The Heart That's Meant to Love You

Chapter 21: Unexpected

Naomi closed her eyes, praying that she hadn't just encountered the person she thought she had encountered. No such luck. Upon opening her eyes again, she caught sight of his reflection in the window in front of her.

Her stomach did a nervous flip that Naomi barely recognized. Not the kind of nerves that she had before a speech or while meeting a connection that could change her future. These were nerves she could only attribute to Kieran Colburn's presence. A response from something deep inside of her to the call of something deep inside of him.

In the time it took her to close her eyes and open them again, Kieran had made himself comfortable on the stool next to Naomi. No way she could get out of acknowledging him now.

Naomi took a furtive survey of his pile of snacks. "Snowballs and Cheetos?" What kind of weird combination was that?

"They're Flamin' Hots." Kieran popped open a bag of Cheetos. "And don't knock it til you've tried it. It's gotta be better than your instant noodles."

Naomi had, briefly, forgotten about Kieran's keen observation skills. Of course he would have noticed the cardboard ramen bowl nestled inside her arms. And he had dissed it.

With a sigh, Naomi snagged her fork, twirled a mouthful of noodles around it, and lifted it to her lips. She didn't need to explain to Kieran Colburn about this. She could ignore him, easily.

Except Kieran had never been one to be ignored.

"You aren't going to defend your choice of snacks?" Kieran asked, stuffing half a snowball in his mouth.

Naomi arched her brows, speared another bite, and held it up in offering. Her wicked side knew that Kieran wouldn't be able to resist the opportunity to flirt. A correct assumption.

Kieran grinned, leaned closer until his face sat mere inches from Naomi's, and finally turned his head to grab the noodles with his teeth.

He choked almost immediately.

Naomi pushed his face away and turned back to her food. Served him right.

The sputtering continued through a full water bottle and a Snowball. Finally, Kieran managed to speak through the tears in his eyes. "Good gravy, kid, what kind of monster hybrid soup are you eating?"

Naomi tapped the side of the bowl. "Black ramen." She pointed her fork at his face. "And I'm not a kid."

"Trust me, I'm aware." Kieran grinned at her.

Naomi rolled her eyes. He had created his own opportunity to flirt and she had fallen into the trap. Time to change the subject, or they were going to end up arguing again.

"Why Snowballs and Cheetos?"

"Why black ramen?"

Naomi heard the pure curiosity in his voice. Normally, she didn't talk about herself. At all. Other people didn't care about Naomi Rowe. They cared about the image she represented. Kieran Colburn, for reasons unbeknownst to Naomi, seemed genuinely interested.

The dike holding back all Naomi's personal opinions and problems sprung the tiniest leak.

"Spicy food relieves stress." Naomi took another bite of noodles, hoping she hadn't made a major mistake in letting Kieran see a part of her true self.

Kieran tipped his head, popped another Cheeto into his mouth. "You must be super stressed out if that's the level of spicy you went for."

Unknowingly, Kieran had hit the nail on the head. Naomi chose her spiciness level based on how stressed out she felt. If she could still handle the stress, a milder spice would suffice. She chose black label ramen because she could no longer handle the stress.