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"Not a morning person I take it?"

  "Nope, not without my gallon of coffee."

  He looked around. "Well, whenever our waitress decides to come back, I'll get you an entire pot and just put a straw in it."

  "Who the hell drinks coffee through a straw?"

  "I don't know, it sounded good." He shrugged.

  Charlie laughed and yawned as she grabbed a menu. "What's good here?"

  "Everything, really." He looked around and flagged down their waitress who walked to the table with a scowl on her face.

  "Can she get a cup of coffee and I'll take a top off."

  She nodded, "sure."

  Charlie set the menu down and chewed on her lip to keep from smiling.

  "Okay, What's so funny?"

  "Oh nothing, other than I think I pissed off your girlfriend over there when I showed up." She nodded toward the counter.

  He glanced over his shoulder, "Girlfriend? The only girl I'm interested in is you."

  Oh my God. Charlie's cheeks were hot and she diverted her eyes as the waitress came back with coffee.

  "Are you ready to order?" She looked at Sam with a flirty smile.

  He acknowledged her but kept his eyes on Charlie. "Do you know what you want?"

  "I'll have the special. Eggs scrambled, bacon and wheat toast."

  "You know what, that sounds good. I'll have the same."

  Charlie held up her menu and the girl snatched it without looking at her. Sam smirked and leaned across the table as she walked away.

  "I think I'm going to need another restraining order."

  Charlie laughed, "As long as I'm your favorite stalker."

  "Oh, so you finally admit you are stalking me."

  She buried her head in her hands and peeked up at him. "I got nothin'."

  He looked amused and took a sip of his coffee. "So I've been trying to figure out how you snuck your number in my phone."

  "Oh, I put it in there when I was looking through your play list."

  "Well I'm glad you did. It made my morning because I couldn't believe I forgot to ask you for it." He shook his head.

  "How'd you find it so fast anyway?"

  "I was getting ready to call my roommate Alex, and your number was staring back at me."

  "Well, did you get ahold of Alex, or did my number distract you too much?" She stirred her coffee before she took a sip.

  "Yeah, she crashed at her friends after they went out." He furrowed his brow and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Speak of the devil."

  ♥♥♥♥♥

  The bell over the door rang as a tall, thin, very pretty brunette made her way toward them. She smiled at Charlie first and then Sam as she stood in front of them. The resemblance was uncanny, they had the same eyes and mouth. He hadn't mentioned if he had siblings but by looking at them, she knew they were related somehow.

  "Hey, Sammy."

  "Hey, Al, What are you doing here?"

  She frowned. "Nice to see you too."

  "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just surprised you're here."

  "We came to eat and I saw your Jeep when we pulled in so I thought I'd say Hi."

  "Sorry, I'm being rude. Alex this is Charlie, Charlie this is my cousin Alex."

  The girl extended her hand toward her, Charlie shook it and smiled back.

  "Hi."

  "Hi."Alex turned her attention toward Sam.

  "Were you checking up on me or something?" she asked and put her hand on her hip.

  "Just wanted to make sure you were all right." Sam leaned back and winked at Charlie. She appreciated he included her in the conversation.

  "Well that was thoughtful." Alex motioned to herself. "See, I'm in one piece. You'd swear he was my big brother instead of my cousin."

  "I have one of those, I get it," Charlie said and nodded.

  "How was the concert?" Alex ran her hands though her hair and flipped it back over her shoulder.

  "It was incredible." Sam looked directly at Charlie and it made her melt when he looked at her that way.

  "I see," Alex said with a giggle. Charlie's cheeks flushed and took a sip of her coffee. The waitress walked up and gave Alex the evil eye and spoke only to Sam once again.

  "Can I get you anything else?"

  "No, thank you, we're good," he responded with a small smile. The girl lingered, Alex shot Charlie an "oh hell no" look and turned to look at the waitress, sizing her up. Amused, Charlie tried to hide her grin behind her cup. Sam looked oblivious to the shift in body language. The waitress glared at Alex.

  "Why don't you take a picture of him, it'll last longer," Alex said and crossed her arms over her chest. Charlie choked on her drink and practically spit it out at Sam.

  "Alex." Embarrassment shot across Sam's face.

  "What? She's basically eye fucking you right in front of your girlfriend and it's rude as hell." Alex swayed her head back and forth with attitude.

  Charlie loved Alex and the sound of being called Sam's girlfriend made her heart race. It wasn't like Alex knew her from Adam but she stuck up for her anyway. Charlie wouldn't have said anything to the waitress, she'd just planned to harass Sam about it later. The waitress stormed off and Alex looked proud of herself until she saw Sam's death glare.

  "What?" She shrugged at him and turned to her. "Sorry, Charlie, it is almost guaranteed your food will be spit in now. I guess I should have thought about that first," she said with an apologetic smile.

  "Seriously?" He looked annoyed. Their encounter reminded her so much of her relationship with Jules.

  "I'm going to go, I've obviously done enough damage." Alex leaned forward and kissed Sam on the cheek.

  "It was nice to meet you, Charlie."

  "You too, Alex."

  Sam just shook his head like he was trying to process what had just happened.

  "I apologize for her. I don't even know what to say."

  "No need, I like her." Charlie finished off her coffee.

  "Can you explain to me what just happened then?" Sam looked confused and it was hot.

  "I believe Alex marked you as her territory."

  "Huh?" Sam scrunched his face together, he obviously didn't get it.

  "Girl fight."

  "Girls fight dirty." Sam crinkled his nose and pulled his head back.

  "That would be why I don't have any female friends."

  The waitress brought their plates and slammed them down on the table. Sam looked like he wanted to apologize to her but before he could say anything, she stormed off. Sam's order was right and didn't look tampered with. The plate in front of her had over easy eggs, sausage and grits. Not even close to what she'd ordered but she wasn't about to send it back. Sending it back wasn't an option and it didn't look like it had been messed with.

  "I thought we ordered the same thing?" He looked from his plate to hers with a frown.

  "We did." Charlie shrugged, she didn't want to rock the boat.

  "Then what the hell is that? Let me grab her." Sam pointed to her plate and looked up for the waitress.

  "Don't worry about it, it's fine."

  "No, that's not what you ordered."

  "Sam, really. It's no big deal, I'll eat it. I'm not one of those girls that's afraid to eat." She hated grits but she'd eat the eggs and the sausage. Before she could dig into it, he switched plates with her. She reached across the table for it and he swatted at her hand as he pulled the plate back out of her reach.

  "Eat what you wanted, I'll eat this."

  "Seriously, it's not a big deal," she said, and dropped her arm in defeat. He raised his eyebrow to challenge her and she raised her hands in surrender. Did I just back down from an argument? This is some kind of voodoo shit.

  "This has already not gone how I wanted, so at least enjoy your food." Sam smiled and took a bite of the sausage.

  She cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh, and how did you want this to go?"

  "Uh... I didn't expect to have my cousin verbally a
ccost someone for one thing."

  "It was kind of funny, but technically you can blame me."

  "How do you figure?"

  "I don't know, but I'll take the blame."

  "No one can take the blame for what comes out her mouth."

  They ate in a comfortable silence. The more time she spent with him, the more at ease she became.

  ♥♥♥♥♥

  Charlie cleaned her plate and was half tempted to steal the rest of Sam's coffee. Their waitress hadn't come back with a refill and one cup wasn't enough. Sam poked at his grits with his fork and made a face before he pushed his plate away. A man approached their table and stood next to him.

  "Good morning folks, I understand there was an issue with one of my servers this morning?"

  Before Charlie had a chance to respond Sam chimed in.

  "Well, she was pretty rud— OW." Sam frowned at her and rubbed the shin she'd just kicked.

  "She was fine." Charlie crinkled her brow at him.

  The manager cleared his throat and looked confused."Are you sure? We had another patron complain about her."

  "Nope, it's fine," she said, with a diplomatic smile.

  "Okay then, I'll take these plates for you. Is there anything else I can get you?"

  She nodded. "Two large coffee's to go would be great."

  "Sure thing," he said, and walked away.

  Sam leaned across the table, "What'd you kick me for?"

  "To shut your pretty face up." She grinned.

  "Okay, I'm confused. That girl was rude as hell to you."

  "So what. She shouldn't get fired for being attracted to you. Can't say I blame her." She picked up her empty cup and frowned. Eh, what the hell. Reaching across the table she grabbed his coffee and took a sip. Stunned, he sat back and crossed his arms. "You're something else you know that?"

  "I've been called worse."

  The waitress set the coffees and bill down without a word before she walked off. Sam tossed a twenty on the table and relaxed in his seat as he flexed his fingers behind his head."So, you think I'm attractive huh?"

  "You're okay I guess."

  He cocked a brow. "Only okay?"

  "Oh I'm sorry," she mocked a pout, "Did I bruise your ego?"

  He placed his hands over his chest and feigned being hurt. A grin pulled at the corner of her mouth as she slid out of the booth and grabbed her coffee. "Wow, we better get out of here before I make you cry in front of all of these people."

  Sam laughed and put his hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the door. They walked outside, and over to his Jeep. She wasn't ready for them to go their separate ways but she didn't know what else to do.

  He turned to her. "Since we have full coffee's and I haven't had my fill of your sarcasm yet. There's a little park around the corner we can walk over to?"

  "It's a Friday. You don't have to go to work today?"

  He shook his head. "Nah I'm caught up on everything."

  "Then off to the park we go." She stepped back and let him lead the way.

  "So am I allowed to ask about your bike now?"

  She laughed and thought about the first time he tried to talk to her. "Sure."

  "How long have you been riding?"

  They walked side by side down the street. "I guess I was about twelve or so when my dad taught me.. So about seven years."

  "What does he ride? Did he move here too?"

  "Yeah he did, he rides a Harley."

  "That kind of surprises me that you have a Ducati if he's a Harley guy."

  She blew into her coffee before she took a sip. "Yeah, Harley's are cool and all but I've just always been drawn to sports bikes. I won't let anyone touch mine, let alone ride it."

  "I miss mine." Sam sighed, Charlie looked over at him and smiled.

  "You rode?"

  "Yeah, I loved it..." They crossed the street and found a bench toward the center of the park.

  "So what happened to your bike then?" She sat down and turned toward him on the bench.

  "I had to sell it. College tuition needed to be paid, my scholarship money was gone and my parents told me I was an adult, figure it out."

  "That's pretty harsh." She looked at him with sympathy.

  "They aren't exactly the nurturing type. With them it's sink or swim. I only had a partial scholarship so I worked two jobs and went to class full time."

  "Sounds like you were determined."

  "I just did what I needed to. Alex found the house we live in, her roommate at the time was a loser. When she kicked her out, she asked me to move in and I've been there ever since."

  "You guys seem pretty close," she said, before she took another sip of her drink.

  "She's the only person in my family I've ever been close to. She's nuts, obviously, but I love her." He took a drink of his coffee and crossed his foot over his knee.

  "Do you have any siblings?" he asked, as he held her gaze.

  "Nope, just me. Well unless you include Jules." Charlie gave him a small grin.

  "Is that the guy you were with last night?"

  "One in the same." She shook her head and rolled her eyes as she thought about him ditching her.

  "Is he still breathing? Or should we plan an escape route in case the cops show up?" He laughed.

  Suddenly aware of her heartbeat, every time he drew attention to his mouth, she wanted to kiss him.

  "For now he is, I'm sure it wont take him long to pull some other sort of shenanigans."

  "Sounds like Alex." He wore a fond smile.

  "I think those two are cut from the same cloth."

  "I can definitely see her pulling the same stunt he did last night."

  They sat in a comfortable silence and people watched for a while.

  "Silence, all human unhappiness comes from not knowing how to stay quietly in a room," she said wondering if he would know one of her favorite passages.

  "Did you just quote Pascal?" he asked stunned.

  "Yeah. I'm impressed you knew what the hell I was talking about." Charlie cleared her throat and took a sip of her coffee.

  "Is it safe to assume you enjoy poetry?" Sam smiled, he was impressed.

  "Yeah I'm a closet junkie. You would have to be too, to know that one." Charlie shifted her weight on the bench.

  "Oh guilty as charged." Sam seemed fascinated she'd pulled that out of nowhere. The more they talked, she realized how much they had in common.

  "I know this is going to sound — beyond cliche but do you have a favorite poem or quote?" she asked, her face apprehensive as she waited for him to respond.

  "I'll tell you as long as you don't laugh."

  "Oh God it's not a cheesy one is it?" she laughed.

  "See you're mocking me already and I haven't even told you. I'm not saying a word."

  "Okay, okay, sorry. What is it?" She asked with a smug smile.

  "I've learned that making a living is not the same as making a life."

  "Maya Angelou, definitely not cheesy." She shook her head.

  "I read that one a long time ago and it registered with me. My parents were always more focused on work and nothing else mattered."

  "That sucks, are you any closer with them now?" With sympathy in her eyes she watched him.

  "Not really. We haven't spoken in a few years." Sam took a drink of his coffee and looked at the ground.

  "That has to be hard."

  "Meh, I guess I'm used to it. I have Alex, so it's not like I'm alone." He glanced up at her and she was watching him intently.

  "That's good you have her."

  "What about you? You have a favorite?"

  "Yeah." She glanced away.

  "And it would be what?"

  "I'm not telling." She gave him a sheepish grin and he scowled at her.

  "Oh thats a bunch of crap. I showed you mine, now its time to show me yours —" The recognition seemed to wash over him of what he'd just said and he hung his head. "That did not come out—"

  She patte
d his thigh. "I know, but it was pretty funny." She laughed. He lifted his head and peeked at her with one eye open.

  It was time to put up or shut up and she knew it.

  "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives you the test first and the lesson afterward."

  "Wow, I'm not familiar with that one."

  "Vernon Law," she said, and dug the toe of her converse in the rocks around the bench.

  "So do the reminders on your wrists have something to do with those life tests?" Sam seemed like he was fishing to know more.

  "Yeah, I was pretty sick when I was a kid. I guess you could say I had a rough introduction to life." She didn't meet his eye.

  "That must have been hard on your parents."

  "It's just me and my dad."

  "And your mom?" He asked the question before he could stop himself.

  "She's gone." Her phone started to ring and she was thankful it broke the awkward silence. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at it.

  "The old ball and chain?" He smirked.

  "That would be him. He will keep calling until I answer, so I should probably get going." Charlie uncrossed her leg and stood up.

  "Well I won't hold you up any longer. I really enjoyed this morning."

  "So did I." She smiled at him and tossed her cup into a trash can as they passed it. They made the their way around the corner and stopped in front of her bike.

  "Thank you for breakfast."

  "Anytime, I'm glad you came."

  "Me too."

  Charlie stepped forward to kiss him on the cheek but he wrapped his arms around her. Sam lifted her chin with his finger and pressed his lips softly against hers. She slid her hands up his chest and lingered for a moment before pulling away.

  "Can I call you later?" he asked.

  "Sure," she said with a smile.

  "Be careful." He rubbed his hands up and down her back before he let go.

  "I will. I'm a ninja, remember?" She got on her bike, pulled on her helmet and pulled out onto the street.

  ♥♥♥♥♥

  Jules was sitting on the kitchen counter when she walked in the door.

  "How long have you been sitting there?" she asked and eyed him suspiciously.

  "A while." He shot her a wicked grin as he kicked his feet back and forth.

  "Why?"

  "Cuz' I've been waiting for you, dumb-ass."