Never Again.

Chapter Thirteen

{Kane's POV}

That was one of the best nights of my life, and all we did was talk. Heck, we even did dishes and wiped down tables. If someone told me their best night was what just happened to me I wouldn't believe them, but its true.

Since a week and a half ago, when I was first in the diner, I can't get her-Dani, out of my head. That's why I went back.

Dani.

What a great name. It suits her. It's short and strong. Just like her. She's shorter than me, but most girls are when you're over six foot. She's probably five and a half feet tall but she's independent. She has a strong will and the odd time she smiles it lights up her whole face. It even adds a twinkle to her eyes.

And what eyes they are. She has brown eyes that seem deep, like she's older than her years, but there's also sadness in them. I wanted to make it go away. I tried getting her to laugh but haven't. Yet. She has a sadness to her, like something is holding her back.

I'm definitely going to make her laugh. No matter how many hours I sit in that diner drinking coffee. Its going to happen. Just seeing her smile makes me relax in a weird way. And she smiled a lot more tonight. She does smile, but tonight it reached her eyes, making her whole face brighter.

Not just her eyes, she has thick dark brown hair that shines when the light hits it. She always has it up, and I wonder what it looks like draped around her shoulders, it's probably a good four-five inches past her shoulders. It looks so smooth, like I could run my hands through it. By the end of her shift, its loosely held by her elastic and little strands fall out, I was tempted so many times tonight to push them behind her ear. But I didn't want to spook her, again.

I was so mad at myself for scaring her. Not just once, three times. Once, I snuck up on her, not even realizing how close I had come, good thing I was on the other side of the counter. And the next time I was so close she turned and walked into me. I went to grab her arms to steady her but she jumped back, which she does. A lot. But I don't blame her, she doesn't know me. The third time I scared her though, was by far the worst.

She was shaking and the look on her face was pure terror. I wanted to run to her and just hold her until she calmed down, but knew she wouldn't take it well. I apologized so many times, but saying it didn't change anything. I think it was the dark that brought it on. She instantly froze when I shut the lights off. She didn't calm down for a good five minutes just standing there, lost in thought.

Other than fear, her face was blank, I've never seen anything like that before. It scared me, but I tried not to show it. I didn't want her to think I would leave. I'd never leave her.

She makes me want to protect her from everything in the world, have her with me all day and never leave her side. Even her personality. I could talk to her for hours and never be sick of her voice, or run out of things to talk to her about. And the way she says my name... most people say it with a gutteral sound, but it comes out smooth as silk off her tongue. I never liked my name, but now I sure as hell do.

She does something to me.

And she keeps me on the ball. Tonight when I made her guess, I was expecting regular jobs like, mechanic, salesman, and stuff. Not landscaper. And certainly not stripper! That caught me off guard and I couldn't help but laugh. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. It felt so good. Then her face lit up so bright! It was like someone flipped a switch, and I couldn't take my smile off my face the rest of the night. 'I'm still grinning like a fool.' She looked incredible.

Beautiful.

My breath had gotten caught in my throat and it took me forever to breath normal again. I'm happy my job is slow in the winter, it means I can see her more often. I thought for sure she would guess construction worker, it's pretty common, although she didn't guess many other common jobs so it shouldn't shock me.