Page 25 of Bad Guys Need Love Too

But he didn’t.

He wasn’t even jealous. He didn’t want to be her. He just wanted to bewithher, absorbing all that joy through osmosis.

Meanwhile, he was peeking at her from behind a tree like a creeper, wearing jeans that were starting to fall apart at the seams, a T-shirt that used to be black but had been washed so many times it was now a dingy gray, and a black ball cap pulled down low to hide the black eye he’d gotten for stealing twenty bucks from his foster father’s wallet to buy bread and peanut butter.

That sandwich had been the best thing he’d eaten all week. Totally worth the punch.

“I know you’re there.”

Ren nearly dropped his camera (which would’ve sucked because it was an awesome old Nikon F2 he’d picked up at the pawn shop and it would cost a fortune to replace) when he realized Lark was talking tohim.

Shit. His stalking skills were clearly lacking.

“You might as well come out and talk to me,” she added.

Stepping out from behind that tree and skulking up to her as slowly as humanly possible, Ren had never felt grubbier or less…worthy than he did in that moment. Especially when he was a few feet away from her and his dark shadow blocked out the sun that had been shining so lovingly on her face.

That’s when she grinned up at him, showing her shiny white teeth and mouth full of braces, and it was like the sun had peeked out from behind a cloud once again. His IQ dropped twenty points just standingnearthat smile.

“I’m Lark,” she said.

“I know,” he mumbled.

She paused, and he knew her expectation was that he would introduce himself. But he’d learned long ago not to give out his name unless he had no other option. Flying under the radar was always a better idea.

Eventually, she gave up with a genial shrug and said, “You don’t have to hide from me. We can be friends.”

He had no idea how to respond to that. He’d never been with any one foster family for very long. Sometime after his third—or maybe it was the fourth—home, he’d given up on trying to get to know anyone. And honestly, even if he’d been inclined to meet people, he wasn’t exactly known for his sparkling personality. So, building friendships had never been high on his to-do list.

But for some reason, inthismoment, he’d do some pretty sketchy shit to be Lark’s friend.

He kicked at a dandelion with the toe of his too-small sneaker. “OK.”

The wattage of her grin kicked up a few notches. She gestured to the camera around his neck. “You want to take my picture?”

He’d taken a ton of pictures of her, but all from a distance like a proper creeper. Having the opportunity to take one up close was a temptation he definitely wasn’t strong enough to resist.Without hesitation, he snapped a dozen or so pictures while she aimed her happy, carefree grin at him.

“So, why haven’t you said hi to me before?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

She squinted up at him. “What happened to your eye?”

Ren tugged his hat down self-consciously. “You ask a lot of questions.”

“That’s what my parents say,” she admitted. “So, what happened to your eye?”

See,thiswas why he didn’t have any friends. They’d ask him questions he didn’t want to answer. “I walked into a door,” he said dryly.

Her nose wrinkled up. “Looks like someone hit you.”

He didn’t answer, because clearly, someone had hit him. But havingthisgirl with her perfect family and carefree smile ask him about his black eye felt…embarrassing. “Well, they didn’t, OK?”

The look she gave him held more than a little pity, and he didn’t care for it. Not. One. Bit.

But all she said was, “OK. Wanna play cards or something?”

He pretty much wanted to do anything she wanted to do. If she’d suggested they go rob a bank, he would’ve done it. So, he waited while she ran into her trailer and grabbed a deck of cards. And for the next two hours, they sat in the sun and she taught him how to play gin rummy, then she proceeded to beat him every single time like it was her damn job.

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