Would Never Let You Go

CHAPTER 1 :

“Hey Sasha! You are the best! “Abi complemented the black woman standing behind the counter. She sipped her coffee and paid her some cash. Here you are Sasha! How is everything at home? How is George doing at school?” she asked about Sasha’s son who was in high school.

There were not enough customers at the coffee shop which meant Sasha could grab a couple of minutes to chat with Abi. “Oh he is doing good. My George is quite intelligent Abi. I hope he would fulfil his dreams to become a lawyer one day.” Abi smiled shaking her head. “He is intelligent indeed and a hard working boy too, just like his mama.”

“Oh no no no.” Sasha laughed dismissing her praise with the wave of her hand.

“Why not Sasha? You are a brave mom who is managing this coffee shop and a kid for quite some time. We all are so proud of you my dear.”

“Oh ! Look who’s talking. You are the one who is brave Abi. Your shitty boyfriend and that s**t of your sister……” Abi wanted to stop her but thank God Sasha did stop when a customer entered the shop. It  was a small town. And the word got faster than a light’s speed which meant she could not blame anyone. Whole town knew her since she was a baby. She was loved and respected by everyone here. The incident of her sister and boyfriend’s elopement was now 6 months old, but everyone around her was still unhappy or somewhat angry about it. Chloe was only 2 years younger than her but Abigail had always treated her like a baby. And what that baby sister did to her was something still too painful to remember.

Still busy in her thoughts she turned around abruptly just to avoid any more discussion of Chloe or Kyle, not realizing in her haste that the customer is standing right behind her. She bumped into a hard wall  which made her to drop her coffee cup. “s**t!”

Looking at the floor she saw her coffee spilled on the floor. She spun around to that wall, to ask it if it was blind or something. But that wall turned out to be someone’s chest wearing white crisp shirt with a big stain of coffee. “Oh my God” she turned to the counter in her haste to pick up some napkins and hurriedly put those napkins on his stained shirt. “I am so sorry. Extremly sorry!”

Realizing that the napkins were not that helpful she picked up a nearby mineral water bottle and poured it on the shirt. She was animatedly dabbing on the stain but stain was still there getting worse.

“Don’t tell me you are planning to pour a laundry bleach this time. Are you?” A deep and heavy male voice asked her lashes as her face was tilted down. She had not even seen the owner of that white shirt and wide chest. Very slowly she raised her eyes and saw herself staring into ocean blue eyes with longest lashes she had ever seen. f**k! She cursed silently. Under those eyes he had a long nose with a straight bridge. Ooh! My My. He is a God!

 His sensual lips were upturned into sexy smile. A damn Greek God! She thought to herself. He had an impressive jaw line and that jaw was cleanly shaved. She could actually smell his after shave, she was this close to him. Her eyes went wide. Oh Why she was THIS close to him?

 She started to get back forgetting completely that she was standing in front of the counter. As a result she bumped her back with it. “Ouch” she winced. The man standing in front encircled his arms around her waist and started to massage her back. “Hey love! Are you done checking me out?“ 

Was there a trace of mischief in his voice she noticed? Come On Abi. He is just a man. Just a bloody man! Stop acting like a teenager.

He surely was accustomed to females falling on his feet AND in his pants, but she was obviously not one of them. Pulling herself together she smiled to herself and decided to give him the shock of his life by showing that she was totally unaffected and indifferent to his charms. Resting her both palms on his chest, she pushed him a little. Just a little, so that he won’t take her as a brat. Obviously he was the one who was burned by her coffee and she wanted to make it up to him.

“Hey Chris Evans. I am sorry ok?“

Tilting his head back he looked at her smiling and frowning at the same time. “What? Who the hell is Chris Evans? “

“Chris Evans…. Is  Captain America! By the way I am really sorry for what I did to your shirt” she smiled.

 “I wish I can do something about it. It seems expensive” she smiled sweetly looking into his eyes.

 He looked a little taken aback. “Yes actually it is expensive” he grinned. “and yes I do want a payback for it! It’s the only option, you know? Otherwise you might pore laundry bleach and laundry softener at me”

“No no.” she laughed raising her arms in the air. “I wasn’t planning to do any such thing.”

“Hey you two ! Move from the counter. I have got other customers in the queue“  Sasha’s Booming voice rang through the coffee shop.. It seemed like they both came back to the real world. He held Abi’s arm gently and made her walk with him to the nearest coffee table. “Sit here please. Then he turned to Sasha. “Miss, can you please make her another cup of coffee?“ Sasha nodded smilingly and started taking orders from other customers. “Sasha! Make it two please.” She told Sasha and then turned around to him. “It’s the least I can do. You can drop your shirt here with the owner.” She pointed towards Sasha. “She knows me. And I would get it dry-cleaned for you.” She offered.

 He was continuously looking in her eyes but strangely she was not feeling uneasy. “It’s ok. I would go and change first. I had a meeting which I already cancelled. My tire got flat, so I just came here to…… “ he looked at her with his eyes dancing with mischief “to get my shirt stained”

“Oh brother!“ she hide her face in her hands out of embarrassment. He started laughing. “Just kidding Sunshine!” Hearing him say endearment made her cheeks blush. He saw her face with interest. She was beautiful! He thought to himself. Just then Sasha’s assistant brought them their coffees. Abi opened her purse for taking out cash but the Greek God stopped her at once. “Don’t. It’s on me “

She shook her head “No its not. Its actually on me. I am the one who ruined your shirt.”

 He started to say something but she raised her hand to stop. “Please let me. I am already feeling guilty “ she got up and went to the counter to pay. Sasha was looking at her with a naughty smile. But thank God she didn’t say anything. When she turned around to reach her table she caught him checking her out. Now we are even. She secretly smiled to herself. Instead of sitting there she picked her disposable cup and looked at him.” I would take my leave now Captain America, already getting late.” She told him.

“I would walk you to your car.” he said standing up while holding his cup.

“No please. I haven’t got my car. My office is just 2 blocks away. I came here just to grab my coffee.” She said looking at him with again that genuine smile of hers.

The stranger noticed her attractive dimple then putting his hand on her small back he said “Two blocks is really not too much. Now is it? Let’s walk.” Abi suddenly realized that he was intending to walk with her to her showroom.

“No! I would manage. Seriously. No need to trouble yourself.”

“Believe me it’s not ä trouble at all. Plus one coffee is not enough for a payback for THIS expensive shirt”  he said while exiting the coffee shop with her. She looked at his chiseled face. He was serious but his eyes……. Man! They were twinkling.

“ok, so how many coffee cups you want?” She asked while walking slowly taking small sip of her coffee. A small smile was playing on her own lips.

“Umm. No ! No more coffee. But I would soon let you know” he said while gently tucking a hair strand behind her ear. The gesture took away her breath and his tone held a promise. That he would meet her again. While walking she tried to observe him from the corner of her eye. He had a lean body, she could guess easily that he had muscles beneath his shirt. He might have six packs. He was sure a gym fan but he was not overly muscular. A man with such strong aura and impressive personality can be this gentle? She thought.

 He had awakened all senses in her body which she didn’t know if existed. Her pulse rate was higher than usual. She could hear her own heart beat drumming in her ears and was frightened that he might hear it as well. If he could hear it then he didn’t show it.

 She stopped in front of her showroom. “This is my destination “she smiled.

“Ok, so you work here?“ He looked at the small but impressive place made of glass walls. All glass walls were covered with vivacious and colorful drapes which was adding vibrant character to the place. In the center a large display sign was there saying Vintage Oak Furniture. Your one stop solution for home décor.

  “Impressive! “ he said.

“What are your lunch timings by the way? “ he asked looking at her face. This is too soon man! NO relationship right now. She panicked. Nobody knew except Molly that she was still in healing process. She was wildly attracted to him without any doubt. But right now she could not go further. Her guard was up at that very instant. He felt the change in her body language. “It’s okay Abi, If you don’t want it” He smiled gently showing a little dent near his lips. He must have heard Sasha calling her name in the coffee shop. She never liked her name before.

 “I totally forgot that you might have a possessive fiancé”  Though he did notice that she was not wearing an engagement ring. “My intention was not to scare you!”

Gosh! Am I that transparent?

 She did not correct him about the fiancé thing. No, she was not ready to share this much with anyone. Even if it was a swoon worthy hunk like him. How can somebody manage to look that sexy even in a coffee stained shirt? He was looking at her face too intently, she realized. She forced a smile and then tried to open her mouth to say something. Then had to close it because she simply did not know what to say.

 He sensed her inner battle. For the sake of making it easy for her, he put his thumb and fore finger  under her chin to lift her head. He smiled and very lightly kissed her forehead. “See you soon Sugar“ with that he turned on his toes and started walking back leaving her there. If he had turned around he would have seen that she was rooted to the spot lightly touching her forehead where he had just placed a peck.

 The door of the showroom suddenly opened with Mike coming out. “Hey Abi. Our todays order is ready to be dispatched.” He smiled. He was the most expert carpenter in her small team. “That’s good Mike. She entered her office and sent a message to Molly.

“Have Lunch with me. Urgent!!!!!!!”

her instant reply was

“Ok chief! Roger! We would order grilled sandwiches“  she smiled.

 In all these six months Molly had been a constant support to her.  A friend who was there for her when she wanted to cry, scream or even suicide. She had been visiting a psychiatrist and Molly used to be there on her every visit, sitting long hours in waiting area. When her mom had a heart attack Molly was the one who offered her embrace during cold nights in hospitals. Even her psychiatrist Dr. Richard was impressed. “You are very Lucky Abigail. People like Molly are real gems.“ and she agreed.

When Molly reached her furniture showroom she was busy with carpenters, briefing them about their new project. “Hello” Molly’s cheerful voice made every one turned to her.

 “What? Its lunch time. Now everyone shoo away and let us have lunch in peace” everyone chuckled and started chatting at once. Leaving all the workers to themselves they both entered her office and Abi closed the door.  

“Now shoot.“ Molly fell on the sofa taking off her sandals.

“What? ” she tried to avoid her gaze. Molly simply rolled her eyes. “Abigail, you are not only my childhood friend but a piece of my heart. Ok?  Now tell me what is it?“

“Umm. Nothing special. I just met this hot guy today in Sasha’s coffee shop. And I literally wanted you to be there with me. He was so…… “  She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. When she opened her eyes Molly’s mouth was hung open. 

“So you like someone? “

“Noooo. I DON’T LIKE HIM! “

“Then you have crush on him?”

“No I don’t think its crush!” she said a little too defensively.

“Ok! But you find him hot? Right?”

“No, I don’t find him hot.” Abigail shrugged. “ But I think he was hot!” She realized she wasn’t making much sense.”

“Abigail! Does this not so hot guy has a name?”

“Name?” Now Abi was confused.

“Yes NAME! Its something which you get AFTER you are born, mostly by your parents.”

“s**t!”

“What?”

“What a fool I am?”

“Why? What have you done?”

“I FORGOT TO ASK HIS DAMN NAME!”