Dream Chaser (Dream Team #2) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,44
they were going, even if he felt her gaze on him.
“Dig your outfit,” he told the hall.
“Thanks,” she said softly.
Her tone made him glance down at her.
She was looking at her feet but lifting a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
Ryn, shy?
“Hey,” he called.
She tipped her eyes up to him.
And her next came even softer.
“Never had a guy tell me he liked my outfit before.”
He stopped dead.
Jesus, who were the losers she’d been spending time with?
She stopped with him and turned his way.
“You know you’re gorgeous,” he declared.
She had to, what she did for a living and how well she did financially doing it, even if she did give most of it away.
“I’m not hard on the eyes.”
“Kathryn, you’re a lot more than that. And you got style.” He grinned at her. “The fake fur is pushing it. You still work it.”
She leaned into him, just her upper body, putting her hand to his chest and tipping her head far back.
Now he wanted to kiss her.
“Have I told you I like you today?” she asked.
Now he really wanted to kiss her.
“No,” he answered.
“I like you, Boone. A lot.”
Fuck it, he was going to kiss her.
He did that, folding her deep in his arms, bumping her with the bags, and he didn’t care.
She didn’t either.
They went at it, but when they got a hoot and a catcall, he lifted his head.
But he kept his arms around her.
She had hers under his, hooked up his shoulder blades, her fingers in his shoulders.
“Brother’s for sandwiches?” he asked.
She nodded.
They pulled apart, and he adjusted the bags so he had a free hand. This meant he could hold hers as he walked her to the Charger. And he did.
He got her in before he stowed the bags and angled in himself, started the car and headed them to My Brother’s Bar.
Along the drive, she told him what a revue at Smithie’s meant and he then understood Daisy’s presence in that scenario, seeing as she used to be the headliner at Smithie’s, and it was his understanding she still mentored the girls on occasion.
He was also all for this revue.
He was all for anything where Ryn didn’t have to strip, and especially didn’t have to do lap dances.
She might bare it all, but that’d be her choice and at her design.
So yeah, he was all for that.
They were at Brother’s, she’d ordered a Ticky Turkey, he’d ordered a Ralphie Burger, they were going to share onion rings but start with a hot pretzel with jalapeño cream cheese.
He had a beer in front of him, Ryn had a cider, and he was about to broach the Cisco thing.
He didn’t get there.
Because she got there first.
“Can I…this afternoon…” She drew in a breath. “Do you have a free afternoon?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “All yours, sweetheart.”
“Okay. I wanna show you something.”
“All right.”
“So we’ll do that after lunch. Cool?”
He nodded but he did it watching her closely.
With her girls, she seemed good.
Singing David Cassidy to him, she looked confident.
Now she seemed unsure of herself, which he’d never noticed from her, except last night after they decided to give this a go.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“Corinne being dead,” she answered.
Shit.
How had he forgotten that?
“Baby,” he murmured.
“I mean, it’s so weird to think she was alive just twenty-four hours ago and she probably had no idea. And a few days before, I saw her. I got mad at her. And it was safe to be mad because she’s young and vital, and you know, there was time to get over it. She was in her big, beautiful house. And she’d played me. But I liked her. She was good people.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty for being mad at her, babe. She did play you and that wasn’t cool.”
“I know.” She flipped out a hand then took up her cider and downed a sip. She put it back to the table and aimed those blue eyes at him. “I just can’t stop thinking about it. She and her husband loved each other a lot, Boone. The way they looked at each other. I mean, people don’t get it, the alternative lifestyle. But what I saw were two people who, against some pretty crazy odds, found the exact right person for them.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I honestly don’t know what he’s going to do.”
Boone knew what the guy was going to do.
“Grieve, then hopefully get on with his life and find some happy, even though he’ll never stop missing her.”