Page 49 of Second Chance with the Rancher
He pulled into the line for the drive-thru of a fast-food burger joint he always visited when he came to Denver.
“How can I help you today?” the teenager over the speaker asked, his voice cracking slightly.
“Hey, yeah, I’ll get a double-stack with the works, extra large onion rings, extra large fries, a strawberry shake and …” He turned to Mieka. “What would you like, Minx?”
Nodding, she said, “I’ll get the same.”
Nate’s eyes went buggy. “Holy shit.” Then he grinned. “I like a woman who can eat.” He turned back to the intercom. “Just double that order, man. Two double-stacks with the works, two extra large onion rings, extra large fries and two strawberry shakes.”
The guy over the intercom rattled off what they owed, then told them to proceed to the first window.
“Thank you.” Nate pulled ahead to the first window, paid, then they waited until they had to move forward to the next window to get their food. “That’s a shit-ton of grub, Minx. You going to be able to eat it all?”
“I’m on a mission,” she said. “Dancing and my rigorous workout and training routine have rendered me without an ass or tits, so since I’m not dancing for that militant cruise line anymore, I may as well grow my boobs and booty.”
Of course, his eyes were on her chest. She’d been just talking about her tits, so naturally, his gaze would gravitate there to see if what she said was true, that she had no chest to speak of.
“For the record, I think you’ve got a great ass and tits, if my opinion is worth anything to you. Also, there’s more to your beauty than just those parts of your body. I’m a leg man myself, and you have great legs. Loved when they were wrapped around my hips like a fucking ivy vine.”
Her cheeks bloomed with color again, and she swallowed.
“However, I also fully support you sticking your middle finger up at the cruise line for canning you and eating what you want to eat. Life’s too short to eat rabbit food every day. I get eating healthy so you can live longer, and generally I do eat healthy, but when I come to Denver, I always come here. Best burgers in the fucking city.” He pulled up to the next window and a teenager with braces and a bright yellow uniform greeted them with a giant paper bag and two enormous milkshakes in to-go cups.
“I may have overestimated my capabilities,” Mieka said, taking in the gargantuan size of the milkshake alone. That thing probably held more calories than she consumed in an entire day on the ship. Perhaps an entire week.
Nate pulled out of the line and into a vacant parking stall where he rolled down the windows, put some country music on, then turned off the truck.
“There’s a park a mile away with picnic tables if you’d rather,” he said, opening up the paper bag. “This isn’t very romantic, or easy.”
“This is fine,” she said, accepting her foil wrapped-burger.
Probably working out the physics of how she could eat the monstrous thing with two patties, Nate caught her watching him as he unwrapped his burger, opened his mouth wide like a snake unhinging its jaw to devour an antelope, and he took a big bite.
A piece of lettuce fell into his lap and he picked it up, but not before he watched her eyes follow that leaf, then lingered on the front of his jeans for way too long.
The grin on his face as he chewed was unavoidable.
“Eyes up here, Minx,” he said with a chuckle, his mouth still slightly full.
She shook her head and blinked, then ignoring his continued laughter, she unwrapped her burger and dove in.
The moan that came after she took a bite of her burger had his cock struggling to get out of his jeans. She closed her eyes and her head lolled back against the seat. She looked about ready to come in her pants.
“That was a pretty epic bite, Minx. For both of us. Did you get off?”
“Damn close,” she murmured. “Fuck, that’s delicious.”
She took another bite, while Nate—who was already over half-way through his own burger—opened up the onion rings, fries and ketchup packets, making a bit of a smorgasbord on the bench seat for them.
“That’s a lot of food,” she said between chews.
“We’ll take it home if we can’t finish it.” His brows scrunched for a second. “Scratch that, we’ll take it home if you can’t finish yours. This order is standard for me and I can always finish it.” He grabbed his milkshake from the cupholder and took a hard pull. His eyes bugged out slightly from how hard he had to suck to get anything out of the straw. “Damn, they always make these so thick. I’m going to burst a blood vessel in my eye just getting it through the straw.” But the threat of a broken blood vessel didn’t deter him and he sucked harder until a satisfied smile curled his lips around the straw. “That’s the stuff,” he said, putting the milkshake back in the cupholder a moment later. “Worth the effort.”
They continued to eat in companionable silence, sharing stolen glances as they chewed. Each time she caught his eye, or he caught hers, they would both smile, then laugh.
Crumpling up his wrappers, Nate stashed them into the paper bag. Mieka still hadn't finished her burger and had only had two onion rings and three fries.
“You don’t have to finish it, Minx,” he said, his smile cheeky. “It isn’t a competition. And I definitely don’t want to see you sick.”
