. It was possible that everything that was going on between me and the older man was all being misconstrued in my head. I'll be honest and admit I was a little bit of a hopeless romantic, but I also had to admit that I was inexperienced in that area of life as well. I could be wrong about this man's intentions. It would be rude to overstep his boundaries.

"You weren't expecting me?" he read my thought aloud. My eyebrows crinkled in confusion. "I'm sorry that I missed our usual date, but I needed today to be a bit different..." he tried to explain. Only, I wasn't listening anymore.