by Daisy Allen
I wrestle with my need to take her there and then, fuck her, make love to her, possess her, consume her, whatever you want to call it. But instead, I stroke the hair from her forehead, lean over and steal another soft kiss from her lips, and tiptoe out of the room.
Chapter Twenty-Five
HER
“Butter,” I feel myself murmur, and I think my lips are still moving when I wake up.
“Yes, so you’ve said,” a male voice responds.
I feel my eyes fly open, and then squeeze shut.
“SUN!”
“Yes, that light is the sun. It tends to appear around this time of day, almost every day,” Kaine teases me, and I can’t help but notice that he seems to be talking more now. Maybe he feels more comfortable with me. Maybe it’s because he’s seen me drool in my sleep and feels that now we’re even.
I lie back, eyes still closed, and realize I’m really damn comfortable. I check my arms and they’re ensconced in charcoal cotton. Really soft, really smooth, really silky cotton. I could get used to this.
“I love this bed,” I sigh, content.
“So, you’ve said before also.”
“Where did you sleep last night?” I ask him, opening my eyes and sitting up, the morning grogginess slowly fading. He’s standing on the other side of the bed, pulling a Rolex out of the night stand.
“What makes you think I did?”
I don’t really know what to make of that so I slide out of the bed, reluctantly, and start to make it, pulling on the sheets and fluffing the pillows.
“Don’t worry about that, the housekeeper will be by later and she’ll just re-do it, trust me.”
“You have a housekeeper?” I ask, then realize how stupid my question sounds. Duh, it looks like he has more money than God, of course he has a housekeeper.
“Yes.”
“How often does she come?”
“I have her on retainer, she knows what I like and she comes as often as she needs to keep it that way,” he says while disappearing into his walk-in closet.
“But I didn’t see her the other the day when I was here,” I call out to him.
“Like I said, she knows what I like.”
He emerges from the closet, dressed in a black hoodie and chocolate brown pants, pulling a suit coat over his arms.
“Are you off to work now?” I ask.
“Yes. Are you going to be okay here with Gabriel? The nurse should be by in about half an hour and she’ll be here with him until tonight.”
“I’m going to go absolutely stir crazy. There’s nothing to do here,” I complain, screwing my face up at the thought of spending another day at Kaine’s apartment... without Kaine.
“You could work out. You’re welcome to use my gym downstairs.”
“Ahem, are you saying I need to work out?”
I glare at him, and he just shakes his head and gives me a look that starts at the top of my head and slides down my body inch by inch. I feel naked under the scrutiny and my face blares hot. Suddenly, I wish I was hidden under the bed sheets again.
“I want to go to work, Kaine.”
“Jade.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good ide-...”
“I’m not asking you, I meant to say, I’m going to work, Kaine”
I stare him down, and only look away when I think I’m going to drown in the crystal clear blue depth of his eyes. What is going on with me? Why can’t I shake these growing feelings I have for him?
“Fine. Be ready in 15 minutes. And I mean it, I hate tardiness,” he says over his shoulder as he leaves the bedroom.
“Why do I have to be ready in 15 minutes?”
“Because I’m taking to you to work and making sure you get there safely. And no, that’s not up for discussion,” he instructs from the doorway.
“But...” I start, my instinct to rail against his bossiness kicking in.
“Don’t test me, Jade,” he says. And the tone in his voice doesn’t leave me any room for argument. “So, go. You have 14 and a half minutes now, no dawdling in the shower!”
I resolve to let him win this time, but only because I don’t really want to refuse a ride to work in a comfortable car.
And time only with him.
***
He spends the entire car ride to work staring at his laptop.
I spend it staring at him.
If he knows, he doesn’t show it.
He’s still wearing the damn hoodie, but, and it could be I’m just imagining things, it’s not as tightly tied around his face. He’s pulled it over his head but hasn’t knotted the drawstrings, and I wonder how I could not have noticed the scar before. It’s not obvious at a quick glance but on closer observation, the crinkled rivulets of skin that start at his left temple are just visible even behind the shadow of his shield.
Maybe I hadn’t looked hard enough, or maybe he’d just done that good of a job hiding it. Or, maybe, it just hadn’t mattered at all what he looked like. Which is ironic, considering his chiselled cheekbones, the strong, angled jaw, and those eyes that change with his mood, he is one of the most compellingly handsome men I’d ever seen. Or, as I am thinking right now, looking at him in his work suit while his face is focused on his task, his legs, strong and muscle-toned, stretched out in front of him, and the memory of his bare, naked ripped stomach, he is seriously, fucking hot.
But the scar, the scar is both an integral part of him, and yet something that doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Physique aside, everything else I see, everything I know of him so far, I like.
What’s not to like? He saved me, he saved my brother. Virtual strangers. Why? I don’t know. I just know that when I want to know more, I will want to know everything.
“Ahem. Jade. We’re here.”
My eyes come back into focus and I realize I’ve still been staring at him, except that now he’s staring back.
“Hmmm?” I stall, as I try to recall what he said.
He gestures with his head out the window, and I see we’ve arrived at work.
“Oh! Okay, well, thanks for the ride. I guess, um, I guess I’ll see you tonight. I can come with a cab and pick Gabriel up and take him back to my apartment. Hopefully he’ll be up and about.”
“Shush,” he just says and gets out. I don’t move, trying to figure out what’s going on. He comes around to my side and opens the door for me. “Well, are you coming?”
“Coming where?”
“To work. I’m walking you inside.”
“That’s not necessary.”
He doesn’t move, just pushes the door open wider and waits.
And there’s something about him that tell me to just obey.
I slide out of the car and he grabs me by the hand and pull me towards the entrance, pushing past anyone blocking our way until we’re inside.
“Where’s your office?”
“I’m inside now, I’m fine,” I argue out on habit.
“Where’s your office, Jade?”
“Ugh! You’re so annoying.”
“And I’m going to be annoying all the way to your office.”
My eyes narrow and I huff as I lead him through the labyrinth of shelves and aisles until we’re outside my joint office with Harriet.
“Okay, you can go now,” I tell him, hoping he’ll leave. Immediately. Before...
“Hello, who’s this?” Harriet’s voice pipes up behind me.
Before that. Her. Ms. Nosy.
“Hello,” Kaine says to her, eyes still on me.
“This is... Mr. Ashley, he was just leaving,” I introduce her, glaring at him for putting me in this position.
“Oh, Mystery man!” Harriet exclaims, and now it’s her I’m glaring at.
“What?” Kaine asks, his eyes widening.
“Nothing. You can go now,” I lift my hand up to shoo him away, and only then realize he’s still holding it. I pretend to adjust my dress as an excuse to extract my hand from his. There’s a soft gi
ggle next to me, and I know this is probably the best morning Harriet has had in a long time.
“What time do you finish work?” he asks, showing no sign of leaving yet.
“Why?”
“To pick you up.”
I begin to shake my head, before I feel a gentle kick, and Harriet barges in.
“She’ll be done by 6 p.m.,” she informs him before I can tell him not to come.
“Ok. I’ll be here at 5:58.”
I frown at him, confused about why he’s going out of his way... again.
“Don’t leave until I get here,” he warns me, already showing how well he knows me.
“She won’t!” Harriet promises on my behalf.
I stomp into my office, annoyed about the plans made without my input, ignoring him when I see him try to catch my eye before he exits.
“Why did you do that?” I yell at Harriet when she follows me into the office.
“Do what?”
“Be nice to him!”
“To the man who saved you?”
“...and Gabriel,”
“What now?”
“It was Gabriel who called me yesterday. He wanted me to come get him. I guess Kaine followed me, which is totally creepy and I haven’t called him on that yet, but anyway, he followed me to the West Bronx. When he realized why I was there, he brought Gabriel home to his apartment and had a doctor and nurse come take care of him. He’s still there now.”
“Ohmygod. You’re going to marry mystery man.”
“What? Shut up. He’s just... doing a good deed so he can get a Boy Scouts medal or whatever.”
“Yeah. You’re pretty stupid for someone so smart.”
I stop her before she takes the conversation down a direction I’m not prepared to go, and take a page out of Kaine’s book.
“SHUSH!!!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
HIM
The morning is so busy that for the first time since Jade entered my life I’m forced to concentrate at work. My office is filled to capacity with people at their workstations and divided into task groups, working together to ensure the successful launch of our new product, FireFree. The marketing department walks us through the final mock-ups of the ads in the interior design magazines, and the retail group finalizes the retail store displays, aimed at dominating the fire and security aisles.
Everything looks as it should. New, modern, state of the art, the future.
By lunchtime, it feels like only minutes have passed, but the rumble in my stomach tells me it’s time to take a break.
“Guys, let’s pick it up in hour, okay? You’ve all been great this morning, but we need to work double speed this afternoon to get everything done by the deadline. Go, lunch is on me at Haughton’s. Jemima’s arranged everything. No alcohol though! Let’s save the champagne popping for when this is all done. See you all after lunch.”
It’d be normal to expect the loud sound of everyone dropping their work to go off and enjoy a free lunch, but I look around, and everyone seems reluctant to stop their work. I can’t help but feel a swelling of pride and gratitude. I’m a tough boss and I expect the best, and they give it to me.
“GO, you workaholics! You’re all even worse than me!” I say, waving my arms out, shooing them. One by one they put down their pens and grab their jackets and drag their feet out to the elevator, as if I’ve condemned them to torture.
Jemima’s the last to go, and I remind her to make sure everyone gets enough to eat, and pack up some extra to bring back for snacks for afternoon break. She nods and squeezes into the elevator and my office floor descends into silence.
Ah, glorious silence.
Most of the time my office is quiet; I don’t like music while I’m working, it affects my mood, and as a rule, I only have workshops for brainstorming and prototype building every second day. The rest is time for me to work in silence, mostly thinking and planning instead of wasting time with administrative duties, which I leave to my deputies.
I crave harmony in my life. It’s why my building is designed the way it is. As if it’s just a part of the skyline, part of the air around it, disruption of nature at a minimum.
But Jade, the entry of Jade in my life has been anything but harmonious. She is a disruption at its very core meaning.
A disruption of my time, my thoughts, my routines, my home life, even the way I dress.
This morning, I thought twice about how I wanted her to see me, choosing my favorite pants, my favorite hoodie.
What an idiot.
Like she even cares.
But she does. Or at least she did in her sleep.
How I wanted to remind her of our kiss last night. To see if she had any recollection, or if it was all in her dreams.
It was certainly in mine.
I look at the clock and wonder what she is doing.
I wander over to my desk and open my browser. I flip it over to my personal wallpaper, and a picture of her fills the screen. It’s a photo from one of her newspaper articles. Her eyes are dancing with light as she faces the camera, so alive, so pure.
It is in stark contrast to the dull, lifeless, worried eyes that weighed on my heart yesterday. Her brother being in trouble, following me yelling and kicking her out of the apartment the night before. No wonder I brought her brother home with us, I’d have done anything to relight the flame in her eyes.
“Enough.” I tell myself. Enough swooning and get back to work.
I turn off the monitor and reach for a folder on my desk.
My hand snaps back when I notice a white envelope laying on my desk.
“To Kaine” is sprawled on the front, in the font that makes my heart stop.
I palm the envelope and part of me wants to just screw it up and burn it. But I know I can’t. For the sake of my company, for the sake of the people I hope to save with my product, I need to know what’s going on.
I slide my finger under the envelope and pull out a single white embossed card.
12:30 p.m., it says. Nothing else.
No description, no date, no location.
There doesn’t need to be. I throw the card down and run over to the marketing work station. There’s a stack of invitation being prepped to send out to local construction companies and real estate corporations as well as local politicians. The front read “Ash Industries welcomes you to the launch of FIREFREE.” I flip it over.
There. Under “Time,” it says, “12:30 p.m.” It’s the same. Exactly the same.
I carry Ash Industries’ invitation back to my desk and hold them side by side, my eyes darting from one to the other, over the identical printed time. How could they replicate it? We haven’t even sent it out yet.
The phone on my desk rings and I throw the cards down, startled. I answer the phone, running my hand through my hair; it comes out damp with sweat.
“What?” I growl into the phone.
“Judging by that greeting, I take it you’ve seen it.”
“The card with the date and time?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know about it?”
“Because I got one too. And I’m not the only one.”
“Fuck. Who else?”
“Lucas and Carmen.” He names two mutual friends, also CEOs of their own companies.
“He’s hitting big names. And I can guarantee you, it’s more than just the four of us,” Xavier says what I’m dreading. “What is going on, Kaine?”
“I don’t know, Xave. Fuck, I don’t know. How was your card delivered?
“By mail. Stamp, no return address, obviously. You?”
“On my bloody desk.”
“Shit. Again? How is this happening?
“I don’t know, but I’ve had 50 people come in and out of my office today, most of them have come to my desk at one time or another, it could’ve been any of them.”
“You called Dylan?”
“Yeah, it’s why I’m calling, he needs you to give him clearance for the sec
urity cams of the building.”
“Fine. I... er, I need to call him anyway.”
“Why? What do you need to talk to him about that I didn’t tell him?” Xavier asks, his curiosity pipped.
“It’s nothing,” I evade the question.
“Doesn’t sound like nothing.”
“Remember when we used to joke about you charging me by the word?”
“Yeah. Actually, Jade said the same thing to me the other day.”
The mention of her name stops my brain functioning, and in that instant I forget Xavier’s there.
“Hey. Mr. Talkative. What’s your point?” he prompts me.
“You talk too much, that’s my point.”
“I meant the thing about talking to Dylan.”
“It’s nothing. I just need him to check up on someone for me, that’s all. Geez, when did you get so nosy?”
“You pay me to be nosy.”
“No, I pay you, cos I can’t get rid of you.”
“So, what do you want Dylan to find out about Jade?”
“Huh? Who said anything about Jade?” I should know better than to try to hide anything from Xavier. He’s right, I pay him to know my business.
“You do. All the time. With your non-words and moody moods.”
I huff quietly and hope he’ll move on. But apparently he knows me better than I know him.
“So, am I right?” he says, victory already in his voice.
“Shut up.”
He laughs so hard there’s a thud and a curse, and I secretly hope he cracked his phone screen when he dropped it.
“You know, and this is just a thought...”
“Maybe keep it that way.”
“Nah, it’s too good a thought, so I’m sharing it with you”
“What?”
“There are better and, you’ll like this, CHEAPER ways of finding out things about a person, you know. Not everything has to cost $500 an hour.”
“And what way is that?”
“Just ask her, you dumb ass.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
HER
It’s near the end of the day and the last straggler of my weekly genealogy group finally leaves. I lean back into my chair, utterly exhausted. I’m thankful for the busy day though, or else I’d have spent it watching the clock, waiting for the day to end, and my evening to start... with him.