Page 82 of Bone’s Choice

He pulled the door shut behind him and headed down the steps.

Jeans. Black T-shirt. Boots. No cut tonight.

His hair looked like he’d run his hands through it, and the setting sun caught the tattoos running down his arms.

He reached the bottom step, then turned his head toward me.

He stopped.

I stopped, not that I’d been moving.

I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I was wearing about six inches of denim and a tank top that had never been intended for public viewing.

It was a house shirt. An I’m not seeing anybody tonight shirt. Apparently the universe hadn’t gotten the memo.

His gaze came back to my face.

This was ridiculous.

We’d talked plenty. Flirted. Spent ten minutes alone behind Bing’s Friday night practically daring each other to do something. Yet somehow seeing him standing in Pink’s yard while I sat on my porch half-dressed had apparently robbed both of us of our ability to speak.

I broke first. “Can I get that ride tonight?” The second the words left my mouth, I wanted to grab them out of the air.

What the hell? That had sounded a lot more eager than I’d intended.

Bone’s mouth slowly curved. Not a smile.

That damn smirk.

The one that immediately made me remember standing against the brick wall behind Bing’s. His eyes dipped over me again. “Tonight?”

I lifted one shoulder. “You said sometime.”

“I did.”

“And I’m not doing anything.”

Bone looked toward his motorcycle parked in Pink’s driveway. For one stupid second, I thought he was going to say yes.

I was already imagining going inside to put on actual pants, then his eyes came back to me. “Gonna have to take a raincheck.”

Oh. “Okay.”

“I’ve got plans tonight.”

“Sure.” I took another drink. Why did my face suddenly feel approximately eight thousand degrees? It shouldn’t have been embarrassing.

It felt like I’d raised my hand and announced to the entire state of Wisconsin that I wanted to spend time with Bone and he’d responded with a polite, no thanks.

Wonderful.

“Working tomorrow?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“What time?”

“Until close.”