ROMANCE: Mr. Mystery: (New Adult Bad Boy Romance) (Contemporary Mystery Short Stories) Read Online Free PDF

surprisingly neat. 
    “So, where do you want pizza from?”  Bianca laughed. 
    “My grandma was born and raised in Italy.  It doesn’t matter to me because you’ll never find a pizza to compare to Grandma’s.” 
    “That’s entirely fair.”  Keith dug through the menus.  “How about the basic pepperoni from a mediocre place?” 
    “That sounds…incredibly acceptable.”  Bianca sat down at the kitchen table. 
    Keith ordered the pizza.  The two made small talk until it arrived, and then set the pizza on the table between them.  They picked at opposite sides of it. 
    “Why are you such a mystery?”  Keith finally asked her.  “Why type of background do you not want me finding out?” 
    He was smiling, but Bianca knew that his words were serious.  He’d been trying to get information out of her, and now he wanted it.  She could not fault that. 
    “Well….”  She said softly.  “Do you really want to know?”  Keith abandoned his food. 
    “Bianca, talk to me.  I look at you and I see this look like you’re hiding from something…from someone.”  Bianca hesitated, and then spoke. 
    “I was in a coma until four months ago.”  Keith hadn’t been expecting that.  He pulled back, looking surprised. 
    “No way.” 
    “Way.”  Bianca rested her elbows on the table, her chin in one hand.  “One night, my friends and I went to the local college basketball game.  It was snowing.  But we’re from New York, that doesn’t keep us in, right?  Anyway, he-his name was Brian-hit ice and the car skidded.  It went off the road, crashed and flipped.  My friends in the front seat were killed.  I survived, but with a head injury no one thought I’d recover from.” 
    Keith was staring at her in amazement.  Bianca wondered if he believed her.  If he didn’t, she’d understand. 
    “That’s amazing.” 
    “It’s not-.” 
    “No, Bianca, really.  You have an amazing survival story.  I don’t know why they aren’t putting you all over the news.” 
    “I’d hate that.”  Bianca shuddered at the very thought of such a thing.  “Anyway, when I woke up from that coma I found out that I was now twenty-one, my father had supposedly killed himself, my older sister vanished, and my mom had shacked up with a guy that she used to be in a band with.” 
    For a moment, she thought that Keith’s jaw was literally going to hit the table.  He just stared at her. 
    “You must be….” 
    “Kidding?  Please, I wish that I was.”  Bianca sighed.  “Sadly, this is entirely true.  This is my dysfunctional life now.  I used to be normal-I swear.” 
    “I think you’re still normal.”  Keith rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.  “How could you not be normal?” 
    “I don’t drink, I don’t drive.”  Bianca pulled her hand from his so that she could shrug.  “I don’t drink because I’m afraid of the risk on my body.  I don’t drive because I’m not allowed to have clearance yet.” 
    “That’s not what makes you normal.”  Keith pulled her hand back to his.  “What makes you normal is that you come out there, and you get up on that stage and sing with us.  You’re amazing, Bianca.  Truly.” 
    She smiled.  No one had called her amazing.  Not in all of this.  People murmured about being a miracle, but Bianca felt overlooked despite the fact that it was her own life. 
    “Thanks.”  She murmured. 
    For a second, the two of them only looked at one another.  Bianca wasn’t entirely certain which one of them moved first, but suddenly they were kissing.  It was her first kiss in years.  She didn’t think she’d been kissed since November of her freshman year at college.
    Things were suddenly getting serious.  She hadn’t done anything like this in so long, and she was a bit out of practice.  Even then, she hadn’t done it much. 
    “Wait,” she whispered as she pulled back. 
    “What?”  Keith stroked her hair.