Solid Steel (Unseen Enemy Book 6) Read Online Free Page B

chef?”
    “It was good.”
    “Aw, c’mon. Feed my ego just a bit, huh?”
    Despite herself, she almost grinned back. “It needs feeding?”
    “Sometimes. We men are fragile creatures, you know.”
    “OK, then… that was the best huevos rancheros I’ve ever had that was cooked by a non-Mexican person who was not a member of my immediate family.”
    He paused. “Those were some serious qualifications on a statement.”
    “Yeah.”
    “So your Mom does it better, I guess?”
    Right away, she closed up again. “She did. When she was alive.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Why? You didn’t know her.”
    “No. But I know you, so I’m sorry for you. For your loss.”
    She stared up at him, trying to not see the kindness in those astonishing blue eyes. She kicked the defensiveness up a few notches, motivated by sheer emotional survival.
    “You don’t know me, Luke. We met less than an hour ago.”
    Seeing his opening, Luke plunged right on through.
    “Well, I’d like to get to know you. What do you say we go for a drink this weekend?”
    Selena blinked, totally stunned. “A – a drink?”
    “Uh-huh. And not here, yeah? I mean someplace nice. Maybe with a wine list and a menu that doesn’t specialize in spicy chicken wings?”
    Still shocked beyond the ability to speak, Selena stared at him some more. Was this gorgeous man actually asking her on a date? He seemed to be, and he seemed to mean it.
    He was standing there all rangy muscles and dark hair and flashing eyes and cocky smile, relaxed and sexy-as-hell in jeans and a t-shirt. That dark stubble on his cheeks and his cuts and bruises made him look dangerous, hard, bad-ass, but his lips were generous and sensual.
    Luke was all charm and good humor, but he had a steadiness to him, too, a calm centre, a core of strength. He was the perfect mix of tough and tender, and she yearned to feel both kinds of touch on her body, on her lips.
    Her eyes dropped to the stump at the end of his left arm and she marveled – yet again – that Luke’s missing hand was just about the last thing that she noticed about him. His confidence, his warmth, his fucking amazing good looks were all she saw.
    For a few seconds, she was so, so tempted. Not to sleep with him, obviously, because no way she was taking her shirt off in front of Luke, no matter how badly she wanted him to take off his . No, she wanted to just be around him. Talk to him, bask in that amazing glow, relax and tease him and laugh. She actually thought that Luke Rhodes could make her feel beautiful… quite possibly he was the only man in her life right now who could do that.
    And just like that, she slammed the door on those traitorous, treacherous thoughts. She wasn’t a beautiful woman; hell, she wasn’t even a whole woman. Besides, a man like Luke undoubtedly had his pick of women and from what Selena knew about Dangerous Curves, he definitely had female customers throwing themselves at him constantly. No way the guy was a Boy Scout, no way he’d turn down the spread legs on offer every single shift he worked here.
    No, Luke was a beautiful, tempting, flashing-red danger sign. And danger had to be avoided.
    “Sorry.” Selena busted out her scary voice, the one that she used when holding a gun to some asshole’s head as she talked him down from whatever stupid thing he was thinking of doing. It seemed to have no effect on Luke at all, which pissed her off pretty majorly. “I can’t. I work overnight on Friday and you’re going to the game on Saturday.”
    “So next weekend?”
    “Nope.”
    “You busy?”
    “Nope.”
    “You’re going to make me work for a date with you, huh?”
    Selena narrowed her eyes at him. “Let’s get this straight between us, yeah? I don’t play hard-to-get. In fact, I don’t play games at all. They’re bullshit and they waste time and they’re no fun for me, anyway. I’m saying no because I mean no . I don’t want to date you, Luke, and I’m sorry if you can’t handle