Meet Caleb in this exclusive excerpt from ADVANCED PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Who's excited to meet Caleb, the hot barista hero of Advanced Physical Chemistry? This blog exclusive excerpt from Chapter 3 gives you a glimpse of Penny's dreamy love interest..and her jerk of an ex- boyfriend. 

​Penny continued swiping through Instagram filters without looking up at Kenneth. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

He was close enough she could smell his Armani cologne. She should have known better than to date a man who wore cologne.

“Please, darling, let me explain.” He slid onto the nearest stool, brushing his leg up against hers.

She shifted her leg away, still refusing to look at him. “There’s nothing to explain. You wanted to see other women without telling me about it. I understand the situation perfectly.”

His hand closed on her forearm. “I’m so sorry. I messed up. It was a terrible mistake. Give me a chance to make it up to you.”

She pulled out of his grasp. “I’m not interested in dating someone who would lie to me. Now please go away.”

“You’re being unfair. At least give me a chance to explain.”

“Can I help you?” Caleb asked, looming over Kenneth. He held a freshly made iced coffee, and though his tone was neutral, his nearness and physical mass carried an implicit threat.

Kenneth gave him an irritated glance. “No, mate. I’m trying to have a private conversation, if you don’t mind.”

Caleb didn’t move. “It sounds like she doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Kenneth got to his feet, jutting out his chin like a terrier with an unfortunate underbite. “I don’t see how it’s any of your damned business.” Caleb had a good four inches on him and at least thirty pounds of muscle mass, which didn’t help Kenneth look any less ludicrous.

“It’s my business to make sure no one’s harassing any of our customers,” Caleb said calmly. “You’re not doing that, are you?”

“The only one being is harassed is me, while I’m having a simple conversation with my girlfriend.”

“Ex-girlfriend,” Penny muttered through clenched teeth.

Had Kenneth always been this petulant? She was finding it difficult to remember what she’d ever liked about him in the first place. Had she just been dazzled by his British accent?

“I think you should probably leave now,” Caleb said.

“Are you threatening me?” Kenneth attempted to puff out his chest, which only made him look punier and more ridiculous. “I think you should step back, friend.”
Caleb took a slow, exaggerated step back and gestured toward the door with his free hand.

Kenneth’s nostrils flared. For a moment it looked as if he might try to stand his ground, but he finally seemed to realize the odds weren’t in his favor. He threw a scowl in Penny’s direction and shouldered his way past Caleb, even though he had plenty of room to get by. It was a petty move, and it backfired wonderfully. As he jostled Caleb’s arm, the iced coffee tipped, drenching the front of Kenneth’s green polo shirt and dress khakis.

“Son of a bitch!” he shouted, recoiling as the cold coffee soaked through his clothes.

“Sorry,” Caleb said. “You bumped into me.”

“You bloody did that on purpose!”

“Is there a problem here?” Roxanne asked, coming out of the back office. She stuck her pregnant belly between the two men and turned her formidable glare on Kenneth.

He took a half step back, his eyes dropping uneasily to Roxanne’s protruding stomach. “Yeah, your man here tried to threaten me and then dumped coffee all over me.”

“No one threatened anyone,” Penny said. “And Kenneth’s the one who bumped into Caleb.”

“It’s true,” Charlotte said from the couch. “I saw the whole thing.”

Kenneth’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “That’s how it’s going to be, is it? All of you ganging up on me? Well, you can be sure the owner of this dump will be hearing about this. You’ve just lost yourselves a paying customer.”

“That’s fine.” Roxanne rested her hands on her hips. “You can get your coffee somewhere else from now on, friend-o. You’re not welcome here anymore.”

“Assholes,” Kenneth muttered on his way out the door. “The whole lot of you are bloody assholes.”

Roxanne watched him stalk past the window before turning to Penny. “You okay, sweetie?”

Penny nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you.” Her heart was still racing and she wanted to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment, but otherwise she was just great. “Sorry about that.”

“Hey, anytime. We’ve got a zero tolerance policy for jerks in here.”

Elyse brought out the mop and rolling bucket. “That was pretty exciting,” she said as she cleaned up the puddle of spilled coffee on the floor.

Well, at least Penny’s disastrous love life had brightened Elyse’s day. Swell.

“You think he’ll make a stink to Reema?” Caleb asked, stepping out of the way of the mop. Reema owned Antidote, as well as another bar in the neighborhood, which was where she spent most of her time.

Roxanne smirked. “Let him try. All I have to do is tell her he was harassing a female customer and tried to start a fight when you asked him to leave.”

“Which was exactly what happened,” Penny said.

“She’ll probably give you a medal.” Roxanne grimaced, stretching her back as she rubbed the underside of her stomach. “Whose coffee was that, anyway? Better make ’em a new one.”

“It was mine,” Caleb said. “I’ll pay for it.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Roxanne clapped him on the shoulder, smirking. “Good job.” She set out the Caution: Wet Floor sign and took the mop bucket from Elyse. “I’ll put this away. You man the register for a while.”

Caleb started to follow Elyse behind the counter, but Penny touched his arm to stop him. “You did that on purpose!” she whispered when Roxanne was out of earshot. “You made that drink with the intention of spilling it on him, didn’t you?”

The corner of Caleb’s mouth twitched. “I wanted to dump it over his head, but I thought better of it.”

“Thank you,” Penny said. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s done for me in a long time.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Dumping a drink on a guy?”
​
“It was really satisfying. You have no idea.” If only she’d thought to record it with her phone. That would have made a great Instagram. No filter required.

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