DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) by Ketley Allison Page A

his hand over the espresso maker, opening his palm in invitation. But his eyes, there was something behind them.
    His hand reached just shy of my collarbone, and even though I didn’t raise my own hand to meet his, heat boiled up inside me regardless. My hand that held a full cup of coffee jerked, knocking the full blender beside me into the sink.
    “Oh, good job.”
    I looked up to see Liz Graham, one of Macy’s friends, ambling up behind Asher, her right eyebrow predictably arched as she eyed the mess. I barely spared her a glance as I began to clean it up, knowing that her ice blue eyes would pin me down as soon as I connected with them. She didn’t like me, and I didn’t like her.
    I flicked a glance at Asher. There was probably only one reason she would show up today, and that reason was currently causing fireworks to detonate against my skin.
    “Liz!” Macy called from her table. “Did you get my Facebook post? About those killer knee highs?”
    “Yes! I died.” Liz’s voice rose a few octaves—dare I say became cheerful—when she turned to Macy.
    Liz gave Asher a long look before tucking a strand of wheat blonde hair behind her ear and going over to Macy, pulling out her phone as she and Macy cooed over boots. I knew Macy was distracting Liz, but it was a distraction I didn’t want. I didn’t want to be alone talking to Asher, feeling him this closely. 
    “Sorry,” I said, feebly trying to clean the mess while Andrea called out orders to me with increasing impatience. My fingers were shaking and I clenched them together against my palms, hard.
    “Don’t worry about it.” He leaned over to grab a towel and wipe the sopping brown mess on the counter. It didn’t seem to bother him that Macy was very pointedly not helping, her version of giving us ‘privacy.’ He was too busy looking at me, his eyes feeling like pinpricks each time he moved them across my face. At that moment, I would’ve accepted a lifetime of growling stomach just to know what he was thinking. 
    I had the strangest feeling inside me. I was drawn to him, but repelled by him at the same time. To enunciate my conflicting emotions, my stomach gurgled loudly. I turned my face away from him so he couldn’t see the pain that had skittered across it.
    “Skipped breakfast,” I shrugged apologetically, trying to brush off the clenching pain as nothing but a tiny hunger pang.
    “Emily, seriously. Look at the line!”
    Andrea’s voice, though whiney, had a point. The morning rush was here, and because our third shift-mate didn’t show up, we were now understaffed. Asher’s alluring but uncomfortable eyes aside, I had to get to work. I started to redo the frappe recipe, wiping my brow again.
    He got the hint. “I’ll see you later.”
    His voice was low, soft, something only I could hear. I shivered at the sound. How is it that he possessed such power over me when saying something so simple? Had I suddenly dropped into a romance novel?
    My stomach rolled, clenched, deflated. I pressed a hand to it. Nope, no romance novel would have their heroine experience cramps so bad that it made the time of the month look like a cakewalk.
     I heard Macy over the crowd, jabbering away at Asher as he sat across from her with Liz sitting regally in the middle. After making my hundredth pumpkin caramel latte, I realized that I hadn’t even asked Asher what he wanted to drink. There was a gap in the line, and as I faced the espresso machine I could see their table. I opened my mouth to call out to them, but no words came out. I was speechless.
     I felt like my thoughts were trapped inside me and something was preventing me from voicing them. Each time I opened my mouth to call out Asher, to maybe form a full sentence in front of him, no sound would come out. I pressed a hand to my neck, my fingers digging gently into my throat as if they could locate an actual obstruction.
    No more .
    I gave an abrupt jolt as a voice that wasn’t mine snaked