cul-mi-na-tion by Tessa Teevan: Release Blitz, Excerpt & Teasers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’d been that way for months, ever since I’d first laid eyes on her at her parents’ funeral. For the first time in my life, I felt empathy. I felt someone else’s pain. It was foreign, unfamiliar, and I knew I’d have to keep my distance or I could not be held responsible for my actions.

It worked.

Until it didn’t.

I’d never ventured into the coffee shop before that day. The Daily Grind. Puns in company names made my teeth hurt, and on principle, I wouldn’t patron such a place. Instead, I’d park across the street, watching her through the window. She came to this same spot every day on her lunch break from her menial job. Always alone. No one ever approached her, a surprise in the beginning.

After all, with her chestnut hair, delicate and fair skin, and big, rounded chocolate eyes, Gabriella Latham turned heads.

It only took a day or so for me to find my answer: The woman made herself unapproachable. As if it were a ritual, she always claimed a corner table, facing the window and away from all other customers. She kept her head buried in her computer, headphones typically in each ear, her pretty head bobbing to whatever music she enjoyed. And she didn’t remove the headphones until she was in her car. The only person she ever spoke to was the barista when placing her order.

Day after day, I watched. I waited. And with each day that passed, the more I longed to hear her voice. See her eyes up close. Run my fingers along smooth, pale skin.

Until the day I could take it no longer. I couldn’t merely watch. I needed to be an active participant in the game she had no idea we were playing.