Zeke (The Powers That Be, Book 2)

Harper Bentley

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 Harper
Bentley

Smashwords Edition,
License Notes

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www.harperbentleywrites.com

Dedication

To all the
romantics

who never give up on
love

Second Semester—
1
^st
Encounter

Week One—2
^nd
Encounter

Week One—3
^rd
Encounter

Week One—4
^th
Encounter

Week One—5
^th
Encounter

Week Two—6
^th
Encounter

Week Three—Zero
Encounters—Nil—Nada

Week Four—7
^th
Encounter

Weeks Five &
Six—Zero Encounters Again—Null—Nix—Nothing

Week Seven—8
^th
Encounter

Week Seven—9
^th
Encounter

Week Seven—10
^th
Encounter

Week Seven—11
^th
& 12
^th
Encounters

Week Eight—13
^th
Encounter

Week Nine & ½ —14
^th
Encounter

Week Ten—Not Even One
Encounter

Week Eleven—15
^th
Encounter

Week Twelve and
Counting

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About the
Author

Holy crap-a-moly.
There he was again. Sitting in my section. Like he had yesterday
and the day before that. And the day before that. Ack!

And, Jiminy
frickin’ Christmas, he was the hottest guy I’d ever laid eyes on.
His thick, dark hair that was short on the sides but longer and
spiked on top, his gorgeous brown eyes that were a shade lighter
than mine, his beautiful straight nose that was perfect for his
face, sublimely shaped lips and at least a day’s worth of scruff on
his chin and just below his high cheekbones nearly took my breath
away. Holy schmoly, he was very handsome. He wore a gray Hallervan
hoodie under a brown cargo-type jacket, faded jeans and brown
wingtip boots all of which just added to his good looks.

And he was
someone I could see myself breaking my rule of only focusing on my
future for. Crap.

Yesterday, I’d
had to ask my best friend Jayla Anastos if she knew who he was.
She’d looked at me like I’d just told her that Elizabeth Bennet
should’ve married Mr. Collins instead of Mr. Darcy. When she’d
rolled her eyes before taking a deep breath and replied breathily,
“Zeke Powers,” I’d had to frown.

“Uh…” I’d
blinked at her. Who the heck was Zeke Powers?

“
Zeke
Powers
, Scarlett!
The
Zeke Powers!” I guess she thought
if she kept repeating his name I’d catch on.

The blank look
I’d continued giving her had her throwing her hands up and shaking
her head at me.

“Are you
serious right now, Scar? The hottest guy on campus and you don’t
know who he is?” She continued staring at me in disbelief.

I shook my
head and shrugged.

“He’s only the
star wide receiver of the football team, president of the Finance
Club and has been voted Sexiest Man on Campus for three years
running by the Tri Delts, Sig Kaps, Chi Omegas, oh, hell, by every
fuckin’ sorority on campus!”

I’d looked out
from behind the counter at this Zeke Powers guy and decided that
those sororities were not wrong. He
was
extremely sexy.

“Oh.” It was
all I could think to reply.

“Yeah, ‘oh,’”
Jayla had conceded shaking her head at me and giving me yet another
eye roll.

So today I
stepped behind the counter and whispered to her, “Shit! He’s here
again!”

“And sitting
in your section again, Scar! I think he has the hots for you!” She
looked at me and grinned then looked at the customer she was
ringing up and informed her, “That’ll be $12.56.”

It was my turn
to roll my eyes then smile apologetically at the woman Jayla was
helping because Jay didn’t care who was around when she opened her
yap.

“Okay, $7.44’s
your change. Thanks for eating at The Breakfast Nook,” she told the
customer then looked at me eyebrows up.

I waited until
the woman walked away before retorting. “Yeah. It couldn’t be that
he’s hungry or loves Mae’s pastries. Nope. He’s here for me, the
oh-so-sexy waitress who barely had time to brush her hair before
dropping Lane off at school this morning.”

“You look
great. You always look great. Besides, your hair’s amazing. It’s
got that ‘just been fucked’ thing going on.” At my wry look she
went on. “You should go lay your claim on him.”

“You know I’ve
got enough on my plate as it is. I need a man like I need more hair
on my legs to shave. Besides, it just gets too complicated,” I
mumbled.

“Complications
are what make it fun,” she said with a chuckle then putting a hand
on my back, pushed me toward the eating area. “Now go take his
order.”

If I thought
there wouldn’t be any complications, I’d nail him STAT because he
was smokin’ hot. Good God, I needed to calm my libido
way
down.

“All right.
Jeez.” I grabbed a coffee pot and a glass of water then made my way
around my section of the little coffee house in Seattle where I’d
worked since I was a freshman in high school. It wasn’t one of
those big franchises but family-owned and the melt-in-your-mouth
Danish pastries were the bomb. People came from all around for
them. Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Ben Gibbard and Jerry Cantrell, not
to mention several of the Seahawks, had all made stops here. The
owners, Mae and Dale, had, of course, capitalized on having the
rock stars and athletes come in by taking pictures with them,
asking them to autograph menus and other paraphernalia then hanging
the items and photos all around the place. This kept people coming
in probably in the hopes of getting a glance at someone famous,
and, well, also for the fantastic pastries.

I made my way
to the tables in my section, stopping first at three tables to
refill coffees before going to this Zeke guy’s table just to show
Jayla that I could resist his sexiness.

“Are you ready
to order?” I asked once I finally made it to him, placing the glass
of water down in front of him.

He looked up
and gave me a panty-melting smirk before setting his menu down.
“Well, Scarlett, since you made it a point to prove to your friend
that your other customers are more important than I am, and I’m
starving, I’d say that’d be a yes.”

My mouth
dropped open as I stared at him. First of all, he knew my name!
Second of all, I realized that wasn’t a big deal since I wore a
nametag. And third, he’d heard Jayla and my conversation and was
calling me out on what I’d been doing! Hell’s bells!

He then sat
with his elbows on the table, hands clasped in front of him
studying me as if he had all the time in the world to watch the
stupid waitress trying to come up with a lie stating that she most
definitely was not trying to prove a point to her friend.

“You could be
in
GQ
!” I blurted before I knew it then cringed.

I watched as
his lips tipped up into a smile then my eyes locked with his and it
was as if we were the only two people in the entire place. I don’t
know how long I stood staring goofily at him (ugh) but when he
cleared his throat, it brought me out of my reverie and I blushed
like mad knowing I was an idiot.

“Thanks,
Scarlett,” he answered. “Now, about my order?”

“Oh! Sorry!
Let me pour you some coffee first!” I reached to turn his coffee
cup over but ended up knocking his glass of ice water off the table
and right into his lap. Whoops. “Fuck!” I exclaimed as he jumped up
to stand in front of me. I set the pot down quickly, immediately
grabbing a napkin and kneeling in front of him, commenced to wiping
his crotch vehemently.

This went on
for several seconds (because I think he was in shock), then he
stepped back from me, holding his hand out to keep me from running
the napkin further over his junk and that’s when it became clear to
me what I’d been doing
and then
I realized what it probably
looked
like I’d been doing to all the people who were
situated behind me.

Holy
smokes.

“I—I’m so
sorry!” I muttered as I stood up, my eyes huge at having just wiped
down the man’s package. “I’ll, uh, buy your meal! I’m really
sorry!”

Now, I
couldn’t really afford to cover his breakfast, it just wasn’t in my
budget, but for what I’d just put this guy through, I’d make it
happen. I made a step toward him but he backed up once again
holding his hand up.

“You’re fine.
But I do have to say that I usually get kissed before a girl takes
it that far.” Then he smirked again.

I blinked,
staring at him, at how nice he was being then I opened my big damn
mouth again. “I’m sorry! Next time I’ll be sure to kiss you
first!”

Oh, my
God.

Did I just say
that?

I was
such
a dork.

And my face
turned even redder at his grin. “I didn’t mean that! I, uh, was
joking! Here, let me get you a towel.” Mortified, I turned to go to
the counter to retrieve a towel and ran smack dab into Jordy, the
busboy who’d come to help clean things up, knocking him and his
tray of dishes to the floor, the racket causing everyone in the
place to stop and stare. Dear lord. “Jordy! I’m so sorry!” I knelt
to help pick up the cutlery and plastic dishes (thank God Mae and
Dale didn’t use china) that’d spilled feeling like a complete and
utter fool then I noticed that Zeke was right there beside me
helping. “What’re you doing? You’re a customer!” I kind of
screeched at him, totally humiliated at the series of events that
had just occurred.

He gave me the
sexiest half grin then stated, “I’m part of the reason this
happened.” Then he shrugged a shoulder and reached to pick up a
fork that’d fallen under his table.

Was this guy
for real? Who was this good looking and nice too? No one that I’d
ever met. He was just too good to be true, and Grandma Pearl had
always told me that if it seemed too good to be true, it probably
was. I’d learned my lesson the hard way and had come to realize she
was right; therefore, I didn’t believe it now.

“No, please,
stop,” I told him. “Jordy and I have this.” I gave Zeke a scowl but
he ignored me, continuing to help.

When we got
the mess picked up, Jordy stood and smiled down at me. “Thanks,
Scar,” he said then picked up the tray full of dishes placing it on
the booth at Zeke’s table, pulled out a rag proceeding to wipe up
the water that I’d spilled.