“You always talk to customers like that?” he asked.
“Only the lucky ones.”
“And here I thought I was being insulted.”
“You were.”
That made him laugh, properly this time. The sound was warm and sudden, as if it had surprised him too.
He leaned back. “You know, most people either flatter me or fear me.”
“Maybe that’s because most people want something from you.”
“And you don’t?”
Elena met his gaze. “Not a thing.”
The honesty of it seemed to hit him somewhere unguarded.
He turned the mug in his hands. “That’s rare.”
“No,” she said quietly. “It’s normal. Or it should be.”
The words hung between them while the wind growled outside.
He studied her. “You make statements like someone who’s lived more than twenty-four years.”
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