Chapter 4

Sapphire Watterson

I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Excuse me?” unsure if I heard correctly. I was beginning to lose my patience with this man, who was rude and arrogant just because he thought he was good-looking. ‘He is good-looking,’ my subconscious reminded me, and I rolled my eyes inwardly.

“We are closed. In case you’re too slow-witted to understand, and I am not going to accept that money no matter what, I advise you to stick it up your arrogant ass and get the hell out—”

“Sapphire,” my boss called from behind, and I sucked in a deep breath, eyeing the painstakingly handsome man so much that if looks could bury, he would be twelve feet beneath the ground.

I didn’t turn to Boss Shawn immediately because I was busy staring at my affliction, who thought this was funny. He had an amused expression on his face, like we did not just cuss ourselves out. This pissed me off a lot more than the earlier bland expression he offered when I asked if he needed help because I thought he was blind.

“Sapphire, you—” my boss said again, took a deep breath in and out, then resumed speaking, “I think today’s been a lot. Maybe you should just go home. I’ll do the serving myself.” I was grateful to him that I didn’t have to spend one more minute with this man, but at the same time, I felt embarrassed that I had just promised him I’d suck in all my low-tolerance issues and get us back to our number one spot on the Coffee Rep Blog, only to be seen glaring daggers at an unfamiliar and annoying soul.

Nevertheless, I smiled in appreciation at my boss, adjusted my bag, and began walking away when someone in a usual deep baritone said, “Not so fast, Fire.” I stopped abruptly in my tracks, my brain trying to process the fact that he just called me Fire despite trying to restrain me from going home. At this point, I was so exasperated, but I didn’t show it, so he didn’t think he won.

I swerved around to look at him, noticing that he was no longer sitting. Right now, he was towering over me. His coat was off, and he was left wearing only the white button-up shirt, which had its sleeves rolled up, exposing his tattooed wrist, which was clad in his silver wristwatch. A few of his shirt buttons were undone, and just staring at him made my breath hitch. Besides, he was standing near me, and his cologne kept assaulting my senses. I took a step backward, watching him pull out another single dollar note and place it on the counter. “I want you,” his deep blue eyes held my gaze. For a second, I almost melted, but then he added, “To serve my coffee.”

‘What the hell is wrong with this entitled brat?!’ my subconscious was screaming. Good thing I knew when someone was being an asshole. I flicked a stare to Boss Shawn, who was looking at us with benign interest. Was he serious right now? Slowly, I pulled my gaze back to this brat.

“I’m sorry, but I’m off work. If you wanted me to make a cup of mocha for you, then you should have come earlier,” I told him, deciding against my reflexes.

“I had a little too much to do today at work. Believe me, I would have been out of there before the sun even thought of exposing itself to the universe,” he said as if we were having a normal conversation. Once again, it amazed me how he could switch from being a brat to talking like one of us didn’t think of murdering the other person a second ago.

I frowned. “That’s unfortunate for you, but I’ve had a long day today, and I’d like to call it a day. So, help yourself to another place, or like my boss offered — he can make you a cup,” I said suggestively.

Blue Eyes yawned, dropping another dollar bill on the counter. “What part of ‘you doing it’ do you not understand, Fire?” He was starting to infuriate me, and I was tempted to give him a backhand.

“Can you not call me Fire—”

“No.”

I ignored him. “And if you have that much money, you should save yourself and me the stress and just go somewhere else,” I seethed.

He placed another note on the counter. “Why should I save you anything?”

“Then, at least save your time. Aren’t rich people like you too busy to waste your time?”

He smirked, placing another note. “I wouldn’t call this wasting. I think that’s the difference between the two of us.” I understood what he meant. He was probably rich, owned a company or two, and even if the worst happened, he’d still be rich. Unlike me, who was employed by my boss and had to pay for house and utility bills too. If I ever lose my job, it would be difficult to find another, and I’d end up broke.

“Sapphire, I think you should just go ahead and get him what he wants, or he won’t leave here,” my boss mouthed from behind. I let out a sigh of resignation, throwing my bag on an empty seat as I got behind the counter to begin making him coffee.

Psssttt…

That was what I heard before I began to clean up. Shawn was gone, leaving just me and this man inside his building. I turned around slowly. He actually spat out his drink. As much as it annoyed me further, I secretly hoped he had swallowed a cockroach inside his coffee.

“What’s going on now?” I asked with a bored expression, ignoring the horrifying look he shot at me.

“Did you bother to taste this?” he asked, and I shrugged. Of course, I didn’t. I didn’t want to have anything else to do with coffee. If he didn’t keep pushing my buttons, he would have had a better taste in his mouth.

“It’s perfect,” I told him, putting on a huge smile on my face, which made him scowl deeply.