A part of me wanted to walk, to enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine, but the other part knew my ribs would never let me. Town was just a little too far away for that still.
So the car was the only real option.
The diner was marginally busy, as it almost always was. It didn’t matter what time of day you went in. When it was the only real sit-down restaurant in town, you had to expect it to be kind of crowded.
It wasn’t until Patrick and I slid into a booth by the front windows, though, that I saw him.
Jass.
Sitting at a table with all his biker brothers in the back against the wall.
His gaze was already on me when I realized he was there.
It was completely cheesy to feel it, let alone let myself acknowledge it, but my heart did a little skip at seeing him there.
Even if the look on his face was less than friendly.
In fact, it looked downright angry actually.
At what?
Me not texting him?
He hadn’t texted me either.
Or because that night he came over, I got to come and he didn’t?
I mean, I was a complete mess.
He wouldn’t hold that against me, would he?
But what other reason was there to be so pissed?
“You okay?” Patrick asked, making my gaze shoot back to him. A little too fast. Making my vision spin for a second. That confusion nonsense was no joke, but the dizzy spells were getting better each day.
“Yeah!” I said, cheery. Maybe even a little too cheery. But Pat worked for my brothers. I couldn’t let him know that I was having any sort of reaction to seeing Jass.
If he was already pissed at me, getting another ass-kicking from my brothers certainly wouldn’t improve anything.
“I am just… soaking up the atmosphere. I feel like I’ve been trapped inside forever. Which is silly, of course. It was only a week. But I’m used to being at work or out shopping or just hanging out, you know?”
Why the hell was I talking so much?
I sounded like an idiot.
Patrick didn’t seem to mind, though, as we hemmed and hawed menu items until he landed on the breakfast special and I, being the correct one in this situation, chose the French toast with a side of breakfast potatoes.
“I’m just going to run and wash my hands before the food gets here,” I told him, trying to tell myself I actually needed to do that, and not just walk past Jass’s table like a lovesick teenager with a crush on the guy she’d never get a chance with.
“Do you need any help?” he asked.
“In the bathroom?” I asked, brows raising.
Which made Pat let out one of his belly laughs again, but this time it sounded a bit uncomfortable at my possible insinuation. “I meant your, you know, sling. Did you want me to help you take that off first?”
“I’ve been managing okay with my one arm,” I told him, giving him a smile. “But thanks. I’ll be right back.”
And with that, I slid out of the booth, pretending I didn’t have ridiculous butterflies fluttering away in my belly as I walked down the aisles and around the bend to make my way to the bathroom.
I made sure I didn’t look at him, but kept him in my peripheral, trying to tell if he was looking at me.
“Well, that was pointless,” I grumbled at my reflection as I made it to the bathroom.
But not ten seconds later, the door was flying open.
And there he was.
Looking even better than I remembered.
And every bit as pissed as he’d seemed when I’d first looked at him across the restaurant.
“Jass—“ I started to say, but he was reaching behind him to lock the door, then charging at me, grabbing the back of my neck like he’d done at the hotel, then crushing his lips to mine.
Hard.
Hungry.
Almost, I don’t know, punishing.
At least, that was what it felt like.
Because while he’d kissed me hard before, it had been in an intense, yet intimate way.
This felt oddly cold and detached.
Even so, though, my damn traitorous body responded almost immediately to the nearness of him, the feel of him.
My body swayed into his as my good arm raised, curling into his shoulder as his teeth snagged my lower lip hard enough to have me hissing in pain.
But he took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside, to claim mine, making the desire pool in my lower belly.
A low moan escaped me, and the sound seemed to break what little control Jass had left.
There wasn’t even a pause before his hand was up my skirt, slipping inside my panties to work my clit, then thrust two fingers inside me.
His mouth swallowed my moan as his fingers started to fuck me.
Fast.
Hard.
Unrelenting.
“No,” I cried when he yanked his hand out of my panties just as the orgasm was going to slam through my system, leaving me feeling a little shaky and a lot disappointed.