Page 14 of Open To Negotiation

“Since I come from a place where almost everyone sounds like me. I don’t think it’s the accent.” I surprised myself with how forward I was being. I normally didn’t talk this much since people annoy me. She only annoyed me because she had so much of my attention.

We got up to the till and I watched her smile warmly at the barista behind the counter.

“I’ll have a small latte please.”

“Large,” I corrected. Assuming she was only ordering a small because she wasn’t paying for it. Even if she did want a small, she could throw out anything she didn’t drink. “And a large Americano please.”

The man behind the counter turned the screen for me to pay and I reached in my pocket for my wallet. As I looked down to grab my black card, I heard a ping.

“Drinks will be on your left.” I looked up confused at the barista, seeing the approved message on the system.

When my eyes slid over to Quinn, she was grinning widely at me, wiggling her phone up in front of me.

“Cards on the phone.” She smirked and then laughed at the shock on my face.

“Receipt?” the man asked.

“Nope, thanks!” Quinn spoke before I could as she grabbed my arm and started to pull me away. The only reason I went was because I liked that she was touching me. And I was still surprised by her move.

“Don’t you need it for expensing?” I honestly couldn’t recall the last time a woman bought anything for me. On the rare occasion I did go out with a woman, she wouldn’t even pretend to reach for her wallet when the bill came.

“Nope. This isn’t a business coffee.” She’d dropped her voice and did a terrible British accent. I think she was trying to mimic me. She laughed again as I shook my head. “Come on, Money Bags, your five-dollar coffee isn’t going to bankrupt me.” She was still smiling at me as we settled at a table, waiting for our drinks.

I shook my head, watching her delight over the fact that she bested me. Her smile was easy, wide and full of light. It completely disarmed me.

This woman…

“You didn’t have to do that. I invited you,” I reminded her.

“I know. But honestly, seeing the confusion on your face was worth it alone.”

When I finally convinced her to go out with me for dinner, I was going to have to hide her phone when it was time for the bill.

“So you’ve lived here all your life,” I decided to move on from the paying topic for now. She tilted her head and looked at me. “What?”

“You were listening?”

“Yesterday? Of course,” I said as I watched her frown at me.

“You were on your phone the whole time.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“I was listening.” She opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her interrupt. “I was working with Will, our lawyer, because a deal we were about to sign off on had some red flags pop up at the last minute after some extra digging. I should have mentioned something, I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Her face held steady for a moment before it relaxed into a gentle smile. “Forgiven. Not that you owed me an explanation,” she added almost sheepishly.

“Did you have a nice night last night?” I tried not to let any irritation show but I didn’t think it worked since her smile only grew.

“I did, and you?” I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that it was unlikely that I was going to be able to get more information from her.

“Order for Knight,” the barista called.

I stood up before Quinn could move and grabbed our drinks. As I sat back down, she must have decided to move on from our back and forth about last night.

“What do you miss most about London?” she asked as she took a sip of her drink.

“Noah’s parents,” I replied without hesitation. I could tell she wanted to know more but I wasn’t discussing that with her today. “What do you like most about living here?” She scrunched up her nose and it was fucking adorable. I had to stop myself from reaching for her and tucking a piece of hair back behind her ear.

“The sad answer is I’m not really sure. I haven’t lived anywhere else and I just can’t imagine picking up my life and moving,” she said with a shrug almost like she was embarrassed.