Page 31 of Declan

“Not hungry,” Gideon answered.

“Okay.” Kyler opened his door. “Be right back.”

He got out of the car without another word and jogged to the diner’s entrance.

Gideon watched after him. “I like that kid.”

Yeah, I did, too.

“He’s all right,” I said with a shrug, downplaying my feelings.

Gideon looked at me in the rearview mirror. I could tell he wanted to say something. He didn’t, though, and returned his gaze to the diner.

When I’d told him the plan for the day, he’d been inquisitive but not pushy. I got the feeling he wasn’t fooled by my, “he’s just a guy I met. No one special,” response. He didn’t ask about the men I sometimes brought back to the hotel anymore, but he wasn’t stupid.

Kyler appeared about fifteen minutes later, carrying a to-go bag and a carrier with three drinks. Back in the car, he handed a drink to Gideon before giving me mine.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Gideon said, observing the large cup.

“I know I didn’t,” Kyler responded. “But even if you weren’t hungry, it’s kind of warm today and I thought you might be thirsty. I hope Pepsi is okay.”

Funny, handsome,andconsiderate? He was too much.

“Thank you,” Gideon said as his expression softened.

“I didn’t mean for you to have to go in and buy our food,” I told Kyler. “We could’ve gone somewhere else.”

“No problem at all,” he said, flashing a wide grin. He had the best smile I’d ever seen.

Those freckles are to die for.

He hadn’t hesitated before getting out and ordering our food. What surprised me most was he didn’t act like it was a big deal, either, and had kind of shrugged it off. He did it because he’d wanted to; not because he expected anything in return.

That said a lot about his character.

“I know the perfect spot we can go to eat,” he added before giving Gideon an address.

As Kyler returned his gaze to me, I had difficulty swallowing.

Looks like I’m the nervous one now.

Kyler touched me in ways I couldn’t explain. Maybe it was his genuine kindness or his easy-going personality. Maybe it was the spark in his gray eyes as he grinned at me before reaching into the bag and tossing a fry into his mouth.

Whatever it was…I needed more. Needed to know more about him.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted something so much. It was like I’d been sleeping for years and had finally woken up.

***

“You’re so full of shit,” Kyler said, gently shoving my arm. “That did not happen.”

“It did!” I chuckled and wiped my salty fingers on the napkin. “The first time I showed up to set, they thought I was the craft service guy and I had to make a coffee run for the crew. Wanting to make a good impression on them since I was still new in the business, I totally did it, too. Then later, the director bitched at me for being late. And I was all,‘Well, the line at Starbucks was really long.’The whole crew laughed.”

Much like Kyler was laughing now.

I listened to the musical tone of his laugh, finding very little things in life that compared to it.

We sat on a hill that overlooked the lake. Kyler said he and his friends came up there often in the summer and jumped off the bluff into the water. Damn adrenaline junkies. Since the water was still a little too chilly to swim in, no one else was around. The privacy was nice.