Chapter 14
Act II, Scene VI: The Layla Montague Inn
Titan
T ed and Savi received the furniture for the inn, and I jumped at the opportunity to help as soon as Ted asked.
I knew Kalina would be there.
It’d been a few days since I’d seen her at the hotel, and she was the only thing on my mind. I’d meant it when I’d told her once anything happened between us, I would want more.
‘The flooring is done, the electrician is coming later this week, then it’s all the painting and finishing touches,’ Ted explained.
We walked through the bedrooms, measured the spaces, and tried to determine the best layouts.
Savi strode into the room, enveloped in an oversized fleece hoodie. She wrapped her arms around Ted. ‘Hi.’
‘My love, you should be resting.’ Ted placed his palm on her belly and leaned down to kiss her.
The kiss gravitated toward something more, so I cleared my throat.
‘Sorry, can’t seem to stay away from each other.’ Ted grinned.
‘I’m well aware of the two of you.’ I laughed. ‘No need to apologise, but please remember I’m in the room this time.’
‘Nothing you haven’t already seen before,’ Savi said and winked.
I let out a laugh while redness creeped up Ted’s neck and into his face.
‘I like this setup.’ Savi tipped her head at the current layout of the room. It’d taken Ted and I three tries.
‘We can do this for the double room, then switch it around for the suites. They run a little wider,’ Ted said, gesturing wildly with excitement.
Savi nodded in agreement with her husband. ‘Great, I’ll leave you to it. Lina’s on her way, and we have a few wedding things to chat about.’
I tried acting casual at the mere mention of her name, but I wasn’t doing a good job of it judging by the way Ted looked at me.
‘How is Kalina?’ Ted asked once Savi left the room.
‘What do you mean?’ I looked up and acted really interested in the trim.
‘You’ve been spending a lot of time together.’
I nodded. ‘She’s good. Did a photo-shoot with her last week.’
‘She seems…happy.’ His brow furrowed.
‘Why do you seem worried?’
‘Savi says I worry too much, but I feel like I didn’t worry enough, and now I’m making up for it.’
‘Worry enough?’ I tilted my head.
‘Jesse.’
I had to admit, I’d forgotten about Ted’s rat of a brother for a moment. It wasn’t difficult to do when Kalina had taken up most of my thoughts.
‘She’s capable, and I don’t think it’s an issue anymore. Or at least not as much as it used to be.’ Was Jesse the catalyst for the Agreement? Maybe. But Ted didn’t know about it, and I didn’t want to jeopardise her trust.
Ted nodded, but I could tell this weighed on him.
‘He’s trying to make things right between us, but I don’t know if I’m ready.’
I quirked my eyebrow. ‘That’s…out of character.’
‘I know. Savi won’t hear him out at all, but he’s my brother.’ Ted’s shoulders sagged.
As much as I’d wanted to tell him he should ignore Jesse for the rest of time; I knew my approach to family issues was not a healthy one.
‘Do you want things to be okay between the two of you?’
Ted exhaled. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You don’t have to decide tonight, but if that’s what you want, know Savi and I will support you. I’m sure she’d have some stipulations in place, but she would never ask you to cut him out of your life, and Kalina would understand.’
Ted nodded in agreement. ‘You’re right.’
‘I know.’ I clapped him on the back.
I still didn’t know the details about what had happened between Jesse and Kalina, but it wasn’t my place.
‘Come on, let’s finish up the rooms before my wife comes back to find us wasting time.’
We completed the task within two hours, and descended the stairs to find Kalina and Savi crowded together in front of a laptop at one of the cafe tables in the dining room.
‘Are you done? Can we eat now?’ Savi looked panic stricken.
‘My love, why were you waiting for us?’ Ted rushed to her side and cupped her face.
Kalina laughed. ‘She wasn’t. I made her a snack—she’s ravenous.’
Ted wrapped his arms around his wife and placed a loving kiss on her head. ‘Let’s feed you and our little darling, shall we?’
Kalina looked up at me, and the way she bit down on her lip made me ravenous in a different way.
‘You can catch Ted up on the wedding details. I’ll get the food,’ she said to Savi.
‘I can help,’ I offered.
To anyone else it would go unnoticed, but the quick flush of her cheeks and rush of her breath told me everything I needed to know.
‘Thanks.’
When she stood, it took me a moment to compose myself.
Dressed in a fitted, black cropped top and flared yoga pants that hugged her perfectly, she wasn’t playing fair.
I followed her to the kitchen, and my gaze raked over her body hungrily. She stepped through the saloon doors, turned around, and collided into me.
I reached out and grabbed her arms. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes. Why are you walking on my heels?’
‘Because you’re torturing me’
She shook her head and chuckled. ‘What?’
I let go of her arms then rubbed my palms over my face. ‘This look,’ I said and gestured to her outfit. ‘It’s…distracting.’
She laughed. ‘Sorry. I had a Pilates class and didn’t have time to change.’
I groaned at the image. ‘You’re killing me.’
‘Come on,’ she said and playfully tapped my arm. ‘Help me with dinner like you so graciously offered.’
‘I can’t be the only one thinking about the other night?’
She paused in front of the large kitchen island.
‘I…’ she stammered. ‘Of course I’m thinking about it. But what are we meant to do?’ She kept her gaze down as she unpacked each of the bags.
I reached across and dragged one of the bags towards me, forcing her to look up. ‘Well, I don’t want things to be weird between us.’
‘It’s not weird.’ She opened the lids of each container, looked inside, then put them down in a neat line.
‘You can’t even look at me.’ I crossed my arms over my chest.
She looked up, to disprove my point. ‘Because you’re looking at me like you want to do it again.’
I shrugged. ‘I do.’
Her cheeks flushed and she busied herself with the food again.
‘Me too,’ she whispered.
I walked around the obstructive island until we faced each other.
Her throat worked and she stepped back, hitting the countertop.
‘Why don’t we?’ I sounded a little too eager. Even to my own ears.
More of Kalina? More time to explore her body and what turned her on?
‘It’s a bad idea.’
‘What if,’ I started, placed my hands on the edge of the counter beside her hips, and leaned in. ‘You gave us rules? You love rules.’
She considered my suggestion for a moment. ‘We’d have to go through what we’ve already covered.’
‘Well…we have flirting and charm,’ I said, and leaned closer. ‘You’re extremely charming, but you don’t always notice the flirting.’
‘Is this you being flirty?’ She crossed her arms over her chest.
I looked down to admire what it did to her breasts.
‘It’s me being my usual self with you.’
‘Eyes up here.’ She gestured to her face.
I grinned. ‘You flirt and you don’t realise it.’
‘Okay, we’ll circle back. What else?’
I thought about the Agreement and her various requests. ‘Date etiquette.’
‘You haven’t given me the go-ahead to go on a date.’
We’d done a lot of talking, a few practice dates, but she was right. No actual dates. ‘This week then.’
‘Then there’s conversations and topics of interest, which I think is actually where things go awry.’
‘The coffee shop wasn’t an accurate measuring tool. I’ll need to think about it a little more.’
‘You’re doing an awful lot of thinking and not enough action.’
I laughed. ‘Are you not happy with your service?’
‘I’m going to have to find another mentor…’
A flicker of jealousy rippled through me at the mere thought of her practising like this with someone else.
‘You don’t have to help me with the last point. Being around you gives me great insight into assholes.’
I placed a palm on my chest. ‘You wound me.’
She smiled. ‘Kidding. But I have an idea…’
I quirked a brow at her. ‘Continue.’
‘We can add these as lessons.’
‘Sex?’
Her eyes widened then she peeked around my shoulder. ‘Yes, sex.’ She looked at me again. ‘Like I said, you have a way about you. It’s very…charismatic.’
A smile tugged on my lips. ‘If you wanted to have sex with me, all you had to do was ask.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Right place, right time.’
‘Sure…’
‘Are you saying no?’
I shook my head. ‘Of course not. I told you I want to do it again, and more.’
‘I think the rules would still be the same? Practice, sufficient heads up, and no kissing.’
The mention of kissing had me looking at her lips. ‘You sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are you hungry?’ I asked. My question was two-fold.
She swallowed then shook her head.
‘Then I know where we can start.’
I lied to Ted and Savi and told them we had a secret wedding errand to run. Savi looked like she wanted to question it, but I ushered Kalina out the door before either of them could get a proper look at her face.
‘I wouldn’t have said anything.’ She shrugged on her coat as we stepped outside.
‘Your face would’ve.’
‘You’re the only one who notices it.’
She was mostly right, but I wasn’t going to take the risk.
We passed my bike, and continued down the street toward the Tube.
‘I could meet you wherever we’re going. You don’t have to walk with me.’
‘I like our walks. It’s actually where I find out the most information about you.’ I focused on taking smaller steps so she wouldn’t need to hurry to keep up.
She placed her hands in her pockets. ‘I do a lot of my thinking while I walk, so it makes sense it slips out when you’re around.’
I loved hearing what was going on inside her head.
‘This is why I think it’s the environment you’re in for dates that’s the issue, and not you as a person.’
‘Both of those things can be true.’
‘After tonight, you’ll understand what I mean.’
She paused mid–step. ‘What do you mean? Are we jumping right into it? Tonight?’
I laughed. ‘No. We need to finish our lesson from the other night first.’
Her eyes widened.
‘The photos. We’re going to develop them.’
‘Oh.’
‘I know I told you it’s what I’ve been thinking about. But it’s not all I’ve been thinking about.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry. I like knowing what’s going on inside your head. And the fact you’re thinking about sex with me.’ I wiggled my eyebrows
She laughed then swatted my arm. ‘Stop.’
‘Do you want me to tell you about some of my bad dates to make you feel better?’
She whipped her head to face me. ‘You go on dates?’
‘Well…dated. It was a long time ago.’
‘Tell me.’ She looked up at me with eager eyes and took a step closer.
I laughed. ‘Okay, don’t act so excited. I used to date in high school and the early days of university.’
‘Oh, that’s how you met Ted right?’
Her excitement made her inch closer and closer to me and I wanted to pull her body against mine. Instead, I nodded. ‘Yeah, he was doing a business degree, and I was studying architecture.’
‘Scarlet wanted to follow in her big brother’s footsteps. So cute.’ Kalina pouted her lips and her eyes went wide.
‘Cute doesn’t feel right when you’re talking about me.’
‘But you are. Cute, I mean.’ Her cheeks tinged a light pink.
‘I’m holding onto that admission for later. So, one date brought her mother along.’
‘No.’ Kalina’s hand flew up to cover her gasp. ‘Seriously?’
I laughed. ‘Yes. To be fair, her mom was visiting at the time and she wanted to take her out. A really lovely woman actually.’
Our train arrived and I used it as an excuse to touch Kalina again as we wove through the people.
‘Titan, no.’ Her laughter bubbled up and rang out of her like little bells. ‘What did you do?’
‘I took them out to dinner.’ I shrugged.
She considered what I’d said and her gaze met mine. ‘You’re so lovely.’
‘Why do you always sound surprised?’
‘I know I shouldn’t, you’ve been nothing but wonderful to me, but you have a certain reputation that precedes you.’
‘Tell me what you think of me. Now that you’ve gotten to know me?’
‘Well…’ She looked out of the window thoughtfully. After a few beats, she looked back at me. ‘You’re kind and care about the people close to you, but you don’t like to show it.’
‘Okay, interesting.’ I nodded. ‘What else?’
‘You don’t believe in love, in a romantic sense, but you love those you choose to keep in your life. In an almost protective way.’
‘You’re not wrong.’
She hesitated.
‘You can ask me anything, dimples.’
‘You really don’t believe you’ll find a love like, say, Savi and Ted? An all encompassing, soulmate kind of love?’ She considered me with a tilt of her head.
I shook my head. ‘I don’t think it’s meant for everyone.’
‘Maybe I’m not meant to have a date for the wedding. It’s three weeks away.’
‘You could always go with me.’ I flashed her my most charming grin.
She nodded slowly. ‘That would really annoy Jesse.’
Jesse. It always came back to him. While I’d love nothing more than to annoy him, I wanted to be her date because I wanted to spend the day with her. I shook the thoughts from my head, and plastered a grin on my face. ‘At least you know you’ll have a good time.’
‘We can add it to the Agreement then.’ She spoke about it as if it were something she added to her daily to-do list. She turned to look at the people chatting around us, her shoulders relaxed, and an easy smile across her face, with those little dips in her cheeks.
Had I realised how much this weighed on her, I’d have suggested it sooner.
Our stop came up and we moved through the throng of people, worked our way up the stairs, and down the street to my studio. We were enveloped in darkness when we walked through the door.
‘Have you ever fallen down the stairs?’ Kalina asked, and her gaze lingered on the wrought iron staircase leading up to the loft.
I turned on the dimmers. ‘Almost.’
‘You’re surrounded by hazards.’ She slipped off her sneakers then lined them up next to the shoe rack before unbuttoning her coat and shrugging it off.
It took everything in me not to reach out to touch her, but I drank her in; thinking back to the night when I’d had my hands and lips all over her.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked, lifting her hair up into a high ponytail.
‘Yeah.’ I shrugged my jacket off and hung it up beside her coat. ‘Let’s go.’
I led the way down the passage beside the kitchen to the door with the do not enter sign on it.
‘Give me your hand,’ I said.
Kalina hesitantly put her hand in mine. ‘Are you going to murder me?’
I opened the door and we stepped into the small space before I shut it and bathed us in complete darkness.
Our bodies were nearly flush and her sweet scent rushed up to greet me.
‘I’d be the nicest murderer if I told you.’
I couldn’t see her face, but I could hear the eye roll she undoubtedly threw my way. ‘What happens now?’
I pulled aside the dark, heavy curtain and stepped forward.
‘Now we have a little fun.’