Chapter 89
When at last they broke apart, the air around them was different Charged. It was unlike it typically was, though. This time. This time it felt safe Warm, even
The walk to Kylan’s car was silent and comfortable, and when she sat on the passenger seat of his Bentley, he pressed a few buttons on the dash and the seat beneath she warmed at once.
He had turned on her seat warmer, and for whatever reason, that solidified how she was already feeling
“Kylan” she paused, watching him fiddle with his radio until he found the song he wanted. Soft, familiar jazz filled the space around she, and she couldn’t help but smile. He was just.. Kylan. A complicated, broken man that she loved. That she wanted to be close to. To know
“Yes, Kate?” Kylan pulled away from the valet after nodding his head in thanks and she eyed his side profile in the moonlight while he drove away
from the hotel.
She squared her shoulders and steeled her resolve to ask the question waiting on the tip of her tongue. “How are you feeling about Intimacy‘ (just mean. If you wanted to. I don’t. Well I don’t have to go home right now. We could.. We could spend time playing chess, or watching a movie, or cooking a late–night snack.” She was rambling, but her jaw felt slack and incapable of closing. She was seared, Vulnerable, even, to be asking something like this
Kylan was quiet for a moment too long, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking in the near darkness. She wondered if she royally f*cked up her hear thundering and her palms sweaty in her lap
Should she give him time to process? Or should she say something elser
“I’m not suggesting we do anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She laughed a broken, nervous laugh, subconsciously tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear and shifting her gaze to stare out at the city instead of his face.
“I feel Fine, with intimacy” Kylan’s words were slow, calculated, and precise. She didn’t dare look at him. “I feel. Fine, if it’s with you.” She heard Kylan move his hand across the center console, his fingers quietly finding the bracelet on her wrist and then resting there. “How do you feel about croissants and tea at one in the morning“”
She smiled at him then, blinking away a few tears that nearly fell from her eyes. “I feel like those are the perfect snack to indulge in at one in the morning.” Her voice was shaking with the sheer amount of emotion that filled her, but she allowed it to peak through, just as she had throughout the night.
“Alright, then,” Kylan took hold of her hand and didn’t let go for the remainder of the car ride.
-0-0-0-
It was nearly two o’clock by the time the croissants were done in the oven, because Rylan was particular with his cooking process. He was clean, meticulously so. He even made Katrina wear an apron and tie back her hair, to which the didn’t protest.
id discard the jacket.
She felt a bit silly, maneuvering around his kitchen in her formal gown. Kylan also stayed in his suit, though he did
She was a hilarious pair while she washed each dish she used to make the croissants and tea. She worked well in tandem with one another, and it made a near permanent smile form on her face.
“I still don’t understand how you can drink tea without any kind of sweetener,” she admitted while she dried the last dish and Kylan stirred either of her cups of tea.
She watched him shake his head and raise his eyebrows at her. “The right tea doesn’t need sweetener, Kate. It only takes away from the natural essence. He eyed the tea in question with an almost holiness and she laughed at him.
“I’ll try it your way, just this once,” she relented, wiping her hands on the cotton fabric of her apron. She joined him at the counter, resting an elbow next to her cup of tea.
Kylan pushed a small plate with a croissant her way. “Raspberry jam is acceptable for your croissant, though.” He gestured to a small jar of jam near ber, and she nodded her head.
“Thank you for your blessing” she teased lum, carefully splinting #part her still steaming croissant, before spreading a bit of the jam around Inside with a butter kiule.
“You should try a drink of your sea before you take a bite of your croissant, or the sweetness from the farm will cloud your tastebuds.” Kylan sounded serious, incredibly so.
Katrina refrained from laughing or taunting him again, and instead picked up her cup of black tea. She took a long drag from it, staring at Rylan all the while. It was bitter, undenably so. However, she could pick up on the subtle hints of malt and caramel, mixed in with the intensely overwhelming tartness. “It’s good,” she managed to say.
Kylan rolled his eyes at her. “You’re a terrible liar, Kate He drunk from his own cup, grasping it the way he always clial.
“Hey now, let me drink and eat in peace.” She blanked at him innocently, taking a bite of her croissant next and nearly groaning “Now this, this is
Chapter
heavenly,” she admitted before taking another bite and relishing in the sweet mixture of the taste of bread and raspberry jam on her tongue.
“Lat your food, Kate, Rylan scoffed at her, though he didn’t actually sound annoyed, and she was certain there was a ghost of a smile along his lips.
As soon as she was done eating and cleaning the remainder of the dishes, the followed kylan into his bedroom. “Would you like to shower before or after me?” he asked her, taking off his watch and opening a drawer of his dresser to place it back in its respective case.
“Oh, um. you can go first.” She felt her face flush warm and opted to look away from him. If she was bold, she might have suggested showering sogether, but he hadn’t brought it up and she wasn’t sure if she should, either.
“I’ll only be a minute.” he paused when he walked by her, leaning down and kissing the top of her head swiftly
She waited on his bed a bit awkwardly said he emerged from his bathroom ten minutes later, a towel secured around his waist. She watched him. disappear into his closet and then step out again with a pair of grey sweats clinging to his hips, and nothing else.
Her throat was dry. Exceptionally so,
“You
can wear these, if you’d like.” Kylan made to hand her a pair of shorts and a long–sleeved shirt and she smiled at him gratefully.
“Thank you. Kylan,” she said quietly. She stood up to go to the bathroom, and then paused when she remembered what she was wearing. “Um, de you mind!” She moved her hair away from her neck to reveal the zipper that sat near the middle of her back
Kylan’s face was blank as he stepped to her, stopping just short of her back and then deftly unzipping her dress enough that she would be able to step out of it without any issue. His fingertips grazed her skin for a brief moment, and then he was moving away from her. “You should go take a shower His voice sounded strained, and it only made her face WATIME.
“Right. Okay, I’ll be back With that, she finally rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
-0-0-0-
Katrina showered her body quickly and then borrowed a dollop of Kylan’s face cleanser to remove her makeup under the stream of warm water She finished up and stepped oun, drying her body and hair alike with the towel Kylan left for her
She was nervous. She could feel her limbs and fingers shaking while she brushed her teeth with a spare toothbrush, her towel wrapped around her
This fels like a deciding moment. A transitional moment. Or perhaps she was only pretending as much
Regardless, her mind recalled the words Kylan spoke in the car.
He was fine with intimacy, as long as it was with her.
What did that mean, exactly?
She couldn’t handle being rejected again. She couldn’t handle it if he walked away from her again.
But she also wanted to connect with him like that.
He washers and she was his, right?
Maybe that meant he was ready for a step like that?
She was ready, only
actually ready this time.
Was it worth trying? Was it worth bringing up at all?
She borrowed Rylan’s coub and packed through the knots in ber hair, staring at her reflection while she worked.
She glanced at her dress that rested against the doorframe on a hook, her mind remembering the root top and Kylan’s sweet words there, too. His words that were for her and only her
He apologized to her father. He asked for his blessing to be with her, even though she was twenty–nine years old.
Those things. They meant everything to her.
He meant everything to her.
She loved him. She was in love with him
She looked at the pile of pajamas she was meant to be changing into, and then she observed herself in the mirror KICE HINE.
Without allowing herself to overthink it too much, she gripped the towel tightly around her and with a hand that was far too unsteady for her liking, she opened the bathroom door and stepped out into Kylan’s bedroom.
. He was sitting on his bed, his laptop opened in front of lam, the glow of the screen reflecting on the lenses of his glosses the had put on after taking
Chapter 24
This shower
It took him only a moment to realize she was out of the bathroom, and then he was staring at her.
Not moving. Not saying anything. Just. Staring
She swallowed and licked her lips, stepping away from the bathroom and stopping in front of the base of Kylan’s bed.
“I need you to tell me if I’m way out of line here. I just… you said. I don’t know.” She was losing steam. that she was actually standing before Kylan in nothing but a towel.
earlier confidence foundering now
It was impossible to read Rylan’s expression. He simply stared at her, and she stared back at him. Neither of them said anything else. She hardly breathed. Her heart was beating in her chest so loudly, she was certain it was actually audible, at this point,
Kylan had been sent for so long; she was growing increasingly uncomfortable. This had been a mistake. A foolish wish she had. She was embarrassed and she wanted nothing more than to leave him and gri dressed like she should have, to begin with.
“Im sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. 17 go get dressed.” She rushed the words out of her mouth, turning away from Kylan, her face warmer than the could ever recall it bring.
“Wait Just Wait.” Kylan voice caused her to stop where she was, her knuckles turning white from the force with which she was clinging onto her towel
She heard movement behind her and she was certain Kylan had left his place on his bed. “You trust me enough to do that again!” He sounded closer than the anticipated, but she didn’t shift around to face him.
“I understand you more than I did last time. I understand why you may need boundaries when it comes to intimacy, in particular. I do trust you. though. I don’t think it would end like the first time, but perhaps my feelings are premature. She stared down at her feet, her damp hair fanning either side of her face and acting as a needed barrier between her and Kylan in that moment.
“I don’t deserve you, Katrina” Kylan’s voice was low. Lower than usual. It sounded as if he stepped closer to her, yet she still didn’t face him. She couldn’t
“You don’t get to tell me what I do and don’t deserve, Kylan.” Her own voice was low enough to match his. “I told you that I’m yours.” She finally turned to look at him as she said the last word. She nearly stumbled backward when she realized he had been standing right behind her
Her eyes searched his face. His eyes searched her face
They were both looking for something. Something unspoken. Something real.
“Mon cœur cappartient. Kate.” Kylan gently, tenderly cupped her face as he gazed into her eyes. His pupils were blown wide, the grey of his eyes all
“My heart is also yours. Rylan, Katrina echoed his sentiment, capping his wrists and holding him firmly in place.
Kylan inhaled a shaky breath of air, his eyes flickering to her lips briefly. “Can I please kiss you, Katrina?” The way he asked… The tone of his voice…. I nearly brought her to her knee
“Please, Kylan” She didn’t care how desperate she probably sounded. She wanted him to kiss her. She needed him to kiss her. She needed him.
Without allowing another second to pass, Kylan closed the last of the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers. A small squeak left her mouth upon impact, but she couldn’t find it within herself to be embarrassed.
She angled her head to deepen the kiss at once, her hands finding purchase in the longer strands of his hair and scaling his face to hers. She ignored his glasses pressing uncomfortably against her while her tongue caressed his lower lip.
Kylan groaned, his hands moving to grab onto her hips rather tightly while he opened his mouth and allowed her tongue to begin a dance with his
He tasted familiar. Warm. Minty. Safe
Her breathing became steadily more ragged, and she was vaguely aware when the towel around her began to untur. Finding the last of her courage she allowed it to fall away from her completely
The kiss changed then as Rylan realized just how prepared she was to accept him like this.
Their mouths moved wildly against each other, her hands gripping his hair and his hands pressing against her hips in such a way that she was sure there would be bruises left behind in the morning.
Kylan pulled back just enough that he could look at her. His own breathing was erratic, his pale cheeks flushed in the low glow of the lamp on his nightstand. “”“Can I nouch you, darling?” His voice was as unsteady as his breathing, and she sluddered.
Darling. There it was again. That name. That nickname. It was something she never anticipated on hearing from someone like kylan, or all people.
She loved it
Trapper no
She loved hum
“Yes, Kelan You can touch me wherever you’d like. She kissed hom then, not able to help herself any longer
Ahe feli Kolan’s hands, close over her backside and a moan bubbled from the pit of her stomach and up into his mouth.
