by Taylor Hart
He pulled her into his arms, and she enjoyed the feel of his strength. “You work hard to protect your image too. That’s why I had to extort friendship.”
She almost laughed, but just tucked her head into him, turning to look at her father. “It kinda feels nice to have someone else know what I do during Friday lunches.”
He held out a pinky to her. “I pinky promise to keep your secret.”
The gesture made her laugh, releasing her tension. She held up her pinky, and they linked them together.
Their eyes held, and her heart quickened as she thought about how beautiful this man was. How different he was from any man she’d ever known.
A slow smile spread across his lips. “Hey, maybe we’re, like, best friends now. We could get matching necklaces.”
“I’d love to see you wearing a broken heart necklace.”
“Don’t tempt me. You’ll see it on the next date I have to go on.”
She thought of him going on another bimbo date, and tensed.
“What?” he asked quickly.
“Nothing,” she said, sticking out her chin.
Letting out a soft laugh, he hugged her again. “Do you have plans this weekend?”
“You mean tonight? Tomorrow? Yes.”
“No.” He shook his head. “You don’t.”
“I have dinner plans tonight,” she said, feeling ridiculous.
“With who? You don’t date,” he said stiffly.
“Are you imitating me?” She smiled, because his imitation was ridiculous.
He shrugged casually and took his arm back. “Want to take a trip with me?”
Her smile flipped upside down “No.” She pulled completely back from him. She couldn’t do that.
“Why? Friends take trips with friends all the time.”
“No.” She turned away and started walking down the bridge. “They don’t.”
He followed, taking her hand. “It’ll only be two nights, and you’ll have your own room.”
Dang. Dang. Dang. Her heart pitched.
“Why?” he pressed.
“Friends don’t take trips together. I couldn’t afford where you probably want to go, and you’re not paying for me.”
“I’m a bratty billionaire. I always pay.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Add it to the list of my annoying quirks.”
She scowled at him. “Tell me it’s not an island with a staff of people.”
“It’s to see my grandma. Will you come with me or not?”
His grandma? She rifled through her memories, but couldn’t remember hearing or seeing his grandmother in the press. “Is this lady real?”
He let out a surprised laugh. “You think I would make up my grandma?”
Irritation and curiosity warred within her. “I don’t know.”
Kade pursed his lips. “Fair enough, but I think you kind of owe me.”
“What? How in the world do you figure that?”
“For making me almost die going skydiving. And eating at a buffet.”
She grinned. “Hey, you opted for the buffet.”
He rolled his eyes. “You see, the reason I’m drastically afraid of heights stems from my grandmother’s house.”
This made no sense at all, but her curiosity was piqued.
“In or out, Song?”
She frowned. “You don’t get to pressure play me.” She unlocked hands with him and pushed ahead.
He caught up in less than a minute, falling easily into step. “I’m good at the pressure play.” He had his puppy eyes on, an expression she’d never seen from him before.
“Why are you looking at me this way?”
He sputtered out a laugh. “Dang, girl, you’re not letting me get away with any moves on you.”
She thought of the reason she didn’t date anyone. Or go on trips with anyone. Or have real dinner plans. She shook her head, thinking of how her mother had been pressuring her to get back in with the heart surgeon and check on the stability of her valve. “No.” She pulled out her phone and ordered an Uber.
“Why?”
“Why aren’t you figuring out your route back home?” she asked, not looking at him.
“Because we’re getting friendship necklaces, so I didn’t think you’d mind sharing an Uber with me.”
Felicity watched her car pull up. She got in, and frowned when he climbed in after her. “You’re not going back to work with me.”
“Why? Your boss kind of adores me. I’ll just go sit in his office and make small talk until you go home. Then I’ll follow you some more.”
It really annoyed her that he was right. Mr. DaVinci had a serious man-crush on Kade. He was always asking her if she’d seen him.
“How was the senator’s daughter today?” Kade said, leaning into the seat and casually putting his hand over the back of hers. Like this is what they did all the time. Like they were some couple.
“No.”
He waited.
Looking out the window, she knew it was impossible to ignore this man. “Of course, she texted her boyfriend more inappropriate pictures and was shocked when they went public. Now her parents are scrambling to get the phone.”
“Teenagers.” He played with her hair.
She hated how confused she felt around him. “How was your day?” she asked politely.
“Ya know. Practice. Weight room.”
“Protein shakes,” she filled in for him.
He scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue. They shared a laugh, and the moment went slow and sticky between them before he said, “Speaking of protein shakes, have you eaten lunch?”
She shook her head. “I don’t eat on Fridays.”
He looked horrified. “Unacceptable, Song. Driver, pull over up here, please.”
Her heart picked up speed. “No.”
“Yes.” Kade leaned forward, pointing for the driver. “Right there.”
“No, keep driving.” Felicity pounded the seat and noticed a sushi restaurant next to them. “I need to get back to work, and I don’t have money to eat out all the time.”
Kade furtively slid his hand into the crook of her arm as the car stopped, opening the door and pulling her out. “Calm yourself, Song. It’s just a sushi bar I like, not the Taj Mahal. And quit talking about paying.”
Chapter 20
If someone would have told Felicity a month ago she’d be hanging out in the rougher part of Dallas at a dive sushi bar with Kade Kincaid, she would have laughed her butt off. She would have laughed her butt off even more if they’d told her she would like it—like him.
They sat on the floor with their shoes off, a small table separating them. He told her the rest of the really horrible joke he’d been explaining to her. “No, see, when you have a priest and a rabbi joke, you always have to have a cowboy in their midst.”
Felicity giggled at his insanity and intensity, at the way he tried to make her understand the finesse of the rabbi, priest, and cowboy joke.
“Are you laughing at me, Song?” He shook his head. “I swear, you have no culture.”
This just made her laugh even more. It’d been a casual, fun time. She’d been impressed at how, when Kade was incognito, he seemed just like a normal person.
“What? You’re getting that look on your face.”
She looked at his empty plate of food. “I guess you are more adventurous than protein shakes.”
He sighed. “Hey, I ate a hot dog the other day.”
“If the public only knew. It could change your whole image.”
“Yes, the public. And where would my PR firm be then?” He grew serious. “Is that why you won’t come away with me?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “You’re relentless.” But she didn’t feel as angry as she had earlier when he’d asked. The thought of a grandmother intrigued her.
For a few moments, they just sat there, smiling. Then Kade cleared his throat. “What did you mean earlier when you told me you’d been thinking about football?”
<
br /> The thought of being close to him, how she’d thought of the dinner cruise, sprang to mind. “Nothing,” she said quickly.
“No way.” He leaned in. “You have to tell.”
Hating that she felt this way, and hating that she did trust this man, she looked at her hands. “I was just thinking how … Never mind.”
“What is it, Song?”
Hearing him call her by her last name amused her. “I was thinking how you always do your football speak, and I had actually thought a football analogy in my mind.”
He grinned. “Good, I’m rubbing off on you.” His eyes sparkled, like they couldn’t wait for the entire joke to smile more fully.
Felicity’s mind flashed to being in his arms at the dinner cruise.
“Thinking about something else?”
“What?” She hadn’t meant to think about that. “Nothing.”
“Nope, we’re staying here until you tell me.” He crossed his arms.
She thought, once again, that he was a bratty and entitled billionaire, but she didn’t say it.
“Song,” he said in a deep voice.
She sighed and looked back at her hands. “I was just thinking about being in your arms and how strong you are and …” It was coming out all wrong. “But not like your muscles.”
The edge of his mouth twitched up.
She waved a hand in the air as if she could banish the tongue-tied feeling. “I was thinking about the dinner cruise, about when we danced and you held me. I was just thinking how good it felt to be held.”
Their eyes were locked.
She blinked. “A woman needs to be held sometimes.” This was getting worse, but she didn’t stop, not when she was already exposed. “See, this is what I’m talking about. Earlier, when I actually thought the football analogy, it was because I thought about how you’ve snuck past my defenses, but I was thinking in football terms, like the stuff you say to me. It just sounded more like an analogy you would say.” She stopped talking, feeling breathless. “I’m rambling …” She trailed off, feeling idiotic.
His grin widened.
“That was horrible. I don’t know why I said all that.”
Kade hesitated, and she worried he thought she had lost her mind. Then she thought it might be good if he did think that, because she was feeling so strange and weird. Things she didn’t want to feel for anybody were surfacing.
He leaned over and put a hand on top of hers on the table. “How about after work you just come to my place, and we’ll go see my grandma?”
“Fine,” she said, unable to believe she’d actually agreed.
His whole face lit up, and she thought he would literally spring from his bottom to his feet in one jump. “Really?”
Excitement, angst, and uncertainty all rolled into one inside her. “I shouldn’t.” She looked at her phone. “It’s almost two. I’m late.”
He dropped money on the table and took her hand as they stood. “Just tell DaVinci you were with a client.” He wagged his eyebrows. “It’s true.”
She might have to, but she didn’t want to tell DaVinci. It would open another can of worms for her.
Kade kept his hand in hers as they left the restaurant. “You’re going to love it. My grandma is amazing, but her house is even more amazing.”
She decided to make sure he knew the boundaries. “Kade, you know I have a heart condition, but there are other things you don’t know.”
Taking both of her hands and pulling her against the side of a dive wall, he soberly evaluated her. “Have you killed anyone?”
She frowned at the teasing in his voice. “Stop.”
“Do you owe child support?”
“Funny man.” Her heart rate went into hyper speed.
“I know about your mom and dad.” His grin faded. “You mentioned your brother. What else do I need to know?”
I’m never having that surgery everybody thinks I need, she wanted to say. She hesitated.
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure you know way more about me than I even know about me. So I’ll look forward to discovering everything about you.”
She did know most things about him. Down to all his relationships, or lack of them, really. She hadn’t really thought about that. Kade hadn’t had any serious things going on. Lots of dating, not lots of serious.
Seeming to be on the same wavelength, he dropped one of her hands to put his arm behind her on the building and kept her other hand. He was close to her. Kissable close. He stared into her eyes. “Has there been someone, Felicity? Someone you don’t want to tell me about that you still love, or are you in a relationship I should know about?”
The words sounded so vulnerable coming from him. Her heart started running wild as she put her finger slowly against his lips. “I told you, Kade. You can’t fall in love with me.”
He grinned. “Yeah, but you never said you can’t fall in love with me.”
She sighed. Whipping out her phone, she ordered an Uber.
While they waited, he picked up her hand again. Part of her wished, begged, hoped he would forget her. That he would quit texting, that she wouldn’t have to break his heart when she told him the whole truth about her.
Gently pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear, he searched her face. “Where have you gone, my redheaded Aphrodite?”
“I’m not Aphrodite,” she said with a scoff. “Also, Aphrodite was Zeus’s daughter.”
He made a face. “Gross. Obviously I haven’t kept tabs on the Greek gods.”
She laughed. “Obviously.”
He leaned into her. “Will you kiss me?” he asked, snaking a hand around her waist and pulling her into him.
Her heart pounded, and she found she wanted to. Dang it, she really wanted to.
His other hand cupped the back of her head and tangled itself in her hair as he gently pulled her closer. Right before his lips claimed hers, he said, “Tell me you want to kiss me.”
There had never been a more sensual, more heightened, more all-consuming chemistry in her life. Every cell in her body hummed with energy charged by his. It was like the tiniest touch would make her implode.
Even though she shouldn’t and it wasn’t fair and a million other things, she stared into those pools of blue sky and thought the actual Zeus might just be zapping her with his lightning bolts. It was the only explanation for this electric energy, and she couldn’t take it any longer. “I want to kiss you.”
Their lips met, and explosions of passion filled her. His lips were soft, and he took his time, deepening the kiss.
She grabbed him around the neck and pulled him closer, drinking him in, needing solace and strength and everything he was.
His lips kissed down her neck softly, slowly, with determination, and his hands squeezed her around her waist almost to the point of pain. It was like she couldn’t get close enough to him. Somehow, there was too much distance. All she could think about was how Kade had done the very thing she’d never wanted—he’d read her defenses and found an opening. He’d not only taken it, but he’d dominated the whole field.
His lips were back to hers, and she felt herself coming back to her brain, her mind, her will. She pushed him back. “Kade,” she whispered, feeling like she’d just drunk from the lake of the gods, danced with the immortals. “We can’t do this.” She couldn’t inject any force into the words.
Still, he let her go. His hands were languid, like water ready to ebb, ready to flow based on her command, at her waist. “It’s already done.”
His cockiness took her by such surprise that she choked out a laugh. She hated that she had allowed anyone, especially him, to get to this point. She shook her head, and all she knew was the fire that had started would be painful to put out. “I …”
He nodded to the curb. “Your Uber is here. I’ll see you tonight. Come to my house at six. Bring an overnight bag and your swimsuit.” He lightly touched her nose. “It’ll be fun.”
Kade opened the door for her and she climb
ed in, feeling like she was in shock. He shut the door and smiled before the driver pulled away.
Felicity put her hand to her heart, finally recognizing exactly what emotions she felt about Kade Kincaid: fear and love.
Chapter 21
When Felicity showed up to Kade’s house, she tried to calm her shakiness. Her mother had been ecstatic she was going away with Kade, had even helped her pack. Which was odd, because her mother had never encouraged her to date guys.
“Why do you like him so much?” Felicity had asked grumpily.
Her mother had gently touched her face. “Because he knows you, all about you, and the way he looks at you …” She’d broken off and sighed. “That boy loves you.”
Felicity wanted to argue, but she didn’t. She climbed the steps to his door, still battling the feeling that she shouldn’t lead him on. She’d told him not to fall for her, but man, that kiss earlier was unlike any kiss she’d ever had before with a man. Not that she had that much experience in her short twenty-four years. After all, she’d made an art of keeping men at a distance.
The door flew open before she had a chance to ring the bell. With no warning, Kade grabbed her and pulled her into another kiss.
She had no chance to do anything but drop her bag and let herself be kissed by him. Not the slow kisses from earlier. No, these kisses were fast and eager, mixed with gentle kisses around her face that made her giggle.
He laughed and finished with a final kiss on the lips. “I missed you. Are you ready for an adventure?”
Feeling her heart wrench, she searched those blue eyes. “I guess we’re past the blackmail friendship.” She winked. “So yeah, let’s go.”
He winked back and kissed her again, smothering her with kisses down her neck. “Hey, I’ll still wear the friendship necklace if you want.”
She just laughed in response.
Without preamble, he picked up her bag and grabbed her hand, pulling her through the house. She heard it before she saw it—the chopper was firing up. So a little trip to see Grandma wasn’t such a little trip at all.
He wasn’t stopping, just kept pulling her, getting to the back door and dropping her hand before pulling her out. “Are you ready to fly?” He looked the complete opposite from how he’d looked the other day when they’d gone skydiving: totally ecstatic.