Finding Us by Harper Bentley Read Free Book Online Page A

bit for just a second as if she sensed me, before turning back around to pull the jar from the machine, filling a cup with its contents. Then as if she had to know if I was really there, she turned all the way around and met my eyes with a gasp. And immediately dropped the cup she was holding.
    “Shit!” she hissed, looking at the guy and apologizing then glancing back at me with a scowl before disappearing behind the counter to clean up the mess. She stood back up and began the guy’ s order again, not sparing me another look.
    Jesus. That went well.
    I stood watching her, my heart about to beat out of my chest, aching to touch her as she completed the guy’s order and took his money. When she finished, she turned to go to the back of the store.
    “El!” I called, but she kept walking , going through a door that I figured must’ve been the office.
    A girl behind the counter asked, “May I help you, sir?” She looked closer at me and started stammering, “You’re… you’re… you’re Jag Jensen! Oh, my God!”
    Seriously? This girl was a baseball fan? Now that made my lips twitch just a bit, I had to admit. Might just come in handy.
    “Yeah, that’s me,” I replied with a grin.
    “Oh, my God! Wait until I tell my boyfriend!” she squealed.
    “I, uh, really need to talk to Ellen. Is there any way I can go back and see her? I’m assuming that’s an office she just went in,” I said, giving her a pleading look, hoping my pro status would help.
    She looked surreptitiously around for a few seconds before stating, “Well, I’m really not supposed to let anyone behind the counter, but the manager’s not working tonight.” She bit her bottom lip in indecision.
    “It’ll only be for a few minutes. Promise,” I said with a wink. Hey, gotta do what you’ve gotta do, right?
    She smiled great big before saying, “Okay! But just for a few minutes. I don’t wanna get fired or anything.”
    “I wouldn’t let that happen…” I bent to look at her nametag, “Cassie.”
    She squealed again when I said her name, which made me chuckle. “Do you think I can have your autograph first? Please?”
    “Of course,” I answered. Hell, it was the least I could do for what she was doing for me.
    She handed me a napkin and I wrote, “To Cassie. Best wishes, Jag Jensen #12” and handed it back to her. I thought her face was going to split in two she was smiling so big.
    “Just come around and go on in,” she said conspiratorially, nodding her head in the direction I should go.
    “Thank you,” I said as I walked around the counter and headed back to the closed door.
     
    There are moments in life that are so defining that sometimes we miss them. But I sure as hell didn’t miss this one as a coffee cup zoomed by my head and smashed against the wall.
    “Jesus, El,” I mumbled, frowning at her , turning to look down at the shattered mug on the floor. I’d walked into the office to see her standing behind her boss’s desk and was just getting ready to say something to her when she attacked with java. Damn.
    We stood staring at each other for so long I thought it would’ve been pretty cool if the theme song for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly started playing. Yeah, yeah, that’s dumb, but, hey, I’m a guy. We think stupid shit like that at serious times. It’s how we deal.
    But standing there looking at her also melted my heart. God, she was beautiful. And even though it might sound weird, her being mad somehow made her even more so, her eyes shooting angry sparks at me, her jaw set proudly making her look like some warrior woman who didn’t take shit from anyone.
    I wanted to jump that fucking desk and wrap my arms around her and never let her go, but I knew I had to be smart here because she was already pissed and I didn’t want to make her even angrier.
    She took a deep breath through her nose as if trying to maintain a semblance of calm, before she finally hissed, “What the fuck are you doing