Not that we were actually going to do anything. Everyone knows Daniels is all talk and no action. He was just kidding around with me, I'm almost certain of it. He's certainly not desperate enough to take a girl like me home for a good time. I mean, let's face it. Only one of us is desperate for a good time and it isn't Ken freaking Daniels. The man may be a bit of a walking punchline sometimes, but he's also hotter than the surface of the sun.
But what if he were even a little bit serious about things with me and not just doing his usual flirting routine? What if he did actually mean it and then I'd missed out on the sexual experience of a lifetime because my stupid brother was determined to keep all men away from me and my very lonely vagina forever and ever?
Wait a minute. I am definitely going to have to do something about this. I’m not willing to miss out on what could possibly be the best sex of my entire life because I had the misfortune of having the world's biggest cockblocker for an older brother.
Nope.
I'm going to Riddles to break up their little luncheon, and if I get even a hint that Daniels might have meant any of that flirty talk with me, I'm going to woman up and climb that sexy man like a tree, no matter what my stupid brother thinks about it.
I've been waiting for well over a decade to kiss Daniels. If he gives me even the vaguest hint of a green light, you'd better believe that I'm in.
With this perfectly reasonable plan in place, I stomp over to Riddles and find K.T. behind the bar with a goofy smile on her face. Is she smiling like that because she committed a crime? She definitely seems like someone who you don't want to cross, or she might cut you.
"Hey lady," she says, a little bit of sunshine in her voice. "You here for lunch?"
I chew on my bottom lip even as my stomach howls at her words. Is she making fun of me because of my size, or is she simply asking if I want to eat something? And if she is asking, is it because of what time it is or did she hear the loud noise that my stomach made?
Why does everything about eating in public have to give me so much freaking anxiety? One of my acquaintances asked if I wanted some lunch and it's now turned into a huge big deal inside my head. Meanwhile, I'm standing here fretting and being awkward as hell. Definitely not the way to handle this situation or anything about the whole Daniels issue either.
I take a deep breath and sit at the bar near her. "I'd love a burger if that's okay." I give her a little teeny smile, no teeth, because I don't want her looking too much at my mouth. I don't want anyone looking at me too much, honestly. "Also, have you seen my brother Elliott or Daniels around?"
K.T. pauses in cleaning off the bar top and narrows her eyes at me speculatively. "Huh," she says, then heads toward the kitchen.
Wait, what? "Hey, K.T. Did you see them or not?" I'm pretty sure she hears me, but she waves as she slides through the swinging door into the kitchen. My stomach growls again and I sigh and decide maybe it's for the best that she’s left me alone out here.
For one, I'm hungry and I want to eat without anybody watching me, most especially not Hot Pants Daniels.
For two, it's probably all to the good that I didn't catch up with Daniels and make a big scene with my brother about how he's not going to ruin my sex life with his overbearing ways. I mean, how embarrassing would it be to give a big Oscar worthy speech and then have my lifelong crush laugh in my face and deny that he’s even a little bit interested in me?
I push my face into my hands, feeling my skin heat at even the thought that Daniels would possibly laugh at me like that, but right when I start feeling sorry for myself, all the little hairs along the nape of my neck prickle.
"Lily," he says, his voice rough, barely above a whisper. He's suddenly so close to me. He has to be for me to have heard him with his voice pitched so low. That thought alone has goosebumps breaking out all over my body and I’m sure my entire face and chest are all splotchy now.
I brush my hair back from my face and turn toward his voice, meeting his ice blue eyes at last. It's a good thing I'm sitting down, because a direct glance at the sharp planes of his face is enough to make me weak in the knees. Why does he have to be so freakingly unbelievably gorgeous?
I'd give anything for him to have a big hairy wart on his nose right now, or maybe really rancid breath or something. But no. Daniels is even more sexy now that we’re up close and personal, and I can't help but eyefuck the hell out of him.
He's so tall that even when we're both sitting, I have to tilt my head back to meet his gaze. And then he has a face that had once been strong and chiseled looking, at least to thirteen-year-old mega-crush me, but now with his lustrous, dark beard covering parts of it, I can’t help but wonder how it would feel against my skin.
He's got a face that I'd like to sit on.
Wait, no. That's way past hormone driven lust at this point. I need to slow down the sex thoughts about Ken Daniels immediately or I'll be the one getting burned when he laughs in my face as he shuts me down once and for all.
"Daniels," I say, and feel my cheeks heating up again even as I drop my eyes to the sticky bar counter. And where did K.T. go to get my burger anyway? Is she personally selecting my soon to be lunch from some nearby field?
"Hey," he says, and leans even further into my personal space until he's looming there, just inside my peripheral vision. My nostrils flare and I catch the smell of him. Some sort of cedar scented cologne, a hint of smoke, and of course, hot and sexy man. He smells so damn good to me that it's making my mouth water.
"If you're looking for Ell, he took off about five minutes ago." He sighs. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I know he was supposed to take you for lunch and instead he ended up dragging me off here to—"
He cuts off as my stomach makes a very distinct, very audible screaming noise. My own body hates me. Apparently, I don't need my behemoth of a brother to cockblock me. My very own digestive system is more than ready to do it on his behalf.
Well, maybe Daniels didn't hear it. I mean, body noises always sound louder to the person experiencing them, right?
"Was that really your stomach?" He looks genuinely worried, as if maybe I've smuggled some sort of keening animal inside K.T.'s bar by stuffing it inside my shirt.
My lips pinch into a scowl. "Yes, that was my stomach." I pat the offending organ. "I was supposed to have lunch with stupid Smelliott, but instead he dragged you off for some sort of male bonding time." I roll my eyes. Where the hell is K.T. when I need her? I'm starving and if she doesn't get here in a minute, I'm definitely going to end up with either my own foot or Daniels' tongue in my mouth. Whichever seems like the better fit at the time.
What can I say? I'm hungry. And why is it taking so long to get a burger when there are zero customers in Riddles other than me and the man I’d like to kiss?
"Where is my brother anyway? I could have sworn you two came here specifically to ogle hot chicks, but there's nobody here but the two of us." I jut one hip out and plant my hand on the curve there. My eyes flick back toward the kitchen, but maybe K.T. escaped out the back. There's definitely no movement or food cooking, and I could easily see her sneaking out for a nooner with her fiancé, local hot mayor Reed Harrington IV.