Page 11 of Little Sunshine
I didn’t even have to study him to know he wasn’t bluffing. On a sigh, I muttered, “Strawberry, please.”
“Don’t mumble,” he chided like I was a child before walking to the counter.
When he returned a minute later, it was with a new shake and a mountain of food on a tray. He set it all in front of me and sat in the chair opposite mine.
Saliva filled my mouth again, and it wasn’t out of anticipation. It was my empty stomach threatening to revolt.
I grabbed the burger that looked bigger than my head. Unwrapping it, I took a small bite. A burst of flavor exploded on my tongue, and I wanted to inhale more, but I knew how that would go. I returned it to the paper and chewed slowly, pacing myself.
His gaze went from me to the barely touched burger. “You don’t like it.”
“I do.”
“If you want something different?—”
“It’s delicious. But when I’m this hungry, I have to go slow so I don’t, uh, get sick.”
That made his brow arch. “This happen a lot?”
Shit.
“No,” I lied.
And he knew it. He stared at me like he could read my thoughts, and his jaw clenched hard enough to make a muscle twitch. After a long, tense moment, he pushed the fries my way. “Eat.”
I grabbed one. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“No.”
“Why’d you order all this?”
“For you.”
Stopping with the fry halfway to my mouth, I narrowed my eyes. “What’s your angle here?”
“What do you mean?” He leaned back, draping a muscular arm over the empty chair next to him. Casual and relaxed and open.
I didn’t trust it.
“If you think I have a way to repay you, you’re out of luck.”
“What?”
I met his surprised gaze. “No one buys a stranger lunch for free?—”
“I do.” Shaking his head, he muttered, “Try to do something nice, and get accusations. Just a ray of sunshine.”
“Sorry, I don’t?—”
“Just eat,” he said, thankfully cutting in since I had no clue how to finish that sentence.
As a kid, I’d taken care of myself. If anything, I’d often filled the role of parent to my mother. At work, I’d always done my job well and without needed supervision or direction.
No one ever told me what to do, but that seemed to be all the behemoth was capable of.
I wasn’t a fan.
But I would suck it up since he was feeding me rather than handing me over to security. I could deal with his bossiness for a little while longer.
