Chapter 59
When they walked back to the car a while later, Katrina fell light and airy, filled with hot chocolate and the last remnants of the warm fire She talked about their trip to Ireland as Kylan drove her home, reminding him to make sure he had the correct wall plug adapter
pairs of socks
and several extra
n was. She kn
knew he was always quietly thankful for her
She ignored the way he would sigh at her reminders, knowing that was just how Kylan was efficiency when it came to traveling.
He pulled up to her curb and walked her inside, holding hands as she rode the elevator up to her floor She stopped in front of her door, shifting to look at him after she removed her key from her lock. His cheeks were still rosy, his hair slightly disheveled from the amount of snow that had laced it throughout the afternoon. He with that same softness in his eyes that she had seen a few times that day.
was staring at her
She was overwhelmed with the desire to hug him, and she decided to say damn it, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face there.
“Thank you for today, Kylan,” she whispered into his skin, inhaling the familiar scents of pine, soap and Rylan Kylan stiffened
momentarily and then wrapped his arms around her waist, sighing and pulling her close to him. That same electricity that always crept in when they were close like this, slithered its way into the moment, e She pulled back slightly, her breathing a bit ragged. She noticed that Kylan mirrored her almost exactly, his eyes roaming her face.
engulfing it entirely and all at once.
She wanted to kiss him. She really did. But there was no reason to. She wasn’t really in public, after all.
Along with that, the lines had been blurred so many y times before and she wasn’t sure where they ended or began more often than not Kylan seemed to be more confused about things like that than she was, and it was frustrating. Frustrating and unfair, of being honest in her heart and mind.
r, if she allowed herself the grace
So, when Kylan gripped the side of her face gently and angled to press his lips to hers, her breath caught in her throat and her hand pushed against his chest, his mouth mere centimeters from her own
She wanted to kiss him, but this didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel safe, not right now. And she realized that she needed that. She really needed that “No, Kylan,” she breathed, moving her lips away from him.
Immediately, he released her and stepped away so quickly, she nearly lost her balance. His face was a mixture of emotion for a fleeting before his usual mask was expertly maneuvered in place.
No one is around. Where’s the need to kiss right now?”
second
She knew the way she asked him was phrased as more of a challenge, than anything. But maybe she wanted to address the proverbal elephant in the room. Maybe she wanted him to know that she wasn’t okay with how things were. With how back and forth he was. With how he hurt her more than he had any right to, back in that hotel room in Maine.
Katrina watched Kylan swallow, his face a fraction more ghostly than its usual pallor. “I don’t. I don’t know, Katrina. Forgive me.” he mumbled to her, turning to leave like he always did when shit got even a fraction too real.
“You do know, Kylan. You don’t have to say it, but don’t act like you don’t know.” She turned the knob on her door and then paused. “And keep your money, for once. She didn’t look at him, pushing her door open and then stepping inside.
-0-0-0-
The next few days were a whirlwind in preparation for their trip to Ireland. Kylan didn’t listen to her, of course. He had sent her three–thousand dollars after her date, but she hadn’t yet transferred a dime of it to her bank
She agonized over packing the night before she was set to leave, all while Aaron and Maine both lounged on her bed, a glass of wine propped in either of their hands.
“Do you have condoms?” Aaron asked far too nonchalantly.
She dropped the curling iron she had been holding, wincing when it hit her bedroom floor. “For heaven’s sake, Aaron. Just because you and Maine are rabbits, doesn’t mean we all are.” She was flustered and she knew it, her nerves about sharing another hotel room and bed, in their actual honeymoon as a married couple in papers, returning in full force.
“Right. But I know you have the hots for Kylan, sweetheart. It’s painfully obvious by now. You were miserable during the month he barely talked to you, and now that he took you on another date, you’re as giddy as a schoolgirl,” Aaron mused with a sly grin that made her want to shove hun off her bed.
Chapter 59
She rolled her eyes, her phone chiming with yet another Litter notification. Between the picture she posted a few days ago, and the rather charming article Nishel had just released, their relationship and Kylan specifically, were more popular than ever.
also boosts the sales of their products and the hype up of the Nightfall launching which, in Katrina’s mind, is the purpose of everything they did. She ignored her phone and bent down to gather up her curling iron. “I do not have the hots for my boss. He himself is just well. Um Hot She ignored their obnoxiously raised eyebrows, disappearing into her closet for a few more pairs of underwear
“You’re hopeless, Kate, Just admit it. Maine chimed in from next to Aaron.
She sighed, tossing her underwear into her suitcase to organize later. “Back off, both of you or I swear to God I’ll put laxatives in your coffee every day for a week.”
They both merely laughed at her, and she couldn’t help but smile at them, knowing her threat was all but a farce.
She pushed thoughts of Kylan from her mind, though he never truly vacated the space entirely, and focused her attention on packing.
-0-0-0-
“Three bags of candy, Oscar?” she giggled at her driver, buckling her seat belt after climbing inside his SUV.
Oscar closed the trunk after securing her luggage in place. He sat behind the steering wheel and smiled at her. “It’s a long plane ride. Kate,” he commented with a smile.
She sighed and shook her head. Thank you, Oscar. She paused. “Are you doing alright? I’ve been meaning to ask you ever since Kylan mentioned you went to the doctor a bit ago.” She plopped a sour orange into her mouth while Oscar joined the flow of traffic to pick up Kylan
Oscar was quiet for a beat too long. Tm fine. It’s nothing to worry about. They’re just running a few tests on my thyroid, is all he finally responded with his voice an octave lower than normal.
Her chewing stopped “What sort of tests?” she pressed, her stomach feeling sour, but not because of the candy.
“It’s nothing, Kate. I want you to focus on having a good trip. I especially want you to promise me that you’re not going to let Kylan treat you poorly, while you’re gone. Oscar was obviously attempting to shift the focus from himself, and it only made her worry more.
“Oscar, please take care of yourself, okay?” her voice quivered with unchecked emotion that she made no attempt to mask.
Tm fine, dear one. Fine. Okay?” Oscar insisted, looking at her in the rearview mirror
She swallowed the sandpaper in her throat and nodded at him. “O–okay, Oscar,” she breathed nervously.
She was quiet the rest of the drive, her mind filled with worry, but her heart wanted to believe him.
-0-0-0-
“Katrina, stop fidgeting and fucking look at me, Kylan hissed from next to her.
This was a big plane, far bigger than a normal plane that flew only domestically. This was an international behemoth of a floating tube.
And though her first–class seating was also bigger and far more lavish than on her flight to Maine, she was no less on edge. If anything, she felt more suffocated. More closed in and closed off from the rest of the world.
She groaned, licking her now dry lips. “I’m sorry, Sir. Kylan. Sir. What the hell do I call you right now?” she was rambling, and she knew it.
“Call me whatever y sweary and clammy.
you want, just hold
hand and relax.” Kylan reached for her hand, and she slipped hers in his, not caring at all that hers was
Instantly, she relaxed a line bit. She allowed herself to feel the ridges of his palm, the flexing of his fingers, the angles of his well–manicured nails In turn, she felt Kylan tracing her own skin, his thumb brushing over the back of her hand
She turned her head and stared at him, and he stared at her.
1 to him.
“Ireland, yeah?” she whispered to
“Ireland, Kylan repeated just as quietly,
“Okay, then.” She closed her eyes, still grasping Kylan’s hand and willing her stomach to stop the onslaught of nerves it was insisting on exploding throughout her system.
She felt the plane push back for takeoff, and she focused on her breathing
One week alone in Ireland with her boss. The boss she was attracted to
Her boss the most definitely, pathetically, honestly harbored very real, very complicated feelings for. Feelings she didn’t know where to begin to unravel or silt through
What the hell could go wrong this time?
