Lucas wouldn’t take my hand and stood up. “I hate you living in that house,” he said and didn’t look back as he turned and headed off to his bike.
What was it about that house?
Why did I even care?
I stood and walked over to my mother’s grave. I was in that godforsaken town to learn where I came from, not for the likes of one Lucas Carter. I shook my head; I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He was sexy, gorgeous, and most of all, odd.
My heart pounded in my chest when I saw her in that graveyard again. I had to walk away because if I got too close there was no doubt my body would shatter into oblivion.
But oh, how beautiful that oblivion would be.
Damn, I hated myself more with each step I took closer to her. Then I heard the sweetest damn voice in the world, say, “Mom, why do they even ask how I’m doing when they obviously don’t care?”
No one could be that sweet and naïve. It wasn’t safe, for her or me. Why in the hell did I have to say anything to her at all?
Every second I’d been around her played verbatim in my head.
Everything reminded me of Annie. She had invaded my every thought. She was everything I looked at. She was everywhere I went. That was how it had been since I first laid eyes on her. She was nowhere, then no matter how hard I tried to fight it, she was everywhere.
She was all-consuming.
Just the thought of her shouldn’t have made me ache. Yet, I caught myself rubbing my chest.
I threw a football onto the ceiling as I fell back onto my bed, wondering if I was anywhere for her. If I was even a blimp in her thoughts. I caught the ball and sat up, annoying the hell out of myself.
One thing was for sure — there was no way I could stay away anymore. Maybe, I could satisfy my craving with a friendship.
Friendship, shit, that ever-present clawing in my chest told me she was going to be my next big mistake.
That night I dreamed of her. Vivid imagines of just her smile.
Shit, I was screwed.
Chapter 8
Annie Prieto
“Really, the damn dining room again?” I complained to Will, already over the night and it had only begun.
“I don’t make the schedule, just enforce it,” Will said and handed me an apron. “And since the gentleman at table four asked for you, Bob might keep you in the dining room.” He winked and bumped his hip against mine.
Someone asked for me. Who? I picked up my check presenter out of the organizer on the wall, and raced to the dining room. My eyes focused on table four, and I saw him. Lucas smiled a naughty, panty-dropping grin then pulled his bottom lip through his teeth.
Don’t, don’t do it, he did it.
He bit his lip. He practiced those faces, no doubt, and the smug bastard knew he had an unfair advantage. What female had ever resisted a sexy Lucas face?
After snapping a mental picture of his face in my mind, I headed to his table. Standing in front of him, my throat instinctively tightened.
Lucas had a semi-nervous, positively-adorable gleam in his eyes. Not the look I expected from the stories I’d heard of the legendary Lucas Carter.
“Can I get you something to drink?” I finally managed to ask without sounding stupid.
Lucas smiled and tilted his already filled ice tea glass before tipping it back to take a gulp. The way his throat muscles moved with each swallow almost had me fanning myself.
Why oh, why, do you have to make my heart swell?
I didn’t miss the appraising eyes and giggle of the girls sitting on the table to the left.
Suck it, I’m not the only one Lucas makes nervous.
“Quick question. Doesn’t Bob regret hiring you?”
My mouth gasped open; surely, I wasn’t that repulsive.
“I mean you are pretty hot.” He winked. “Hot enough to melt the ice cubes.”
Is this guy serious?
I placed my pad on the table. “Why did you ask for me?”
“I expect the best,” he said and leaned within an inch of me. “And, you, sweetheart, are the best this place as ever seen.”
“That’s a change in attitude.”
“The other night ...” He paused and the way his mouth curled up into a soft, regretful smile, it almost made me forget how he hurt me. “If I made you mad, I’m sorry. I wasn’t myself.” He looked down and fidgeted with a straw wrapper.
He’s apologizing. Bet that’s a first.
“When have you ever been yourself?”
Lucas raised his head, his gaze grew fierce. “Fair enough.” He held out his hand to shake mine, I placed my hand in his and he jerked me closer to him. "The Real Lucas Carter at your service, nice to meet you." His eyes narrowed, studying me. I hated being studied. Despised it, as a matter of fact. “I don’t expect anything, either,” he said. “Not that I would say no, either.”
“Too bad, I already have someone taking care of that need. But I still have a spot open in the friend department.”
“Anybody I know taking care of that need?” The instant grimace of his face informed he didn’t like the idea that statement had given him.
“Don’t think so, just another satisfied customer.” I pulled out the pen tucked behind my ear. “Now what can I do to serve you tonight?”
He reclined back in his chair and lifted the grease-covered laminated menu out of the napkin holder. “Looking for something hot and wet. Any suggestions?” he asked.
Lucas, you’ve already proven that you think I’m good for only one thing, and I was willing to give you that one thing the other night. Tonight, you can settle for food.
“The hickory bar-be-que burger it’ll be.” I snapped my check presenter closed. “Fries or tots?”
“Fries. Don’t care for tots. Short and stumpy is not my thing.”
I smirked and matched his gaze. “Funny, fries have always been too thin to give me any satisfaction.”
I’m being a bitch, I know.
But it was something about him did things to me that were unnerving.
I flipped around as his hand shot out and clasped around my lower arm. His touch sent an electric current blazing up and down my body.
“I’m sorry, that house threw me. Can we be friends?” he whispered so softly, I almost missed it.
I twisted around. His face almost appeared humble. “Why do you care where I live?”
“I know the owner. He’s never rented it before. He used it for a bachelor pad when he needed to get away from his family.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “You thought he was keeping me?” My heart went into a frenzy, and the butterflies had taken flight in my stomach.
Was he jealous, or did he truly think so little of me?
“Like I said, I’m sorry. Forgive me?” His thumb stroked over the underside of my arm. “Can we at least be friends? I’d like to be friends.”
Friends? Was that code for I-want-in-your-pants-but-don't-expect-anything-else? Could I even pretend to be his friend?
I looked down at the pad my hands had a death grip on, anything to divert my attention from his eyes. Those baby blues were lethal. Could I even pretend to be friends? I glanced at him and locked eyes with his. My carefully constructed walls came tumbling down. I had to try. Even if I was sure it was a mistake. Lucas had affected me in a way I couldn’t understand; I was willing to try anything just to be near him.
I nodded then raced to the kitchen. As I came barreling through the kitchen doors, I rammed into John who was holding a tray full of drinks, causing him to spill the whole tray down the front of my shirt.
He made a tsking sound as he sat the tray on the counter. “Sorry, Annie, are you okay?”
John had already picked up a cloth and had started to pat the sticky liquid up off my arms as I just stood there, staring at the far wall trying to figure out what just happened.
Bob came around the corner, taking in the scene of spilt soda and my soaked shirt. “Annie, what happened?” His voice sn
apped me out of my shock. He looked over my clothing. “You’re coming with me.” Bob yelled over his shoulder. “Will cover her tables.”
“Sorry again, Annie,” John called over his shoulder, already fast at work at the grill.
I didn’t have time to respond before Bob had my arm and was dragging me into his office. I kept my eyes on his hand, wanting to break away from his grip. My face flushed from anger. It wasn’t like I’d broke anything. Bob just needed to calm down.
Once we were in his office, I stepped free of Bob and managed to shake off the standing liquid still clinging to my shirt. “Do you have anything I can change into?”
Bob didn’t even pretend to smile and no longer looked at me with that soft, almost-fatherly concern. Instead, his brows worked together in a worried frown. “Yeah, there are some extra uniforms in the supply room. Grab one and change in the bathroom.”
I clutched the handle to the door to leave.
“Annie, after you’re through, come back; we need to talk,” Bob ordered.
Bob needed to chill.
Lucas was going into the men’s room when I exited the office. He eyed my shirt then narrowed his eyes. I waved him off and made a beeline to the supply closet. He hadn’t earned any explanation from me at that point.
“Annie, wait, I need to ask you something.”
The door slammed behind me, blocking out anything else Lucas might have to say.
I wasted no time finding a uniform that fit, and changed. Something told me, whatever Bob had to say would not sit well with me.
Walking back to Bob’s office, I took a quick glance out at table four. Will and Lucas were laughing at something. Probably me.
I closed the door behind me when I entered the office. The stance Bob had taken did nothing to ease my nerves. He had leaned back on his desk, hands firmly on his hips, and eyed me from head to toe.
What is his problem? Drinks get spilled daily. I work seven days a week and never complain.
“I thought I told you to leave Lucas Carter alone,” Bob spit out before I even got sat down on the sofa. “There is too much history with his family.”
After the statement “history with his family”, he paused, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose as if the idea of it gave him a headache.
“What history? I barely know the guy,” I replied, tempering my tone to keep the confusion from that statement from lacing through.
“I know you fumbled out there to his table like a mad woman, and he was apologizing to you about something that obviously upset you.”
I raised my hand to dismiss him and stared off to the sidewall, but he had the whole situation pegged.
“I know you fumbled out there to his table like a mad woman, and he was apologizing to you about something that obviously upset you.”
I raised my hand to dismiss him, and stared off to the sidewall, but he had the whole situation pegged.
“Lucas is not a person you need to get involved with. I know things, and trust me, they are not pretty. Please, Annie, listen to me.”
He knows things. Does it have anything to do with his creepy father? Is Lucas like him? Is Lucas a bad guy?
“What things? I can’t believe Lucas is some big bad guy. Every girl in town is dying for him to get into their pants."
Did I just say that to my boss?
I felt the heat rush through my body and my cheeks turn a bright flaming red.
Bob stiffened before he moved to sit by me on the couch. “The things are big and bad, Annie. The last place you need him to be is between your legs. Believe me,” he said and took my hand. “I know I’m not your father, but I care. Just think about what I’ve said. Okay?”
Sure,” I said and nodded my head to be polite. He didn’t say anything for me to think about. Just gave me a demand, and I didn't take well to demands.
“Why don't you go home and rest? You look exhausted. We got enough staff to handle tonight’s crowd.”
He finally said something I agreed with. The last few days I’d hardly been able to put one foot in front of the other. Exhausted was an understatement.
“I’m off tomorrow too. Is that okay?”
He patted my knee, but it felt nice, not creepy. It sorted of reminded me of when I was little and my foster dad, Charles, would squeeze my knee when I said my nighttime prayers.
“Sure, get some sleep.”
I didn’t even walk back through the kitchen on my way out, afraid someone would have a chore I must do before I clocked out. I did, however, look back into the dining room. Lucas was leaving. However, what caught my eyes was the exchange of two small packages between him and Will.
I signaled for Will. He and I at one point in our lives were best friends. That was until the world told us that he belonged on one side of the cafeteria and I belonged on the other.
“What’s up?” Will asked and placed his ass in the seat opposite mine.
What’s up is Annie. I smiled thinking about her nervously shifting from one foot to another. Damn, it was hard not to want to touch her. I wanted to feel her body next to mine. I had to remember that Annie wasn’t the normal kind of girl I encountered. She was like no one I’d ever met before.
Annie didn’t have a lot to say, but when she finally did say something, it was somewhat bitchy even when she was trying hard not to be. She had put up a shield to keep everyone out – especially an asshat like me. I had to admit it was sort of a turn-on. A girl had never loathed me before I gave them a reason to. I also liked the way I made her nervous. It only reassured me I was affecting her. The way she stammered her words and bit her lip before regaining her stamina and her claws came out. Those claws would be fun to tame, but first, I would try this friend thing. I would try anything simply to be near her.
“What would it take for you to give me Annie’s phone number?”
She said we could be friends. Friends hung out, didn’t they? I needed a number to plan one of those hangout days.
“Never thought I would see the day Lucas Carter would have to wheel and deal to get a chick’s number.” Will cocked an eyebrow, annoying the crap out of me.
“Annie is no chick.” I picked up my glass to take a drink and calm down. My nerves had been on edge since Annie entered town. Coincidence, I think not. “Plus, every man has his kryptonite.”
“Sure, man, I’ll have to go in the back and get it. She has some cheap-ass prepaid cell, don’t blow up her phone, dude.”
“Thanks, I’m going to take a piss. Be back in a minute.”
I saw Annie ducking into the supply closet and yelled for her. She all but flipped me off.
Why did I have to be a jerk with her? She was just so familiar it scared me. But I would never forget a face like hers. Damn, maybe there is a God. Because only he could create a face that would rival any angel’s. Just those eyes alone sucked me in and eased my inner demons, and damn, her deep-brown, porn-star hair made me want to get lost in it.
Suck it, Lucas. She can see right through you.
It ate at me that she thought I was an arrogant piece of shit. More, I hated that I cared so damn much.
Chapter 9
Annie Prieto
If a guy was to show up on a pretty cool Harley, would you be interested in joining him for a nice cruise through the countryside.
I discovered the text after I finally checked my prepaid cellphone. No one ever called, much less text, I couldn’t help but grin.
Me: Who is this?
After I pressed send, it dawned on me who it was — Lucas. How did he get my number? No one had it. I only purchased the pre-paid phone and a hundred-and-twenty-minute card at the local Dollar Store for work.
Lucas: A very unhappy customer who never got his hickory burger and side of very thick, juicy steak fries.
I laughed out loud. The idea Lucas somehow obtained my number, the warning Bob gave me about him being big and bad, not even the thought of a long afternoon nap would deter me from doing a little flirting
.
Me: The only customer I served last night ordered some thin, flimsy fries. You know I’ve always heard you are what you eat.
His response was swift and cunning.
Lucas: Must be true, because I eat passion fruit every morning and a foot-long hotdog every night.
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