Dangerous question, that, and one he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to.
“I like cheeseburgers, so it seemed like the best choice,” she replied, clearly distracted as she handed him the ketchup bottle.
He reached for it absentmindedly, freezing when their fingers met and a spark of electricity traveled from her skin to his. She stilled too, and he heard her suck in a breath as her gaze rushed to meet his. So she felt it, too.
Shit. That wasn’t good. It really wasn’t, but fuck if he cared right then. He was being sucked into her gaze, watching as her pupils dilated, her tiger coming to the surface, their hands both still locked on the bottle, fingers touching.
The green in her eyes was quickly taking over the hazel, and he smiled as his lion purred. Hello there, tiger, he thought, his skin stretching tight and beginning to tingle from the touch of her skin.
Somewhere in the bar, a bottle or glass broke, and the crash jerked him out of the daze he’d fallen into. It must have broken the spell for her, too, because she turned her eyes away and yanked her hand back from the bottle. Fumbling to catch it before it fell, he looked at his plate, fighting to find his focus.
Tingle? Had he really had that thought? A body couldn’t tingle from the touch of another person. It was a ludicrous thought, and one best put behind him.
Regardless of the fact that he could swear to the fact that he had felt it.
But that didn’t mean he had to act on it, or even acknowledge it. Ignoring it seemed to be the best course of action, and he clung to that plan with all his might as he shook out some ketchup next to his onion rings.
Looking at his plate, he cleared his throat, searching for something normal to say to cut through the tension arching between him and Tarun. It seemed an impossible task, but he had to try.
“Looks like you really enjoy pickles on your burgers,” he said, eyeing the mound of pickles on his cheeseburger.
She laughed, the beautiful sound dancing along his nerve endings. “Yeah, I asked for extra. Pickles are a favorite of mine.”
Taking off the top bun, he lifted his fork and finally looked at her. “Do you want mine? I like them, but this is a little much for me.”
Her eyes lit up and warmth flowed through him at her obvious childlike excitement. And over pickles of all things. Inhaling deeply, he fought the urge to let that look get to him, but it was a losing battle. It definitely got to him. Right in the heart. Right where he didn’t want to feel a single thing for her.
“You don’t mind? I’d love them.”
Forcing a casualness he didn’t feel, he forked the pickles off of his burger and laid them on her plate. She immediately picked one up and bit into it, the look on her face saying she was enjoying every bit of the taste.
Turning his attention back to his plate took effort, but he managed it. He didn’t need to see her enjoying her food. He didn’t need to see her enjoying anything. He just needed to focus on his meal, and try to leave there the same man he’d been when he walked into the bar and sat down beside her.
He took a bite of his burger, the flavor keeping his attention for a moment. But the blessed distraction didn’t last long, because Tarun let out a low moan that immediately shot through him, caressing every nerve ending. The jeans that had finally begun feeling like they had some room in them turned even tighter than they had a few minutes ago, almost painfully so.
Don’t look at her, don’t look at her, he chanted over and over in his mind. But it was a futile struggle as his eyes turned toward her like she was a magnet and he couldn’t help himself. She was holding her cheeseburger, her plump lips glistening as she chewed with an expression of pure bliss on her face.
Holy fuck. She was gorgeous, but more than that, in that moment, she was the very epitome of sensuality. It was just such a shame that it was food putting that expression on her face and not him.
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I could do even better, he thought to himself faintly. I could make her feel so much bliss that she wouldn’t even be able to breathe.
Then why don’t you? his lion answered, even though Luke hadn’t been speaking to him.
And it was his lion’s voice that snapped him out of the trance he’d fallen into. Swallowing hard, he tore his gaze away, surprised to find that he was ripping apart his burger, tearing it to shreds as his hands clenched.
“Oh my God,” Tarun mumbled before swallowing down the rest of her bite. “I think that might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted. What does Liam put in them to make them so good?”
Doing his best to keep his face and voice normal, he shrugged. “I have no idea. And don’t bother asking. He won’t share his recipes with anyone. We’ve all tried.”
“Such a shame. I could stay here forever for food this good,” she murmured.
And the hell of it was, his heart jolted in his chest at the thought of her staying forever.
It shouldn’t. It should freak him out, it should make him yell at her, shake her, convince her she didn’t belong there. It absolutely shouldn’t make him want to fall to his knees and beg her to stay. He didn’t even care in that moment if she stayed for him or the food. So long as she stayed.
The hell of it was, he didn’t know why he wanted her to stay. He didn’t know what made her any different than all the women who’d walked through B&B’s doors, and all the women he’d met before her.