Page 17 of Killian
As if sensing my thoughts, his grin widened, and it was a sight to see. The right side tipped before the left, and he gave the subtlest hint of his teeth as he smirked. Why did he have to be so damn hot? Why couldn’t he just come back looking like hell? And how in the hell did he know what I was thinking?
“Bud,” said the man with sandy blond hair to Killian’s left.
“Bud Light,” said the man on the opposite side with close cut brown hair.
I lifted my chin to each, letting them know I heard them. I could feel Killian’s steady gaze assessing me. His eyes almost danced under the lights in the bar. I couldn’t help but wonder what was on his mind. On one hand, I didn’t like him trying to get a read on me, but on the other, there was this strange connection I’d had with Killian since forever. As hard as I may try, he always seemed to get me without any words. Whatever conclusion he came up with must’ve made him good because he said, “Miller Light.”
With the same chin lift, I turned to my task, pulling the bottles from the cooler and popping the tops. Setting the bottles on the bar, I added up the total and gave it to them. Killian said the three words I wasn’t expecting. “Start a tab.”
This meant he was planning on staying a while. Under normal circumstances, this would not deter me from my tasks. However, the last twenty-four hours had been far from normal.
Great. Just great. I couldn’t think clearly with him here.
“Card.” I held out my hand as he reached in his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and gave me his credit card.
I leaned in. “Thanks. There’s this kickass purse I’ve been looking at. It’s only five hundred dollars. You can afford that, right?”
This was a total and complete lie. Never. Never would I spend five hundred dollars on a purse. More power to the people who would, but growing up the way I did, no thank you. I’d rather have that money sitting in my bank account or my house for a rainy day.
To my surprise, he shrugged. “Whatever you want, beautiful.”
Wait. What? Why on earth would he say that? Beautiful? Was he serious?
“You tell women that, you’ll have them all stealing your credit card and buying everything they can get their hands on.”
He chuckled, taking a swing of his beer then setting the bottle down. I waited with bated breath for the comeback, the reply. Except he kept his deep sapphire eyes locked on mine, and I felt my body temperature rise. Fighting the passion climbing inside me, I diverted my gaze to his cheeks, then his chin, and then to his neck as he took another pull of the beer. My eyes lingered a bit too long on his throat while he did this. It was sexy as all hell, and it made me want to taste that skin right by his Adam’s apple. There was something about the taste and smell of a man’s neck that turned me on tremendously.
Killian crooked his finger at me, and as much as I wanted to tell him to fuck off—who the hell crooks a finger at a woman expecting them to come—I was too curious about what he had to say, so I did.
“Only you get that shot.” His words sent a shot right to my core. The rasp in his voice, the underlying promise, and something I couldn’t quite discern had me frazzled to say the least.
Mentally shaking my head, I got my wits about me again. I pulled away, rolling my eyes. He was so full of shit. No man gave any woman he wasn’t married to that kind of power.
Dozens of women were sizing up the three men. Good, maybe this would occupy the men and give me the freedom from Killian’s scrutiny to catch my breath. Each of them would have a barfly on their knees in a second; if they so desired, that was.
Giving him the universal answer of, “Whatever,” I turned around and set up the credit card for his tab. I may have taken a bit longer than needed, but that was only to get my shield in place. Killian apparently had this way of getting under my skin, and it needed to stop. Now.
What I didn’t expect was for him to be staring directly at me when I turned back to the bar. His friends were talking to several women, but Killian wasn’t. No, he was locked on me.
Marybeth, a waitress, brought up an order, and I grabbed the ticket and started to fill the orders. While Killian and I should probably talk about last night, it wasn’t going to happen. And it most certainly wouldn’t be happening here in my place of business. I needed to keep at it, stay distracted, and work. It was better to just chalk it up to a crazy night and let everything go rather than continue to throw fuel on the blaze heating up between us.
“Ellie,” was called, and I knew it was Killian instantly. His baritone was seared on my brain and made my body alight.
“Yeah,” I answered, keeping my head down and continuing to do my job. It was weird having him here. Sure we’d spent the night together, but to have him show up here was odd. But it wasn’t like me to not make idle chitchat. I talked to everyone who came in.
“Ellie.” Killian's demanding tone had my eyes lifting. “Come here,” he ordered, and my eyes narrowed. He was going back to that macho shit he pulled last night. Uh-huh, no way.
“Hate to break it to you, but I’m not a dog that will do as you command.”
“Ellie,” he growled, and I felt it low in my core.
After filling my drinks, I moved down to the end and asked, “Need another?”
It was his turn to narrow his eyes at me. “No.” I shrugged, making a move to leave, except he reached over and grabbed my arm, stilling me. I looked to his hand and then to him, nonverbally telling him to let me go. He, of course, didn’t.
“What?” I clipped, more bite behind the word than I’d intended, but what the fuck? He didn’t need to put his hands on me. Even if they were warm and strong.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked bizarrely.
