“As much as I appreciate you saving my ass,” she said, forcing herself to sound indifferent and mostly succeeding, “you probably should put me down now. People are starting to stare.” She didn’t know if that was true, given that she hadn’t managed to break away from his intense gaze, but it seemed likely.
“Of course,” he murmured, setting her back on her feet like it was nothing, and Chloe almost sighed in disappointment at the loss of his touch.
What is going on with me? Why am I feeling like this?! I don’t need some great hulking asshole to carry me around!
“Let’s take it at a bit more of a sensible pace this time, shall we?” Ethan said, and as much as Chloe bristled at it, she couldn’t really blame him.
“Yeah,” she muttered – before brightening considerably. “Oh, there’s the diner! Let’s go – I could eat an entire bain-marie full of questionable meat offcuts right now.”
“Sounds delightful,” Ethan muttered, apparently having returned to his usual insufferable self.
Regardless of Ethan’s sour disposition, Chloe couldn’t help but think she might have been transported to heaven when she pushed open the diner doors.
Wow! I have to reassess – this place smellswaytoo good to be selling questionable meat offcuts.
It was true, too – perhaps no onereallyknew what went on in the making of a hot dog, but the mouth-watering savory smell in here was too delicious for her to care about trivial matters like that.
The diner seemed empty – Chloe supposed that they had come at a quiet time in the afternoon. The amazing smell was at least a reassurance that the place was open for business.
“Oh, they have onion rings,” she said, pointing up to the menu on a board over the front counter. “And deep-fried pickles!”
“It seems like they have deep-fried pretty much everything.” Ethan was frowning as he studied the menu. “I don’t see anything healthy. Do you think they do an egg white omelet? Or a poached chicken salad?”
Chloe turned to stare at him, raising an eyebrow. “Okay, clearly we have really different expectations of what we’re going to find on a diner menu. I don’t know about you, but whenIcome into a small-town diner, it’s in thehopeof not seeing anything healthy on the menu.”
Ethan was still frowning. “I already had my allotted carbs for the day with breakfast. And anything I eat here is going to skyrocket me into caloric surplus.”
“Wow, you’re really not joking about this, are you,” Chloe murmured, still staring at him. “Don’t you ever just eat – ordo– anything for fun?”
“I don’t really have time for fun,” Ethan said, without a trace of humor. “I work.”
“Wow, what a coincidence, so do I,” Chloe said. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good burger. In fact, I think itentitlesme to a good burger.”
She looked at Ethan as he continued to stare up at the menu, a knot in his forehead, his eyebrows all furrowed up.
Oh, this is just too, too sad,she thought.I have to help him.
“Look,” she said. “Do you trust me?”
Perhaps it wasn’t the question she’d meant to ask, but it was the question that had popped out of her mouth.
Ethan turned to look at her again, his beautiful lips still set in a confused frown. “I’m sorry?”
“Do you trust me?” Chloe repeated. “Okay – maybe don’t answer that. But what I want you to do right now is go sit down at a table and let me handle the ordering. Okay?”
Ethan opened his mouth, closed it again, and then glanced up at the menu.
“But –”
“Nope – no ifs, no buts. Just go sit. Today, you’re going to discover the delights of diner food. You can go back to egg white omelet and tofu beans and lettuce cuttings tomorrow. But today, you have to accept whatever I order for you – call it thanks for helping me out so much with Bella. Oh, and a pre-payment for everything you’re going to explain to me, once you’ve finished holding up my lunch.”
As if to punctuate her sentence, her stomach let out a long, loud groan of hunger.
Ethan hesitated for a moment longer, seeming to be undergoing some kind of internal struggle –Maybe it’s that indigestion again,Chloe thought – before, finally, he nodded.
“All right. But –”
“Nope! Like I said, no ifs, no buts,” Chloe told him, holding up a hand. “Go. Sit.”
