Unbound (Crimson Romance) by Nikkie Locke Read Free Book Online Page B

earth had he ever resisted her? Right there, in the back of her parents’ diner, he kissed her slowly and thoroughly. As he nibbled at her lower lip, she whimpered.
    The sound of that whimper ringing in his head, he seriously considered backing her out the door and taking her to his house for the day. Fuck work. She’d look so much better sprawled across his bed. Or his couch. Or the truck seat if they didn’t make it that far.
    “Doug! It’s breakfast time. Where’s Patty?”
    “I hate that man,” he muttered.
    Sliding out of his arms, she laughed before kissing him on the cheek and bouncing out of the kitchen with her order pad. Her laughter sounded almost as good to him as her whimper.
    • • •
    The morning passed quickly for Payten. The Sunday rush came and went like usual, leaving the diner almost empty. It was her first break since she had started that morning, and she was hungry.
    She did one last check to make sure her customers were doing all right, and then she headed back to the kitchen. She found Dean sitting on one of the freezers drinking a cup of coffee. She smiled at him when he looked up.
    “Comfy seat?”
    “It’s not bad.”
    She laughed. “Well, I won’t interrupt you, then.”
    She moved around him to a refrigerator. She pulled out the milk and the orange juice. She turned around and set them on the counter. Opening a cabinet above the counter, she pulled out a box of pancake mix and set it on the counter next to the milk.
    “Making pancakes?”
    “Nope. Just dragging everything out.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.
    “Smart ass.”
    He stood up and scooted her out of his way. He set his coffee on the counter. “I’ll cook those for you.”
    “I can do it.”
    He shrugged. “All right. I thought maybe you’d like to sit down for a minute, but if not, that’s all right, too.”
    She moved out of his way and hopped up onto the freezer. “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    He poured a glass of orange juice and handed it to her.
    “I think we should go on a date,” Dean announced.
    She bobbled her glass, almost dropping it. When she had set the glass down on the freezer beside her without spilling it, she looked up at him. He mixed pancake batter at the counter. She stared at the back of his head.
    “Excuse me?”
    “A date. A movie or dinner. Or both. Something like that.”
    “Why?”
    He flipped the whisk he had been stirring with into the sink. Picking up the bowl, he turned to look at her.
    “Why do I think we should go on a date? Or why would we go have dinner?”
    She stared at him. He moved to the grill and poured six perfectly round ginormous pancakes. On his way back, he grabbed the milk and juice off the counter. He walked past her to put the bowl in the sink and the milk and juice in the refrigerator.
    “I meant — Well, I have no idea what I meant.”
    “Does that mean you want to go?” He put the pancake mix back in the cabinet as he talked, then turned to look at her for her answer.
    “Yes.”
    “Yes?”
    She smiled. “Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.”
    “Good.” He went to the grill, flipped the pancakes, and came back to stand in front of her. “What would you like to do?”
    “I haven’t been to the city in forever. I don’t even know what there is to do. You pick.”
    “Why would we go to the city?”
    “Why wouldn’t we?”
    “If that’s what you want to do, that works for me,” he told her.
    “I don’t really want to go to the city, but I thought that you would.”
    He frowned. “Why would I want to go to the city?”
    “You’re going to burn the pancakes,” she warned him.
    “No, I won’t,” he answered, turning to grab two plates. He set them on the counter beside the grill. “How many do you want?”
    “Just two.”
    He slid two onto her plate and the rest onto his. He grabbed two forks from a drawer under the counter and took the plates to the freezer. He set them down beside