Chapter 18
Chapter eighteen
Tristan
Ihadn’t slept at all. Not a fucking wink. I was tired, a little pissed, and a whole lot confused. Tired because visions of Kate had kept me from drifting off to dreamland.
Pissed because she hadn’t answered when I’d called, nor had she responded to any of my texts. Heck, the woman hadn’t even been home the three times I’d gone to her place.
Which led to my confusion.
She’d run away after giving me what could’ve arguably been the best damn kiss of my life. No explanation. No nothing.
Not that she owed me anything. Everyone had the right to change their mind. I didn’t care if I was buried to the hilt, if she’d said no, I would’ve stopped.
But something happened inside Kate’s mind that flipped a switch so fast it made my damn head spin. She’d stared at my bed like it’d offended her. No, that wasn’t right. There hadn’t been any anger or resentment burning in those pretty eyes.
It was hurt.
Something I’d done or said had caused her pain, and dammit, I needed to make it right.
Exactly why I’d been sitting outside her apartment for the past ninety minutes. At least she was home. Music had filtered through the walls about twenty minutes after my arrival.
Off-key singing followed shortly after.
I’d heard both Kate and Millie. They sang and laughed then sang some more. That same ache I’d felt when I saw Kate take care of Millie had shot through my chest again. My feet itched with the same need to flee.
I didn’t.
It took a fucking Herculean effort, but I parked my ass on the floor next to their door and listened with a deep gaping hole in my chest at the sounds of a happy home. The sounds I’d never heard or experienced growing up.
I’d quickly come to terms with how things were in our house. There were only so many times a kid could ask his parents to read him a bedtime story or come to a sporting event and hear the word no.
There’d always been some important client to chase, a big deal to close. But never time for the son they only brought into this world to continue their legacy.
“What the—”
“Tristan.”
The two voices—one annoyed and the other excited—jolted me out of the bitter memories. While I’d sat and reminisced over nonexistent parents, the music had stopped, and the girls had come out of their apartment.
Smiling sheepishly, I pushed to my feet.
“Hey, Princess,” I greeted Millie.
With a big, wide smile, she waved. “Hello.”
My gaze shifted to Kate. “Kitty Kat.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”
“So many things,” I said, unable to help myself. “But right now, I needed to check if you were all right. You haven’t been answering my texts or calls.”
“Kate threw her phone in the bin yesterday.”
I gave Millie a glance. “That so?” My attention drifted back to Kate. “And why would you do that?”
A deep red stained her skin, slowly traveling up her neck and settling on her cheeks. It reminded me of the way she’d flushed when I’d had my hands under her shirt and her nipple in my mouth.
Fuck.
Just thinking about how amazing she felt and those damn unholy noises she made had my blood boiling with a desperate need to drag her into her apartment and sample every inch of her glorious body.
But I couldn’t do that. And I sure as shit couldn’t get hard in the hallway with a little human right there.
Reining in my lustful thoughts, with a great deal of effort, I said, “You ladies look nice.” They really did. Kate had traded the sexy shorts from yesterday for wide-legged jeans. And her black tee for a dark gray one.
Although both had something in common.
“You have a thing for spelling errors?” Kate lifted a brow but that was the only response I got from her, so I added. “The ‘r’ was missing from your shirt yesterday too.”
Her gaze dropped to the big block letters stretched over her chest. I tried damn hard to be a good boy and not imagine the color of her bra. I’d only caught a glimpse of it, but the one from the day before had been bright pink.
I’d spent way too many hours wondering what other colors hid in her underwear drawer.
“There’s nothing missing, silly.” Millie’s voice forced my attention back. “His name is Suga not Sugar.” She rolled her “r” for effect. Not that it helped, I was still as lost as I’d been a few moments ago.
I didn’t think a six-year-old would be able to pick up on my utter confusion. But she did.
“Remember Jimin?” she asked.
“The pancake guy?” I asked, pointing to her plushie.
A little laugh bubbled over her lips, and she hid it behind her hand. “I like Jimin,” she said, still giggling. “And Kate likes Suga.”
That was it. It was all the explanation I was going to get. Which meant I had to do some serious deep diving into the world of K-pop to find out what made this Suga person so special that Kate had his name spread across her chest.
It should be my name.
“Well,” Kate snapped. “You came, you saw, you can go now.”
“Actually.” I moved right into her space. That subtle perfume she favored assaulted my senses in the best damn way possible. “I did not come. But, I do see.” Lowering my head, I whispered next to her ear. “And no, I will not go.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. The only evidence that I had some kind of effect on her.
“Fine. You stay,” she hissed. “We’re going. Come on, Bug.”
Taking Millie’s hand, she marched to the elevator.
I was next to them every step of the way. “Where are we going?”
Kate glared. But thankfully her fury hadn’t rubbed off on Millie.
“Sunday lunch at Gram and Gramps’s.” She smiled a wide gap-toothed smile. “You should come. Grams always says there’s enough food to feed an army.”
“Millie,” Kate warned.
Judging by her tone, she didn’t want me there. Which of course made me want to go even more. I just needed to do something I should’ve done earlier.
Putting my hand on Millie’s shoulder, I squeezed gently. “I’m sorry I disappeared yesterday.”
Kate stopped. So did Millie.
Because I wanted to look into her eyes when I spoke again, I crouched in front of her. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, and I promise it’s nothing you did. Sometimes grown-ups do weird things.”
Scrunching up her nose, she stared at me with those big green eyes filled with sadness. I’d never felt like a bigger asshole in my life. And I completely understood where Kate’s fury had come from.
“Can you forgive me, princess?” I put my hand over my heart. “I promise to do better.”
Kate made a strangled noise.
Millie patted my cheek. “It’s okay, Tristan. I understand. Kate says that grown-ups are constipated sometimes.”
I barked out a laugh. “Constipated?”
The poor kid stared at me like she didn’t understand what I found so funny.
“Complicated,” Kate supplied quietly.
“Yes, that one,” Millie said. “Can we go now?”
Clearly, she was done with the conversation and in a hurry to get to Sunday lunch. And although anything family related wasn’t my thing, spending time with Kate and Millie was.
That’s why I straightened and looked Kate in the eye. “How ’bout it, Kitty Kat. Ready to introduce your parents to their new son-in-law?”