Dark Secrets (Dark Secrets #1)(47)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“I—”

“I’m a gentleman, Ara. Get used to it.” He closed the door on my retort and appeared suddenly in the seat next to me.

“How do you move so quick?”

“I don’t. You just faze out all the time.”

David pulled into an angled space outside the buzzing corner café and shut the engine off. “Welcome to the best burger joint in town.”

Beyond the flashing pink and blue signs on the windows, the generation gap seemed to be left behind; kids sat on chrome-rimmed stools by the milk-bar, singing Elvis songs loud enough to hear from here, while others gathered around the white billiard tables on the lower level. Even the staff, in their flaring poodle skirts and sneakers, seemed to have jumped right off the Grease film set. “David?”

“Yeah.”

As I looked back at him, he smiled softly, comfortably, as if he’d not taken his eyes off me the whole time. “I’m sorry about the whole independence thing. I think it’s really sweet that you’re a gentleman.”

He nodded, taking my hand delicately. “I know.”

“You do?”

“Yes. I can see right through your girl power act, young lady.”

“Oh, really.” I leaned back in the chair, my eyes employing a defiant glare. “And what exactly do you see, Mr Know-It-All?”

“I see…” He leaned forward, luring me into his private little world. “I see a young girl who just wants to be loved by a man worthy of her.”

Several retorts came to mind, none of them sassy and creative like I wished. I went with “Aw, how romantic,” squeezing my fists tightly to stop from launching myself into his arms.

“Come. Let’s get some food.” He turned slowly and hopped out, closing the door quietly behind him, then appeared by my door, offering his hand.

As my fingers touched his, blood rushed up with a quick skip of my heart, and I drew my hand back. “Wow, you are really cold tonight.”

“Yeah. I know.” He looked at his hand, rubbing his thumb over his fingertips. “They get cold when I drive.”

“Mine get cold when I do homework.”

“Maybe you should avoid it then.”

“Maybe I like cold hands,” I said, walking beside him, and when he smiled down at me, I caught sight of his fangs.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“I was just thinking.” I braved rejection and reached for his hand again; he let me take it. “With those pointy canines and cold hands—you could pass as a vampire.”

His sudden boisterous laughter made me smile. “Better watch out then; we are on a dinner date, after all.”

“Hm,” I said. “Guess I better order garlic then—or maybe a steak.”

“A steak?”

“Yeah, you know…?” I prompted, stabbing my heart with an invisible stick. “As in…a stake?”

David shook his head, but a warm smile sparkled in his eyes as he opened the café door and the nineteen-fifties time warp enveloped us.

“I would guess, by the look on your face, that you like it,” he said.

“It’s great. Crowded, though.”

“When you taste the food you’ll see why.”

My stomach groaned.

“Ah, I see the very mention of sustenance has awakened the ogre.” David grinned at my belly.

“Stop laughing,” I said, covering it.

“Make me.”

“I can, you know.” I looked up at him. “I’m tougher than I look.”

He pinched my bony wrist between two fingers and held it up. “Yeah. So much muscle.”

“Shut up.” I laughed, punching him softly in the arm.

“Ouch.” He rubbed it. “That really hurt.”

“Really?”

“No.” He smirked, offering a seat nearby. “I was just trying to be nice.”

I slid into the booth, shaking my head, and David shuffled in beside me, coming closer each time I moved over to give him more space. It wasn’t until my shoulder and arm pressed against the cold glass that I realised it wasn’t more space he wanted, but less between us. I looked into my lap, smiling to myself. “Have you…” I cleared the nerves from my throat. “Have you seen the others yet?”

“By the pool table.” He tilted his head in their direction, without taking his eyes off me.

“Hm. Didn’t even see them when we walked in.” I leaned around him and watched Emily and Alana—covering their mouths, giggling at Ryan. “Are they checking out his butt every time he takes a shot?”

David nodded, smiling.

“Do you think we should go say hello?” I asked.

“No, they’ll come over when they finish. For now—” he shrugged, “—I kinda like this.”

So did I. In fact, I kinda hoped they didn’t notice us at all.

The corner of David’s mouth twitched, breaking his face into a grin.

“What? Why are you smiling?”

“No reason,” he said.

I turned my face away, feeling heat rise up in my cheeks. Sometimes it felt like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Why do you do that?” He cupped my chin, turning my head.

“Do what?”

“You turn your face away when you blush,” he said delicately. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“It’s sweet.”

My breath fluttered as our eyes locked together for an awkward moment. Well, awkward for me—he seemed perfectly at ease. “You know, you have an irritating quirk, yourself.”

“I do?” he said.

“Yes.”

“And what might that be?”

“That!” I pointed to that smile—the one evident only by the two dimples above the corners of his lips, while his gaze drifted downward. “It’s like you…I don’t know, it’s like you have a secret or a joke, and it’s a good one, but you don’t want to share it.”

“Oh.” He nodded, hiding the smallest hint of humour. “I guess I do, maybe do that—a lot.”

I nodded.

“You’re very observant, Ara-Rose.”

“So, what is it? Why do you do it?”

“I just spend too much time in my own head, that’s all.”

“Like me?”

“Yeah, except…it gets pretty boring up here, so I find ways to amuse myself.” The bright smile dropped instantly and his lost words hung in the air as I folded my arms and stole his smile for my own.