Chapter 4
POV: Kiera?
What the actual hell was that? I thought as I rode the elevator down alone, staring at the lit up buttons as if they’d bring me salvation.
I felt as if I could finally….breathe. As if I could finally…think straight. As if every sense was not…clouded any longer.
And I couldn’t make sense of it.
My preoccupation with Cain Naughton.
A man I’ve never met before today. A man whose presence enamored me, even though he was curt and rude and quite frankly terrified me.
Maybe I’m still overwhelmed from being cheated on? No, no, I didn’t even really care about breaking up with Blake. He was a scumbag, so that couldn’t be it.
I think I was just terrified…of him.
But not just terrified, no.
It was something else.
His presence also…aroused me?
I clenched my legs together to keep the wetness from totally overtaking my panties.
Why was I aroused?
That’s actually really weird.
I’ve never been merely aroused from a man’s presence. It always takes more for me…touch, kissing, fingering, licking—not just looking at him.
But he caused me to feel sensory overload by just being in the same room with him.
I felt like I was in the actual twilight zone right about now.
No way did that just happen—no way did I feel so overwhelmed by honesty that I had actually admitted the real reason that I was fired by my ex— but the truth was that I had—I had felt inclined, as if I was almost hypnotized and needed to tell Cain Naughton the truth.
Did he drug me? Was that it?
If it was then that could explain this entire situation. But I didn’t drink anything or accept anything from him.
Maybe he’s one of those psychopaths that somehow puts drugs on things like chairs—doorknobs—who knows at this point, because that interaction was absolutely not normal.
I could still hear my heart practically burgeoning to get out of my chest.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as the elevator came to a stop and I took a small step out of the elevator.
But I could see was him as I closed my eyes.
His deep blue eyes staring at me—-swallowing me whole.
Holy fuck.
That almost made me not remember to breathe.
Breathe, Kiera, stop being unreasonable. Breathe.
Eventually, after a lot of self coaching I was able to breathe properly.
As I walked out of the building, along with taking lots of heavy, prolonged coached breaths, I decided that I deserved a much needed glass of wine and bowl of pasta after the strange encounter. Plus, it gave me some time to think about what actually happened—practical explanations not whatever I was concocting up during my elevator ride…that was crazy.
I stopped at an Italian restaurant a half of a mile away from Naughton Technologies and snuggled in a small corner booth overlooking the street.
I ordered my usual comfort food for bad and draining days—vodka rigatoni with a tall glass of pinot noir.
It hit, as it usually did and I let out a breath of relief as I basically inhaled my pasta and ordered a second glass of wine.
Ok, so what happened earlier really? What’s a rational explanation for it?
He could be a vampire and hypnotized me with that glamour shit they talk about in books and movies? (No, not rational at all—next).
I could’ve had low blood sugar considering all I had today was a piece of raisin toast before this meal? (More reasonable but next).
Maybe I was so overwhelmed and nervous and maybe him staring at me as if he could see through my soul almost made me collapse from pressure? (That one sounds reasonable?)
I finally took my last bite of pasta and clutched my wine glass steadily in my hand as I stared out the window and began to people watch to get my mind off of well…everything.
I took a large swig of wine watching the passerbys fast walk down the sidewalk.
I admired the couples that walked holding hands and I watched people scurry by with their cute little dogs and that’s when I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye.
Someone.
Him.
Cain Naughton standing across the street, staring inside at me.
I almost spilled my wine all over the table and my lap.
I blinked my eyes closed then open again, hoping I was just imagining it.
And he was gone.
He was no longer across the street staring at me like a stalker.
Ok, so there’s two potential options here.
He’s a vampire just like I thought.
Or
I imagined it and I probably need therapy.
But something inside me…tingled? Tingled with the recognition of his presence.
And I knew either way I looked at it—if he was a supernatural creature or if I was going insane, there was something between us that I couldn’t forget.