Begin to Begin by A.S. Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

need to get some space from him even for a minute. He has such an overwhelming aura about him it's taking my breath away. I pour his coffee into a solid black mug and grab a water for myself. No coffee for me this time of day or I won’t get any sleep—I have a hard enough time sleeping to begin with.
    After I have our drinks in hand, I walk back over and place his coffee in front of him on the table and sit in the chair across from him with my water in hand.
    "Wow, real mugs. That's fancy," he says with a lift of his eyebrow.
    "I hate paper cups. We have a dishwasher in the back that we run a few times a day. People love having the coffee available, and, honestly, I think that is the only reason some of our regulars come in so often. So, it makes me happy to be able to make them happy.”
    He leans forward a bit and grabs his coffee. But he looks at me sincerely. "How are you, Marin? Since … well, you know.” He pauses to take a sip of his coffee, steam still billowing from the mug. “I have thought about you and worried that I should have called someone for help instead of bringing you back here."
    "I'm fine, really. This crazy cut is healing fine and I'm not feeling as sore as I was. We called the police and filed a report." He startles a bit at the word police which confuses me. "Don't worry, though, I didn't say anything about you. We just said a passerby scared the guy off."
    "Well, if you need me to talk to the police I can. Actually, I would like to do whatever I can to help out." He runs his hand through his dark hair, and I notice the edge of a dark tattoo peeking out from underneath his jacket.
    "Thank you. I will give you the detectives information and you can contact him when you have a chance."
    We sit in silence, sipping our drinks like two people on a blind date.
    It’s awkward.
    It seems like hours pass before I decide to speak, but in all reality it has only been seconds.
    "So, Dalton, tell me a little more about your garage. I guess that will give me the best idea on what I can pull for you and help you with." I smile awkwardly at him and tuck my legs up underneath me, thankful that I wore jeans today and not a skirt.
    He shifts around uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, I guess I sort of inherited the garage from my uncle who isn't in the greatest health anymore. He thought it would be a good way to focus my energy on something useful. I was a bit of a troublemaker when I was younger, and he wanted me to get away from that life."
    "He sounds like a smart man," I comment before taking another sip of my water.
    "Yeah, I guess he is. I was hanging around some people I should have stayed away from. I'm way too old now to be doing the kinds of things I did when I was a teenager. You gotta grow up sometime. Right?"
    "Hey, everyone has a little rebellious streak in them, and most people grow out of it, so I'm sure you are fine. It's nice that you are doing this for your uncle.”
    “Do you have a rebellious streak, Marin?” he asks in a low voice. It almost seems as if he didn’t mean to ask that question and the words came tumbling out of his mouth on their own accord.
    I clear my throat and change the subject. “Let's go see what we can find that can help the business side of everything."
    As he follows me to the back of the store where I keep the reference books and the few textbooks that come in handy in everyday life, I can feel his eyes burning holes through my back. He's silent but I feel the heat radiating off him and know he is only a step behind me. I take a deep but discreet breath because he smells incredible and I want to remember it when he’s gone.
    Squatting down when I reach the shelf I was looking for I pull off the book I had in mind. "Ah, this is the one I was looking for. I read this when I started the bookstore, and it really came in handy." I stand back up and hand him the book.
    " Small Businesses for Dummies," he reads. Looking up at me, he smirks that devilish smirk. "So I'm a