“What?” he cried as she and Boudica took off. “Come on, Holly.”
He arrived at the booth just in time to hear her order.
Clarke watched as the man placed a burger with melted cheese and two strips of bacon on top of a glazed doughnut that had been sliced in half. He placed the other half of the doughnut on top.
Clarke paid the man and sighed as he handed the burger to Ceci.
How is she going to get her mouth around that thing?
He almost asked but stopped himself, feeling his cheeks heat up.
“Do you need a knife and fork?”
She laughed. “A knife and fork? For a burger?”
“Why is that so funny? I’ve seen people use a knife and fork to eat a burger.”
“I’ll just bet you have. Any time you look in the mirror.”
She opened her mouth and took all of it in. He watched her bite down. Some juice from the burger caught at the corner of her lips, and without thinking he lifted his hand and was about to wipe it away with his finger. He felt a jolt as though his heart and stomach had collided. He pulled back, hastily grabbed some napkins and thrust them at her.
“You have some—” He tapped the corner of his mouth with his finger.
“Thanks,” she said as she wiped it away with the napkin.
“One thing confuses me.”
She laughed. “About the Krispy Kreme burger?”
He nodded. “Yes. I mean, normally with a burger, you’d put ketchup or mustard on it. But with this, I mean, the doughnut … that sounds awful. So what do people put on it?”
She grinned. “Nothing. Like the best things in life, it requires nothing more than itself.” She took another bite.
He chuckled.
Is this what happiness looks like? When she’s happy? Because she looks happy.
He’d never known anyone who put so much energy into life and at the same time got so much out of it. He’d sometimes told himself that it was just an act with her. All the saucy barbs she threw at him, the way she paraded around the paddock and any party or public event. But now, there was no one to witness it but him. It looked real. It felt real. He actually felt a little—is it possible—envious?
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
He started. Had she asked him something?
“Um, I’m sorry, what?”
She held the burger out. “Would you like a bite?”
He shook his head vigorously. “No. Thank you. No.”
Her lip curved. Something sparked in her eyes. He blinked.
“Your lips say no, but your eyes say yes.”
His heart picked up pace. He knew that feeling when he was behind the wheel at the start of a race, but it seemed out of place here.
We’re talking about a damn burger sandwiched between a doughnut for god’s sake.
She brought the burger closer to his lips. “Come on, just a little bite.”
