Chapter 12
Twelve
Kayden
It’s taking everything in my power not to give in to my desires and take Dani behind the restaurant and ravage her senseless. I refrain, just barely, and only because I know she’s hungry and embarrassed at being caught in the hallway.
“Come on, Dani.” I break the silence as we hold each other’s gaze.
“Right, hibachi,” she murmurs, toying with her lip ring.
My eyes dip to her lips but she catches the movement, immediately halting her actions as she releases the lip ring and hurries to my side.
“Let’s go,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me along the sidewalk until we get to the restaurant entrance next to the mall.
The smell of steak and grilled vegetables hit my nose just as I hold the door for Dani.
She says a quiet thank you, walking up to the hostess and asking for a hibachi table.
When the hostess starts telling her our party isn’t large enough for a hibachi table, I slip out my wallet, handing a couple hundred bills to the hostess.
“We’ll take the hibachi table,” I say, daring her to argue with me. If Dani wants the hibachi table, then she gets the hibachi table. Plain and simple.
The hostess gives a quick smile and pockets the money. “Right this way, please.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Dani whispers angrily as we are led to a massive U-shaped table with a flat-top grill in the center that seats ten people.
I shrug my shoulders. It won’t be the last time I give Dani whatever she wants. She doesn’t realize the hold she has over me, this burning desire to give her the world. I want Dani like I’ve never wanted anything else in my life.
“Please have a seat and your chef will be out shortly.”
I pull out Dani’s seat for her and gently push her in before taking the seat to her left. I lay my hand just above Dani’s knee and notice her gaze at my hand before a slight blush graces her cheeks. Giving a light squeeze, I lean over and whisper, “Do you like when I touch you, spitfire?”
Dani turns her head toward me as I lean in, putting us nose to nose, our lips centimeters apart. She clears her throat and turns away quickly, smoothing her napkin across her lap and grabbing the menu.
I can’t help the chuckle that slips out as I remove my hand from her leg, situating my own napkin just as the hibachi chef makes an appearance, placing waters in front of both of us.
“Welcome! My name is Lam and I will be cooking your food today. Are there any dietary restrictions or allergies I should know about before we start?”
Dani and I both reply with a no and proceed to look over the menu. It doesn’t take long for Dani to put her menu down, so I do the same. Once the chef notices, he takes our orders.
“I’ll have the hibachi filet mignon and grilled teriyaki chicken with fried rice, no onion,” Dani says.
“I’ll have the same.”
Handing our menus back, I take a sip of my water before turning to Dani.
“So tell me, Dani. When do I get to see that dress on you, and then later, on the floor?”
She blushes. I’ll never get enough of the way her cheeks color at my forwardness.
“You seem mighty confident it’ll end up on the floor.”
“Dani, I want you and I know you want me. I know you can feel whatever this is between us.”
The sound of the sizzle from the grill lights up in the background as the chef starts breaking eggs and cooking the rice and meat.
“And what exactly is this between us, Kayden? Lust that can be tamed with a quick fuck—a one-night stand?”
“You could never be rid of me that easily, spitfire. I have a feeling once I got a taste, there would be no staying away.”
Dani doesn’t reply, just holds my gaze, searching for a lie. Not finding one, she looks away, seeming to shake herself from her thoughts. “Anyway, tell me a little about yourself, Kayden. I know a little from what Melody has told me, but I’d like to hear it from you.”
I rub the back of my neck, contemplating how much of my trauma I should dump on her.
I’m not normally one to share my past. I’m normally the quiet one, but around Dani it’s as though I want to share everything with her.
I’ve never wanted to be so honest and open with anyone until now.
Maybe it’s because I want her to want me, the real me.
“Where do I even start? James and I were born in the United Kingdom but were adopted by our parents as kids into the United States. Our birth parents were horrible addicts, I mean worst of the worst. James always tried to shield me from their abuse, but he was only a child as well. He could only do so much and half the time, whatever beating he saved me from was redirected at him. I never knew a kind touch until our adoptive parents took us in.”
She reaches over and places her hand over mine. “I’m so sorry, Kayden. That must have been horrible. I can’t even imagine…”
When she moves to take her hand away, I quickly squeeze her hand, gently but firmly, to keep her hand over mine. She’s not escaping me that easily. She smiles nervously.
“Nothing to be sorry for. Life was good after they took us in. A few years later they adopted Jaxon and Brooke when their parents died in a car accident, and our childhood was as perfect as it could ever be, minus my rebellious stage. I enlisted in the military straight out of high school, quickly rose in the ranks and joined an elite branch. I’m not going to go into details, but the military gave me an outlet I hadn’t realized I needed until I went on my first mission.
A few years later, Jaxon came into millions of dollars from his birth parents when he turned eighteen, and he shared the wealth with all of us and taught us how to keep the money growing.
He quickly learned that he had a knack for trading and the stock market.
It wasn’t long until all of us became billionaires. ”
I pause to see if I’m boring her, but Dani looks enraptured with everything I’m laying out, so I continue.
“Years later, I was honorably discharged from the military, and I was lost as to what to do with myself. By the time I left the military, the millions that Jaxon invested for me turned into billions, and I had no idea what to do with it. With Jax’s guidance, I started investing in realty, purchasing and renovating apartment buildings, homes, and condos all across the United States.
I was away from home most of the time, traveling to look at properties and enter bidding wars.
Eventually, I missed home though. I came back to California after leaving my properties with my management company, and I opened Club LAX shortly after. ”
“Huh…” she replies, taking it all in. “I would have never thought you were a billionaire if Melody didn’t tell me. Rich maybe, but a billionaire? I would have had no idea. You are power personified, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t give off that douchy vibe, ya know?”
I chuckle. “I didn’t grow up entitled, none of us did.
Yes, our childhood was nearly perfect with Jenny and Bill, but money wasn’t something they were well off on.
Bill was a police officer with mediocre pay, and Jenny made decent money as a nurse at the hospital, but raising four kids isn’t cheap.
Jaxon ensured they were taken care of when he came into his money, though.
At first they wouldn’t accept it, but eventually Jax wore them down.
He bought them a nice house and vehicles, but other than that, they don’t really touch the money aside from a trip or two a year to the Bahamas. ”
Dani gets a dreamy look in her eyes as she watches the chef finish cooking our meals. “Bahamas is on my bucket list.”
“I’ll have to remember that when I plan our first trip.”
Her gaze snaps to mine. “That’s… very forward of you.”
Reaching over, I brush a strand of hair away from her face, gently tucking it behind her ear and leaning in. “I’m very forward when it comes to you, Dani. I’m a man that knows what he wants.”
Dani turns her face barely an inch, and it takes everything in my will power not to cover her lips with my own, drink her in, and take her right here on this hibachi table.
“And what is it, exactly, that you want, Kayden?”
The way my name sounds on her lips. “Say my name again.”
She pulls her gaze from my lips and meets my eyes, her own widening slightly. “Kayden,” she murmurs.
“Mmm, makes me wonder what it’ll sound like when you’re screaming it…”
Dani releases a shuddered breath. Glad to know I affect her as much as she affects me.
The chef interrupts by placing our plates in front of us. Steam wafts from our food, and I’m quickly reminded of how hungry Dani must be. I pull away from her, releasing her hand and nudging her plate toward her. “Eat up, spitfire.”
The rest of our meal continues with Dani telling me a little about her life leading up to Anthony Romani.
Her parents made good money, and while they weren’t millionaires, they lived well enough to support her modeling career.
Two years into her pursuit of modeling, her mother was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and passed just a few months later.
Her father took her mother’s death extremely hard and a year later passed from suicide.
Dani was left with her childhood home and their remaining money.
She sold everything to come to California and lived off their money while she was getting established.
Living in California, though, the money went fast. Anthony Romani’s photoshoot call was her desperate search to finally make her own money and build her portfolio.
“I lived off their money for years, and look where it got me. I went through it all and then I got desperate, leading me directly into Anthony’s clutches. It’s why I won’t use the money you gave me unless I have to. I don’t ever want to be in that predicament ever again.”
I clench my teeth, my frustration at her disregard probably evident on my face. She’s never going to want for anything else in her life. The sooner she realizes this, the better.
“I won’t allow you to ever be in that situation ever again, Dani. Not on my watch.”
“Yeah, and what happens when you die? Like my parents died?” she asks, her cheeks reddening. “No, I don’t want to become dependent on anyone ever again. I refuse.”
It’s probably too soon to tell her she’s already in my will, and everything will be hers when I pass. I rub the back of my neck—yeah, probably too soon.
“We’ll see, Dani.”
She huffs out a sigh and we continue to eat our food in comfortable silence.
This woman is mine and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.