Page 43 of No Cap

“No,” I laughed. “She packed him Mountain Dew. But she only buys those two-liter bottles, so she usually pours his in a water bottle. Which she did that day. But my dad had eaten outside on the bed of his truck since it was nice out. He reached for what he thought was his drink, but it ended up being that bottle of gas he’d poured in there for a chainsaw the week prior.”

“Oh, God.” She flared her eyes. “That’s awful. What happened to his mouth?”

“Permanently burned off all his taste buds,” I admitted, pushing my salad away. I couldn’t do it anymore. “The only thing he can eat now, and taste, are super spicy things and super sweet things. Anything else is just bland.”

“That’s terrible.” She looked down at her food. “You should bring him here.”

I should.

He’d love it.

“I’ll do that,” I said, loving that she’d introduced me to the place.

I was lost in thought when the largest plate of beignets I’d ever seen was placed in the middle of the table. “Compliments from the chef.”

Then the waitress was gone, taking our credit cards with her.

I stacked my plates and bowl, then swept the bits of food off the table into my hand before throwing that on the plate.

All the while, I could feel the woman next to me watching my every move.

“That was quite surprising. I would’ve figured you’d have left the dirty table as it was,” she mused.

“My mom raised me right,” I said.

“His mother would’ve killed him if he left a dirty table behind.” Kinny laughed. “She’s a stickler for cleaning up after yourself.”

Hollis snorted. “My mother was the exact opposite. She could care less what does or doesn’t get cleaned. Though, she fully expected me to do that when I was there. Which I did well. Now when I go over, the place is a freakin’ pigsty.”

Kinny grumbled something under his breath, then frowned before looking up. “Hey, but isn’t it about that time again?”

I glanced at the woman next to me. “That time?”

“The time where they celebrate their December birthdays in the summer,” Kinny said cryptically.

I raised a brow. “Why would you do that?”

“Because the younger siblings started complaining that they ‘didn’t get good enough presents’ when they celebrated their birthday and Christmas in the same month. So they changed when they celebrate them,” Kinny explained.

I looked over at Hollis. “When’s your actual birthday?”

“December twentieth,” she grumbled, stabbing her fork into a beignet. “And yes, Kinny, that’s next weekend, actually.”

“You need to take Quincy. Maybe he can arrest them for you,” Kinny joked.

But the way she was looking right now, her face a dark, thunderous cloud of cute, made me want to go with her.

Obviously, this entire thing was incredibly uncomfortable for her.

I could see it on the frown wrinkles around her eyes.

“I’ll go.” I reached for a beignet and took a large bite and groaned.

I could feel her eyes on me, but I was too busy being orgasmically wowed with the powdered sugar-covered dough in my mouth.

The spice level of the food was totally made up for by the delicacy in my hand.

“This is amazing,” I said, sending a puff of powdered sugar out of my mouth with each word. “Sweet Mary, mother of God. I could eat these all day long.”

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