Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I glanced at her as I walked past. She wasn’t smiling anymore. She was grinning. Big-time. Typical. Team Jamie all the way.
Shaking my head, I left her goofy grinning ass standing there and carried the drinks to the customers waiting on them. As I was checking on another table, giving them more napkins before they had the chance to request any, movement at the front of the restaurant caught my eye and I looked up.
Jamie walked up to the hostess podium and greeted Kali, who was standing there. Then his eyes met mine and held while he continued speaking.
My heart became one of those cartoon drawings with the arms and legs, waving at Jamie while it jumped up and down fanatically.
He was wearing a bright yellow O’Neill tee and cargo shorts. Typically, when Jamie came in here for lunch, he’d be wearing a pair of board shorts, either getting ready to give a lesson or coming from one. But I knew he had that interview this afternoon so I was figuring that was the reason for the shorts he was wearing. And even though he’d finished with his lessons for the day, his hair was definitely still damp. It had extra curl and looked darker at the roots.
I knew he smelled like sunscreen and the summer breeze, but a huge, pressing part of me wanted confirmation on that. My face buried in his neck would provide that confirmation.
After Jamie claimed a vacant booth in my section, I walked over, pen and ticket book at the ready.
“You know what you want?” I asked, skipping introductions and now beating Syd out on goofy grins, I was sure of it. I had to be taking the cake on the one I was currently wearing.
Jamie grinned back, head tilting to the side and arm coming up to lay across the back of the booth. “Yep,” he replied.
“What?”
“That sweet fuckin’ mouth.”
I scrunched my nose up and shook my head, telling him, “Ah sorry. I think Nate took kissing off the menu last week.”
“Yeah? It ain’t a special today?”
Lips pressing together, fighting yet another goofy grin, I slowly shook my head.
“Right.” Jamie kept his grin. He didn’t fight it. “I’ll take two spectacular tits in my face and a handful of that ass, babe.”
My eyes widened and a giggle caught in my throat. He was completely serious. I just knew he was.
Face burning, my stomach fluttering, and my heart reaching out, no longer waving but wanting to touch, I asked him, “How about I just surprise you with something?”
“Fine by me,” he replied. “Not really here for the food today anyway, so it don’t matter.”
I held his eyes for a breath, wondering if I’d ever seen a pair so blue, then scribbled down Jamie’s order, which I’d decided was going to be the BBQ chicken biscuit since I knew he liked that. With extra sauce.
“I’ll be back with your drink,” I said, looking up.
“I’ll be here,” he said back, smiling, looking happy and making me want that kiss, right here, out in the open in front of everyone.
I quickly spun around before I lost all of my sense, and made for the kitchen, ticket ripped off and pinched between my fingers.
“Here you go, Stitch,” I said, sliding the paper across the metal lip of the window, then once I got the head jerk, meaning he’d heard me even though I was speaking to his back, I spun around and grabbed a glass and the bottle of grenadine from beneath the bar.
“Hmm. Interesting,” Syd murmured, moving to stand beside me again.
“What?” I asked. I scooped some ice into the glass and started filling it with Coke.
“Oh, nothing,” she sighed. “Just that you put in the order for Jamie without adding on the Loser Special. That’s all. No big deal or anything. Except it totally is a big deal. A huge deal.”
I stopped filling up the glass with Coke and held it there, finger on the dispenser button but no longer pressing.
She was right. She was totally right.
I always added on the Loser Special to Jamie’s orders. Always. Since that very first day. And now I wasn’t. Never again.
I was done asking Stitch to mess with Jamie’s food, because I was done wanting him to catch something, get sick, and never return.
I was done running away, avoiding, and trying my hardest to keep Jamie from seeing me. And I was done trying to convince myself I didn’t want to see him. I wanted him coming here. I wanted him coming here for me.
If my heart had a mouth, it would totally be saying “I told you so” right about now.
Lips curling up, I finished dispensing the Coke into the glass. Then I spun around and reached for the bottle of grenadine, my eyes lifting to look at Jamie since I’d just had a revelation, and hell, I wanted him seeing how I felt about it.