Free The Outlaw Stakes His Claim by Jenika Snow

to place her order, because
this long stretch of silence was starting to get a little awkward, but the
waitress started talking.
    “What can I get you two?” Although the waitress was
addressing both of them now, she still stared at Dallas with this growing smile
on her face. Her ponytail was pulled high on her head, and her bubblegum pink
colored lips were stretched wide over her almost neon white teeth.
    But Dallas was staring at Hope the entire time as he
rattled off his order. When the waitress wasn’t getting the desired effect she
had been going for, she turned and looked at Hope. She ordered the same thing
Dallas had: a burger and fries. The waitress left and then it was just the two
of them. The silence stretched between them, but it wasn’t the uncomfortable
kind. He still wore his sunglasses, but as if she said that aloud he lifted his
big hand and removed them. The bruising had been evident with the glasses on,
but now that they were removed she saw he had a wound under his eye. It was red,
about an inch long length, but already closed. The black and purple coloring
around his eye stood out even against his tanned flesh.
    “God, are you okay?”
    He leaned back in his seat, shrugged, but didn’t
respond.
    “You got into a fight?” That was clear, but she
still phrased it like a question.
    “I’m fine.” Those two words were gruff and glossed
over, and it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it.
    “Okay.” She smiled, hoping to ease this weirdness that
had suddenly sprung up between them, but he just stared at her and showed no
emotion. Hope cleared her throat and glanced down at the table. “Listen, if
this is a bad time we can do it another day, or not at all.” She looked at him
again.
    He ran a hand over the back of his head, but still
stayed quiet.
    It was clear he didn’t want to be here. “You’re the
one that called me, Dallas.”
    He sighed out, leaned forward, and rested his
forearms on the table. “I’m sorry. I’m just in a fucked up mood.” He sure
didn’t mince his words, but his coarseness didn’t bother her. He obviously had
issues, ones that he tried to keep inside. “I’m an asshole.”
    That had her smiling. He leaned back in his seat and
narrowed his eyes, but there was this lift of the corner of his mouth. She gave
him a full blown smile, but this serious expression covered his face right
away.
    “What?” Her smile faded, too.
    “Nothing. You just look really nice smiling. I haven’t seen a genuine smile in a really
long time, not aside from the few members of my crew, that is.” He was quiet as
he watched her. “But your smile is a lot different.” He said those last words so
softly that she knew they were only meant for her to hear, or maybe he hadn’t
meant to say that out loud at all.
    Before she could say anything, if she even would
have, the waitress came back with their food. Hope had never been more thankful
for quick service than she was right then.
    “Did I make you uncomfortable?”
    She glanced up from her plate and looked at him. “Yeah.” She wasn’t about to lie, because no doubt he would
be able to smell it. He was a bear shifter after all.
    He smiled and chuckled softly. “I haven’t laughed in
what feels like a really long time.”
    Without thinking, because she felt his pain as if it
were her own, Hope reached across the table and placed her hand over his.
Instantly she felt him tense, but he didn’t pull his hand away and neither did
she. What Hope did feel was this spark move along her fingers and right up her
arm. They stared into each other’s eyes, and she watched as his pupils started
to dilate and swallow up the light green of his irises. Right in front of her
he started to change, only small, subtle things, but she noticed them
nonetheless. He started breathing faster, had curled the fingers of his other
hand into the table hard enough that his knuckles were white, and she swore she
saw his muscles swell beneath the material