More Than This: Contemporary Christian Romance Novel by Staci Stallings Read Free Book Online Page B

leave. He was getting nothing done here anyway. Unfortunately the sun hadn’t even gone down yet. That meant going back to his apartment and sitting there for hours on end, watching someone else’s dreams come to life on television. He shook his head. Life was so pointless.
    Slowly he closed the computer. What was he thinking that he could do this? He should have known it would only end in a crashing disaster like every other thing he had ever wanted to do. It was better that she hadn’t come. This way he had no choice but to face reality. And the truth was, reality stank.
     
    Liz didn’t have time to check herself in any of the storefront windows. The heels of her boots clicked on the concrete somewhere under the black slacks and brown top. Her plan had been to look like she was out on the town, but she wasn’t at all sure if that was working. Maybe she just looked cheap and desperate. Or maybe just desperate.
    At the door to the coffee shop, she stopped. It seemed so crazy to open that door, and as she stood there, she very nearly turned around to go back home. What was she doing anyway? This was completely and utterly insane. Still, she had come this far. She wasn’t going to turn tail and run now. With a hard breath for sanity and courage, she pulled on the door handle and the familiar gust of air greeted her. It was really strange to be there as a customer. She had no clue how to even do that. Oh, man, she must look like an idiot doing this. Picking her sunglasses up off her nose, she resettled them in her hair and tried to get her eyes to adjust.
    She had told herself not to look into that back corner, but before she could stop herself, she did just that, and her heart stopped. He was still there, hunched over, staring at the table, the laptop closed. Was something wrong? She wanted to go ask, but she didn’t dare.
    “Liz-bet!” Mia very nearly screamed, and Liz felt his gaze jerk up to her. “Girlfriend!  What are you doing here? Don’t you know it’s your day off?”
    The broadcast was surely meant for his sake, but Liz wanted to shoot her friend. She widened her eyes so they nearly came out of her skull. “Mi-a.” Without moving it, she shook her head. Careful not to trip, she stepped over to the counter. “I… I was just headed… to the… movies.” Man, she was bad at this. “I thought I’d stop in and see what’s going on.” She repositioned her sunglasses on her hair, hoping that didn’t make her hair stick out in some weird direction. The center of her being shook the rest of her, and her hands shook with it. He was looking. She knew he was. Now what?
    “The movies ?” Mia said in that voice that they could have easily heard in New Jersey. “Girl, now that sounds like fun. You got a hot date, or are you going alone?”
     
    Jake’s whole being pressed forward to hear the conversation. She had come, and she was gorgeous. The black pants, the taupeish-colored tank top and the gold chains set off a swath of highlights in her hair that she casually pushed back under her sunglasses. Wow. He’d never known anyone could look that beautiful with so little effort. And what had they said about the movies? His heart stopped at the thought that she had a date. Okay, granted no one had followed her in, but he kept an eye on the door just the same.
    About that time was when he realized, his computer was shut and he was in fact staring across the coffee shop, right at her. In that second his body went into look busy mode. He yanked open the computer lid though he didn’t bother to turn it on. Instead, he hunkered down behind it and watched her. The feeling of being a stalker slipped over him again, but he didn’t care. She was worth going to jail.
     
    What in the world was she supposed to do now? Liz had no idea what time the movie started, and honestly, she didn’t really want to go by herself. The thought that she should go over and say hello slipped into her, but she panicked at even the