He sat completely silent, as she feasted. In fact, she was almost starting to think this might work. That maybe he would be fine enough with her behavior to pull it off. And then she took her first bite of something—a thick and incredibly juicy shrimp that she had just unshelled—and that was it, inexplicably.
He reacted.
Just a little, it seemed like.
But a little amounted to a lot, when it happened all over his body, all at once. His shoulders went back a touch; the smug tilt to his lips dropped by about a millimeter; the light in his gaze shifted near imperceptibly. And somehow he seemed to get taller in his seat—as if he’d been slouching before, relaxed before.
But now he wasn’t.
Now he was an animal, bristling at a suddenly sensed threat.
Even though she had no idea what the threat could be. All she had done was bite into something. That wasn’t nearly as bad as splattering crab guts everywhere,objectively speaking. And nor was licking butter from between two fingers, almost absentmindedly.
But if anything, that seemed worse to him.
She actually saw the worddon’tform between his lips the moment she went to do it. His tongue touched his teeth; he sat forward just a touch. And even after he’d reined himself in, something seemed off about him. Fully rattled now. Ready to call this off. All she had to do was push a little harder, it looked like.
Even if he didn’t seem to think so. “See, I’m totally cool with it. No problems here at all,” he said. As if he truly thought he was being as subtle as a sphinx. Though to be fair to him, it was possible it looked that way to everyone else.
Onlyshecould see when a man so stoic was screaming.
And hewasscreaming, now. She tried curling her tongue around another finger, nice and slow and long, and the resulting sound was unmistakable. She didn’t even need to check. She knew what it was. “Your leg is jiggling so hard it’s almost rattling the cutlery,” she said.
And he had the nerve to try a dismissive shrug.
A really shaky, weird, tense dismissive shrug.
“Maybe I just have a cramp. A really bad cramp.”
“That would be more convincing without themaybeat the start.”
“Fine, then, I take themaybeback. Idohave one. A hugely bad one.”
“You’re really going to have to do better than this, and I think you know it.”
He looked away then. Mainly, she thought, so hecould curse under his breath without anyone else seeing. But when he turned back, he didn’t seem any calmer or more reasonable. He seemedpissed. “I do know it, all right, but just give me a chance. Let me get used to this,” he said.
As if she could really do that.
“We don’t have time to ease you in, Miller. Someone most likely just took a picture of you accidentally crushing that empty Diet Coke can into a small cube, in reaction to me sucking butter off my middle finger,” she said.
Because she knew without even looking that this was exactly what had just happened. She’d heard the snap and crackle of aluminum as she slid the tip between her lips, and fully understood. Though, god, it was wild getting the confirmation. To have him hold her gaze like this, and talk like nothing was going on, and react that violently. In fact, he wasstillreacting now.
He couldn’t seem to relax his grip.
Both his fists were clenched so hard she was surprised she couldn’t see blood easing out from between his fingers. And they only clenched harder when she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. In fact, his whole body seemed to.
Yet he had thenerveto deny it.
“That wasn’t why I did it.”
“Then why did you?”
“Seafood allergy makes my hands seize up.”
“Then I guess it must also effect that clenched jaw.”
“No, that’s just the effort it takes not to beg you to—” he started to say, then for some reason cut himself offbefore whathadto be the last word.Stop, she filled in for him.Stop stop stop stop stop.
