with momentary excitement, and then she glances away. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask me. I offered. If I didn’t want to help you, I wouldn’t have suggested it.” I don’t want to give her time to retreat. “Tomorrow is Saturday. I don’t have to work. Let’s meet for coffee somewhere and start a tutoring lesson.”
She draws in a deep breath, seemingly thinking, not looking at me. If I’m not mistaken, her fingers are trembling. It unnerves me. What happened to this woman? Finally, she meets my gaze. “Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.”
I grab a sticky note off the top of her perfectly organized counter and jot down the name of a local place and the intersection. And then I add my number before handing it to her. “Here you go. Call me if you can’t find it. How about ten tomorrow morning?”
Her fingers brush mine again as she takes the pink square of paper. “Thank you,” she murmurs again.
I shove off the counter, righting myself. “Okay. I guess I’ll head inside. See you in a while.”
“Yep. Have a good time.”
As soon as I’m out of her line of sight and inside the main room of the club, I smile so broadly my face hurts. Finally. Headway.
Chapter 2
Cindy
I’m shaking as I walk the last few blocks to the coffee shop where I’m supposed to meet Hudson. I should never have agreed to this. The man is way the hell out of my league. As if I have a league. Or men.
I stop on the sidewalk and play with the ends of my hair, hesitating. I could turn around and go back home, but then what would I tell him the next time I see him? Oh, sorry. I was sick. Nope. There’s nothing I could say because he gave me his phone number. If I wasn’t going to show, I would need to call and tell him.
I pace back and forth. I’m early. It’s only nine forty-five. I’m a punctual person. Always. So I have plenty of time to fret or come up with an excuse.
The problem is that I really need help. This is my last semester of college. I have to pass calculus to get my degree. I’ve dropped it two previous times as soon as I realized I was going to fail. I have good grades. I didn’t want to risk ruining them with a fail.
Hudson is… God, what is he? He’s smoking hot for one thing. And kind. He’s a friend. I guess. At least it seems that way. Or he’s just kind to everyone. Maybe that’s it. I don’t have a lot of friends, and none of them are very close. That’s intentional.
The reality is that I keep people at arm’s length so that I don’t have to explain myself to them. Dig into my past. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s easier to be a loner. Even women. There are two women at the animal shelter—Safe Harbor—I’m friendly with when I’m working there, but I always turn down their offers to go out.
I take a deep breath. The man hasn’t asked me to fuck him. He’s offered to tutor me in math. I need the help. I can do this. Straightening my spine, I close the distance to the coffee shop and step inside before I can talk myself out of it.
I scan the crowded room until I spot Hudson rising from a small table and waving at me. I have to weave through several people, bags, and kids to get to him. “Looks like we’re lucky you got a table.” I glance at my phone. “Plus, you’re early.”
He smiles. “Yep on both counts. I was worried it might be crowded. I probably should have picked a different location. I wasn’t thinking about how busy it would be here on a Saturday when I suggested it.” He pulls out the second chair for me.
Butterflies flutter in my stomach as I let him push me in. He’s so…kind. I want to kick a hole in the wall over the fact that the simple gesture of pulling out a chair is something that makes me wish I’d lived a different life up until now.
“You stay here and hold the table. I’ll order for us,” he tells me. “What do you like?”
“Oh. Whatever you’re having is fine.” I reach for my bag, thinking to give him some cash.
“If you’re about to fish out money, stop it. The coffee’s on me. And