Page 5 of Kenzi's Little Christmas Wish

Chapter 3

“Thanks Grace.” Damon smiled up at the waitress as she delivered a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. If he noticed that his plate looked a bit fuller than Jimmy’s, even though they had ordered the same thing, he did not show it. She smiled down at him, walking slowly backwards before turning around just as slowly and sauntering off. The invitation in her glance and movement was implicit, and not even Damon could claim not to have seen it. Not that he was interested in what she had to offer though. For all her wanton looks and smoky gaze, he seriously doubted Grace could hold his interest sexually.

Someone who was succeeding in holding his interest though, was the woman sitting across from him. Her gaze was belligerent, and the stubborn tilt of her chin reminded him of a child who was being forced to sit down and eat. Watching the way she was pushing her food around her plate, he couldn’t deny the urge to do just that - stand over her and order her to eat what was on her plate, or else…

That train of thought led to a station Damon was definitely not willing to go with this particular passenger. Still, it was a pity she was wasting such good food. Raoul made the best bacon he had ever eaten, and even though she was not reed thin, she could still stand to add some meat to her bones. As it was, he could easily pick her up by her waist and bend her as…

“Something wrong with the food today?” Jimmy asked, breaking Damon out of his thought.

“What?” Damon asked, looking a bit confused for a moment.

“I asked if there is something wrong with your food. You are usually halfway through your plate before I swallow my first bite.”

“Maybe his doctor recently reminded him he needs to be on a liquid diet at his age.”

The jab came from Kenzi, and while she meant it to insult Damon, Debbie and Jimmy found it really funny, and they burst into peals of laughter. Damon himself smiled as he stared at her across the table, and Kenzi realized exactly how ironic her words sounded. Apart from the grey in his hair, and the faint lines that fanned out from his lips when he smiled, he could have passed for her slightly older brother. That is, if she had a brother who looked like he should be at the back of a magazine, modelling cowboy jeans. Hell, even those features just added a touch of regality to his bearing.

“Sorry, I was just wondering why someone would allow perfectly good food to go to waste,” Damon replied, his voice just a bit low

Kenzi glanced down at her plate and realized that even though her food was missing a few bites, she couldn’t say she had really tasted anything she had put into her mouth.

“Don’t tell me you are one of those girls who believe salad fulfills all your nutritional needs.” Damon lifted his fork and began to eat. Debbie and Jimmy were animatedly discussing a new display for the store.

“I just don’t want to eat,” Kenzi replied, her tone still acerbic. “Not that it is any of your business,” she added, and briefly wondered what it was about him that was making her act so bitchy.

A part of her wanted to blame her breakup on her prickly disposition, and maybe in part it was. But Kenzi was not in the habit of lying to herself. And if she wanted to be truthful, she knew he was the reason why she was acting so bitchy.

“It’s not a good idea to miss meals, you know. And I’m sure if you give it a chance, you’ll come to find that you enjoy it.”

“And if I don’t want to eat, what are you going to do then?” She stared at him defiantly, almost as if she was waiting for him to give her an excuse to do something.

The look of disappointment on her face when he, instead, smiled and kept eating, was funny enough that Damon chuckled. “Your loss,” he muttered to his plate, before turning to join Debbie and Jimmy in their discussion.

Kenzi struggled to hide the feeling of shock and humiliation that enveloped her as Damon casually dismissed her, as though she were a child throwing a tantrum. She wanted to scream at him until he turned back and they could finish what they had started. She had no idea what it was, exactly, but if they were keeping score, it was Damon - 1, and Kenzi - zero. Telling herself she was getting worked up over nothing, she grabbed her fork and took a stab at her plate. She lifted her fork to her lips, and when her mouth close around the morsel it carried, she struggled not to moan in delight. The food was that good, and she realized he had been right. She suddenly felt very hungry. So that would make it two for Damon and 1/2 for her.

The half point she gave herself for stopping herself halfway through the meal was not as satisfying as she thought it would be.

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