Page 10 of Unearthed Dreams
“No!” My voice came out way too loud. People turned.
“So you like it.” His voice dropped lower, sending shivers down my spine.
I nodded, swallowing. “Mhm.”
Kai leaned in, sinewy forearms propped on the bar. “And that, Charlie, is why I don’t dye it.”
Holy hell, that voice should come with a warning label.The way he said my name dripped with sex—something I’d yet to experience.
“And how old are you?” he asked, those eyes—a stunning mix of golds and greens and browns—studying me with an intensity that made it hard to breathe.
“I’ll be twenty-three in a couple months.”
“Ah, age gap.” His lips curved into a wicked smile. “My favorite trope.”
“You read romance?”
His eyes sparkled with mischief. “What makes you think I was talking about books?”
My jaw dropped, words failed.
Did he really just...?
Is he actually…?
Is he talking aboutme?Andhim?
Kai’s deep chuckle sent shivers down my spine. “Come on, pretty girl.” He handed me my drink, then his warm hand settled on my lower back as he guided me toward Chase’s table.
The casual possessiveness of his touch short-circuited my brain.
Pretty girl?
Chapter Four
KAI
I shouldn’t be flirtingwith this girl, but damn, she was pretty.
She was also way too fucking young for me. Too innocent. Too sweet. At least, she’d seemed sweet until she snorted at me. I couldn’t figure out why the fuck that was so sexy. But it was nothing compared to watching a pretty pink blush creep up from her chest to her neck before finally tingeing her cheeks.
I didn’t actually need a water, but when I’d walked in and saw her sitting there, it was like my feet took on a mind of their own.
The cidery was packed—most of Sable Point crammed in here, pretending not to watch every fucking thing that happened while seeing everything. Small town bullshit at its finest.
She sat at the bar, one leg crossed over the other, her foot bouncing lazily in a pair of beat-up Chucks. Pale legs stretched out from frayed cutoffs, the denim hugging her thighs just right. Made me wonder if she spent time in the orchard, helping her brothers, since she’d been home. A fitted white V-neckclung to curves she seemed completely unaware of, and she’d knotted a flannel low on her hips like an afterthought.
Her glasses slid down her nose while she studied the cider list, completely fucking oblivious to how the light hit her just right. How every head in the place turned, even if just for a second. Her hair was half up, half spilling down her back in waves, like she couldn’t be bothered to do more than run her fingers through it.
She wasn’t fidgeting, wasn’t looking for attention like the regular weekend crowd at my bar. Just sitting there, completely at ease, completely unaware of the effect she had. And that somehow made it worse.
So fucking pretty.
I was half hard just from that blush on her cheeks and my hand on her back, which I really needed to drop. Too many Evertons around here. Plus, the whole damn town watching. They wouldn’t take kindly to the wrong-side-of-the-tracks bartender touching their precious baby Everton.
I removed my hand from Charlie’s lower back, and she peeked up at me from the corner of her eye, brow furrowed a tiny bit.
“Look who I found,” she announced as we approached the table where Jasper, Natalie, and Chase were sitting.
