He Who Wants A Rose, Must Respect The Thorn

Candy And Coffee

"So why is this the best coffee shop in the town?" I asked, as we walked side by side down the side walk. He grinned "ah, I guess I've put pressure on it now huh" he smiled to himself as he stared down at the pavement in front of him. "yes you have, it better be the best coffee I've ever had, or I won't take your candy recommendations seriously" I warned him, making him laugh. "the pressure's on man" he shook his head as he indicated with his hand that we had arrived.

He opened the door and let me step inside. The aroma of the place hit me and lit my senses. He must have been able to tell as he grinned at me as he stepped towards the counter, "good huh" he said, making me grin and nod in reply. "go take a seat and I'll get your drink" he offered, as I was about to protest he shook his head slightly. "please. What would you like?" he asked me, "any kind of latte please" I responded, to that he nodded and headed to the counter. I grabbed some napkins and went to take a seat at the back of the shop where he seemed to indicate with a nod when he told me to take a seat.

............

"so are you here on vacation?" he asked after sitting down and waiting for me to take my first sip of the vanilla and raspberry latte he had picked out for me. He was right, it was heaven. I shook my head at his question. "my brother lives here, he's offered me a job working for him, so I'm here this time to check out the job and get a feel for what it might be like living here" I explained. "cool. What better way than with candy" he teased, making me laugh. "yeah, bad huh" I said, he shook his head. "so what's the job?" he asked, taking a large mouthful of his drink. "developing skin care lines for us to modify and sell onto skincare brands." I said, "oh wow" he looked surprised, "that makes me feel a little dumb" he said, chuckling. I laughed a little and frowned, "what do you do?" I asked him, "oh uh, I work in sport. I don't really need to use my brain as much as you do" he said, looking right at me. I shrugged, "but your body is working harder than mine. Kinda the same in a way" I said, sipping my drink again. "I guess...So where are you from?"

"England, I work for a company back home doing the same kind of thing, but I feel restrained by them. I feel I've got so much to give but I can't spread my wings there. My brother, he has his own company and I would have my own staff and could work on anything I wanted." I beamed a smile. "sounds like a perfect job for you huh" he smiled. "I guess so." I shrugged. "and you would already have your brother here." he said, "and I know I'd see you again" he admitted, causing me to blush, but before either of us could say anything else, his phone started to ring. "ah crap." he sighed, "sorry, I gotta take this" he said, looking at his screen flashing. I nodded and sat back in my chair as he accepted the call.

"hey Danny boy. Sorry man....yeah...I know, I got distracted...yeah...okay, I'll be there as soon as I can....yeah okay man. bye" He pushed his phone back into his pocket and sighed. "I'm really sorry, but I gotta head out." he said, looking apologetically at me. "it's okay." I replied, still wondering what he meant by being distracted. "It's not, I was having a great morning with you, but I totally forgot I was picking my friend up to take him to work with me. If I don't leave now my boss is gonna have my ass." he said, downing his coffee.

We left the shop and he told me that he had to get to his car. "it's back at the candy store"

"what?" I laughed, shocked that he had left it there. "I kinda got distracted there too" he smiled, a cheeky one that made me blush badly. "well I guess you better go get your car" I said, trying to distract him from seeing how pink I was getting. "yeah, um, well, how about if you're free tomorrow we could go round the city and I could be your personal tour guide?" he offered, giving me that smile that was incredibly hard to resist.

"oh, sure, yeah I'd like that" I smiled back at him. "cool. I could meet you by the candy store if that's good with you?" he asked, I nodded in response. "at ten?" he offered, "Yeah. Go get your car and I'll see you tomorrow" I smiled at him, "yeah. See you tomorrow" he smiled. He hesitated a little, then turned to jog off to his car. But not without turning around and briefly jogging backwards as he locked eyes with me "I didn't catch your name!" he called to me. I smiled, "Penny" I called back to him. "Julian" He replied, and sent me an amazing smile. I sent him a shy wave and he winked, making me blush so badly.

How did that just happen?!