Page 33 of Resurfaced Passion

His growl made him sound like a grumbling tiger with a toothache. Keeping his head over his hands for such a long time he just went on chuffing and heavy breathing and his long fingers tapping repeatedly on the counter.

When he rose his blond head finally, she swore she saw Jesus. Oh, not that he was Jesus, far from it. There was a zero percent chance of Reaper being anything holy … but the tortured look in his eyes, the depth of fire banked in those eyes… Jesus in a manger, she was dead.

“You could have called if you needed me.”

Huh. It never occurred to her to call him. Never, which was stupid seeing as how they had some kind of weird quasi-friendship going on and friends talked a lot. At least, her and Winter did. Paige had lost touch with her high school friends long ago and hadn’t even tried to look them up on Facebook. If she contacted people from her old town she knew she might run into family and she’d rather have a root canal performed by Freddy Krueger’s glove knives.

“I didn’t have a reason to call you.”

“You don’t need a reason to call me, Paige.” he clarified, with a rough quality rolling through his voice.

As quickly as she opened her mouth she closed it and had to wait a few seconds for her tongue to get its shit together.

“I can’t just call you for nothing.”Or to check if you’re okay because you didn’t come into the diner.Was what she wanted to say. Though she’d been mad, she’d also fretted for three days that something had happened to him.

That’s what happened when attachment occurred. She became a little unhinged when she didn’t see him.

“Any reason, any fucking reason, okay?”

She bobbed her head, feeling the blush rush into her cheeks the longer he stared at her with those incredible eyes of his.

“What if I need coffee creamer at 3 am?” She tested.

He inhaled hard. “Call me.”

“At 3 am?” She asked, wide eyed at his sincerity.

Something was happening here, and she didn’t have the first clue what, only that her stomach had tightened so very hard she placed her hand right there.

“At three fucking am.”

“And—and you’ll answer?”

“Yeah, I’ll answer.”

Good God, he was dangerously attractive sitting there hunched over his tightly clenched fists and his jaw working a good tick in the sharp muscle of his cheek. So freaking handsome that had he suggested she climb up onto the counter right there and let him check out her menu she would have been up there faster than a horny gazelle. Legs open, and the free for all buffet sign turned to open.

“You’d bring me creamer in the middle of the night?” Incredulous, her voice went up a whole octave.

“Yeah. Donut holes too.”

Shit, she was weak for donut holes. She didn’t know he knew it too.

They stayed in relative silence after that. Reaper stayed at the counter while Paige put things away and let Lucie leave early and then the cook left and it was just the two of them.

When it came to locking up he helped with moving all the chairs and flipping off the lights. He was right behind her as she reached the door.

His shoulder brushed hers, she could be mistaken for assuming he was crowding his bigger body into hers from the way his head cranked down an inch, giving her his clean, woodsy fragrance and stealing her breath.

She was assaulted with shivers all down her left arm.

Outside, he walked her to her car, hovering like an avenging angel. When she turned to thank him he was right there… her nose practically wiped on his sleeve and his scent made her think of rumpled sheets and dirty sex andhis mouth.

His gorgeous plump mouth she could still taste if she allowed herself to think about that hot kiss. That kisstorturedher. Why would he kiss her so desperately? Why wasn’t he talking about it? Why didn’t he press her into the door and knock her socks off again with his tongue down her throat and his big hands digging into her hips?

Did he realize how he wrecked her feelings? Completely decimated them into confetti with just his glance.

“Thanks for walking me the two feet to my car,” she grinned cheekily, toeing his big leather biker boot with her tennis shoe.

---