Chapter 7
Tori
Looking out of the kitchen window, I could easily see Kai in the yard. Shirtless and with a hammer in his hand, he was working on the sagging section of Gran’s fence while sweat ran in lazy lines down his chest.
My phone buzzed on the counter, signaling an incoming call, and the screen lit up with a picture of me and Mom at my high school graduation. I just stared at it until the buzzing stopped and the screen turned black again.
I loved my mom, but the thought of a conversation with her was overwhelming at the moment. She had devoted herself to me for years, and it didn't seem right to burden her with my problems again. Mom had done her part and was finally living for herself.
I knew if I’d said the word, she'd be here in the blink of an eye, supporting me and being there for Gran … but it wouldn't be fair. This was my mess. My responsibility.
If that meant dodging her calls because I hated lying to her, then so be it.
Guilt gnawing at my insides, I turned around and headed for the back door.
“It’s called Downward Dog, not Faceplanting Frog,” she mumbled, attempting to bend at the waist with all the grace of a folding chair, just as I stepped through the back door, coffee in hand.
“Here, Janet, let me—” Kai hastily stepped forward with outstretched arms just in time to catch her.
He caught her easily, steadying her shoulders with his big hands as though he’d done this before. She blinked up at him, completely unbothered.
“Well…” Gran fluffed her hair. “That’s one way to get my heart rate up.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself laughing, but a snort escaped anyway.
Kai shot me a grin over his shoulder. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
I couldn’t help but stare, almost mesmerized by how handsome he looked right then. His nose was straight but had a little character to it as if it had weathered at least one rough season. It suited him.
His full lips made every hint of a smile feel like it was meant just for you. And when he fully smiled — wide, bright and completely unguarded — it hit you in the chest a little harder than it should have.
Jesus fucking Christ, snap out of it, Tori.
“Maybe a little.”
“This one's called the balance pose,” she announced cheerfully, right before grabbing Kai's arm for support.
Gran resumed what I think was supposed to be a tree pose, but it looked more like a slow-motion fall.
He steadied her again, as patient as ever. “Gotcha.”
Gran blinked up at him, her eyes twinkling. “See, Tori? This one’s useful. Strong arms. Polite. You should keep him.”
“Gran.” I let my head fall back and covered my face.
Kai’s grin widened. “You heard the lady.”
“Yeah, she also thinks the neighbor’s cat talks back,” I said quietly.
“Only when you’re not around,” Gran said primly, brushing imaginary dirt from her hands. “You two make a cute pair when you stop pretending to hate him.”
“We’re not a pair,” I corrected too quickly, taking a sip of my coffee to hide my expression behind my mug. “We’re — uh — running buddies.”
Kai choked on his spit and I pursed my lips as I glared at him with raised eyebrows.
“Right, Kai?”
“Yup. Nah yeah, running’s our thing. So much fun.”
“If you say so, dear. Now, I must say, I don’t believe in running, personally,” Gran mused while beginning to stalk through the grass like a stork … or maybe a flamingo.
“What is that even supposed to mean? How can you not believe in running? It’s just something you do, Gran.”
“Or don’t,” she quipped. “I don’t believe in it, dear, because it’s dull. And you know I don't have much time left, so I'd much rather spend it doing useful things.”
Kai side-eyed me, clearly struggling to keep a straight face.
“Right, of course. Because all this here,” — I gestured at her stalking through the grass in circles — “certainly seems like a good way to spend your valuable, limited time.”
“Quite right, dear. The dew on the grass feels heavenly,” she hummed.
“Dunno how you feel anything through those scaly soles, but okay,” I muttered under my breath but Kai had heard me. He snorted, then quickly tried to disguise it as a cough.
I turned to face him, eyeing him warily. My stomach did one of those weird little swoops as I took in the expanse of his broad chest dusted with a smattering of dark hair, the ink covering his shoulder and winding around his arm, and his thick midsection.
Although I’d certainly felt him on our little adventure, I’d never seen him shirtless before and found I really liked it. Let the other girls drool over cut abs and lean waists; I’d take a big boy any day.
Even though we’d set boundaries, I wasn't sure about him just showing up at my place. I didn't need our lives to become more intertwined than they already were, and if I didn’t know he was leaving anyway, I’d be worried about what would happen when this thing between us inevitably ended.
“What are you even doing here?” My question came out more abrasively than I’d intended, but he smiled easily despite it.
“Helping out the locals.” Kai’s expression was all innocence as he tapped the hammer against his shoulder. “Part of my cultural exchange program.”
Gran clapped her hands. “Oh, that’s lovely. I should tell the neighborhood association we’ve got one of those now.”
“Please don’t,” I said flatly.
“Too late.” She snatched the mug from my hands and heading toward the house before I could protest. “My Facebook will want to know.”
When she finally disappeared inside — presumably to inform her online friends about Kai's non-existent services — I slumped onto the porch steps and sighed.
Kai followed, sitting down beside me in his typically sprawling manner and taking up too much space. The yard buzzed with cicadas, and somewhere a lawn mower droned, lazy and steady.
He leaned back on his elbows, squinting at the sky. “Soooo…”
“So?” I huffed.
“I was wondering … is this your hometown?”
“Yeah.” I lowered my gaze to my hands in my lap. “Born and raised. Never left.”
“Really, never? I’m assuming you like it here, then?”
“I like not worrying about Gran setting herself on fire. She’s got a thing for scented candles and ‘manifestation rituals.’”
Kai chuckled. “She’s a legend.”
“That’s one word for it.”
Kai stretched his legs out and the sunlight slid over his skin in an entirely unfair way. He was so fucking tan and I suddenly had the most unhinged impulse of wanting to trace the trails of sweat covering his neck with my tongue.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I suppressed this insane desire and tried to distract myself by studying the traditional-looking patterns of ink covering his shoulder and upper arm.
I wondered, not for the first time, what they symbolized. What they might mean to him.
Kai squinted up at the sun. “You ever think about leaving?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “But it’s complicated.”
He nodded thoughtfully, not pushing. Then, after a beat, he asked, “You staying for her?”
“Yeah. Someone’s gotta.” I sighed. “You’ve seen what she’s like. Besides, I could never leave her.”
Another silence fell, but it wasn't uncomfortable; it was thick with a kind of heat, making everything appear to unfold at a slower pace.
“You ever not want to go home?” I glanced at him and found him already studying me.
“Back to Australia, you mean?” he questioned with a faint smile, shaking his head. “Nah. Miss the sea. My little brother. My whole family, really. The food, the coffee, the people, everything.”
There was a softer quality to his voice as he spoke, and I wasn’t sure I liked the way it tugged at me.
“How’s the food different? What does your mom cook?”
“Roast dinners, pavlova, meat pies, all of it. Mum would probably be planning my birthday feast already.”
I blinked. “Your birthday?”
“It’s next week.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Not a big one. But it’ll be weird to celebrate it without them.”
There was a little twinge in my chest at the slightly forlorn look on his face. “What about your uncle?”
“I reckon we’re going to have a cracker. It'll still feel strange without them, though.”
Do Australians have special birthday crackers?
“A cracker?” I cocked my head curiously.
Kai huffed out a laugh. “My bad. To have a cracker is what we say when we want to describe having a really good time.”
“Oh, okay.”
Kind of weird, but who was I to judge? I studied his expression, which had turned a little wistful.
Why was I thinking about baking him one of these pavlova things now? I suppose it was something friends did, right?
We were friends with benefits, after all.
“So let me get this straight … you don’t get a cake for your birthday? You get a…”
“Pavlova.”
“A … pavlova. Right.” I shot him a skeptical look. “What in the ever-living world even is a pavlova?”
Kai reared back. “You don’t know what a pavlova is?!”
“Nope.” I shrugged.
“It’s a dessert made of egg whites and sugar and if you do it right, the outside gets all crispy and the inside is almost like a marshmallow.”
“Sounds … delightful.”
Kai nodded enthusiastically. “There’s also whipped cream and fresh fruit on top.”
I wasn't sure if this made matters better or worse. Time to change the subject.
“You have a big family?”
He grinned. “Massive. It’s crazy when we’re all in one place at the same time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
My mouth twitched before I could stop it.
Kai caught my little slip instantly, and his grin turned smug. “Do my eyes deceive me? Admit it, you’re enjoying my presence.”
Idiot. Perhaps I’d suddenly forget which container held the sugar and which held the salt when I was baking his stupid birthday pavlova.
“I tolerate you,” I grumbled.
“Semantics.”
I snorted. “You’re exhausting.”
“Maybe,” he replied easily, “but you’re still out here, talking to me.”
Rising to my feet, I pretended to stretch not missing the way his eyes greedily latched onto the exposed skin of my stomach. “Only to make sure you don’t charm my grandma into adopting you.”
His smile was lazy and warm as he looked up at me. “You’d deprive your dear grandma of my delightful company?”
“Like you’d wanna stay here anyway, much less stay here to keep an eye on her.”
“I’d take her with me,” he joked.
I shook my head, but I couldn't quite fight the grin tugging at my mouth. “Oh yeah? That’s how many hours stuck on a plane with her? Like twenty? Can you imagine what she’d do to all the people trapped in these flying death traps with her?”
“She does have a knack for leaving a lasting impression,” Kai mused. “But what’s this I hear there? Afraid of flying?”
Heat crawled up my neck. Fuck, he was way too perceptive.
“I don’t know about you, but willingly walking into something resembling a tin can with wings attached to it and flying through the air, thousands of miles up in the fucking sky, doesn’t sound particularly safe — or desirable.”
Kai shrugged. “Eh, I don’t mind flying. Sucks sometimes, being my size and all. The small seats can be a pain, you know, but otherwise it's probably as safe as driving a car. If not safer.”
“If you say so.” My tone clearly insinuated I didn’t believe a word he was saying. Safer than driving a car, my ass. I’d never step into one of those death traps.
“I’m sure you’ll change your mind once you reap the benefits.”
“Which would be?”
He quirked a brow. “Getting to see places you’d never have seen otherwise.”
“Yeah, don’t think that’s really in the cards for me.” I pursed my lips.
“Who knows. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, Grandpa.”
Kai snorted. “We can talk about Daddy, but Grandpa is taking it a bit far, don’t you think?”
I gaped at him, my mouth dropping open, and he peered up at me hungrily.
Holy shit. My insides tingled and I barely managed to suppress a needy little whimper.
What the fuck was going on? This wasn’t me. I didn’t go starry-eyed and weak-kneed because a man paid me a modicum of attention, and I most definitely didn’t fucking whimper.
Pathetic.
“In your dreams,” I scoffed. A feeble retort at best, but somehow my tongue was too heavy to form words.
“You know me so well, Love.” He had the audacity to wink at me.
“I’m already starting to regret this.”
Kai chuckled. “No you’re not.”
I scoffed, but deep down I had to admit he was right. I wasn’t regretting anything about what was happening between us. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time, and knowing it was only temporary actually added to its appeal.
Yeah, I made him work for every inch, but somehow he kept up with me, kept smiling and kept coming back for more.
Who has that kind of endurance? I couldn't pretend it didn't get to me.
I wouldn’t have to let my guard down, so it was safe in a way. Just a bit of harmless fun.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” I gave him an awkward little wave, turned around and then paused with my hand on the screen door when a thought suddenly struck me.
Twisting my head to the side, I watched him with narrowed eyes. “You don’t happen to know anything about the door in the hallway, do you?”
The very door whose hinges had recently and suspiciously stopped screeching.
Kai gave me a look of pure innocence. “What would I know about your hallway door?”
“Did you mess with the door?”
He pulled the corners of his mouth down and gave his head a shake. “Yeah, nah. Don’t know anything about any doors.”
“Weird. Definitely seems like someone messed with the door.”
“Super weird.” Kai shrugged. “Don’t know who’d mess with the obnoxiously squealing hinges on your door.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to hold back the smile threatening to break free.
Why was it so easy to talk to him, and why did it feel so natural?
If I hadn’t had to get ready for my next shift — I couldn't afford to miss out on any paychecks — I might have been tempted to stay out here and chat to him for longer.
Dangerous, a small voice in my head screamed, but I shoved it aside.
I pulled the screen door open, ignoring the unmistakable feeling of his hot gaze boring into my back. “Yeah, only a weirdo would sneak into my house to take care of squeaky metal goods without telling me.”
Kai chuckled, and the deep rumble of his laughter made my pussy clench involuntarily as I crossed the threshold. “Definitely a weirdo,” he called after me. “See you around, Tori.”
I shook my head and let the screen door fall shut. When I chanced another peek outside, Kai was still sitting there, barefoot and irritatingly at ease. I hated how it was starting to feel right.
I told myself it was just the forced proximity. Or residual tension.
This thing had a firm expiration date.
And yet, I already knew for sure I was going to make him that damn pavlova.
I was a sucker.