Finding Kyle(56)

To my surprise, Steve releases her hand and reaches across the table toward me in an invitation to shake his hand. He holds it out palm sideways and says in a more businesslike tone, “And you must be the wary best friend. I’m Steve.”

I shake his hand, a little mollified that he wants to impress Miranda by seeking my approval. “Jane.”

Steve gives me a quick shake and lets me go as he asks, “Hope your boyfriend isn’t going to be pissed I came over here like this,” he says as he nods out the window to where Kyle is still talking on the phone. “Not going to kick my ass, is he?”

This guy Steve has a decent build. Might even be an inch or so taller than Kyle. But if he was truly a badass biker, he would not be worried about anyone kicking his ass. Seems Kyle totally called that one correctly.

I give Steve a reassuring smile. “No ass kicking. He’s cool.”

Although I know without a doubt that Kyle would not be cool if Steve’s attentions were directed my way. Kyle may not be a long-haul type of man—a thought which saddens me with each passing day—but I do know he’s proprietary. He’s given the evil eye to a few guys who have looked at me a little too appreciatively when we’ve been out and about.

Steve turns back to Miranda. “I’m in a bit of a rush to get to work, but I was wondering if I could call you sometime?”

Miranda’s eyes, which are surprisingly clear despite her drunkenness last night and thanks to Visine, sparkle with interest. “Only if you promise to use it to call immediately. I am on the prowl for my next boy-toy after all.”

“Good grief,” I mutter under my breath, but both of them ignore me.

I sip at my coffee, my gaze wandering to look out the window at Kyle. His back is to me, but his posture seems stiff and defensive. My imagination runs wild as to who it could be, since while we’ve been very intimate with each other, about the only real thing I’ve seemed to glean from him is that he has no real family and no close friends. This should make me happy because I am what I believe to be a friend to him, but I not only find it sad, I find it to be disconcerting as well. I know no one who is that much alone in life.

Miranda and Steve exchange contact information, and after Steve promises to call Miranda that very night after he gets off work, he makes his exit. Five seconds later, Kyle is sliding back in the booth beside me.

“What did that guy want?” he asks as he looks at Miranda, and I’m surprised how keenly aware he must have been of what was going on inside the diner while he was on the phone.

“My body,” she says pertly and gives him a wicked grin over the edge of her coffee cup. “And he just might get lucky tonight.”

I actually expect Kyle to say something at this point in the way of a warning, because she’s my friend and I assume he’d be a little protective of her. I’ll, of course, read her the riot act later, but it will fall on deaf ears as it always does.

But Kyle doesn’t say a word. Instead, he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet as he asks me, “You about ready to go?”

“Um, yeah,” I say guardedly as I sneak a quick glance at Miranda.

She shoots me a small shrug, and then looks over at Kyle. “What’s your rush, big guy?”

Kyle slides from the booth, grabs the check the waitress had left about fifteen minutes ago after we’d eaten and were enjoying more coffee, and then holds his hand out to me. I take it, and he pulls me from the booth as he grins down at Miranda. “Appreciate you letting me in on that little secret that Jane was lusting after my body,” he tells her with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “She’s been a little shy with me so far in bed, and I think now is the perfect opportunity to let her explore a bit.”

“You… you…” I sputter with embarrassment as I yank my hand away from his. “You did not just say that to her.”

Miranda, at this point, is laughing, clearly enjoying my torment. I’m not anywhere as sexually liberated as Miranda is, and I tend to let my partner lead. Now, granted, a flush of excitement went through me when he said I was going to get to explore, but I didn’t want him to make a billboard announcement about it.

“Come on, Jane,” Kyle says huskily as he takes my hand again and brings it up to his lips. He grazes the back of my knuckles, and I realize my perception may be wrong about bikers. I can totally imagine Kyle in a biker gang, but that soft kiss on my knuckles was not in the slightest bit out of place.

I kept my swooning sigh internalized, and I gladly let him lead me out of Tillie’s Shiny Diner and back to his house.





CHAPTER 24




Kyle


“You had to know I’d find you,” I tell the man who stares at me with terror from where he’s lying on the floor. One eye is already purple and swollen shut. There’s a cut on his left cheekbone that’s bleeding profusely and the area along his jawbone is swollen. My knuckles on my right hand are shredded from the repeated blows I delivered but, unfortunately for him, I’m just getting started.

“Please,” he begs, a bubble of blood forming on his lips. “Not in front of them.”

I shake my head slowly, denying his words as I look down at him. “It has to be in front of them. Otherwise, the lesson won’t be appreciated.”

A strangled sob sounds behind me, but I don’t bother looking. I already know I’d see his wife and son huddled together on the linoleum floor of their kitchen that’s now splattered with his blood.