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“The pictures. I just sent two more.”
“Uh, no ho-hold on. Let me check.”
Fumbling with his phone, Byron checked his texts. He scrolled through the pictures Nine sent him of the cars they narrowed it down to, but still hadn’t decided which they’d be bidding the most on. Hearing Vannah laugh softly under her breath had Byron glancing up at her again. She was reading something on her phone screen covering the huge smile with her hand.
“I don’t know, man.” Byron lied, because he’d barely paid any mind to the texts from Nine. “I like them all too, but the truck is pretty damn sweet.” Since clearly, it was going to be impossible to give Nine his undivided attention while Vannah sat in his kitchen, he cut the call short, lowering his voice. “Listen, I have customers asking to speak with me. I’ll give you a call a little later.”
Taking a deep breath before walking back to the kitchen table, Byron reminded himself not to say anything stupid. He was entitled tonothingwhen it came to this girl. Not even an explanation of who was responsible for her silly smile.
“I think they’re still warm enough.” Vannah motioned to the enchiladas on his plate with her phone. “But you might want to check and see if you need to nuke them.”
“Nah, they should still be good.” He took the seat next to her again, breathing in that familiar scent of her skin and whatever fruity perfume she wore, and dug into the delicious enchilada.
“All good?” she asked motioning to his phone on the table now as she put hers down too.
Glad she asked, he nodded as he finished chewing. “You?” he motioned his chin at her phone. “I saw you taking pictures ofmyenchilada tray.”
He smirked making light of his comment as she smiled big again. “I tease my friends all the time with photos of my latest cooking creations.”
Caught in her eyes for a moment as he struggled from refraining to askwhatfriends. He breathed in deeply instead as he continued to chew. Did she mean her girlfriends? Or any of the dudes he’d seen her with so far. Did she cook for them too—did she also deliver her creations to them—or was Byron special?
“What else do you know about me, Vannah?”
Just like all the times he’d been caught in her eyes from afar, that beautiful smile of hers flattened slowly as she stared at him looking a bit bewildered. Swallowing hard, not even her suddenly flushed again face made him smile this time. The question had slipped out without thought or consent. But it was something he’d been wondering about all weekend. Seeing the way those bright eyes gazed back at him with the same unease she madehimfeel, gave him hope. As young and innocent as Vannah obviously was, was she really that naïve to believe she had any control when it came to matters of the heart?
“I know you’re Beast’s brother,” she said softly.
Nodding without comment, Byron waited for her to go on, but she didn’t. “Is that it?”
“Yes,” she whispered but glanced down at her phone again.
Byron knew that couldn’t be true. The articles online about his and Beast’s mother’s death were endless. He still couldn’t bring himself to google his own name for fear of coming across one of them. But he wouldn’t push. It’s the last thing he wanted to discuss at that moment anyway.
Biting into the enchilada again, he nearly groaned because it wasthatgood. “So, does this mean we’re friends now? Because IknowI’m gonna want more of these in my life.”
And you.
Despite the slight tinge of color in her cheeks, Vannah smiled playfully. “You really wanna be myfriend, Byron? Or will you just be using me for my food?”
Searching her eyes for a moment, Byron bit down on his food a little harder this time, trying desperately to keep his cool.Whatthe fuck was it with this girl anyway? How could such a harmless and lighthearted comment get him so worked up? If this were any other girl, he would’ve already been all over it, showing her all the ways he’d beusingher. But he had an idea of what she meant by friends since she’d been so honest about not doing the boyfriend thing. Seeing the humor in her eyes begin to wane, Byron’s head raced to come up with something to say to cut the undeniable, and no doubt, confusing as shit growing tension.
“Never been into using anyone for any reason.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “But I sure as hell wouldn’t mind having a friend who can cook me up this kind of hellacious grub from time to time.” Smiling even bigger as her eyes brightened again, he added more. “We can barter. Anytime you need work on your car I got you.”
“Well, I can’t pass up that kind of deal.”
The bright smile morphed into that timid almost startled expression he’d seen all those times he’d been caught gawking at her. Only instead of her smile flatlining like they had in those other instances, her expression softened into a sweet, yet still timid smile again. Byron swallowed hard, for the first time since she’d arrived, he was at a loss for words.
She was so beautiful, yet he was certain she didn’t even realize justhowbeautiful. For an instant he was so tempted to kiss her. Until she cleared her throat and finally spoke again.
“I’m, uh . . . hopelessly lost when it comes to anything that lights up on my dash or any weird noises my car makes.” Her eyes dropped from his eyes to his lips momentarily when he licked his aching-for-a-taste-of-her lips. “So, I guess it’s a deal.”
“Deal.” Byron gazed at her trying desperately not to ruin the moment, but his next words just flew out before his dumb ass could stop himself. “Except, I think this makes us more than friends.” As expected, her eyes widened, though Byron could see she tried to suppress her surprise or was that unease? “We’re colleagues now, Vannah. Bartering, remember? Business associates.” He shrugged, glad this seemed to ease her. “That’s more than friends.”
She smiled sweetly again. “I like that.” Her words surprised him given everything she’d said to him on the topic Friday night. “More than friends.”
They were caught in a moment again until she suddenly glanced down at her dinging smartwatch. With her phone in her purse now, Vannah read the screen on her smartwatch instead. “Oh, hold on.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and started tapping away, then stood up. “Yikes, I almost forgot about this guy I was supposed to meet with today.”
Byron stood up just as suddenly now. “You’reshittingme?”
