Adrien
“Perfect, that shot looks great. You see the three layers there, that’s what you want," Adrien said, rubbing the back of his hand over his forehead to wipe away the sweat. The temperatures had only cooled marginally in early September.
He peered over Micah’s shoulder as much as he could since the man had a good three inches on him. Micah had been on the job for almost a month. He trained with Adrien when they worked the closing shift together Saturday and Sunday nights and with other baristas during the shifts that he and Adrien didn’t share. Adrien could see a lot of improvement in Micah’s skills at the espresso machine.
For the first few hours of the closing shift, the baristas from the midday shift were still on, so for the past couple of weeks, during their shifts together, Adrien had coached Micah on the bar while the other baristas managed the register. But then Adrien and Micah were on their own during the last four hours. Up until that Saturday, Adrien usually took over at the bar and had Micah ring up customers when the other baristas left. Today was the first day that he let Micah man the bar alone.
Adrien tried to focus on Micah’s grinding, leveling, and tamping skills as the man prepared drinks, but he kept getting distracted by the soapy salty smell of his skin…and the way his shirt stretched across his broad back.
But, to combat that attraction, Adrien set boundaries by keeping his interactions with Micah short and work-focused. Especially after the tense brunch he’d had with his family several weeks ago. Ever since he’d walked out on his family, Adrien’s past mistakes crowded his thoughts when his mind was unoccupied, reminding him that, as much as he hated to admit it, his family was probably right about him. Micah was off limits.
But weeks later, his belly still tumbled each time Micah walked in for work. If anything, his attraction to the man had gotten more intense. His gaze involuntarily followed Micah’s movements, and he always stood a little closer than necessary to get a whiff of the man’s unique scent.
Even so, Adrien tried his best to keep things professional.
He knew most of his staffs’ immediate families by name and what was going on in their lives outside of work. Who had a big exam coming up, whose mom had been sick, whose sibling was about to get married.
But Adrien avoided those conversations with Micah.
Adrien’s chest ached as he thought about it, but then he heard his mom, brother, and sister in his head…Reggie’s voice…and he knew it was for the best.
His eyes were drawn back to Micah who had set the espresso on the bar for one of their regular customers, calling it out. He turned around, beaming, his eyes golden and happy. The sight took Adrien’s breath away but also frustrated him. He couldn’t get breathless about Micah. He needed to stop. Adrien frowned, and the smile on Micah’s face slowly dimmed. His heart lurched at the sight.
God, he was an asshole.
Micah rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh. Glad I’m getting better at pulling shots. I’ll go load some milk pitchers in the dishwasher.” He went to walk past Adrien, all the joy that had wreathed his face a few moments ago gone. Adrien knew that look, that feeling. Loneliness.
Against his better judgment, he stopped Micah as he walked by. Checking to make sure no one was at the register, Adrien rubbed his face. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a little gruff the past few weeks. And just now. It’s just that—”
Micah held up a hand with a halting laugh, stopping Adrien’s speech. “Look, boss, don’t feel obligated to talk to me, okay? I respect your boundaries, and I know—” Micah looked down at his shoes before meeting Adrien’s gaze again, his features shuttered. “I know not everyone is comfortable around someone like me.”
Someone smoking hot?
He must have looked confused, because Micah murmured, “An ex-con.”
Adrien put his hands on his hips. “That’s not it at all.”
Micah stuck his hands in the pockets of his apron, rolling his lips together and raising his eyebrows.
Adrien let out a breath, flinging his head back, before looking at Micah again. “Okay, I suppose it’s reasonable to think that given how standoffish I’ve been with you.”
Micah tilted his head to the side in agreement.
“I’ve just had a tough year. And I’ve been a little reluctant to open myself up to new people because of it,” Adrien explained.
And I’m crazy-attracted to you. He couldn’t tell Micah he’d been ignoring him because he thought he was hot, but his explanation was true. He was afraid to let himself get to know Micah, because he didn’t trust himself. He didn’t know if he ever would after Reggie.
But that wasn’t Micah’s fault.
“Can we start again?” Adrien asked.
It wasn’t the best idea to let his guard down with Micah. He was a bona fide bad boy, and Adrien was attracted to him. Adrien had a history of choosing the wrong guys…but something about Micah was different.
The wells of loneliness in his eyes when he thought no one was looking. The way he always tried to take up as little space as possible at work, trying to stay out of people’s way. The way he doubted himself. Adrien saw himself in Micah.
And like Adrien, Micah needed a friend. He just hoped he hadn’t ruined his chances of getting to know Micah.
The man’s tentative smile and brief nod eased Adrien’s worry.
He sighed in relief. “So, where did you grow up, Micah?”
***
Micah
“No way, man.” Micah shook his head while sweeping the floor behind the register. “You can’t choose between ramen and pho.”
Once he and Adrien began to chat, the conversation flowed with ease and the invisible wall that Adrien had erected between them crumbled. They talked about their childhoods, music, and sports between serving customers, cleaning, and doing other tasks that needed to be completed before the opening shift.
Adrien pulled up another mat and rolled it, shoving it behind the free-standing shelves with coffee, tea, and syrup displays so that Micah could sweep the rest of the area.
“All I’m saying is that they are both broth-based soups with noodles,” Adrien said, pulling up the last rubber mat from the floor with a huff. He wiped the back of his hand on his damp forehead before squatting down to roll it up, his glasses slipping down his nose.
Micah tried to slow his racing heart by taking a deep breath in through his nose and focusing on sweeping into the long-handled dustpan the little pile of dust that he’d heaped together. The flex of Adrien’s lean muscles beneath his black T-shirt made him sweat with arousal. He’d tried to ignore his sexy boss, but despite Adrien’s initial standoffishness, Micah’s attraction had only intensified.
Once he’d gotten himself together, swept the debris into the dustpan, and dumped it into the nearby garbage can, he replied. “What I’m saying is that I challenge the entire premise of your argument.”
Adrien washed his hands at the sink, giving Micah a doubtful look over his shoulder, his glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose again. Micah itched to lean into Adrien and push them up, but he refrained and shrugged.
“Look, there is no comparing the two—it’s not apples to apples.”
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Adrien’s said as he dried his hands. “They both have noodles and broth!”
Micah stopped sweeping and planted a hand on his hip. “Yeah, and so does chicken noodle soup. But that’s totally different right?”
Adrien huffed, mirroring Micah’s stance with a hand on his hip. “It’s not an Asian soup though.”
Micah rolled his eyes and went back to sweeping. “Doesn’t matter. They have different flavor profiles, are cooked differently, different noodles and stuff in the soup. They aren’t comparable.”
Adrien chuckled and turned around to greet a guest who had just walked up to the register. Micah looked up when he heard a familiar voice ordering a large raspberry white mocha and found his son at the register, a backpack slung over his shoulder.
His golden-brown eyes—so much like Micah’s—avoided eye contact as he fidgeted with his shirt.
“Hey, Micah, do you mind making this drink?” Adrien asked as he handed Caleb his change.
Micah swallowed then nodded, quickly washing his hands at the sink before heading to the grinder to fill the portafilter. He snuck glances at his son as he made the drink. Caleb’s annoyance that Micah had taken a job at his hangout spot had dissipated, but this was the first time Caleb had come into the shop while Micah was at work.
Caleb pulled a couple of the smaller tables together and spread out several books and notebooks.
Just as Micah finished topping the drink with fresh whipped cream, he caught Caleb’s eye and held it for a minute, trying to gauge if it was okay to go over and speak to him. When Caleb didn’t scowl at him, Micah grabbed the drink to deliver it to Caleb’s table.
Maybe Caleb was finally warming up to Micah. Or at least to the idea of Micah working at the coffee shop.
Maybe he would be willing to introduce Micah to some of his friends since he’d come in to study while Micah was working?
“Listen, I got here early so I could talk to you,” Caleb said to the table rather than Micah whose face split into a wide grin. “Um, my friends and I need to study and they all wanted to meet here,” he mumbled, brushing his hair from his eyes. “I couldn’t tell them no because then they’d ask why and I don’t want them to know you work here. So, could you like, please not talk to me or come over when they’re here?” Caleb finished in a rush, reaching for a pen and playing with it.
Micah’s spirits that had lifted as he’d set the drink on the table, quickly plummeted as Caleb spoke. Micah’s mouth pinched and his throat closed, making it hard for him to speak. Caleb’s words made his eyes mist right there in the middle of the coffee shop.
“Why didn’t you just study at someone else’s house or our—your mom’s house if you didn’t want any of your friends to see me?” Micah whispered, shoving his hands in the front pockets of his apron.
Caleb groaned, but deigned to explain. “One of my friends has, like, a million brothers and sisters, and the other two have cats—”
Micah inclined his head. “You’re allergic to cats.”
Caleb looked at Micah as if a little surprised. “Yeah, I am. I last, like, ten minutes before my eyes puff up and I start sneezing.” Caleb shook his head then continued. “And well, Mom doesn’t like other kids in the house while she’s not there so…” He shrugged his wide bony shoulders, pushing his wavy blond hair out of his face again.
An ache set in the region of Micah’s sternum, and he rubbed it, hanging his head as he tried to catch his breath. His son hadn’t chosen to study at Bright Bean to be near Micah or introduce Micah to his friends. He wanted nothing to do with Micah. Micah’s vision blurred, and his cheeks heated, but he counted to five, taking deep breaths until he composed himself. He looked up at his son with a forced smile.
“Okay. Sure, Cale.”
“Don’t call me that,” the teen snapped, his voice low and sharp.
Micah swallowed. “Sorry, Ca-Caleb. I, uh, I won’t bother you. Promise.” Micah’s limbs were heavy with exhaustion. He wanted to lie down and take a long nap in a dark room. He turned without really seeing and made his way back behind the counter to pick up where he’d left off cleaning.
The rejection hurt, but after all the years he’d been gone, after the way he’d failed himself and his son because of the stupid, selfish choices he’d made to make a quick buck instead of earning his living honestly, he didn’t want to do anything else to hurt Caleb. So, he kept his eyes down as he made drinks, trying to be unobtrusive.
It got so busy that once Adrien finished ringing customers up at the register, he took over from Micah at the espresso machine and had Micah make sandwiches, salads, and soups.
Micah was confident making the drinks and had memorized most of the ingredients and proportions for the different recipes, but he still wasn’t as efficient as Adrien. He made the salads and sandwiches pretty fast though since that was what he’d done most when he first started working.
Once they finally came up for air, Adrien joined Micah at the sink to wash out some milk pitchers and plates.
“He looks just like you,” Adrien said as he dried a pitcher that Micah had just rinsed. Micah hummed in agreement but didn’t say anything, hoping that Adrien would let it lie.
He didn’t.
“I hope you don’t mind, I used your friends and family discount code on their drinks.” Adrien placed another dried pitcher on the open shelf above the sink as Micah continued to wash, not sure he wanted to talk about such a sensitive topic with Adrien.
Adrien pressed his arm against Micah’s from shoulder to elbow. Micah’s breath hitched as the small bit of exposed skin below their rolled-up shirt sleeves came into contact. Adrien tensed against him and the man’s gaze skittered toward Micah, the hazel brilliant behind his lenses.
Thick tension pulled taut between them as Adrien licked his full lips, then it snapped as they both looked away. Micah felt disoriented, his hands gripping a soapy pitcher in the sink. Adrien picked up another of the pitchers that Micah had rinsed and waited. After the day he applied for the job, Adrien hadn’t shown any signs of interest in Micah—until now.
But the moment passed and Adrien’s deep voice filled the quiet space. “Do you—uh—want to talk about it?”
Micah shook his head, shrugged, then sighed as he rinsed the last pitcher and dried his hands on a dish towel he’d slung over his shoulder.
He turned to face Adrien, resting his hip against the industrial sink.
“My ex, Rhina—Caleb’s mom. She asked me to move into her guesthouse after I lost my job. She thought it would give me a chance to get closer to Caleb, because after I got paroled, I only saw him a couple of weekends a month.” Micah sighed and let his worries pour out. “But sometimes I think he’d be happier if I wasn’t around.” Micah angled his chin in the general direction of his son. “He doesn’t need me. Not really.
“He’s got good grades. He’s never into trouble. Jesus, he’s here at a café, studying on a Saturday evening. He wouldn’t even study at home, because his mom doesn’t allow people over when an adult isn’t there. I won’t even tell you about the stuff I was getting up to at his age when my parents weren’t home. Granted, he can be a smartass but what thirteen-year-old isn’t?”
Micah shook his head, watching his son diligently studying with his friends, books, notebooks, and crumbs from the pastries they’d bought littering the table.
“I feel useless.” Micah’s voice cracked. “You know?” He looked back at Adrien.
Adrien expelled a huge breath. “Yes, actually I do,” he said. “But you’re wrong about one thing.” Adrien looked over at Caleb, and Micah followed his gaze. “He totally needs you. Especially at this age. He needs you so much. And that’s why he’s pushing you away. He doesn’t want to let you in, get close to you, and then be disappointed again.” The far off look on Adrien’s face piqued Micah’s curiosity, but their conversation was interrupted when a customer stepped up to the register.
Adrien took their order, while Micah got the drink going, catching Caleb’s eye as he worked. Caleb furrowed his brow and looked away. But after Micah released some steam from the wand and then cranked it to full blast to steam the milk, he looked up to find Caleb watching him curiously again.
Micah ventured a little smile as Adrien sauntered over to the espresso machine, leaning against the counter.
“Told you he doesn’t hate you,” Adrien said in a low voice.
Micah closed the valve and set down his pitcher of milk. He wiped the excess milk off the wand and released a little more steam before pouring the milk for the vanilla latte and placing it on the counter for his waiting customer.
“And just how do you know so much about kids,” Micah asked, turning back to Adrien.
Adrien shrugged. “I don’t know. I just relate to Caleb.” Adrien went still, folding his arms over his chest. “I get where he’s coming from.”
Micah didn’t have a chance to ask any more questions before they were slammed again. The two men worked through the bursts of customers who came in over the rest of the evening, until his shift was over. Adrien locked the door after Micah like he did every night they closed together, and stayed behind at the shop, saying there were a few things he’d forgotten to do. Micah assumed Adrien had managerial duties to finish and left him with a wave.
Caleb and his friends had left several hours before closing, a couple of Caleb’s friends’ parents coming in to collect their kids. Micah tried to swallow the sour taste of envy in his throat when Caleb gave those parents a sunny greeting. His son never looked at him like that, but he hoped that would change with time. Adrien’s words had made him hopeful and his offer of friendship crowded out the loneliness that filled Micah.
Now he just had to find a way to stop fantasizing about what the man’s lips would feel like against his own.