Chapter 20 – Kirby
twenty
Kirby
When the phone rang from my bedside table, I knew it was one of four people, and four people only: Kylie, Coach, Jaxon, or Lexi. They are the only ones on my favorites list, so even when I put it on do not disturb, they can get through to me.
I jumped up when I heard the vibration, and then I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw her name. I turn over in my bed, surprised. “What’s up?” I ask her when I hear her backpedaling and then her voice changes, and I can almost hear the smile in her voice and the shyness.
“I’ve decided to take the job,” she says and I sit up straight in bed, “with one condition.” Whatever it is, it’s going to be yes, but I don’t tell her that.
My heart picks up speed, thinking about what the condition will be and secretly hoping it ends up with us naked and in bed together. “We ride a roller coaster together.”
I huff out and collapse back onto my bed. “Fuck no.” I shake my head side to side.
“Come on, Kirby,” she says teasingly, “I dare you.” I will give this woman whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. Even going out of my own fucking comfort zone to make her happy.
I close my eyes and all I can see is her face smiling from ear to ear, and my mouth is quicker than my brain. “Fine,” I concede, “but I want it in writing.”
She laughs and it shoots straight to my dick. “Fine, we will get it in writing.”
“When do you want to do this?” I ask her, trying to tell myself it’s going to be two minutes of torture, but in the end it’ll be worth it.
“How about Saturday?” she asks. “I know you guys come back on Friday and there is no game on Saturday.”
“Fine,” I agree, reaching out my empty hand to the side, wishing she was here. “I will make plans for Saturday.”
“It’s a date,” she states and I sit up in bed, wondering if she thinks it’s a date-date, like I get to hold her hand and at the end of the night I get to kiss her, or it’s an I’ll meet you there and I’m not inviting you in after.
“It’s a date,” I repeat with the biggest smile on my face. “Now that we got that out of the way, should we discuss work?”
“Sure,” she says and I hear the waves crash in the background and wonder how far away she is from me.
“Do you want to come over to my house and we can get the contract signed, and then we can discuss all the things?”
“Um,” she hesitates and I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I would but I promised I would watch baby Jagger so Jaxon and Ariella could have a date night before he leaves.”
I turn to the side. “Okay, so how about we discuss it on Saturday? Right before I sign away my life.”
She laughs. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“It is that big of a deal,” I say tightly, “and I hope you know there is no one else in this whole fucking universe I would do this for besides you.”
“I know,” she says softly, “and there is no one else in this whole fucking universe I would go to work for besides you.”
“I’m glad you are going to be part of the team,” I say, wishing I could be in front of her when I say this, “a very important part of the team.”
“Okay, just so I’m prepared,” she says, and I can hear her walking on her end of the phone, “when do I start?”
“How about Monday?” I inhale. “No time like the present.”
“Oh wow, but you are right, no time like the present.”
“We can prolong it.” I toss the cover off myself and get up.
“No,” she snaps, “Monday it is.”
“Eager.” I chuckle, walking down the steps to the kitchen. “I like it.” She laughs. “Okay, so how about this? We do that stupid roller-coaster thing and then come back to my house and we can go over your contract.”
“Fine,” she agrees and I don’t know why I feel like jumping up and tapping my heels together. “Why don’t you call me when you guys get back on Friday, and we can set up a time and a place to meet?”
“If it’s easier, I can pick you up or you can come here and leave your car here.” I give her different options instead of saying what I really want to say, and that is, I’ll pick you up.
“Might be easier to just leave my car at your house. Now that I start work in less than a week, I have to get my ass into gear.” My cock springs to life when I picture her ass. “Okay, I’m excited,” she says gleefully. “Have a good trip.”
“I’m sure I’ll talk to you while I’m there,” I mention hopefully. “If not, I’ll speak to you on Friday.” I reluctantly hang up the phone and call Kylie right away.
“Hello,” she answers after two rings, “you’ve reached Kylie, who is busy—” I laugh when she pretends to be her answering machine.
“Hey,” I cut her off mid-sentence, “she’s taking the job.”
“Lexi?” she asks me.
“No, the mayor of Munchkinland.” I roll my eyes. “Yes, Lexi.”
“Wow, someone chose violence today,” she hisses. “No one likes a smart-ass, Kirby.”
“Noted.” I grin. “Now, she starts on Monday, so be ready.”
“Are you going to bring her in beforehand to introduce her?”
“Nah, I’m leaving tomorrow and I’m only back on Friday. She’s taking the job under one condition.”
“Do I even want to know? Will my ears bleed?”
“I ride a roller coaster with her.” She gasps so loud my ear hurts.
“You hate those,” she reminds me.
“I know.” I shrug. “But how bad can it be? I can close my eyes and think of my happy place.”
“I honestly do not want to know what your happy place is. That’s a no for me.” I hear the sound of her pretending to vomit.
“That is not my happy place.”
“Oh please, then what is?” The way that question is followed with probably an eye roll makes me almost burst out laughing.
“My house. Sitting on the beach.” I start to name a couple of things and she groans.
“Okay, this therapy session took a nosedive. I will have everything set up for her to start on Monday. It’ll be good.” She snickers. “Try not to die on that death trap.” I groan out and just hang up the phone before I rub my hands over my face.
“The things I do for you, Lexi,” I mumble. “The things I do for you.” I look out the window and start the countdown until I get to see her.
* * *
I sit on the steps outside in the front, waiting for her to arrive.
She texted me twenty minutes ago, telling me she was on her way.
I spot her SUV from the distance and get up to my feet with the gate open for her to drive in.
I can’t help the smile that fills my face when I see her.
She has her hair down and is wearing a pair of gold-rimmed aviator glasses.
I walk over to the driver’s side door and pull the handle.
“Hi,” I say, trying to contain how happy I am to see her.
“Hey,” she greets, taking off her glasses and giving me her eyes. “How excited are we?” she asks me, reaching over to the passenger side and grabbing her blue crossbody purse.
“On a scale of one to a hundred”—I move out of the way so she can come down—“it’s at a minus ten.” She shakes her head. “Which is a lot better than this morning when I almost cancelled.”
“You didn’t,” she says and closes the door and I take in her outfit.
She’s wearing a pair of loose, light-blue jeans, with a long-sleeved white top, her midriff showing off her tanned skin.
But it’s the sneakers on her feet that have me gawking.
My eyes go back to her midriff and the hint of skin she’s showing.
“I’m sorry if I’m staring,” I apologize in advance. “I didn’t think you owned jeans or sneakers.” She smirks.
“Let’s just say that I got a refresher in my clothing department.” She puts the crossbody around her top. “I still have stuff for work, but I have a lot more casual me clothes.”
“Well, you look good in anything,” my mouth says before I can stop it, “but I really like you in the jeans.”
“Thank you, and you look comfortable.” She takes in my outfit of black joggers and a long-sleeve white shirt that is pushed up to my elbows.
“Figured if I throw up, this will absorb more than jeans,” I answer her honestly. “You ready to go so we can get this over with?”
“It’s okay to not be okay,” she tells me. “I’m so excited.”
“Well, at least one of us is,” I mumble as I walk over to my own SUV and open the door for her. “After you.”
She stops and puts her hand on the door. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time.” She gets in and I close the door.
“You better be.” I walk around to the driver’s side. “I keep thinking about the rides,” I tell her as I pull out and head toward the amusement park. “I even went and watched videos of them.”
“Of course you did,” she states and the whole car already smells like her, a bright citrus scent.
“Why does this not surprise me?” I look at the road and pull into the parking lot, pulling into the first spot I can find.
“Here we go,” she chirps and I just close my eyes before getting out of the SUV.
She waits for me in the back. “Do you want to start slow?” she asks me as we walk with people toward the front gate. “I also already bought us tickets”—she takes out her phone—“and the fast pass so we can go right to the front of the line and you can’t back out.”
“I’m not going to back out,” I assure her nervously, “and we should probably just get it over with.” I look around as she walks to one of the booths as she scans her phone.
“Here,” she says, handing me a bracelet, “today is on me.”
“That’s a very intriguing offer,” I tell her and I can see her eyes get a touch darker, and her cheeks turn a hint of pink as she looks down and avoids my eyes. “Thank you.”
She shakes her head, putting on her own bracelet. “I meant, it’s cashless, so whatever you want, it charges my card.”
“I’m too nervous to argue with you,” I admit to her, looking around and she tries to hide the smile by biting her bottom lip. “How was your week?” I turn to her and I can’t help but smile when she smiles.
“I got the keys to my new house,” she declares proudly, “and I moved in, mostly.” I follow her to the entrance as she scans her bracelet and it beeps, letting her in.
“Please don’t work,” I joke as I scan my own bracelet and it beeps, letting me in. “This is happening,” I say and I feel her hand slip into mine.
“I promise you, I’ll be here the whole time,” she assures me, and with her hand in mine, I think I’d do whatever she asked me to do. Roller coaster, jump out of a plane, swim with sharks, in a cage, obviously, but I would do anything.
“Okay, so which one do you want to do?” I ask her as we walk hand in hand through the throngs of people. I see a couple of people do a double take when I walk by them.
“Shit,” she swears, stopping and looking at me. “I didn’t even think people might recognize you.” Her hand slips out of mine and I want to grab her hand back.
“Does it bother you?” I ask her, seeing her eyes looking around. “It really doesn’t bother me. Worst case, I have to take a couple of pictures.”
“No,” she says, stepping in close to me, and I swear I stop breathing, “worst case is you throw up on the ride and it goes viral.”
“That pretty much is a worst-case scenario,” I admit, looking around and smiling at a couple of people who have stopped to look. “Now before I run out of here with my tail between my legs, let’s get this over with.”
I slip my hand in hers, this time our fingers intertwined and it feels more intimate. “Okay, so I think we just do the Goliath and call it a day.”
I don’t answer her as she pulls up the park map on her phone. “I think it’s over there.” She points and I try to collect myself.
She zigzags through people, the whole time holding on to my hand until we get to the ride. “Are you tall enough?” she jokes over her shoulder, going through the line of fast pass and I can hear people yelling.
“I think I’m going to be a little sick,” I tell her and she turns back to me, stopping me in my tracks but making her bump into my chest. My hand comes up to grip her hip, while she puts her hand on my chest.
“We don’t have to do this,” she backpedals softly. I move my hand from her hip to the small of her back, and I pull her closer to me. “I’ll still take the job.”
“A deal is a deal,” I tell her, looking into her eyes and then down at her lips before looking back up at her eyes. “We do scary things all the time.”
“You are one of the bravest people I know,” she says softly, and I wonder if she can feel how fast my heart is beating under her hand. I can blame it on the ride, but the reality is that it’s her.
“It’s funny,” I reply, as if there aren’t a thousand people around us, “I was thinking the exact same thing about you.” I let go of her hand and move it to the side of her neck. Both of us staring in each other’s eyes.
“Sorry,” someone says from behind me, interrupting the moment, “are you guys going or can we go ahead of you?”
I chuckle, hanging my head before looking back at him. “We’re going,” I tell him and then drop my hand from her neck to slip back into her hand. “Let’s go.” I walk ahead of her and go to the front of the line.
“This is the line for the first car,” she tells me, looking at me with big eyes.
“Go big or go home, right?” I tell her and she just opens her mouth and then quickly closes it. “Besides”—I pull her closer to me—“I never back down from a dare.”