Page 51 of Kane's Awakening
Ryker grinned, and I found myself staring at the damn freckle beneath his eye. His beauty mark. “Yes. Bacon, eggs, and jelly toast. Sound good?”
“Damn, Ryker, I didn’t know you were such a rebel,” I said, before hopping up on the counter to sit. “Breakfast for dinner. Such a rule breaker.”
“I like to live dangerously. What can I say?” His blue eyes found me, and for a moment, we just kind of stared at each other. The moment was broken by grease splashing out of the skillet and landing on his hand. “Darn! That freaking hurts. I should know by now not to cook bacon without a shirt.”
“Dude, your rebel card has just been taken back,” I said with a chuckle. “Say fuck like the rest of us.”
He gave a shy smile before looking back at the food. “I swear sometimes—as you’ve heard—but I try to watch my mouth, especially around my kids. I guess it’s just habit to substitute them for not-so-vulgar words when I can.”
I nodded, not knowing what to say.
After switching off the burner, he grabbed a plate and loaded it with bacon and two eggs before doing the same with another. I watched him as he moved around the kitchen, feeling another kind of hunger beginning to emerge.
Even with the knowledge that we’d probably never go anywhere, I still couldn’t let go of my attraction for him.
“Ready to eat?” he asked, looking at me with such a genuine smile that my breath caught in my damn throat.
My heart beat faster at the sight of him, but I told that fucker to shut the hell up. Nothing had really changed with us: Ryker still wanted a happily ever after, and I just wanted the happy ending that came with a one-night-stand. Our sex from earlier hadn’t changed that.
“Hell yeah.”
We didn’t talk much at first. One reason was it tasted so damn good I couldn’t stop stuffing my mouth long enough to get a word out. I couldn’t cook to save my life. Other than sandwiches, Ramen noodles, and a few other things that only required a microwave, I couldn’t make much else. Sometimes, if I tried hard, I could make bacon and eggs—which was why I’d had the ingredients—but I normally burnt the bacon and overcooked the eggs. Nothing even half as good as what Ryker had made.
He was right. It did comfort me some.
Ryker wiped at the side of his mouth, which drew my attention to his lips. His fucking perfect lips that I wanted to bite and lick, and to also see stretched around my cock like they’d been hours earlier. They were moving, and I realized I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“Huh?”
“I said, are you going to be okay?” he repeated, full of patience and concern. “It’s getting late, but I really don’t want to leave you if you…” He hesitated, briefly glancing at the table before meeting my gaze again. “…if you need someone.”
Wow, I felt like an even bigger asshole. There he’d been worried about me, and all that had been on my mind was sex. Yeah, in no damn universe would Ieverdeserve him.
“I’m not going to shoot myself, if that’s what you’re implying,” I snapped, suddenly annoyed. Not exactly annoyed at him, but just irritated at myself. He was only asking because I’d completely lost it on the couch earlier and let that weakness show. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine, Kane. Enough of the bullshit.”
I raised my brows, knowing I was in full-on sarcastic asshole mode. “Damn, Ryker. Finally got your rebel card back. You said bullshit. That’s a no-no word, you know.”
Ryker looked like he was about to respond to my asshole remark with one of his own, but then he stopped, and the irritation washed from his face. “Why do you do this?”
“Do what?” I crossed my arms and met his stare.
“Shut down,” he answered. “When things start getting too serious for you, you completely shut down and push me away.”
“Oh? I thought you were a lawyer not a shrink.”
“What are you afraid of?” he asked, not backing down.
Well, neither was I.
“Nothing. What makes you think I’m afraid?” I shoved away from the table and grabbed both of our plates before taking them to the sink and tossing them in, not bothering to wash them off. I’d just wanted some distance.
When I turned around, he was behind me and I jumped. I hadn’t heard him get up.
“Kane… you may fool other people with this bullshit, but you don’t fool me.” His eyes burned into mine. “You say you don’t want anything serious, and yet, I see the look in your eyes after we kiss. Or after we’d made love.”
“Fuck,” I corrected in a harsh tone. “Not make love.” His brow scrunched, and I hated myself for what I was about to say. “Oh, you thought me saying that earlier was true? I said what I knew you wanted to hear. I wanted to get laid.”
