Lost and Found (manxboy) ✓

Chapter Two

After taking a women's coffee order, I rubbed my tired eyes and went to wipe down some tables. It was thankfully a slow day. Apparently people didn't need very much coffee today for whatever reason.

I yawned on my way to put the cleaning rag away and Beth, a coworker, stopped me and put her hand on my arm. "You okay, Beau?"

I smiled and rubbed underneath my eyes. "Just had a rough night. Didn't get a lot of sleep." I had woken up from nightmares all night long.

"You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?"

Her face showed such concern and my smile faltered. I tried to be as pleasant as possible at work because no one knew me here and I didn't want to explain my sob story. I didn't want to go around telling everyone, "My boyfriend was thirty years older than me and croaked at fifty-five, had a heart attack in the middle of canned foods section at the grocery store while he was buying me soup. And now I'm a twenty-five-year-old man that doesn't know how to take care of himself. I eat peanut butter for dinner and can't pay the bills. Will you help me?"

Maybe I hadn't been faking it as well as I thought?

I forced a smile back on my face. "Thank you, Beth. That's really sweet. I might take you up on that offer sometime." I wouldn't, but I knew that was what she wanted to hear. It caused her to smile and she surprised me with a hug. She squeezed me tightly and I patted her back awkwardly.

She pulled away and put her hands on my shoulders. "You're part of the family here now, Beau. You better get used to it," she told me with a smile.

I didn't get a chance to reply because the bell rang over the door and I had to take someone's order. I went over to the register and entered my clerk number into the computer before I smiled up at the customer. "What would you like, sir?"

My fake smile faltered when the man gave me a dazzling smile. Holy mother of—

He was absolutely gorgeous.

He had dark hair and dark eyes with thick, sexy scruff on his jaw. He looked like he could be an underwear model.

But he was older than me, by a lot. I could tell.

I cleared my throat and put a professional smile back on my face.

He didn't stop smiling at me. "I've never been here before. What do you recommend–" He looked down at my name tag and then back up at my face. "Beau."

I swallowed, still forcing a smile. "Honestly, sir, I don't drink coffee. So the only things I could recommend are our smoothies or hot chocolate."

His smile never left his face and he chuckled a little. "I'm sure those are delicious, but I really need caffeine this morning. How about just a large black coffee with one shot of espresso?"

I nodded as I entered it into the register. "Can I get a name?" I asked, looking back up at him.

"Jon," he answered, "no H."

I wanted to moan. What a hot name.

Jesus Christ, Beau. Don't be such a slut. An older man smiles at you five months after your boyfriend dies and you want to drop to your knees. Pull yourself together.

I very subtly shook my head and entered his name into the computer.

"Also add on a muffin," he said. "Blueberry."

"Sure," I said pleasantly and added the item onto his order. "Anything else?" I looked up at him. He was so tall, taller than Harrison for sure and he had been tall.

Jon looked at me with that smile on his face and I really thought he was going to say something. He just stared at me. Then he shook his head. "No, that's it."