He thought about that switch. Flipping it could lead to bad things. It had led to bad things.
His heart wasn’t just pounding faster. It was pounding harder. He could hear it ringing in his ears.
Don’t be a tool. It’s just a burger. Just a…Fucking. Burger.
That burger was close. Real close. Dangerously close. He felt his lips part. She grinned and placed the burger up against them.
“You’ll have to open wider.”
He did and bit down.
Damn.
That is good.
Real good.
Really, really, really good, he thought, staring back at her as he chewed.
She smiled. “Good, right?”
He nodded as he chewed.
Two whimpers broke the spell. He looked down at the drooling Boudica and the pleading eyes of Holly. He’d brought along dog treats, but that was like offering them cardboard in the face of this kind of dog nirvana.
He turned to the guy behind the booth. “Could I get just a burger, just a plain burger with nothing on it? I’ll pay the regular price.” He paused. “And while you’re at it, another one with the doughnut.”
“The Krispy Kreme burger?”
He nodded but kept his head turned away when he heard her laugh.
He tore the plain burger in half for Holly and was about to give Boudica the other half when he paused, looking over at Ceci. “Is it okay?”
“Sure.”
When the man offered Clarke the second burger, he held it out to her. She grinned, shaking her head. “No, thank you.”
After he finished it, he ordered another.
Ceci laughed, her eyes wide in disbelief. “You surprise me, Sir Stick.”
He looked down at the burger in his hand.
That’s why I didn’t want to take the first bite to begin with. This is the problem with giving in to temptation.
Flipping that switch on could lead to things he would regret much more than eating a second Krispy Kreme burger.
He thought of Naomi and Niles.
Regret is too small a word.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
What must his face have looked like for her to ask that?
Don’t go there.
This day was turning out to be all right, maybe even better than all right, especially given how much he’d dreaded it. He thought maybe it was going all right for her too.
