“Okay, enough with the mushiness.”
Her face turns serious. “You need to make things right with her. Tonight. And then you need to keep her by your side. Forever. Understand?”
Our food comes and saves me from replying to that, but as the three of us eat I can’t help but flick my eyes to Kayla. It’s easy to keep someone by your side when you’re handcuffed to them, but asking someone to be with you—hoping without any guarantee—that sounds hard as hell.
Awkward conversation carries us through the meal and when we’re through, we say good-bye to Amber and head back to the parking lot where Ellen parked. My eyes catch on the painted wall of the courtyard, taking me back to the feeling of Kayla in my arms as I pressed her up against that wall and kissed her hungrily. That painted wall was the last thing I saw before Kayla Turner changed me completely.
I walked into Latecomers that night with all my baggage and blues, and walked out with a racing heart and a chest filled with hope.
“Thanks for walking me out, guys. Are you guys sure I can’t drop you off anywhere else?” Ellen asks, pulling her keys from her purse. “I know Amber said she can give you ride, Daren, but it’s really no problem for me to take you.”
“No, you go,” I say with a smile. “I’m good. Thanks, though.”
Kayla smiles. “Thank you so much for dinner. And for the ride.”
“Of course.” Ellen smiles and says to Kayla, “And I’m serious about my offer. The job and room are yours if you want them. You have my number, right?”
“I do.” Kayla nods.
Ellen inhales. “I really hope you say yes and I get to spend more time with you.” She wraps her arms around Kayla in a hug.
I watch them as my mind spins. Ellen offered Kayla a job and a place to stay? That would mean Kayla would stay in Arizona and live at the inn, where I work, and I would see her all the time.
“And you.” Ellen turns to me. “I’ll see you at eight a.m. sharp on Monday. Bring your kitchen face. I’m going to try my hardest to talk you into being my new cook.”
I grin. “Yes, ma’am.” The idea of working as a cook at the inn makes me feel alive. And if I could live there for free too… well, I can’t imagine a better scenario for my life. I glance at Kayla.
Well, maybe one better scenario.
With a quick wave, Ellen gets in her truck and drives off, leaving Kayla and me standing in the parking lot. Alone.
Awkward silence.
More silence.
Now super awkward silence.
“So…” I say, swallowing.
“Yeah…” She looks around. “Okay, well. I need to get going. Later.” She turns and starts to walk to where the tow truck left her car. My chest grows tight.
“Kayla,” I say.
She stops and turns around.
“Will you…” I clear my throat. “Would you maybe like to stay at my place tonight? You know, so you don’t have to pay for a room?”
She takes a breath. “Oh. Uh… nah. I’m okay. Thanks.”
The rejection is expected and I almost let her get away with it. But then I think about Kayla sleeping in the porn bedroom alone and I easily swallow my pride.
I take a step toward her and blurt out, “What I meant to say, was that I really hate the idea of you sleeping in that shithole for even one minute and I’d feel much better if you stayed at my place with me even though it’s sort of its own kind of shithole because at least then I’ll know you’re safe and I realize I have no right to care about where you sleep but I can’t help myself and I know you probably hate my guts right now but I swear I’ll sleep outside in the dirt or something if it will make you feel better and you’ll agree to sleep at my place.” I suck in a breath at the end of my crazy rambling and then hold that breath as I wait for her response.
Kayla searches my face and her features soften. I don’t know what she sees in my eyes, but I sure as hell hope it’s the regret I feel about the other day and the desperation I feel about her now. My stomach knots together with every beat that passes until a slow smile lifts the corners of her mouth.
“Well, how can I say no to another chance to sleep on your virgin mattress?” Her eyes dance and my heart leaps—it fucking leaps.
Because I need this girl. Tonight. Tomorrow. Always. And I have no idea how to make that happen, but her not hating my guts is a good place to start.
“It is rather cozy,” I say with an embarrassing amount of glee.
“It really is.” She nods.
I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I didn’t mean a single word. I’m an asshole and you are more than welcome to smack me.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry. I was mean. I don’t know what my deal was. I just freaked out and thought you just wanted to get away from me—”
“What?”
She looks up at me from under her long eyelashes and lifts a shoulder. “You were stuck with me.”
I pull her close and tip her chin up so I can see more fully into her big blue eyes. “Being stuck with you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And the moment we took those handcuffs off I felt like I was missing something.” I cup her face and quietly say, “I want to be stuck with you.”
She leans in and brings her mouth close to mine, softly saying, “I want to be stuck with you too.”
I smile against her lips. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
She smiles back. “You better.”
Tilting her face in my hands, I press my lips against hers and hold her mouth to mine as she parts her lips and lets my tongue inside the sweet flesh of her mouth. Her tongue dances with mine, sliding into my mouth. I trail my hands over her shoulders and down her back, clutching her hips to mine. She runs her hand to the back of my head, tugging at my hair as her mouth asks for more. As I deepen our kiss, my erection rubs against her belly and she arches her back, pushing her large soft breasts into my chest.
In between kisses, Kayla breathlessly says, “Maybe we should go… back to your place…”
“You mean… you don’t want me… to take you against the wall… right here in public?”
She smiles against my mouth again. “Nope… I want you to take me… to your bed…”
My body lights with excitement. “As you wish… milady.” I reluctantly pull away from her as we head to her car.
I open the passenger door and climb inside as she gets in.
“Wow,” I say. “That was so much easier without handcuffs on.” She laughs as I look around. “No center console to climb over. No accidental honking. No banging my limbs into the dashboard… I’m not going to lie. I kind of feel like a badass right now.”
She puts her seatbelt on. “You’re a nerd.”
I hold up my unchained hands. “Yes, but I’m a free nerd.”
As we drive off and make our way through town, I’m feeling elated. Never better. I might not have any scavenger hunt money, but I have something better. Something worth far more than any inheritance. Kayla.
With a grin I can’t control, I glance over at her. She adjusts the rearview mirror a few times and my nerves immediately stand on end.
“What?” I say.
She frowns. “I thought I saw that black car again.”
I look out the back window but there are no cars behind us. “Are you sure?”
“No. It was just a glimpse. It could have been a different car.” She checks the mirror again.
I inhale, feeling unsettled as hell. “There’s no one behind us now, though. So relax. You’re safe,” I say. “You have me, remember?”
She smiles at me. “You’re right.”
I smile back but every nerve in my body stands on end the entire drive home. When we get there, Kayla parks in the dark and I try to keep her distracted with trivial conversation as we climb through the window. But my mind is spinning and I can’t keep my eyes from darting around the dark house as I hold Kayla’s hand and kee
p her as near to me as possible without alarming her.
We head to the stairs and just as I prop my foot on the first step, a deep, unfamiliar voice says, “Hello, Kayla.”
We turn around and I instantly tuck Kayla behind my back as I face off with a tall burly man with greased back hair, a skinny mustache, and a large potbelly.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand, lifting my chin so he and I are almost at eye level.
He presses his fingers together in a steeple. “My name is Big Joe and I am the private lender of a personal loan Gia Turner secured with me. In her passing, Kayla is now the responsible party and I’m here to collect.” He looks at Kayla, thrumming his fingers.
“Get the hell out of my house,” I say in a commanding voice that sounds more confident than I feel.
“I’m afraid that won’t be happening until I get my money,” he says.
“Get out or I will call the cops.”
He inhales through his nostrils. “I’m pretty sure that won’t be happening either, since you obviously don’t own this house and therefore have no right to kick me out of it.”
“I already told you, Joe,” Kayla says, half-hidden behind me. “I don’t have any money.”
“Well, you see, that’s a problem. Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money. It’s the kind of money that doesn’t get forgiven just because someone eats too many pills. So you will pay off your mother’s debt. And if you don’t have the cash, then I’ll settle for our alternate arrangement of you working for me without pay.” He steps closer to Kayla and smiles lewdly.
My voice is low and menacing. “Back the fuck up. Now.” He’s got a few inches and a few dozen pounds on me, but I will fucking tear him apart if he even breathes in Kayla’s direction.
He steps back, but only an inch. “You need to come back to Chicago with me, Kayla.”
“No,” she says.
“No?” He rubs his steepled fingertips together. “No is not an option. You can say no all you want, but that won’t keep me from getting my money. I’ll drag you back by the hair if need be.”
I flex my jaw and step right up to him. “You’ll be in a shallow grave before you get anywhere near Kayla’s hair.”
He eyes me. “Big words. I’m not a fan of shallow graves, you see, so unfortunately for you, I brought some insurance.”
He tips his head at something, and suddenly four figures creep out from the shadows of the house and surround the base of the stairs where Kayla and I stand. One guy I could handle. Two would be hard, but doable. But five on one? I can’t win with odds like that, and a fight would only rile this guy up. Who knows what he’d do to Kayla if he was angry?
“Say good-bye to your boyfriend, Kayla, before someone gets hurt,” Big Joe says. “We need to get on the road.”
One of the goons reaches for Kayla’s arms and I knock his hand away, stepping in front of her more fully.
I look at Big Joe. “Let’s talk this out. You need twenty thousand dollars, right?”
He nods.
“Will you accept payment in diamonds?”
“Of course.”
“And if you get your money’s worth, you’ll leave Kayla alone—forever?”
He shrugs. “I have no business with Kayla other than her mother’s debt. If she pays up then I’m gone for good.”
I nod. “Kayla,” I say quietly, without turning to look at her. “Go get my mom’s necklace.”
I hear her suck in a breath. “But Daren—”
“Nothing in this world is more important than you—especially not a piece of jewelry,” I say in a serious tone. “Go get it. Please.”
A beat passes then she hurries up the stairs. I hear her shuffle down the hall and through my room, my eyes on Big Joe the whole time. She comes back downstairs with the familiar box and hands it to me.
Our eyes meet when I take it and, right here, in this crazy moment, I know what real love looks like. What it tastes like, smells like. I know what real love feels like, and it feels like home. It feels like Kayla Tuner, believing in me. It feels like everything I’ve ever done right in a pair of bright blue eyes. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. No necklace, no amount of money, not even the very last breath pulled from my chest is more important than the girl standing beside me.
I hand the box over to Big Joe. He opens it and examines the string of diamonds with small noises of approval.
He slants his eyes to me. “This is a hefty piece of bling. You might be ripping yourself off here.”
I glance at Kayla. “Not even a little.”
I have the most priceless thing in the world.
Big Joe inhales through his nose again. “Tell you what. Me and my associates here will leave the two of you unharmed tonight, and I will arrange for these diamonds to be authenticated by someone I trust. If these are, in fact, real then the two of you will never see me again. However, if these diamonds are fake, and you’ve wasted my time, you will see me again and there will be much…” He eyes Kayla then me. “Harm. Understood?”
I nod, wishing I had the power to rip his limbs from his body. “Understood.”
“Very well.” He motions to his goons to leave then stretches a smile over his face. “Have a good evening.”
They exit the house and I immediately turn around to face Kayla. “Are you okay?” I touch her head, her arms. I know she wasn’t hurt but I just need to touch her. I lead her up the stairs and away from what just happened.
“I’m fine,” she says, looking at me in concern. “But you just gave away your mother’s necklace—your favorite memory.”
I shake my head as we reach my bedroom. “It was a token of a happy time with my parents, nothing more. There’s no amount of diamonds I wouldn’t give up for you.”
“Daren…”
“I’m being serious.” I step closer and hold her face, swallowing. “I know this sounds crazy, but I love you, Kayla Turner. And I’ve never loved anything more.”
39
Kayla
My lips part as I stare up into his deep brown eyes in the moonlight streaming into his bedroom doorway through the upstairs hallway window. Is Daren Ackwood really confessing his love for me? My heart flutters as I search for the right words to convey everything I’m feeling.
“I love you, too” is all I come up with. There really aren’t any better words. “So I guess we’re both crazy.”
He smiles. “I guess so.”
I smile back and then his lips are on mine, kissing me desperately, again and again until I’m out of breath and grasping at his shirt collar. Tugging and pulling, I manage to pull his shirt off so I can feel my body up against his. I like how strong and big he is when we’re standing together, how he can look down on me but not make me feel powerless. He walks us inside his room, shuts the door, and presses me up against it in the now total blackness of his room, kissing my neck and throat as I exhale in bliss and savor the feel of his mouth on my skin.
I go for his pants but he traps my hands at his zipper, moving us over to fall onto the mattress as he starts kissing me all over again. His touch conveys unspoken things, filling me with hope for the future and peace for the present. And his lips pour into me beauty that’s unseen and worthiness that’s unearned.
“Wait, wait,” I say breathlessly and Daren pulls back. I climb on my knees and tug the piece of cardboard from his bedroom window, letting the moonlight fill his room so we are no longer in complete darkness. “I want you to see me.”
A wide smile stretches across his face in the soft blue light of the moon. Returning to the mattress, I stretch out on my back as he crawls over me and looks into my eyes. And oh my God, he is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Not because he’s handsome and symmetrical, with a broad chest and rippling ab muscles. But because he has a loving heart. And that heart loves me.
40
Daren
I take her face in my hands, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks as I tilt her head to the
side and kiss her. My tongue slides into her mouth and roams over the tender flesh inside, loving how soft and warm she is.
Her body melts against mine instantly, and she relaxes in my arms, running her own up the sides of my body so she can bury her hands in my hair. Gripping the hair at the base of my neck, she tugs on it and I groan into her mouth.
Her soft hands, running over my skin and moving around my body, wrap me in a comfort I’ve never experienced before.
She arches her back and lifts up, her body trying to get closer to mine, and I run my hands down her rib cage and to the hem of her shirt. Pulling it up, I expose the pale skin of her belly before lifting it higher and taking it off completely, leaving her in only her bra. Slipping my hands around her back, I remove that too, exposing the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. Large and full and perfectly round, they lie in my hands as I squeeze them gently.
“God. You’re beautiful,” I say.
Lowering my mouth to one of her nipples, I cover it with my lips—but I don’t suck on it, not yet. Instead I watch her squirm beneath me, wanting my wet mouth to pull her nipple into its hot depths, but not being able to control it.
With my mouth set against one nipple, my fingers play with the other, gently grazing over it before softly plucking at it over and over. She arches her back even more, and now her hips are shoved against mine.
“Daren…” she breathes out. “Please.”
I pull her nipple into my mouth fully and she moans in pleasure. God, that’s a hot sound. I press my body between her legs, keeping her from arching any more than she already is as I move to her other nipple and do the same until both nipples are wet and beautifully erect in the moonlight from the window.
She wiggles and moans as I suck her tight nubs into my mouth and squeeze her breasts. Then, moving back up to her mouth, I kiss along her jaw and over to her ear before running my lips down her throat. She thrusts her head back, carefree and trusting with my mouth against such a fragile place. As I gently lick a trail up and down her windpipe, I run my hand down the center of her chest, lightly touching each of her nipples before moving to her stomach and then into her pants.