Celt. (Den of Mercenaries #2)(14)

“Of course you did, because you know everything.”

Amber smiled, not knowing whether she was being sarcastic, or she actually thought Kyrnon knew everything.

“Smart arse. Tierra, this is Amber, my lovely date. Amber, meet—”

“His friend ’til the bitter end. That’s what he told me once, but I’m thinking he’s regretting that now,” Tierra said with a smile in her direction.

Kyrnon smirked. “I said nothing of the sort. She just latched onto me like a leech one day and I’ve yet to shake her off.”

“And luckily for you,” Tierra said quickly. “It won’t be tonight either. What can I get you?”

Amber ordered water with lemon while Kyrnon got tea, but when it came time to order the food, he ordered them both a ‘Breakfast Explosion.’

“It’ll be the best thing you’ve ever put in your mouth,” he said with a wink as Tierra skated away, placing their menus back in the holder. “Guaranteed.”

Shaking her head, Amber turned the straw in her drink. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“So … you wanna tell me about them?”

It had been so long since Amber had shared this story with anyone. As far as she could remember, the last time she had talked to anyone about their breakup—at least the important details—was to her mother, and that was only because she asked after seeing him and Piper together. She didn’t think it would hurt to share one more time.

“Rob and I were together for five years before everything went left. One weekend a few years ago, I was visiting my parents out in California, but ended up coming back early. I caught them in my bed of all places.”

“Bloody hell.”

Amber shrugged like it was no big deal. “At first I was okay. I just tried to focus on anything else, then I missed him, actually tried to convince him why I was good enough for him.”

Now that admission was something she had never confessed to anyone. At that point, she was low. Depressed maybe, and missing what they used to have. But as quickly as she had sunk that low, she dragged herself back out of it and got it together.

She expected pity from him, but there wasn’t any in Kyrnon’s expression, far from it. “You shouldn’t have needed to do that. If he couldn’t see what he had standing there in front of him, the fella’s an eejit.”

Amber almost smiled. “You don’t—”

“Need to say that? I do if it’s true. And trust me, it is.”

What could she say to that? If not for the sincerity in his tone, she might have thought he was simply stating a line, trying to lower her defenses, but even with just this short amount of time around him, she didn’t think he was that kind of person.

Their food arrived shortly after, both plates heaping with everything imaginable. Grits, hash browns, eggs, three different kinds of meat, and that didn’t include the pancakes on the side. While she didn’t think she would be able to finish it all, she was definitely going to try.

Squirting ketchup on her hash browns, Amber stirred them as she asked, “Is this where I ask you what you do, Kyrnon?”

“I track acquisitions,” he said, biting into a strip of bacon.

“What does that mean exactly?”

“Say you lost something, I can help you find it.”

“Like a private investigator?”

“Or a bounty hunter of expensive things. Same difference.”

“That sounds… interesting.”

It was unlike anything that she had ever heard, but in this city, it wasn’t completely unreasonable.

“And you? You work at that gallery?”

She nodded, ignoring his change of subject. “I do, and I paint.”

“I ken you’re good at that—you have that look about you.”

“Do I?” she asked.

“No one looks at art the way you did at Cedar, and not dabble in it,” Kyrnon said easily.

Conversation with Kyrnon was easy, relaxing even, and as the hours slipped away, Amber realized that she wasn’t tired at all. And now seeing that he hadn’t just stumbled into the gallery, but he actually knew about different artists and their works, she found herself relaxing further. There was common ground.

By the time their food was gone and the diner had emptied of most of its guests, they were still there, sitting opposite each other. Amber found that she wasn’t quite ready to leave yet. She was enjoying his company, but she still had a job to do, and with only three weeks to do it, she needed to get some sleep so she’d be able to focus in the morning.

Like he could read her thoughts, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a couple of twenty dollar bills and dropped them on the table. “Ready?”

She nodded, grabbing his jacket and taking his hand when he offered it once more as they headed out into the night.

The journey from the diner back to her apartment was over far too soon, but she did drag herself off his bike despite not wanting to leave him.

Before she could get far, however, he reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and handing it to her, all before he even said, “Give me your number.”

Unbidden, a smile bloomed. “You’re not even going to ask?”

With all the arrogance a man could possess, he shook his head. “Would it change the result?”