I sighed, long and deep. Sky smiled in response. He was so bloody cute and he knew it.
“One hug then you’ll stop bothering me and go home?”
“Promise, this is a flying visit.”
I grunted as I leaned forward and gave the little terror a hug. I called him little but he wasn’t, he was five ten or eleven which meant I had to get on my tiptoes to give him a good squeeze. His hands instantly when to my lower back but he knew better than to let them slip any lower. I wasn’t opposed to knocking some sense, and manners, into him and he knew it.
“Now.” I grinned when we separated. “Get on home.”
Sky winked as he jokingly brushed his knuckles over my jaw then turned and walked out of the diner. I shook my head as I watched the kid go. When I turned, my eyes automatically moved to Risk’s and I wasn’t surprised to find him watching me. His gaze was so intense, I found I couldn’t keep eye contact. I was glad that Joe called my booth’s order. Deena was back on the floor and she helped me bring over the plates of food. When everyone had their food, I slid back beside Risk and instantly picked up my burger and took a big bite out of it. No one said a word until I swallowed my food.
“Who’s the kid?”
“Sky?” I answered Angel. “He’s just a lad who pops in every so often, he thinks he fancies me.”
“You don’t think he likes you?” Hayes quizzed as he popped a chip into his mouth. “He seemed to be liking you just fine with his hands that low on your back.”
I laughed it off.
“He’s just a little boy,” I said. “No harm, no foul.”
We chatted about mundane things for the rest of our meal, which took us more than an hour to eat because we’d stop and laugh at something someone said. We spoke about the guys’ upcoming Wembley shows, the new album and world tour they just announced and we spoke about their interview that they had done earlier in the day in London.
Everyone was too full for any dessert, but when May strolled into the diner with Anna ahead of him, I tried not to make it obvious that I knew exactly what they had been doing. Deena said something as Anna passed her by which caused Anna’s face to glow bright red. May came up to our booth and both Angel and Hayes slotted to the right when Risk made no attempt to move so May could sit next to me.
“I’m starving.”
I wasn’t sure why, but those words being the first ones he spoke after having a quickie – if an hour and ten minutes was considered quick – didn’t surprise me in the slightest.
“I’ll go and get an order pad—”
“Annie’s got it covered.”
“Anna.” I corrected. “Her name is Anna.”
“Is it?” he blinked. “Shit, I called her Annie the whole time.”
The men laughed, I didn’t because I thought it wasn’t a very nice thing to do. Risk seemed to pick up on this because he changed the subject. It was winding down to closing time and I was exhausted. Normally, when I wasn’t working until closing, I came home from visiting Mum around nine and then I went right to bed. It was going on quarter to eleven and I was ready to fall asleep sitting up.
Anna brought May his food in a bag. He stood up to thank her with a full-on kiss right in the middle of the diner. I didn’t know where to look so I settled on looking at my empty plate. I jumped when I felt a hot breath next to my ear.
“You’re so fucking cute,” Risk said. “I hope you know that.”
He thought I was cute? I felt terribly embarrassed, not bloody cute.
I said goodbye to Anna, Deena and Joe and left the diner with the guys. I screamed with fright when a flash went off to my right. It was so bright that it startled me. I tripped over my own two feet and fell back, but arms caught me. There were half a dozen people suddenly around us, cameras flashing and voices talking loudly over one another. I could barely see. I didn’t know what was going on. I was scared.
“Risk, how’s Nora?” a male voice hollered. “Does she know you’re on a date with another woman?”
“Who’s your lady friend, May?” a woman shouted. “We saw you had some car-rocking fun a while ago.”
“Fuck’s sake,” I heard May grumble as we all walked forward. “Can you move? We’re trying to leave?”
I latched onto the arm that hooked around my waist.
“Back the fuck up, bitch!” Risk snapped at a woman who was shoving her camera in my face. “Get the fuck away from her!”