Chapter 1

It was a Monday morning and the coffee shop was teeming with people, as usual, everyone desperate to get their caffeine kick before the start of a new week. Ivy was manning the cash register and taking orders, which she was being forced to do because they were short staffed. She much rather preferred the barista duties behind the counter, so that she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. It wasn’t just a Monday thing for her, she just didn’t like making small talk.

“A hot tall skinny upside down with whip caramel macchiato,” the man in front of her said dryly. Ivy clenched her jaw as she typed in the order, wondering if the man was calling out his preference in women or coffee.

He handed her the cash, and she smiled as she returned the change to him. She had to remind herself to do that so that she didn’t get an earful from her manager again. A few more years of this, she reminded herself, just a few more years and then she could look for an actual job.

The man walked away and Ivy took a moment to take in a deep breath. It was only eight-thirty in the morning but she was tired already. How was she going to survive another six hours of this?

“Morning,” she heard a voice and snapped her neck up to look at the next customer. The forced polite smile that she had instinctively pasted on her face; faded when she saw the man in front of her. Was she just imagining this?

Sharp-as-a-razor jaw, freshly shaven, a pointed nose and chiseled features like he had recently been sculpted from marble. He had a buzzcut, but Ivy could tell that his hair would have been a thick dark mane if he let it grow out. His eyes were nearly transparent; they were that blue and he had thin lips pursed together in a casual frown. If it wasn’t for his clothes, she would have assumed he was in the military, but he was dressed too fashionably for that. Dark suit, starched white shirt, and a navy tie. His black coat looked tailored or at least more expensive than her entire wardrobe.

“Grande Dark Roast, please,” he said in a voice that was deep and sizzled as it seeped into her system and for a few moments; Ivy had no idea what to do.

“Umm…yes, okay, anything else?” she said, fumbling with her words. She had already said more than she usually did to any of her customers. The man must have noticed her flushed face and the look of discomfort about her because he allowed himself to grin slightly.

“Nothing, thanks,” he said and that voice destabilized her again. She felt her fingers shaking slightly as she typed in the order. From the corner of her eye, Ivy noticed the sparkling Rolex on his wrist as he slid his patent leather wallet out of his pants and flipped it open.

It wasn’t very often that a stranger had this kind of an effect on Ivy, especially a man who looked like he was much older than her. She prided herself in how well she could keep herself in check from falling into bed with a random stranger…with anybody for that matter. The fact that she was even thinking these things in that very moment; made Ivy flush a bright red.

The man handed her the cash, and she tried to concentrate on counting the change.

“Hey, you! I ordered a Skinny. This is not a skinny!” the voice of an angry customer pierced through Ivy’s ears. She whipped around to find the man, whose order she had taken a few minutes ago, waving his cup of coffee in the air. Ivy was noticing now that his eyes were bloodshot and he looked hungover.

“It’s all right Sir, we’ll just make you another one,” Shelly, who was making the coffees said, in her attempt to calm the man down. Instead of listening to her, he charged towards Ivy again, thrusting the coffee towards her angrily.

“Why can’t you people do your jobs right? I said Skinny!” his voice was high pitched and she noticed a vein popping in the middle of his forehead. She tried to maintain her calm but wasn’t sure how to deal with this kind of aggression. She was trying to get the word “sorry” out of her system but she couldn’t, not when this man was glaring at her like that.

“Did you hear me this time? Skinny!” the man repeated himself, leaning over the counter towards Ivy, till she took a few steps back in defense.

“Take it easy, man,” it was the gorgeous stranger who had placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and was gently tugging him backward. The hungover guy whipped around and trying to balance the coffee in one hand, he took a lousy swing, which Mr. Muscle avoided easily by stepping casually back. In a flash, he had snapped up the other man’s wrist and then twisted his arm to his back in a move that looked professional. The man yelped, his face reddened and Ivy’s manager came running out of the kitchens.

“Gentlemen please, step outside, we cannot have this in here,” she was saying. Ivy sensed her teeth biting down on her lip as she watched them.

“He was being rude to your employees,” he said in that same voice, calm and collectively like nothing had happened.

“He attacked me!” the hungover guy said, the moment his arm was released.

“I have to ask you both to leave, I’m sorry,” Ivy’s manager repeated herself and the men glared at each other before the hungover guy scampered off with his coffee in hand.

Mr. Muscle threw Ivy a look, nodded his head at her once, smoothened the front of his shirt casually and then turned and walked out of the coffee shop.

Ivy’s heart was thudding against her chest and her knees felt weak as she watched him leave. This was all too unreal for a Monday morning.