Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“Here you go, honey,” the waitress says, putting Kai’s plate down. “And your pancakes.”
She raises her eyebrow at me, puts my plate down, and smiles. Then she turns and walks away, swaying her hips as if waiting for Kai to watch her, but he just falls upon his food like a starving man. He doesn’t have poor manners, though. It’s more like he’s a machine, methodically consuming the meat, drinking a glass of water, and doing it again.
We don’t talk as we eat. When we finish, he puts some bills down, just enough to cover the cost of the food and drinks.
“Why can I feel you looking at me, Kay?” he says as we walk out of the diner.
“You just, uh, didn’t leave a tip.”
“No,” he grunts, “I didn’t.”
He strides across the lot toward his Harley, gleaming in the sun.
“Why?”
“For all that waitress knew, you could’ve been my girlfriend or fiancée.”
I’m glad he’s not looking at me as he says this. He stands next to his bike, adjusting his leather jacket. He’ll be able to see it on my face—how badly I want that to be true.
“But she flirted with me anyway, and I saw how she looked at you. I heard the way she talked to you. Some people think they can get away with anything because they’re conventionally attractive.”
“So, you think she’s attractive?”
He finally turns to me. His green eyes flare like he’s going to grab me, pull me closer, and become even more intimate than we are when we’re riding.
“I said conventionally,” he snaps. “I’ve never been a conventional man.”
He climbs onto the bike, pulls his helmet on, then lifts the visor. “Come on, sassy. We should get moving.”
“Sassy? Really?”
He laughs, kicking the bike to life, the engine grumbling.
“If you’ve proven anything since we started this trip, it’s that you’re sassy, Kay.”
“Am not,” I say, climbing onto the bike.
“Mature, too.”
“I could be mature in the right circumstances,” I say, trying to make it a joke. However, it sounds so serious, like I’m trying to convince him of something—that I’ll be ready when he wants me.
“Hmm,” he replies, giving me no hint of how he feels.
I pull on my helmet, wrap my arms around him, and hold tight as we ride together.
Is it petty to want payback? Even thinking of it as payback is a little messed up because it’s not like anything happened at the diner. As pitiful as it might seem, I can’t get the thought of Kai and that waitress out of my head. I keep replaying the scene in the diner, wondering if Kai would’ve done something with her if I wasn’t there.
I want to scream thinking about that. I want to howl. I want to hurl something or just plain hurl. As Kai brings the bike to a stop in the motel’s parking lot, I wish I could reach into his mind and thoughts. Maybe he’s wondering how fast I’ll fall asleep tonight, thinking he could head back to that diner and see if that waitress is still working.
God, this jealousy is twisted. He’s nothing to me. I should crush this crush.
A girlish dream, nothing more,
If love is wealth, I am poor,
But when our bodies touch, oh-so sore,
He leaves me trembling to my very core.
I may have to quiet my poetry because it’s hard to compose a decent line when Kai dominates my thoughts, my feelings, my everything. Or maybe I’m just being harsh on myself because it’s what I always do when it comes to my own work.
I follow Kai into the motel’s main office, seeing my chance for some payback when I spot the man behind the counter. He looks in his mid-twenties, on the leaner side, with a skin-fade haircut. I can imagine Natasha being attracted to him. I’m not, but that’s not saying much. The only person I want—or have ever wanted—is a brooding biker named Kai.
Before Kai can say anything, I approach the desk. An instinct deep inside screams at me not to do this, to never flirt with anybody who isn’t Kai. I should be able to push this feeling aside with relative ease. After all, it’s not like Kai and I are together… or even close.
“Hey,” I say, trying to seem as friendly and flirty as possible, even though it feels so wrong.
The man looks up and smiles. “Hello…”
“We’d like two rooms, please.”
I look at Kai to see if he’ll correct me. Imagine that… My body aches just thinking about it. I can see him stepping forward, laying his strong hands on the desk, and shaking his head. She’s wrong. We’re sharing a room and a bed, but he just stands there like he’s carved of stone.
“Sure,” the man says.
I want a reaction out of Kai so badly. It’s immature. It’s a reason that he would never want to be with me, this neediness. His women are probably oh-so mature, never stooping to games like these.