Chapter 35
JEREMIAH
Picking Stephanie up at her apartment was starting to feel like a new morning ritual. And strangely, I didn't mind it. I felt quite the opposite about it, actually. I enjoyed it.
It had only been a couple of days, but a part of me—in the very back of my mind—was already plotting how I could make our carpool days last longer. The obvious answer was reneging on my promise to make sure she could afford a car sooner rather than later if she worked hard, but even I knew that it would be wrong on too many levels.
I would have to come up with something better. Luckily, I still had some time to work something out. Pulling up to her curb, I turned down the music blaring from my speakers and smiled when I saw she was standing against her building, already waiting for me.
Just like every other morning, I took the opportunity when she walked to my car to properly look at her before I had to spend the rest of the day pretending not to really notice her. This morning, since it was still cool out from the rain we'd been having for a couple of days, she was wearing a black turtleneck that perfectly showcased her smooth, pale skin and made her eyes seem brighter.
Her shapely legs were encased in formfitting black pants, which she'd paired with black leather high-heeled boots and a black jacket. Long hair pulled up into a twist at the back of her neck, I could see rose gold earrings shimmering in her ears. Matching jewelry hung from her neck and wrists.
I was getting pretty good at keeping my brain from diving straight into the gutter whenever I saw her, but this morning I was unsuccessful. She looked beautiful, like some kind of badass angel. That I would like nothing more than to corrupt.
On the verge of falling into a dirty daydream involving her keeping on those boots but wearing nothing else as I bent her over my desk, I snapped back to reality when she opened the passenger door. "Good morning, boss."
"Hey, Steph. You have a good evening?" I asked her this most mornings, trying to suss out if she was dating other men. Not other, I reminded myself. Just men.
She'd told me that she didn't have a boyfriend and that she wasn’t seeing anyone, but with a girl who looked like her…
Jealousy reared its head like a dragon in my chest, perching itself right on the edge as it waited for her answer. She smiled and shrugged casually, holding up a Thermos I hadn't noticed before. "It was fine. Nothing too exciting. Here, I brought you some coffee."
"Thanks." As soon as I popped the lid off the Thermos, my car was filled with the delicious scent of hazelnut, vanilla, and coffee. I brought the mug to my nose and breathed in deeply. "What is this?"
Buckling her seat belt, she turned to face me. Excitement lit up her eyes, the color just like the Caribbean on a clear day. And I fucking loved the Caribbean. "It's just something I'm trying out. I know how much you like hazelnut in your coffee, but the vanilla gives it something extra I thought you might like."
My heart did this weird clenching thing that made me wonder if I needed to call Dr. Adams, Dad's cardiologist. "It smells incredible."
"Wait until you taste it." She sighed dreamily. "It's like liquid heaven."
Putting it to the test, I damn near moaned when the sweet, nutty bitterness of the drink hit my tongue. "You're right, it's like an angel pissed on my tongue."
She hit me playfully on the shoulder, her cheeks heating. "You have such a way with words."
"Regular wordsmith," I said joking, finally pulling away from the curb and merging with the early morning traffic. "But seriously, that stuff's amazing."
"But wait, there's more," she announced, putting on the false enthusiasm on an infomercial host.
I gave her a sideways glance, seeing her digging around in her big black purse. "More?"
She nodded proudly, pulling out a container with some kind of powder-covered cookies in it. "My roommate was trying out her mom's recipe for Kourabiedes. They’re Greek."
"Kooraby what?"
Stephanie giggled, smiling understandingly. "It took me a while to pronounce it properly too. It's korah-be-eh-thez.”
“And those would be?” I asked, feeling like I should know this. I’d spent a couple of weeks traveling around Greece with Tanner when we were younger. Granted, I was driving now and couldn’t really look closely at Steph’s baked goods, but they only looked a little familiar.
“They’re like a Greek walnut sugar cookie,” she said. “I helped Tiana make them last night, so I got to bring a few with me. At least this way, I get to make sure you eat something before we get to the office. Yesterday, you said you had to run out of the house before you could have breakfast.”
I’d already eaten this morning, but I didn’t tell her that. The clenching thing in my heart happened again, tighter this time. “Those look great. I can’t wait to try one.”
“Yeah, well.” She ran her hand across the gleaming wood on my dashboard. “You might want to wait until we get to the office. I don’t think you want to try those in your precious car.”
“She is a beauty, isn’t she?” I asked, trying to get rid of the knot of emotion lodging in my throat. I hadn’t had someone take care of me like this before, bringing me coffee with specific thought about what I might like in it, snagging me cookies I might like with it just in case I hadn’t eaten, and then, caring about not getting crumbs and powder all over my car.
I couldn’t deny that I liked it. A lot. I also liked that she brought me coffee and not some kind of tea supposed to cleanse your gut and granola instead of cookies or whatever else. Stephanie was real. She didn’t try to fit the Barbie mold so many girls I’d been with before did.