by Kaye Blue
“I didn’t think you’d come looking,” I responded.
The anger in his expression made me stop in my tracks.
“What?” I asked.
“You didn’t think I’d be looking? You thought that letter was going to be the last word on the subject?”
He was looking at me angrily, and standing so close that I could feel the heat radiating off his body.
More than anything I wanted to lose myself in the heat, lose myself in him, but that wasn’t an option.
“Yes, I thought my very definitive statement on the topic would be the end of it,” I said primly.
“You were wrong,” he responded.
“Kristian…”
“Dallas…” he said, mimicking me.
“What do you want from me?” I said, sounding exasperated.
“Everything. You,” he answered.
“What?” I asked.
“You heard me, Dallas.”
I had, but what could I say to that? Nothing, so I stayed silent.
“The show was good. Did you sell out?” he asked.
I had looked down, focused on my hands, but at his words, I looked at him again.
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
“Really? I’m surprised,” he responded.
“I sold them all within an hour, but then I changed my mind. They weren’t for sale,” I said.
I hadn’t been able to sell them, felt a connection to those pieces that I didn’t with any others I had created. Each and every one of them represented a moment, something between Kristian and me, and the thought of letting them go was one I couldn’t abide.
“Why not?” he asked.
We stood about six feet apart, but in that moment it wasn’t enough. Even at that distance, I felt how much Kristian knew me, could feel myself wanting to open up to him, afraid of doing that. I suspected that he knew, or at the very least could guess, and in asking the question, he was asking so much more.
“Just didn’t want to,” I said, shrugging.
Again I had retreated, used some lame, meaningless words to try to skirt something that was so much deeper, so much more intense.
I looked at Kristian, and he studied me, and I knew that he knew there was so much more I wasn’t saying.
But I stayed firm. Kristian had come to me, so the ball was in his court. And I didn’t know if I had words for the emotion I was feeling anyway.
“My father told me he was there.”
“Yes, he was,” I said, not wanting to think back to that night but my mind hurtling back there anyway. “And you weren’t.”
The last slipped out, and with it some of the venom I’d sworn to let go of.
“You know why?” he asked.
“I assumed you had something better to do,” I said.
“Don’t be stupid, Dallas,” he said.
“Where were you then?”
“I was with Marta,” he said.
“What?” I practically screamed.
“Yeah. My father decided I needed some incentive, so he sent Marta to my place and then ordered my security detail not to let me out,” he said.
“Wow,” I responded.
“Yeah. Wow.”
“What do he think would happen?”
“I think you have the idea,” he responded.
“What, you’d look at her and be so overwhelmed by her appeal that you’d fuck her until you guys were married?”
“Something like that,” Kristian said nonchalantly.
“And…?” I asked.
My heart was thundering, but like always, being in Kristian’s presence relaxed me. Even though this time it was about him, it seemed that he was the only one who could see that.
“What do you think?”
“Kristian,” I said with an edge in my voice.
“Fine. No, that didn’t happen. Although Marta and I did have an interesting conversation,” he said.
“Is that possible? A conversation with Marta, I mean,” I said.
“I hadn’t thought so, but yeah, it is. But this isn’t about Marta. It’s not about my father.”
“What’s it about?”
“About us.”
“There’s an us?” I said.
Kristian shook his head. “No. Don’t do that Dallas. You know there’s an us, I think both of us have always known,” he said.
“So there’s an us? Don’t you see there can’t be? I don’t fit in your world,” I said, practically pleading with him to see things how I did and let this go. “Do you even get why I said what I said in that letter?”
“Why don’t you explain it to me?” he said, his voice edged.
I was embarrassed to even admit it, but the time for all that had passed.
“You probably don’t notice, and maybe you don’t even care, but do you know how hard it is to do this? I mean, I already know that when people look at me they don’t get why I’m even your friend, let alone anything more. And talking to your father and then seeing how perfect you and Marta look together… I can’t ignore what’s right before my eyes,” I said.
And even though I spoke the truth, my heart was cracking all over again.
I studied Kristian and noted the dark cloud that passed over his face.
“You’re wrong. I don’t care what anyone thinks about you. You’re my best friend, the best friend I’ve ever had,” he said.
He was sincere, genuinely meant it, and the truth of that cut me to my very core.
Because yes, that might be true, I might be his friend, but I was never going to be anything more.
I looked at him, nodded.
“Okay,” I said. “Thank you.”
I went silent then, not sure what else to say. Instead I looked at Kristian, my heart breaking all over again.
“That’s all?” he said, his voice solemn, but also completely stern.
“Yeah,” I said.
“No,” he contradicted.
“So what else?” I asked.
“You’re my best friend, Dallas,” he said, taking a few steps closer to me.
“Yeah, I think we established that,” I said, going for sarcasm as an attempt to cover the hurt, an attempt that failed miserably.
Kristian paused a moment, then locked eyes with mine. “But you’re so much more,” he said.
He got closer, was standing directly in front of me, his eyes dark, his expression serious.
Kristian always presented a serious front, but at least with me I could sometimes see beyond that, see the playful, fun guy he often kept hidden.
But I didn’t see that now.
Instead I saw the seriousness, softness, determination.
All things I associated with him, but now they were directed at me.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
I felt as though speaking the words louder, asking the question louder would make the answer even more meaningful, though I could think of little that could be more meaningful than this conversation already was.
Kristian got even closer, then closer still until there was scarcely an inch separating our bodies.
Having him this close to me again was so welcome, something I had missed more than I knew, and in that moment I wondered how I had managed to go without it for so long.
“You’re my best friend, my constant companion, and you’re the woman I love,” he said.
“What?” I asked, my voice even softer.
Kristian reached for my hand, lifted it to his lips, and gave me the softest kiss.
“You heard me,” he said. “But I’ll repeat myself.”
He got even closer, bringing our bodies into contact, and the relief I felt at being close to him again took my breath away.
I lingered for a moment, my breasts pressed against his chest, my soft stomach against his hard one, our bodies in perfect alignment, a representation of how I thought we had been in spirit, how I prayed we would be again.
“I love you. I’m in love with you,” he said.
; That he had felt it necessary to add that last part broke my resistance. Told me he understood that I needed more than his love, that I wanted everything.
“Since when?” I asked, my heart wanting to give in, but the pragmatic part of me not going to let it. Not yet.
He shrugged, the causal gesture not at all detracting from the seriousness of the moment. “Maybe I always have been. But not having you around showed me how much I was missing, how you make every day a little better, how I don’t ever want to be without you ever again.”
“And what…?”
I trailed off, wanting to open up but afraid to.
He didn’t say anything else. Just looked at me.
“What am I supposed to do?” I finally said.
“You’re just supposed to know me, know that I would never tell you something like that if I didn’t mean it,” he said.
He didn’t sound defensive, angry. He was matter of fact, his words making his love seem self-evident, something I couldn’t believe I had missed or doubted.
And when I looked at him, his dark eyes so familiar, I could see the truth of it. Felt it to my very core.
“I love you too,” I whispered.
He lifted one corner of his mouth in a smile and then he kissed me.
Thank you for reading! Continue the series with Tempt Me!
A Note From Kaye
I hope you enjoyed Tease Me!
Is anything better than friends to lovers? It’s one of my favorite matches, and I had a blast bringing you Kristian and Dallas’s story.
You can order Tempt Me, the next book in the series now!
I’m always hard at work on the next book, so join my newsletter to be the first to know all about my upcoming releases!
Can I ask a favor? Please leave a review for Tease Me. Whether you liked the book or not, your reviews give me and other readers really helpful feedback, and I appreciate each one.
Check out my website at www.kayebluewriter.com to find out more about my books. And you can always find me on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/writerkayeblue or on Instagram @writerkayeblue.
Till next time!
xo
Kaye
Kaye’s Books
DIRTY ROYALS
Make Me
Tease Me
Tempt Me
PAID IN FULL
Dirty Debt
Lust & Leverage
THE IRISH MOB CHRONICLES
Prey
Reap
Bind
Mark
Wrath
THE SYNDICATE: CRIME AND PASSION
Possess
Reign
Run
Conquer
ULTIMATE
Ultimate Escape
Ultimate Surrender
Ultimate Engagement
Ultimate Redemption
Ultimate Capture
ROMANIAN MOB CHRONICLES
Keep
Fall
Avenge
Keep: The Wedding
War
Fight
Redeem
THORNEHILL SPRINGS
Two Weeks in Geneva: Complete Series
Where You Least Expect
Who You Least Expect
When You Least Expect
MEN WHO THRILL
The Enforcer
The Assassin
The Soldier
The Con
PLAYTHINGS
Devil’s Plaything
Demon’s Plaything
Elah’s Plaything