Painfully Ordinary Special Edition by Stephanie Amox Read Free Book Online Page A

squealed. “Quit! Caiti, you are going to make me mess
up my makeup.”

Chapter
5
    Bonfires,
Brimstone and Secrets
     
     
    The entire ride to the restaurant, Jace joked around with
us. I kept stealing looks at Talon, who was awfully quiet and serious as he
drove, and I wished I knew what he was thinking. I glanced back at Leah and subtly
leaned my head toward Talon. She shrugged her shoulders. I loved being able to
communicate with her without having to say anything.
    As we pulled into the parking lot, Talon reached over and
squeezed my hand. Leah and I slid out of the car door to the pavement. It was
definitely easier getting out of the Jeep than it was getting into it. We wandered
through the shopping strip, past one of our favorite stores.
    Suddenly, Leah grabbed my hand. “Oh my God, Caiti, look ! Isn’t that the dress you were
describing to me the other night?”
    I twisted back over my shoulder to look at where she was
pointing and inhaled quickly. “Yes, that is exactly what I had pictured in my
mind.”
    We talked about going back to Hawaii all the time. We had spent
our entire summer vacation in Wailea, Maui, and it had been totally amazing. I
had created a dress in my mind that was similar to the maxi dresses that were
so popular, but I wanted it to have a racer back instead of a halter. There it was–the dress I thought I had made up in my head, right in
the window of our favorite shop.
    Talon was now standing directly behind us. “Which one?” he
asked.
    Leah pointed at the dress in the window.
    “What color?”
    “Not black,” Leah said, and I clicked my tongue.
    Okay, so I wore a lot of black… it was slimming.
    “She looks so pretty in blues and greens,” Leah said. Soon
they had their heads together, talking away, and with the way my luck was going,
they were probably planning out the rest of my life.
    Jace was leaning against a pillar, not even trying to hide
his amusement and he laughed so hard he snorted. I threw him a look I hoped
would pass for a desperate plea for help, and fortunately, his snorting must
have snapped him back to his senses and he came to my rescue.
    He walked over with his hands grabbing at his stomach. “I’m
staaaarving. When do we get to eat?”
    I stifled my humor and tried to look concerned. Talon and
Leah turned around; looking so guilty, I couldn’t maintain my serious look.
    Talon winked at him. “Okay, Jace. We certainly don’t want
to cause you any undue pain.”
    Leah grabbed Jace’s hand and dragged him into the
restaurant, his chestnut hair flowing out behind him. I cast a glance over my
shoulder; Talon wore such an intense expression on his face. I was momentarily breathless as he took several steps forward,
took my hand and gently raised it to his lips.
    Wow. It was the kind of stuff I had always
read in Mom’s old historical romance novels, but never in my wildest
dreams did I think I would live it.
    Unfortunately, my experience with the male gender was
limited to my time with Ryan and a few others who were nearly as bad, so gallantry
wasn’t something I had come to expect. I was always waiting for Talon’s “dark
side” to show up. At least, that’s how I had tried to explain it to Leah.
    She just shook her head, sighed and reminded me I couldn’t compare everyone to Ryan.
    Easy for her to say – but he was my only real basis for
comparison. She was always trying to convince me happy endings were possible in
real life. However, it was really easy to lose sight
of that at times. I blinked away my thoughts and realized Talon was still
holding my hand, patiently waiting for me to come out of my daydream.
    “Hungry?”
    “Um, sure.” I said.
    I wish he didn’t make me so self-conscious. How was I going
to eat in front of him? It would be just my luck to spill something all over my
beautiful, new shirt.
    We followed the hostess and slid into the booth. One thing
I really enjoyed about this restaurant was they almost always had a hockey game on