Page 32 of King of Pain

“Everything good with you?” I ask when our eyes meet. He’s sitting on the bed, waiting for me to finish. I wish I had a little makeup. Maybe a styling brush.

He gives me an easy smile. “Good.”

“It’s just…” I clear my throat. “We haven’t really talked much this morning.”

He shrugs. “Sorry. Not much of a deep thinker.”

“Sure,” I nod like I get that. As a person who overthinks most things, I don’t get it at all.

Is he just saying that? “You’re, ah, not regretting last night, are you?”

He stands, his brows arching up. “Regret your face down in a pillow, your ass in the air while you came over and over?”

I’m hot all over in a second.

“No. I don’t regret it.” And then he’s hooking my waist and pulling me close. The tension unwinds as our bodies press together. “But I am deciding what we might do as a follow-up tonight.”

I should say no. This is a dangerous path I’m going down… “I want to try the sucking thing we discussed.” Could I have told him I want to blow him any more awkwardly?

But honestly, I really do want to taste him. “You want to suck my cock?”

My tongue darts out to wet my lips. “Yes.” And then our eyes meet.

He looks at me like a lion. Like he wants to devour me. Good.

Because there is one thing I know and that is that Luke has stuck around when I needed him most. That’s a big thing for me.

He didn’t leave me stranded. He’s not taking my stuff, not that I have any. Which probably means I’m just in for a run-of-the-mill heartbreak. That’s all fine.

I can handle that.

“Kate,” he groans in my ear. “Baby. You’re making it hard to leave this room.”

“Am I?” Good.

But he still tugs me outside and helps me into the truck. We start down the road, silence falling again.

It wears on my nerves. This is why I didn’t want a repeat. I can feel myself getting more insecure.

We stop at a diner, making our way inside for some breakfast.

“We can just have power bars,” I say as a hostess shows us to a table. “I don’t need a whole breakfast.”

“Personally, I’m starving. Last night, I really worked up an appetite.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

“Yeah… but… money. I’m used to eating out of vending machines, you know? It’s no big deal.”

Luke scowls. “Kate. I know we’re living on a budget, but money isn’t really an issue. We can afford this place. Trust me.”

I’m the girl who went out with Vincent for a free dinner. My apartment is a complete dive. “I know you have a real job. I just…”

He cocks his head to the side. “Real job?”

That’s when our waitress shows up. “What can I get for you, sugar?” She isn’t talking to me.

She’s tall, blonde, and leggy with curves for days. Not fat, just round in all the right places. She looks like she could be on a movie poster. What she’s doing here, I have no idea. I just know she’s everything I am not.

Luke barely glances at her, his eyes flicking down the menu. “We’ll take two coffees. I’m getting the Hungry Man. What about you, love?”

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