Raven followed the scent of rich coffee to the kitchen and found a hulking man sitting at the breakfast table, reading his tablet.
Oh, hell. It really had happened.
She’d hoped her memories of the previous night had been the result of an alcohol-soaked hallucination.
Details emerged from her foggy memory. Her grasping hold of Jack’s face, then kissing him like she was drowning, and he was her last gasp of air. A kiss so hot, she’d practically begged him to take her right there on the sofa. The shock of him slamming on the brakes, then realizing she hadn’t been dreaming after all. And she had called him Mr. Perfect.
How humiliating.
There was one thing Raven’s memory hadn’t quite captured, though. Last night, even though she’d been drunk, she’d registered that he was handsome. But now, seeing him bathed in the crisp November light streaming through the kitchen window, there was no other word for it.
Jack Baines was sublime. So much so, it almost hurt to look at him. But like any natural wonder, it was also hard to look away.
As if he felt the weight of Raven’s stare, Jack glanced up from the screen and offered a small smile. “Morning, sunshine.” He’d ditched his fancy suit and wore jeans and a black crew neck sweater over a black T-shirt.
She winced at the deep resonance of his voice as it ricocheted off the inside of her skull. “Morning.” She filled a glass with water at the filter in the fridge, then threw two pain pills down her throat.
“Hangover?” he asked.
Raven swallowed a large gulp, then pinched her forefinger and thumb together. “Little bit.” She felt about as good as she looked in her rumpled pajamas and hastily rubber-banded bed head.
Jack offered a sympathetic nod. “Tequila will do that.”
“Thanks for the tip.” She spotted a French press, grinder, and package of dark, Italian espresso beans. Her insides melted. He’d brought the good stuff, imported from Italy.
Raven flashed back to the first time she’d tasted Lavazza. Raven and her roommate, Lexi Ellington, were in the same master’s program. The courses challenged Raven, but Lexi found them nearly impossible. The only way Raven got her to stick it through was to promise that when they survived the program, they’d celebrate with a trip to Europe.
After two years of late nights cramming for exams and writing papers, they jetted off. It was the first time Raven had gone anywhere besides school without her father or sisters, and the first real break she’d taken for herself. It was amazing. Even now, she could recall sitting in that piazza in Milan, sipping espresso and watching people go by, feeling truly free.
There were very few things Raven wouldn’t do right now for a demitasse of that magic elixir but seeing as she was about to kick Jack out of her house, asking for even a few ounces was probably bad form.
“Want some?” Jack asked.
“Is it that obvious?” She was probably drooling like a dog eyeing a rack of barbecue ribs.
One corner of his mouth bent upward. “Yes.” He grabbed a mug from the cabinet, then poured the press until the mug was nearly full. “How do you take it?”
“A touch of milk.”
“This is strong stuff. You might want some sugar, too.”
She smiled. “I know what it tastes like.”
He shrugged and handed her the mug. “Suit yourself.”
Raven held the coffee to her nose and closed her eyes as she inhaled its rich scent. Suddenly she was back at the piazza, twenty and flirting with pretty ragazzi. It was more than a decade ago yet seemed like a lifetime.
She turned back to the table and was surprised to see that Jack had set out a spoon, napkin, and the milk directly opposite him. Pausing for a moment, she stared at the set-up and its thoughtfulness. He’d anticipated everything she’d need to enjoy a perfect cup of coffee. Raven couldn’t remember the last time someone who wasn’t a waiter had done that for her.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah.” She eased into her chair and felt the weight of his gaze as she poured the milk, then swirled it into the dark, black liquid. When it was perfect, she took a sip.
“Not too dark?” he asked.
“Nope.”
He shook his head. “I drink it sweet, the way the Italians do.”
Raven glanced over the rim of her mug. “I don’t use refined sugar.”
He laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. Why?”
“What do you call that shrine to diabetes?” He gestured his thumb over his shoulder toward the pile of candy on the counter across the kitchen. The torn box of Tinks sat atop the unopened strawberry licorice vines, a testament to her weakness.
Shit. Her stomach squeezed. She’d caved and eaten one of those nasty little things. And worse, she barely remembered what it tasted like.
She drew a deep breath. Today was a new day. A clean slate. She’d do better. Be better.
Raven forced a steely smile. “Oh. That. It was . . . uncharacteristic.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Really.” She took another sip.
“Like the tequila was uncharacteristic?” Jack asked.
“Pretty much.” Raven swallowed the coffee and focused on the taste as it slipped over her tongue. It was so much better than the domestic, so-called gourmet brand she grabbed each morning on her way to work.
Coffee this good shouldn’t be a once in a while luxury. It should be a necessity to start the day right. But coffee like this took time and effort to brew, and she’d had other priorities. Which was so dumb. At most, she’d have to wake up, what, ten minutes earlier to press it? The fact that that seemed like too much effort showed how little she’d been doing to care for herself. That needed to change.
An awful, ironic realization struck. Now that she was unemployed, she’d have plenty of time to brew as much coffee as she’d like. Her last sip turned bitter. Suddenly, she didn’t want any more. She placed the mug on the table and sat back.
“Wanna talk about it?” Jack asked uncomfortably. The expression on his face screamed that he very much didn’t want to talk about it.
Not that she blamed him. He didn’t know the first thing about her. He was probably scared that her tequila binge and candy mountain resulted from an epic PMS attack or being dumped by some asshole ex.
If Jack got a glimpse of the intensity of emotion that had sent her diving into that tequila and box of Tinks, he’d run screaming for cover.
Raven hadn’t just lost her livelihood—she’d lost control of the company she’d worked so hard to save. She’d failed not only herself, but her boss, and the men before him who’d built the company and had expected it to stay in the family’s hands. She’d been blindsided by Tiffany and her new, anonymous “partner.” The anger and sadness that swelled in Raven’s chest were overwhelming, but it didn’t compare to the disappointment she felt in herself.
So she was grateful that Jack didn’t want her to share her feelings because if she did, they would probably break her.
Raven shook her head. “Nope.”
Relief flooded over Jack’s handsome face. “Anything you do want to talk about?”
Definitely not that you saw me half-naked. Or that mind-bending kiss.