She offered what looked like a polite smile, hands clasped primly in front of her. Something about her just didn’t fit the burger joint Alex and Ava had insisted we stop at.
Her clothes were a little too nice for a five-dollar meal in a place where the floor tiles were onlyslightlyclean. Then again, I was here with a tech billionaire and his wife of twenty years, who had only recently decided to give their marriage a real shot.
I didn’t have the most conventional friends—maybe this woman was some sort of quirky, off-beat type, too.
The machine finished dispensing, and I pulled the cup from under the dispenser and snapped the lid on before I shoved a straw into it and handed it back.
Another polite smile. Of course. I definitely did not have skills with the ladies.
She took a sip, her eyelashes fluttering as the soda hit her tongue. Her delicate, doll-like lips formed a pout before she glanced at me, her features slightly surprised. “It’s good.”
A chuckle escaped me as I grabbed my drink carrier. “I’m glad you like it.”
I shuffled toward the pick-up counter, and she followed behind me, taking another sip of the soda.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot, wanting to say something witty or smart, but my mind came up empty. Instead, I came up with the stupidest possible line. “So, waiting for your order?”
“Yes,” she answered, her eyes darting to the door. “I ordered something called chicken nuggets. I’m interested to see what they are.”
I screwed up my face for a second. Was she some sort of comedian? I glanced out the window at Alex and Ava sitting at the table outside in the warm sunshine. I wondered if they’d set me up.
Ava always teased me that I’d find the one–a woman who would appreciate me for all my oddities and quirks. “Don’t settle for someone who doesn’t love you for all of you, Doc,” she always told me.
I didn’t believe her. I had some really not-so-nice things in my background. I’d blown into New Orleans intent on destroying my billionaire father who had never even known about me. And that was just the start of the crazy.
My half-sister, Sierra, didn’t call me Crazy Kyle for nothing.
“Oh, uh, well, we just got burgers.”
“We?” She glanced toward either side of me as though I had invented this detail.
I poked a finger outside at the table. “I’m with them.”
“Oh,” she answered with a nod, her eyes lingering on Alex for a moment. I assumed she recognized him as the great Alex Stone–inventor of the Stone Phone.
“Are you here alone?” I asked, immediately regretting my choice of words. Why did I always come across like a stalker in a Lifetime Movie?
“Yes,” she answered. “Alone.”
I saw my chance and took it. “Then…why don’t you join us?”
She glanced at Alex and Ava again, her head cocking. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“No, you wouldn’t be. I’m kind of a third wheel already, so you’d be doing me a favor,” I assured her.
She stared at them for another moment before she set those almost-black eyes on me, then sent my heart spiraling out of control as she nodded. “All right.”
“Great,” I said with a grin that was way too broad. I thrust my hand forward. “I’m Kyle Carter, by the way. Dr. Kyle Carter.”
“Na–Natalie, uh, Burgmont,” she stammered, covering it with a smile as she stared down at my hand for a second before she touched it lightly. “You can call me Nattie.”
The woman working behind the counter dumped two bags on the counter, glancing up at us with an unimpressed stare. “Sixteen and seventeen.”
I raised my hand like a complete moron. “That’s me…us…I’m number seventeen.”
“Oh, umm…” Nattie said, her brows pinching.
“Yes, it’s you, princess,” the woman said. “Chicken nuggets andpotato sticks.”
