7. Kirin
Kirin
When Rose pulled up to Rita’s, the blinking sign of the twenty-four-hour diner felt like a siren’s call.
Kirin basked in it for a moment, ignoring the constant buzzing of his phone in his pocket in favor of the smell of grease and pancake batter, when the driver’s door opened.
She was out and walking toward the entrance before he could get his seat belt off.
He slid his phone out and switched it to “Do Not Disturb” for his own sanity as he chased her down.
Obviously, she was serious about her food, and he liked that.
Kirin caught up with her just inside the doors.
This quieter side of town was his favorite part of Kismet.
Rita’s sat just shy of the border between Kismet and Silver Tree, the latter being the sleepy town a lot of the faculty called home.
And, per usual, when he walked into the diner, the girl behind the counter sat up a little straighter.
Whether that was because she recognized him or because there was someone coming through the door around midnight, he wasn’t sure.
The place was almost empty. He bet they had been slammed earlier.
Rita’s was a time-tested tradition for Montgomery football and was packed after every game.
That extended into spring with the baseball team doing the same and was probably the only reason the mid-century style diner was still in business.
He nodded to the girl behind the counter.
She followed them as they split left, matching them step for step down the length of the bar.
When the waitress got to the break, she grabbed a couple of menus while he and Rose took the booth farthest from the register and door.
Rose once again took the side with a wall directly behind her, just like she had at St. James Sweets.
He tried not to read into it.
“Welcome to Rita’s Diner. Can I get you anything to drink?” the girl said as Kirin slid into the booth and looked up at the smiling face pointed directly at him as she placed the menus on the table.
A quick glance at Rose revealed she was already flipping through the sticky menu, muttering to herself about whether it was okay to have a triple chocolate malt and a plate of fries so early in her season.
He tried to keep the smirk off his face when he caught a quick, “I fuckin’ deserve it though,” but his lips twitched and he knew he failed, so instead he looked up into the face of their waitress again, snagging on her name tag.
“We’ll take a plate of fries—extra crispy, a double cheeseburger with cheese on both patties, and a large chocolate malt with two straws.” When Rose’s head snapped up, he smiled at their waitress and finished with, “Thank you, Casey.”
He saw Rose’s nod of approval just beyond the menu she was hiding behind before she lowered it, setting it beside his on the table for Casey to sweep away as she nodded and walked back to the kitchen to put their order in.
“So, I don’t think that went as planned,” Rose said, leaning back in the booth. “How should we play this?”
“I think that went better than expected, though Laurel going after you like that…” He frowned, but Rose waved him off, looking past his shoulder to the other side of the diner.
Curiosity tugged at the edges of his mind as he watched her actively dissociate, her eyes going vacant for a moment until he moved and put himself back in her line of sight, hoping it would remove the emptiness from her amber eyes.
“We have successfully drummed up interest in our relationship, and if we post a few pics of us eating together and being cute, then I’d say we are right on track. ”
He grinned as she blinked at him. Her mouth opened a little, like she wasn’t sure what to say. “Speak up, Flower.”
“Flower? Wanna explain that?”
“It’s called a pet name. Couples use them as a term of endearment and a way of showing affection.” He leaned across the table, resting on his crossed arms as her face dropped into a blank, disinterested expression. “Maybe you’re unfamiliar?”
Had her ex called her something? Probably “babe” or something generic, something he wouldn’t have to remember.
What he knew of Preston Goodwin wasn’t anything to be jealous about.
He got around; he used his parents’ money to get his way.
Kirin hadn’t ever thought he’d be jealous of the guy, but the thought of him touching Rose…
That was enough to make anyone jealous. The way she’d stiffened at the mention of him had his curiosity piqued, too.
“Hilarious. I meant, why that instead of something generic?”
“Because it’s fitting and makes me happy and it matches one of the first thoughts I had about you when you told me your name was Rose,” he reasoned, and she blushed, clearing her throat as she grabbed the salt and pepper shakers.
“And even if I used something generic, it’s going to apply to you and only you.
I won’t be using pet names with anyone else because there won’t be anyone else. ”
His heart hammered a little harder when she fumbled a bit, her eyes lifting fast enough to betray her surprise before she looked away again.
Clearly, she didn’t think he was being serious when he said they’d be exclusive during the project.
Casey came back with the malt a few seconds later, two bent straws sticking out of the pile of whipped cream with two cherries.
She slid it between them, and when her gaze lingered on him, he reached across the table to close a hand around Rose’s still-fumbling fingers.
He forced his fingers through hers and rubbed his thumb over her thin gold rings.
Touching her was calming, and it had his bones buzzing all the same.
Was there going to be a point during this semester that he could control his body’s reaction to her?
She was beautiful, but he had met and been with plenty of beautiful women.
None of them made him want to track them down across campus.
But then, Rose had been completely uninterested in him when they met, which wasn’t at all the reaction he usually got.
Maybe he could blame his immediate interest on that.
He’d thought she didn’t know who he was.
Being anonymous at Montgomery was a foreign concept for him.
But now he knew it was despite who he was, which was so much more fascinating.
He smiled at Casey with a thank you for a brief second before returning his attention to Rose, whose gaze was on their still entwined hands.
She challenged him, and it made him want to know more about her, about how she thought and saw the world.
She’d started with superficial questions, but she noticed his avoidance with Laurel and called him out on it.
It was like she saw the persona he presented to the world and disregarded it.
She’d pushed deeper, and he loved it. He wanted her to know him, to see him, and that was scary but enticing.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” Casey asked, making him jolt a bit, which had Rose jumping too. They both turned their attention to her, but Casey’s focus was on their entwined hands instead of his face.
“No, we’re fine.” Rose’s eyes dropped as if she were glancing at the name tag. “Thank you, Casey.”
Casey threw a look at Rose and walked away, but not before glancing at their hands once more. A frown pulled down her features. Rose smiled adoringly at Kirin, and when Casey looked away, she crossed her eyes.
“Good Lord, Callaghan, you’d think you were a stud around here or something,” she joked as she pulled her hand back. She tried the straw, nerves gone as she shook her head. “I need a nickname for you. Do you have one?”
He didn’t like not touching her, and he liked even less that he didn’t like it.
“Pet names and nicknames are different,” he muttered as he pulled his phone out and slipped around the table to sit beside her, pointing it toward them. “Pretend to be happy.”
“Most people say ‘smile,’” she grumbled when he pressed his cheek against hers and smiled into his phone, waiting for her to smile too before he clicked a few photos.
Her smile was beautiful. It was categorically unfair.
But when she dipped her finger into the whipped cream and tapped it to his nose, he was still clicking photos.
He’d get her back later, but he got a few more when she turned and pressed a kiss to his cheek, and the wrinkle in her nose was so damn cute he almost missed the photo.
“You think that’s enough for now?” she asked as she sat back. Casey appeared again, this time with their burger and a plate of fries. “Thank you, Casey.”
He slipped back to the other side of the booth, then smiled at their waitress just before she turned away, sliding his thumb across the screen as he flipped through the photos. He hovered over the one where her nose wrinkled and his heartbeat sped up. “These are good. Should help set the stage.”
“So do you have a nickname or what?” Rose asked around a few fries, and when he winced, she chuckled, so he took a bite of the burger to avoid answering. “It’s bad, huh? You’ve gotta tell me now.”
He hesitated another second as he swallowed his bite. “My siblings used to call me ‘kiwi’ before they said my name properly, I’ve been called Cal before…” She blinked lazily at him. “And during my freshman and sophomore years my teammates called me Father Callaghan.”
Predictably, that perked her up, and he swallowed his own smile as she asked, “Wanna explain that one, Father Callaghan?”
“The belief is that I slept around enough during my freshman year to father an entire class of future Montgomery University students.” He rolled his eyes. It was truly a ridiculous notion.
There were plenty of other guys who slept around more than he did.
Leon got around, but he also kept a pretty tight leash on his own exploits and drilled it into the team to do the same.
Distractions during the season were not an option.
Loose and fun is the way to go if you aren’t going to lock it down with one person.
Half of the basketball and baseball teams slept around more than he did, but he also knew there were plenty of rumors about his skill in the bedroom, which contributed to the choice in name.
He could only hope Rose hadn’t heard those.
“The belief is,” she trailed off and raised an eyebrow, “meaning you are not worthy of the title?”
“I’ve slept around plenty, especially during my freshman year, but I have rules now. Either way, it certainly wasn’t enough to father an entire class of students, not even a hypothetical elementary school class, given I have never gone bare with anyone.” His head and voice lowered, “Ever.”
“Mmm, right.” She nodded, an exaggerated movement that made his eyes narrow.
It might be a bad idea to ask, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “What?”
“There’s a second reason,” she snorted, and his stomach dropped out of his body when she took a bite out of the other side of the burger. Kirin covered by stealing some fries off the plate. “By the accounts I’ve heard, it’s because girls call you daddy.”
He nearly choked on his fries, making his denial less than convincing. “Nobody calls me daddy.”
She tilted her head, pursed her lips, and shrugged. “Well, they say they scream it, but I’ll bet none of your teammates want to call you that.”
“It’s not—” He cleared his throat. “Nobody has ever called me that.”
“Oh, how wrong you are, Daddy,” Rose said with a saccharine smile and a wink. The way she said it shot down his spine and had arousal heating his blood; it cooled minimally as Casey, bless her, almost dropped the check.
“Um, uh, here’s your check?” Casey’s hand fluttered.
“Thank you so much, Casey.” He gave her a grateful smile as he took the shaking receipt, and she blushed, turning on her heel as the door opened and he could hear another couple come in giggling.
“Not funny,” he muttered when Casey was gone.
“I’m adding it to my phone. It’s official,” she said as she pulled her phone out.
“Please don’t.” His weak protest didn’t make a difference as she scrolled down the screen, glee on full display. He watched her again, entranced by the chaos that this woman was.
“Too late.” She showed him her phone. Below his name and a photo of his grimacing face she’d somehow taken when he hadn’t realized was Kirin “Daddy” Callaghan.
Despite himself, he laughed, which lit Rose’s eyes up even more.
She slipped her phone into her back pocket and took a long drink from their melting malt, smiling at him.