“Cyrus, what’s wrong?”
He waved a hand in front of him. “Nothing.”
Cyrus slid into the booth, his features returning to their nonchalant expression he often wore. But I wasn’t ready to let it die.
“It didn’t look like nothing.” That was definitely something. Had he gotten bad news?
But Cyrus ignored me completely as his eyes darted around at the different plates of food. “Did you order for me?” he asked, his gaze stopping on a big juicy burger atop a pile of fries.
It was second up on my “to eat” list, but the way he stared longingly at the plate, I quickly realized I’d order another.
“Yeah. I sure did.”
“The burger is mine?” he asked for clarification.
No, it most definitely wasn’t his, but I’d share. “Yup. I picked up a few things to taste test. We can always order more.” About seven thousand dollars more.
At least six plates of food were strewn about the table, but if he commented when I ordered desserts, we were going to have problems.
I’d share a little of my things, but not the waffles and most certainly not the chocolate cake I saw on the menu before placing my order.
Cyrus took his first bite of the burger and my tongue snuck out and licked my top lip. I didn’t eat a ton of red meat under normal circumstances, but post-kidnapping was most definitely not normal occasion. Plus, that burger had Swiss cheese and mushrooms piled on top. Cyrus squeezed the bun and cheese oozed off the side.
It looked so good.
I cut into my waffles and shoved a bite in my mouth, moaning around the sweet taste. Fine, I’d let him have the burger, but he was not getting my waffles. Even if he was possibly the hottest guy I’d ever talked to. Only a stupid person ignored the fact I found myself attracted the Cyrus, but not maple syrup covered waffle attracted.
He looked up at me as I chewed, and then his gaze fell to the waffles. I slipped the plate closer to my side of the table, just to stop him from getting any ideas. He was not waffle pretty. Even Chris Evans wasn’t post-kidnapping waffle pretty.
We ate in silence for a few moments, and my stomach gurgled with the addition of food. When it felt like I need to take a slight break before I continued, I slathered a piece of waffle in the pooled syrup and then asked my question before popping the piece into my mouth.
“What happens now?”
Cyrus sucked in a deep breath and then squirted half the bottle of ketchup right on top of his fries. His hand zigzagged over the pile of them, decorating them in the red stuff.
I smiled as I watched him. There was no way he could eat the free fries and not get ketchup all over his fingers, but the action was cute. Even though I hadn’t known Cyrus for long, I could tell it was totally a Cyrus thing to do.
“We’ll talk to Ridge when he gets here. I’m sure he’ll have a plan.”
“Who is this Ridge?” Cyrus talked about him like he was the second coming of Jesus, but he never explained why we had to put our faith in the man.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re not from Pelican Bay,” he said, almost as if he’d forgotten the fact. I suppose I couldn’t blame him. We’d both been through a lot. “Ridge is a former Navy SEAL. He opened a security firm in Pelican Bay, and he provides security and other life-saving operations when needed. Blah, blah, blah. This kind of thing is his specialty.”
Kidnapping was a person’s specialty? What were the blah, blah, blah parts?
Ridge sounded expensive. “But I’m a no one. I can’t pay him.” Why would he come all the way to Georgia to help me? And why did they need his specialty in Maine?
Would he even help me once he got here and saw I was a regular nurse from North Carolina? I couldn’t pay whatever amount he charged. At least not in with anything more than the fifty-seven dollars I had in my checking account.
I finished the last bite of my waffles and let my stomach rest before I went for course two. A side salad waited at the far end of the table, but this was not the time for leafy greens. Instead, I reached for a bucket of cheesy chili fries and swapped it out with my plate of breakfast food.
Cyrus was still eating his fries. He picked at them with precision, finding one not covered in ketchup.
“Maybe when Ridge gets here, you can drop me off of the bus station,” I said, hoping Cyrus wouldn’t make a big deal about it.
His head shot up and his eyes widened.
There went my no big deal thing.
