Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“No, no, it’s fine. I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Are you okay?” I looked up from my coat at the guy and I swear to God, if my life were a romcom movie, this would be the part in the movie where our eyes would meet, the camera would go into slo-mo, and there would be a ten-second interlude of dreamy, romantic music while we stared at each other.
Sadly, there was no overlay of dreamy music, and I probably resembled a shocked porcupine more than I did a dreamy heroine who’d just encountered her future husband.
Because holy shit.
Of all the guys in this place I could run into, it was someone who looked like he belonged on billboards in Times Square and not a dreary, wet pavement in Oxleigh, Cambridge.
Great.
Just great.
CHAPTER THREE – GRACE
Haskivsyvousdyk
“Oh, I’m all right. The coat is waterproof.”
At least I think that was what he said. I was more than a little distracted by his face. He was strikingly handsome, with dark hair and even darker brown eyes that were flecked with golden hazel. He didn’t have much on me in terms of height, maybe two inches at most, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have to crane my neck back to meet his eyes.
Or, you know.
Run my gaze over every inch of his face.
Like that very nice short beard that was hiding what had to be a kickass jaw.
Guys as hot as him had jaws that could slice through ice. That was just a fact.
“Are you all right?” he asked again, drawing his brows into a frown.
I blinked rapidly and pulled myself out of my dreamy thoughts. “Yes, sorry, I just… I’m fine,” I answered. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going.”
“Neither was I.” His lips gently curved on one side. “Can I replace your… coffee, is it?”
I looked at the crumpled takeaway cup on the floor and pressed my lips together. “Nah, it’s fine. It’s not great coffee anyway.”
“It’s the least I can do for walking into you.”
“Hardly. I walked into you just as much,” I replied, bringing my gaze back up to meet his. “Really, it’s okay.”
“Absolutely not. Plus, we can get some paper towels to try to clean off your coat.” His smile widened and he held his hand out in the direction of the coffee shop. “Please. I insist.”
I hesitated, but I could hear my late paternal grandmother’s voice in my head telling me not to be rude.
Honestly.
The woman had been dead for six years and she still haunted me.
No wonder I had issues with my father’s side of my family.
“Well?” The guy’s eyes twinkled like he knew I was going to give in no matter how long I stood here faffing about.
“Okay,” I said after a second, returning his smile. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you.”
He stepped ahead of me to the door and caught it, opening it for two older ladies to step inside. “After you, please,” he said to them.
Okay.
He was hot and had manners? Had I encountered a unicorn?
The older ladies thanked him profusely, and one gave him a grandmotherly pat on the arm.
“Now you’re just showing off,” I said to him, pausing before I walked into the coffee shop.
Hot Guy chuckled and followed me in. “I’d ask if it’s rare to meet a man with manners, but, well. I have friends.”
I dipped my chin and laughed quietly. “Not quite as polite as you, then,” I said quietly.
“What can I order you? You could go and see if you could clean your coat a little.”
“Oh, good idea.” I paused. “Just a regular coffee, please.”
“Sugar?”
“Just the one. Thank you.”
“I’ll wait for you by the collection point just over there.”
I nodded and stepped out of line, heading towards the restrooms. The women’s toilet was thankfully empty, and I stepped up to the sink, put my phone in my bag which I then set down, and looked at myself in the mirror.
My cheeks were flushed pink, and I knew that wasn’t just from the chilly weather.
Phew.
Of course I’d have to walk into someone outside, and of course it would be someone as good looking and kind as this guy was.
I leant closer to the mirror and gently pressed on the corners of my eyes. They’d watered at some point during the collision, and I had tiny little black spots where the mascara had dampened on my outer lashes and dried on my skin.
What a mess I was.
I pulled some paper towels from the dispenser by the sinks and patted down my coat as best I could. It didn’t do much good—I’d already waited too long, and the material was more damp than wet. Thank God for the waterproof liner inside the coat or I’d be soaked to the skin.
All I succeeded in doing was getting little bits of wet tissue all over myself. I picked off the worst of them, brushed it with my sleeve, and picked my phone back out of my bag. I had two messages from Amber, so I opened them.