response from her, even if it was nothing but anger.
“Yes, you do. Everyone does at one time or another.”
Ally bristled. She hadn’t known this man even twenty-four hours and he thought he “knew” what she was thinking?
“Listen, Mr. Kirby, you don’t know me, so how can you sit there and pretend you know my behavior patterns?”
The flush on her face had gone straight to her cheeks. They were fiery with anger, matching the glitter in her eyes. East leaned back in his chair, satisfied with what he’d done. She didn’t know it yet, but she would thank him one day for putting her mind on something besides the hell that had driven her here.
“You gonna eat that?” he asked, pointing to the leftover food on her plate.
Prepared for another stinging rebuttal, his question took her off guard. “Umm…I, uh…don’t suppose.”
“Good,” he said, and pulled the plate in front of him, then picked up the waffle like a piece of toast and took a hearty bite. As he chewed, his eyebrows arched in surprised appreciation. Then he swallowed. “Not bad,” he said. “Not bad, at all,” and opened his mouth again.
Suddenly, Ally regained her sense of self and snatched the waffle out of his hands just in time to save it from another bite.
“I changed my mind,” she said. “You eat what you ordered and I’ll eat mine.”
Ally stared down at her plate and the chaos he’d made of the waffle. Sighing, she reached for her fork when she heard him clear his throat. She looked up, glaring at the smug expression on his face. Damn him. There’s nothing wrong with being a little bit fussy about one’s food.
“What?” she asked.
He shrugged, as if to say he didn’t know what she was asking.
“That’s what I thought,” she snapped. As she began trimming off the uneven spot he’d bitten into, she heard him chuckle.
“Just because I don’t want to share my food, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with me,” she muttered.
East’s grin stilled. He leaned forward. “Ally.”
“What?” she mumbled, refusing to look up.
“I was just teasing you. There isn’t a damn thing wrong with you, do you hear me?”
She paused, letting an old pain resettle itself around the region of her heart. Then, just to prove she was as outrageous as the next, she set her jaw and cut a reckless swath through the chilling waffle, slashing off a diamond-shaped bite, rather than her usual, perfect square. Then she gave him a “take that” look and stuffed the bite into her mouth just as their waiter appeared with East’s breakfast.
East hid a grin as the waiter set down his food. Moments later, he dug into his scrambled eggs and bacon. As he ate, he couldn’t help thinking they’d never tasted so good and wondered if it was the waffle appetizer that had piqued his appetite, or the company he was in. Either way, for a day that had started off so chaotically, it was turning into something very interesting.
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