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Chapter Two

The following morning Clarke arrived with a splattering of snowflakes through her blond waves and Lexa thought she'd never seen anything so beautiful.

'Hi Lexa,' she smiled widely at Lexa when it was her turn.

'The usual?' Lexa asked, remembering Anya's words. 'How bad is it snowing out there?' She didn't want to become this girl's friend and maybe even if she was straight it would make her feel good to know someone liked her, and yet here she was still talking about the fucking weather.

'Yes please, the usual, and it's snowing pretty bad,' Clarke nodded with a smile directed at Lexa and began to dig in her bag for her wallet. 'Might mean we get a white Christmas though.'

'Your drinks and scone are on the house today,' Lexa told her with a deliberate wink. She watched the surprise write itself across Clarke's face, before she blushed prettily.

'You gave me my coffee on the house yesterday,' she reminded Lexa, as if she could forget.

'Well I guess I'm a sucker for a pretty girl,' she shrugged and set about gathering Clarke's scone and coffee together, sneaking a peak at Clarke's deepening blush - it was fricking gorgeous.

'Thank you,' she seemed suddenly nervous, fidgeting with the tip jar and that sparked just a flicker of hope in Lexa's belly. Of course she could be nervous because a gay girl just gave her a compliment but Lexa was feeling optimistic.

'Any time, always,' Lexa shrugged and then Clarke laughed, a noise so lovely Lexa wished she could bottle it. 'What?'

'Don't go making that kind of promise when I come in here everyday,' she teased and Lexa felt her cheeks burn. She was quite ridiculously enamoured with this girl and she desperately sought the perfect retort,

'I like you coming in here, that's kind of the point of the offer,' she leaned on the counter a little and Clarke smiled and leaned towards her,

'Don't you think your boss would be mad?' there was definitely a flirtatious lilt to her voice, or at least Lexa was fairly sure there was.

'I can categorically state that the boss would have no problem whatsoever with me giving you stuff on the house,' Lexa stated.

'Well in that case, thanks to you and thanks to your boss,' Clarke grinned and Lexa could swear she was leaning a little closer, but then a pointed cough came from the man waiting behind Clarke in the line up. Lexa nearly added spit to his frappechino.

'Coffee,' Lexa put Clarke's mug of coffee on the table where the old one had stood. For a week Lexa had been providing all of Clarke's food and drinks on the house and they had been talking in what Lexa had convinced herself was flirtatious manner, a little longer and a little more in depth everyday, eyes sparkling as they leaned toward one another. The thrill of talking to her hadn't gone but Lexa considered it something of a friendship now. Anya had been incredibly amused claiming Clarke was only flirting to keep the food and coffee coming for free, but Lexa just didn't think the girl would be that mercenary - she always offered to pay and sometimes they'd argue over it, but always in a light way, in a teasing way, in a way that made Lexa's heart pound in her body.

'You're the best,' Clarke gave her a grateful smile.

'How's it going?'

'You have time to sit?' Clarke gestured the chair beside her and Lexa looked to Anya who was coping fine.

'Sure,' she slid into the chair and felt the immediate relief of lifting tired feet from the floor.

'You know if you keep giving me stuff on the house I'm going to get embarrassed and go somewhere else,' she warned, ever so serious and Lexa felt panic. 'Besides I definitely don't want you to get in trouble or fired,' she gave Lexa a very intense look.

'I own Grounders. It's my stuff to give away,' she watched the surprise fly over Clarke's face. 'And don't go anywhere else.'

'Aren't there a ton of these places across the city?'

'Twelve,' Lexa said with a nod and unmistakable pride.

'But you're like twelve,' Clarke burst out staring at her with wide eyes.

'I'm twenty two,' Lexa smirked. She'd normally be offended at this but the way Clarke said it just wasn't offensive.

'How at twenty two do you own twelve coffee shops?'

'How old are you?' Lexa's eyes narrowed.

'Twenty.'

'Well how the hell do you have books published at twenty?'

'Well I'm infinitely skilled and wonderful,' Clarke responded brightly and with a twinkle in her eyes, lips curved in amusement.

'As am I,' Lexa couldn't help the smile.

'Wow, I'm in awe.'

'As am I, every single day,' Lexa stated meaningfully and relished the pink on Clarke's beautiful face.

'You flirt,' Clarke pursed her lips, her eyes shining and for a moment the two girls stared at each other.

'So what are your books about?'

'Post apocalyptic chaos,' Clarke smirked.

'Sci fi?' Lexa seriously loved this girl.

'Yeah, it is I suppose. I mean it's character heavy and all that. This is the last book in what will be a trilogy - if I ever finish it.'

'I want to read it,' Lexa stated and Clarke laughed,

'Well no one is stopping you.'

'What's your last name?'

'Don't bother buying a copy I'll bring one in for you tomorrow,' Clarke was staring at her.

'You don't need to do that,' Lexa rushed to say because she hadn't meant for Clarke to do that.

'Ah it's ok, I guess I'm a sucker for pretty girls too,' she looked Lexa dead in the eye as she said it and Lexa's pulse went crazy, an extremely pleasant ache finding home between her legs. So not appropriate for her place of business but God, this girl was amazing, and maybe, just maybe at least a little bit gay. 'And let's face it, with your new on the house policy, I kinda owe you.'

'You don't,' Lexa insisted because that wasn't why she was doing it. Their eye contact broke and Lexa feared she was keeping Clarke from her work. 'I'll uh, let you get on.'

'You don't have to. I like talking to you. Unless of course you need to work?'

'Nah, I'm good,' she shrugged. Lincoln had arrived a few minutes earlier, waggling his eye brows at Lexa. Lexa was acutely aware of her surroundings at all times, and she recognized his entrance subconsciously, even if it didn't register in her conscious - after all that was all for Clarke.

'So tell me, were you always into coffee?' Clarke leaned forward a little and Lexa's eyes flicked to her cleavage before she could stop them. She flushed and looked up, aware that she was acting like an estrogen filled horn dog.

'I always wanted to run a coffee shop. My parents died when I was eighteen and I used the insurance cheque to buy this place.'

'Well you clearly get coffee.'

'I love coffee,' Lexa wasn't even teasing. 'Well I love ethical coffee, good coffee.'

'It's a love I share,' Clarke smiled. 'Eighteen is really young to take on a business.'

'I'm really business smart,' Lexa stated dismissively.

'So tell me Lexa,' Clarke leaned forward even further and Lexa swore she was enhancing her cleavage on purpose and it was just driving her half insane trying to keep her eyes from falling to those luscious breasts, 'why do they call you the commander?' She was actually smirking and Lexa burned,

'That's a nickname.'

'Really?' Clarke laughed.

'I can't believe you know that,' Lexa felt her cheeks burn, 'it's because I command the twelve stores. And I don't take any crap from my staff. I'll look after them but if they fuck up I show no mercy.'

'What counts as fucking up?' Clarke asked, her eyes wide, 'if I worked for you and I was late?'

'If you text me to tell me and it's not happening all the time, then fine.'

'If I stole?'

'You're out,' Lexa shrugged, watching Clarke closely.

'If I stole to feed my family?' Clarke didn't hesitate.

'I pay you good money, why steal? Talk to me instead.'

'Ok, so I give food to the homeless?' Clarke sat back and crossed her legs.

'No need. All end of day left overs go to the homeless.'

'Ok, so I have no reason to do anything wrong,' Clarke frowned.

'Exactly, so if you do, you're out.'

'Seems fair I guess.'

'They get a warning,' Lexa shrugged, 'but people know me and if you've been fired by me it doesn't do you any good.'

'Wow, you are powerful Commander,' Clarke spoke in a sultry voice and that word in her husky tones set the pulse between Lexa's legs beating hard.

'I'm just good at coffee and business,' she coughed because she sounded like a husky fucking dog she was so turned on.

'What about staff shenanigans?' Clarke leaned forward again and Lexa's goddamned eyes slid to that cleavage again, before she dragged them back to Clarke's blue orbs.

'Staff shenanigans?'

'You know, fucking out back, or in the shop front after closing?'

'Fired,' Lexa practically snarled.

'Well that's a shame,' Clarke's eyes were holding hers until they dropped, just for a second and stared at Lexa's lips. Lexa felt like throwing a ticker tape parade because Clarke just had to be more than a little bit gay, if her sultry stare at Lexa's lips was anything to go by.

'Maybe,' Lexa concurred and grew incredibly warm. Lexa shifted her eyes from Clarke's and the moment broke.

'You know, I love this place,' Clarke shifted in her chair. 'Whatever the season, walking in here is like arriving home.'

'Well that was the plan,' Lexa smirked and wanted to hear Clarke talk more so shifted the conversation back to her, 'so post apocalyptic disaster? Tell me, how did the world end?'

'Nuclear war,' Clarke smiled impishly and grabbed her notes from the table. 'You see the problem I'm having is with the main character...' she began to explain and Lexa leaned closer.

Lexa spent a good two hours chatting with Clarke. They may have started working through Clarke's character development problems but they quickly moved on to teasing jokes, music, films, anything and everything. Talking to Clarke was as easy as breathing and Lexa had never found it easy to talk to people.

'Uh, hey Lexa,' Anya approached cautiously.

'What?' Lexa hated the interruption especially as Clarke pulled back from where their heads had been leaning together as they talked about Clarke's mom.

'Luna's on the phone,' Anya said, 'there's a problem with staffing.'

'Crap,' Lexa wasn't very good at hiding her disappointment and Clarke looked embarrassed,

'I'm sorry, I kept you talking for ages. You go - seems like one of the twelve clans need you.'

'Twelve clans?' Lexa frowned.

'Like in my books except the coffee shops are the clans,' Clarke's smile was unbearably sweet, 'go bring order Commander.'

'Ok,' Lexa couldn't help her amusement and smiled, biting her lip to keep it from growing ridiculously big before she headed off.