Page 21 of Ghost (Iron Thunder MC 4)
What was it they said about a sexy man knowing his way around the kitchen?
“Y…yeah, that sounds good to me. Thank you,” I managed to mumble. But I felt like I was making a complete fool of myself.Ghost sure knew his way around the kitchen. I remained in the background, watching him in silence as he worked on the pasta. The silence around us was deafening. No city noises, no voices…only the sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze and crickets chirping in the night.
There was something sweet about watching him working in the kitchen, knowing where the pots went and fetching plates and glasses for water. It was obvious to me that he had spent many nights such as this alone in this cabin, cooking dinner for himself.
Back at the clubhouse, he had a completely different persona, high up in the MC, keeping his guys in line and Crash under control. And back here in the cabin, he was a man who was delicate with the basil leaves while he spread them over the top of the pasta bowls.
There were waves of conflicting emotions streaming through me. I couldn’t get that kiss out of my mind. The way he pulled me to him, his tongue in my mouth, his hands all over my body…and the stony silence he gave me when I pushed him away.
Would it be too foolish to trust him? I wanted to trust him. I wanted to be able to rely on one person. I was just beginning to realize how lonely I had been, how responsible I’d felt all this while because I was the only person looking after my grandmother. No support. And maybe if I had somebody to…
“You not hungry?” His voice interrupted my thoughts. I snapped out of it, staring at him while he sat at the small kitchen table under a low-hanging yellow light. There were two bowls of greenish pasta on the table and it looked like he had already started eating.
I cleared my throat.
“Yes, I am, thank you,” I muttered as I walked over and sat across from him.
My hair was a mess because of the bike, and I knew it was all tangled and knotted. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t smooth it down. I was still wearing the very skimpy red dress which I couldn’t wait to take off now.
Did I look uncomfortable? Ghost stared at me for a few moments and then I took my first bite.
It was absolutely delicious and I covered my mouth with a hand while I tried not to laugh.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Sorry, I just can’t…this is unbelievable. As in, unbelievably good! I had no idea you could cook like this.”
Ghost continued eating but it seemed like he relaxed a little now. “Sounds like you have a lot of misconceptions about me.”
“Can you blame me?”
He looked up. I was smiling—but he didn’t.
“You’re right. I am not trying to be your friend. I don’t care what you think of me.”
I looked away. Geez. How hard was it going to be to have a regular conversation with this guy? But then again, maybe we weren’t meant to have a conversation at all. Maybe this was all just a business transaction.
“Okay, got it. You don’t care about me. Let’s just eat in peace, I promise I won’t say another word.”
I kept my head down. The last thing I needed was to have an argument with him, especially after the kiss. Now I regretted it. Would it have been so bad if I did kiss him? Maybe we could be having hot romping sex by the creek right now and I wouldn’t have to worry about my future.
“That is not what I said,” he spoke up again.
“Excuse me?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t care about you. I said I don’t care what you think of me. There’s a difference.”
I was confused. What was the point of this? I just stared at him and he put down his fork.
“If I didn’t give a shit about what happened to you, I would have left you at Fifth Gear with the rest of the girls from Teasers. I wouldn’t have brought you back here, out in the open.”
My throat had gone dry. What was he trying to say? That for some reason, he cared for me?
He must have seen the puzzling questions running through my mind because he let out an annoyed grunt.
“I’m trying to say that you are essential to our MC right now. The information you’re giving us is important. Drax and Mary-Beth need your help with Crash. So yeah, I care about what happens to you.”
It sounded like a bit of an excuse. Like he was trying to hurriedly come up with a plausible explanation for why he gave a shit about me. All I could do was stare because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
