"Coconut milk. Caprino fresco. Arugula- what the hell is arugula?" Anna muttered to herself under her breath as she scanned the rest of the list.
She didn't know what half of the items were and her frustration was building. Her boss at the bookstore had waited until the last second to give any thought to this extensive list of refreshments their visiting author had requested and now it was up to Anna to try to hunt it all down.
A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled her long hair up out of her face into a sloppy bun, climbed out of the car, and walked quickly toward the upscale grocery store that she hoped would stock some of the more obscure items.
Anna made a whirlwind rush through the aisles, picking out what items she could from the list as she went. She couldn't imagine what on earth he was going to need all this food for; he was only going to be at the store for a couple of hours. If Anna had been in charge she'd have told him in no uncertain terms just where he could shove his arugula. She giggled and hoped an arugula was some kind of bizarre cucumber.
Of course, if she had been in charge this "author" probably never would have been invited to the bookstore. According to Claudia the guy was the son of a celebrity, which is why she'd wanted him to do the book signing so badly. She hoped it would bring in a large audience who would then stay to buy something and remember the shop next time they needed a book.
Anna had never heard of him, hadn't read his book, and couldn't care less who his father was. Claudia, on the other hand, was even more spacey than usual with excitement over his visit.
"Blood oranges, ugh that sounds disgusting. Star fruit (make sure it's ripe)," she read off the list, making a face. She asked a produce clerk and to her surprise he immediately pointed her toward a small cart with exotic fruits on it- including star fruit and blood oranges.
Anna stared at the fruit blankly. She picked one up and turned it over, looking for some sign that would tell her whether it was ripe. Glancing at the time on her phone she groaned and decided that she didn't have time to worry about it so she just grabbed four of the star fruits at random and was piling oranges into her arms.
"Excuse me, miss?"
Anna jumped and dropped most of the fruit onto the ground, the oranges rolling in all directions.
"Dammit! What?" she snapped, dropping to her knees to try to corral the oranges before they got too far away.
She reached up under the cart to retrieve an errant star fruit and sat back up trying to straighten her dress with one hand and hold on to the fruit with the other. At this point she was beyond frazzled and whoever it was still hadn't spoken so she looked up ready to snap.
Instead her mind went completely blank when she looked up into the most amazing green eyes she'd ever seen. For a moment she just sat there, frozen, until the eyes smiled at her and broke her momentary paralysis.
"I didn't mean to bother you," the man said, squatting to help her gather oranges. "But I noticed you were buying star fruit and the ones you picked don't look very good. They're kind of expensive so I just thought..." He shrugged as he trailed off, pointing vaguely at the fruit cart.
"Oh! Yes, please. I'm totally out of my element here; exotic fruit isn't really my thing. Which ones should I get?"
She couldn't help staring some more as he stood and bent over the cart to get a better look. His nose was slightly crooked, like it had been broken at some point, and his full lips gave the impression of a smirk even when relaxed as they were now, but somehow those things made him seem even better looking. Especially the lips.
Taking her time picking up the rest of the fruit, Anna had a perfect vantage point from which to appreciate how sharp he looked in his perfectly tailored black dress pants and crisp white button up.
He wasn't her type at all; most of the guys she'd dated were more the dirty jeans and hemp necklace types, but she cocked her head, admiring the way the slacks accentuated the rounded curves of his ass in a way that dirty jeans could never hope to aspire to.
The man carefully picked out several star fruits and oranges and set them in her basket as Anna stood and dumped her armful of fruit back on the cart.
"There you go. Are there any more exotic fruit purchases I can help you with today?" he asked with a grin and a wink. "Since that's not really your thing."
Anna suppressed a simpering giggle and told herself to get a grip.
"Actually, if you know where any of this other stuff is I would be forever in your debt." she said, pulling out the list and skimming the remaining items. She handed the list to him and saw his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "I know, it's pretty ridiculous, huh? I don't even know what half of it is," she spilled in a rush, eager to assure him it wasn't her list.
"So why are you buying it?"
"Because some self-involved blowhard with an inflated sense of entitlement decided to push his weight around and demand the most obscure groceries he could google."
The man let out a hearty laugh and Anna couldn't help laughing along with him, grateful to finally have someone to complain to about her ridiculous errand.
"The bookstore I work for is having a book signing this afternoon and the 'celebrity author' sent us this 'list of demands'," she explained, rolling her eyes and making air quotes with her fingers to accentuate her point.
The man chuckled again. "Really? He wants all this stuff just to snack on?"
"I know. It's crazy, isn't it? As if our tiny store has the budget for this sort of thing."
"Yeah, that would be crazy. I tell you what though, I can round up the rest of this stuff pretty quick. Why don't you go over to the café and order for us so we can have a cup of coffee together before you go."
Anna's jaw dropped. "Oh, I don't know. I mean, I would love to," she assured him, taking another quick glance down at his lips and back up to his eyes. "But I'm really in a hurry."
"Please? You said you'd owe me forever. I'm willing to let you off easy with one cup of coffee."
Anna bit her lower lip as she debated with herself. It wasn't a terribly difficult choice. "Alright, but one cup of coffee isn't sufficient repayment. I'll still have to owe you my first-born child or something. I guess Mr. Fancypants can wait a few more minutes for his coconut milk."
"I'm certain he can," her savior said with a wide grin. "I'll just be a few minutes, would you grab me a coffee with cream?"
"Sure."
Anna unsuccessfully tried to wipe the grin off her face as she set off toward the café. She ordered them both coffees and sat down to wait for...crap, she hadn't even asked him what his name was, how was that for superficial? She rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be excited anyway about having coffee with cute guy.
It had been longer than she cared to think about since she'd been on a date, and she'd never gone out with a guy like him. It wasn't that he was all that good looking, though he was, but he had a predatory air about him that made her weak in the knees and there was something in his eyes when he looked at her made her feel...tingly.
