Chapter 2 #2
“You’re impossible,” he says with a growl, lips curling into a wide smile. “I’m going to pick up your pizza. It’s busy tonight, and if you go in, you’ll have a tough time leaving looking like you’ve been making out.”
Touching my bee stung lips, I concede that he may have a point.
“I guess that’s the benefit of having a beard to cover your mouth.” I smirk, watching as he fake scowls at me.
“There’s a lot of other benefits to it, Spitfire. One day, you’ll ride my face and learn all about it,” he says, tapping the window for me to roll it up as he walks away.
Fuck, this man. My jaw is practically unhinged as I put the window up. For a girl who doesn’t smile, I’m doing a lot of it as I stare at the steering wheel. Syrus isn’t too much, he seems to be just what I need.
He’s always helping out in the community, we have kids in our town that we have events for, and his eyes have always found their way to me.
Making sure the heat is turned up, I wait for Syrus to come back out.
Glancing at the time, I realize it’s been at least half an hour, and he called it in.
He shouldn’t be inside the pizza shop still.
Turning off the truck, I open the door and hop out, only to find him hurrying back across the street toward me.
“Hello, Miss Impatient,” he says, his arm sliding around my waist as he holds my pizza. “I’d swear half the town is in there right now. The gossip mill is fierce after a night at the club.”
My lips curl up as I press my hands against his chest, glad it wasn’t more serious than that.
“That’ll be fun later,” I observe, peeking around his body to find people waving at us. “Oh my god.”
My forehead pressed against Syrus’ chest as my shoulders tremble with repressed laughter.
“They’re ridiculous,” I wheeze out, dropping my head back to look up at him.
“Curious at most,” he says, his head dipping down naturally to taste my lips. I don’t know how else to explain it as his tongue licks at the seam of my lips and his teeth nip until I whine. “Fuck.”
Syrus sounds like he wants to cry as he presses his forehead against mine, taking in a gulp of air as he does.
“I’m going to follow you home,” Syrus says, as if he’s convincing me as much as himself.
“Sure,” I reply easily. It looks like a pizza and dealer’s choice of vibrators type of night. Do I wish Syrus would press a little harder? Maybe, but he’s really not the type of person to rush into things.
He’s a slow burning wick. His anger is the exact same way, so I’m going to be in for an interesting ride.
“Back into the truck you go,” he says, swinging the door open wide.
Turning, I climb back in, showing my ass to him as I do so. Settling into my seat, I hide my smile as he bites his fist as he gazes back at me.
“Those pants are sinful, Spitfire,” he says, reaching over me to strap my pizza in with a seat belt. Syrus does the same for me before he closes the door without another word.
“Holy shit,” I rasp out, swallowing hard as the smell of my pizza fills the truck. My stomach cramps hard with hunger to get my ass in gear, and I wait a beat for Syrus to get into his car before I begin the ten minute drive to my house.
The drive flies by, and then I’m hopping out with my pizza, purse, and keys. Syrus rolls down his window as he leans over, watching as I walk.
“You’re going to need snow tires in a month or so,” he observes.
“It always gets so cold here,” I agree. “I feel like I’m never ready for when it snows.”
“I’ll take your car in,” Syrus offers like it’s nothing. I am pretty independent, outside of the Duckie Armageddon from yesterday. Plumbing issues are outside of my ability.
“Sy, I can do it,” I say carefully, shivering in the cold. It doesn’t seem to matter that it’s only forty degrees, the breeze coming down the mountain always feels like it’s cooler.
Our little section of Colorado is wild. We can be warm during the day in September, but then dip into cooler temperatures once the sun sets.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t, Spitfire. I offered to take it off your to-do list,” he says, raising a perfect brow. “Your pizza is going to get cold, and then you’re going to want to kick my ass.”
Well, he’s not wrong.
“Thank you,” I say instead. “Good night, Syrus.”
“Good night. For what it’s worth, I like it when you call me Sy,” he says, ending the conversation by rolling up his window.
My lips can’t seem to stop twitching as my lips purse, and I climb up the stairs to my porch. Lexi lives in the house next door to me, which gives us each just enough space from the other. It also allows her to drop by in the morning to get all the details about Syrus.
This house is part of the abandoned development we found when we ran from Gideon and his people. They were left behind when the money ran out, leaving us a chance to rebuild our lives. Everyone else? They came later.
I love that we’ve managed to stay close despite the bullshit of our past. Unlocking my door, I step inside my house, glancing over my shoulder to see that Syrus is still waiting for me to get inside safely.
Ugh, he really is so good. Raising my hand, I close my door and lock it. Flicking on lights, I pull off my boots and head toward my kitchen to dig into my food, all while my stomach howls wildly.
“Okay, okay.” I groan, deciding against a plate.
Putting the pizza box on the island, I get myself a glass of water before opening the box and pulling out a slice of pizza. It’s perfectly crispy, and the cheese is delicious as I take a large bite.
I think I just died and went to heaven. I make sounds in my half dark kitchen that border on pornographic, unable to be bothered to turn on any more lights. I make it through half the pizza before my stomach stops cramping and decides that I’m full.
“Fuck, that was good.” I moan, putting my leftovers in a container and putting it in the fridge. Polishing off my water, I quickly wash it and leave it in the rack to dry.
I’ll pay for that tomorrow because there will be obvious water spots, but that’s a problem for tomorrow.
Dragging myself upstairs, I drop my bag at my bedside table, pull off my clothes, and shower off the day.
I refuse to wash my hair until tomorrow, and instead fall face first into my bed with just a long sleeved t-shirt on.
I’m crossing my fingers that the nightmares will stay away. I’m fucking exhausted.