Page 22 of Say I'm Yours, Firecracker

“Thank you.” I managed to get out before shoving a straw into the heavenly mixture and properly draining a quarter of it. I groaned and settled back into the old leather, bringing the milkshake with me.

Eli’s spoon was resting half-way to his mouth, eyes wide, eyebrows skewed.

“Pregnancy craving,” I said, raising both shoulders as I took another big gulp. He laughed, dropping his spoon back onto his plate and covering his stomach.

“Can’t say I’ve ever seen a woman go absolutely feral over a milkshake before.”

“I’m honored to be your first then.” I bantered, shoving a few fries into my mouth.

He smiled, that lopsided grin and we continued to eat in silence. It was…nice. Having a meal with the opposite sex with no intentions of sleeping with them.

I finished my shake and wished like hell I could unbutton my pants, but thought better of it since this was my client’s brother and all. Instead I settled for letting the old leather of the booth wrap around my body like a hug.

Watching him eat wasn’t exactly what I planned on this evening, but it could’ve been worse. He was pretty to look at, and actually kind of funny in a laid back way. He didn’t seem to be a serial killer, so really he had at least that going for him.

“Areyouseeing anyone?” I blurted, my thoughts tending to tumble out unauthorized when I was thinking. It wasn’t one of my finest qualities. He coughed a little, as if I caught him off guard. If he could ask, so could I.

“No, I don’t really subscribe to the whole monogamy thing.” He twirled his hand and pointed to his empty ring finger.

“Why not?”

He sighed, like he got that response a lot. But Iwasa wedding planner, I believed in true love. Just…not my own. What’s left of my heart barely functioned now, I couldn’t imagine tacking on someone else's.

“You don’t have to answer that.” I said after his long pause, because truly he didn’t. He hadn’t asked more about my situation, but I also didn’t offer up details about it. Still, the way he looked back up at me now, it was a little crumb I couldn’t help but latch on to.

“I don’t mind,” he started, “My parents didn’t set the best example of husband and wife, lots of fights, cheating, debt. It all ended up becoming too much for either of them. Fights got too violent, voices were always too loud. So, the government decided we would be better cared for by Garret’s grandmother.” At my confused look he added, “Garrett and I are half brothers on our mother’s side. We moved in with her when we were fourteen.”

“I’m sorry.” Now I was the one who had asked a personal, probably not my business, most definitely intrusive question. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s fine, honestly, Garrett and I,” he wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled, “We were better off with Grams.”

Hearing the love and affection he carried for this woman who wasn’t his grandmother made my already squirrely hormones go haywire. My eyes instantly watered, I couldn’t get a napkin to the tears soon enough.

“Don’t cry. Really, I’ve had a good life.” He said, pushing napkins my way.

I wasn’t crying for him, not totally. Hearing him talk about his family so openly had me thinking about mine. About how I could never be that open, even with a licensed therapist.

After I finished dabbing my eyes and blowing my nose Billy found us with a semi worried look. “Everything okay here?”

“Hormones.” I sniffled.

I was sure Bell had told him a lot about my mood swings since my life kind of exploded. He just nodded and looked away, in the same direction he’d been looking with that wrinkled brow. I had to lean around Eli to see what he was looking at.

Or rather, who.

The moment I leaned over, dark eyes locked on mine and my entire body went rigid. Finn’s body looked coiled, his face angrier than usual. Well, this just got really awkward.

“I think we’ll take the check and head on.” Flicking my eyes to Billy he nodded and hurried away to ring us up. I slid out of the booth as smooth as I could when Eli finally looked around, clueless.

“What are you running from, Ronnie?”

My name on his lips pulled me out of my fog. “What?”

His hand reached out for mine for a brief moment, “What’s got you so spooked?”

Finn stood up from the table full of guys, and that’s when I noticed Aaron was also there. He quickly found what had his best friend out of his seat and tried to pull him back. But Finn was a big man, and had already started our way when Eli said, “Isn’t that the guy from earlier?”

I gulped. Full on, lots of spit down my throat, gulped. Twice now Finn had seen me with Eli, and if I was reading his face right, he looked pissed.

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