Chapter 4 Breathing The Same Air #2
“Lana,” Kayden finished. He walked into the room with a tray of food. Lana glared over her shoulder at him as he stood there dressed to the nines in a well-fitting cashmere sweater and slacks. He walked up to them and placed the tray down on Rachel’s overbed table.
“I’m back, beautiful,” he said to Rachel, “I see you’ve met the heroic nurse who helped you last night.”
He beamed a huge grin at Lana, and she rolled her eyes at the over-the-top performance he was putting on. She still didn’t completely trust his generosity, especially after finding that flask.
“Yes, she’s quite the lady. I was just talking to her about that,” Rachel replied.
Kayden raised the bed as Rachel prepared to eat breakfast. When she was set up, he turned to Lana, still beaming that smile, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him again.
“I took the liberty of ordering you some breakfast as well. I figured you’d come for a visit, but I wasn’t sure since you went straight to bed last night.”
Seriously?
He winked at her, and Rachel glanced over at them both. Lana frowned, eyebrows furrowed at the way he just made that sound. She glared at him, then glanced sheepishly at Rachel, unsure of what to say. She started eating her oatmeal with a slight grin.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t feel like talking much. You could understand why,” Lana replied, “unwanted house guest and all.”
Kayden sat on the edge of Rachel’s bed and faced her.
“Yes, I understand, and regarding the accident, I’ve expressed my deepest apologies. All her hospital bills, time off from work, physical therapy, and anything else she needs will be provided for her by me,” he said, never taking his eyes off her.
How can he afford to do all of that, she thought. I know Paula’s family had money, but what did he do for a living?
“Yup, and once I’m back on my feet,” Rachel interjected, “I’m going on a real vacation for a change.”
“Really? That’s awesome,” Lana replied, breaking his intense gaze, “Where are you going?”
“Probably a cruise, or to New Orleans. I’ve always wanted to visit there, but Henry and I could never afford to go, God rest his soul,” she said, as she moved on to the eggs and bacon on her tray.
“Eat up, aren’t you hungry?” Kayden asked, nodding to Lana and the second tray of food.
He had that damned crooked smile on his face, and those eyes began sucking her in like an abyss.
The cool, bluish-green color, like ocean spray, captivated her, and all she wanted to know was what secrets they kept.
What has he seen and experienced? Who was Kayden Capshaw?
He wasn’t married, she was sure, as there was no ring or outline of one recently removed.
She noticed it last night as he held his drink in his left hand.
He couldn’t be much older than she was, no wrinkles in his face, no graying hair, skin smooth like butter.
He was in a limited gene pool for sure. Suddenly, being so lost in thought, she felt a tapping on her shoulder.
When she looked up, the doctor and six medical students were standing behind her, and the trance was broken.
Shelby General was also a teaching hospital.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” the doctor said, annoyed, “I need to get to my patient.” She stood, feeling very foolish and embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” she replied and moved out of the way to let them by. Kayden also stood from the bed, allowing them to do their rounds.
“I’ll come visit you later, enjoy your breakfast,” Lana said and started for the door.
“Thank you for coming, honey. I appreciate it,” Rachel replied as Lana left the room and closed the door behind her.
What was that? She walked down the long hallway and headed toward the elevators. Rachel is fine and in good spirits, so why am I taking what happened to her harder than she is?
She was almost to the elevators when she wondered how she would enjoy her vacation, forced to share a roof with him.
Standing in the hallway again, she hit the down button for the elevator and waited for it to open. When it did, she stepped in and pressed “one.” As the doors began to close, a hand stuck through, causing them to open. Kayden stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed.
“Of course,” she said out loud.
“Of course, what?” he asked.
“What?”
“You just said, ‘Of course’. What’s the matter now?”
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud.”
They stood in the elevator for what felt like forever. This elevator is taking a really long time to reach the first floor.
“What was that, back in Rachel’s room?” he asked, breaking the deafening silence.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly without meaning to.
She really didn’t know what was happening, but she wanted to tell him to back off and find somewhere else to sleep tonight, to find someone else’s vacation and thoughts to invade.
“I definitely felt something. Even on the highway, and I know you felt it too,” he said, turning to face her.
She was beginning to lose sense of time and space as he spoke the truthful words; she could feel herself unravel again. She backed away from him and bumped into the elevator wall. There was nowhere to go.
“Please,” she whispered, averting her eyes anywhere but his.
When she did look up at him, she was suddenly on fire.
Her legs felt weak, and the aching in her body was too much to withstand.
She imagined reaching out to grab his unruly hair, then kissing and biting down on his full bottom lip.
He wasn’t even touching her, but she could feel the heat radiating between them.
He leaned in close, reached around her, and pressed the elevator button for the first floor, never breaking eye contact.
Shame sank into her chest fast as she then realized she hadn’t hit the button again. He invaded her space, with both arms on either side of her, holding onto the elevator rail. Only a breaths space between them, she could smell his skin and could almost imagine what his mouth tasted like.
“I don’t know what it is about you,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against hers.
Her breath hitched, and as she breathed in, the minty smell of his breath was in her mouth, and she had to swallow a few times to catch her breath.
If she moved her mouth in the slightest, their lips would collide.
When the elevator reached the bottom, the doors opened, and a group of people walked in.
A woman and her daughter looked over at them, and the little girl giggled, holding her mom’s hand, hiding behind her leg.
“Can you hit three, please?” an older man asked Kayden.
He smiled, reached over in front of her, and pressed the button.
Lana pushed past him, out of the elevator, and down the hall, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.
She was walking so fast, trying to reach the automatic doors to leave, she didn’t notice the garbage can in her path and ran into it, knocking it down.
She kept moving, though, not looking back.
I didn’t press the damned button. Lana was mortified at how easily he overcame her.
If that elevator door didn’t open... no, she didn’t want to think about that.
She just wanted to get back to Hamby and start the vacation she had intended to—and maybe die of embarrassment. Yeah, that was highly more likely.
KAYDEN PACED IN the parking lot of Shelby General next to his red Lamborghini Aventador.
He owned a garage in town that housed his favorite toys and had it brought to the house earlier that morning.
He watched Lana pull out of the parking lot in her truck and head west towards Hamby.
He was as drawn to her as she was to him, and watching her fight it was a turn on.
All he could think about was running his hands through her onyx black hair and staring into her almond-shaped eyes all day.
The small dimple above her upper lip, that appeared and disappeared whenever she spoke, drove him absolutely mad, and it took the willpower of God not to kiss her a few short moments ago.
As much as he wanted to follow her back to his sister’s house and finish what was started, he had other pressing matters to deal with, like how he would convince his mother not to cut him out of the family business.
The last time he screwed up this bad, she told him that was his last straw, and any more mishaps would result in him being on his own.
Maureen was a stern woman who could be misinterpreted as cold and calculating at times, but she had her moments.
Granted, she wasn’t the same since his brother Joel and his father died, but who would be?
He felt he was to blame and promised to spend the rest of his life earning back her trust. Last night was not a good start to that promise.
She’d often fix his legal issues as they’d pop up over the years, but the days of that were long gone, and it was time to do some serious growing up.
He was surprised he hadn’t heard from her yet and was certain Capt.
Jackson had contacted her by now. He probably couldn’t wait to be the one to spill the beans before he had the chance.
As if it would get him any closer to her, Kayden thought.
How in the hell will I explain this? Hamby was his childhood home, the place his parents built an empire by restoring most of the properties in town to their original glory.
The Capshaws soon expanded into a multi-million-dollar operation and left Hamby in search of other small towns in similar need.
He loved the idea of keeping a piece of history as it was intended.
Most buildings nowadays are planned in a week or so and are erected in a few months, and he vowed not to contribute to that type of work.
No real love went into it. After everything with Joel and his dad, his mother lost the passion and vision the company once had, and he desperately wanted to take over to restore it to what Capshaw Realty originally stood for. History. Integrity. Passion.
He opened the car door, sat, pulled it down, and shut it. He couldn’t let the last twenty-four hours derail his plan fr the family legacy. His cell phone chimed, a text notification, and he looked at the screen. It read:
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Miss you sexy XOXO –Kimberly
He hit delete on the phone and looked down the road where Lana’s truck was slowly disappearing in the distance.
How did Kim get my new number? It had to be his meddling mother.
His mother couldn’t get through her head that it was over between them.
It’s the only thing she still seemed to want for him, and he couldn’t understand why.
Kim and Kayden, or “KimKay” as all their friends called them, dated on and off for about 5 years.
They met at a college frat party, and at one point, he thought she was the one and even considered marriage.
Only, after his car accident a few years ago, he was hospitalized for months, and that’s when he learned where her loyalties were.
She would visit him every day for a while, then that tapered off to a few times a week, to once if he was lucky, to nothing at all.
Once he literally got back on his feet and was able to get back to a somewhat normal way of life, she tried to rekindle things, but he wasn’t interested.
He had considered it at first. She was beautiful, long legs that would go on forever, blonde and perky—the all-American girl.
And the sex wasn’t half bad either. But her ambition always made him wonder what it was she wanted from life.
She didn’t finish college or attend trade school; she didn’t work and never really spoke about plans or goals for her life.
She was more concerned with partying and keeping up with the Joneses.
One evening at a party thrown by his best friend, he found out through the grapevine that Kim and he were sleeping together while Kayden was in the hospital, convalescing.
It didn’t take her long to move on to her next meal ticket, and he was grateful for the betrayal.
He didn’t need, nor want, anyone in his life like that.
Kayden lifted the mini hatch in the middle console of the car, revealing the start button, and pressed it, revving the powerful engine.
The onlookers loved to see this car move, but no way, he thought.
He’d been in enough trouble over the last twenty-four hours and wanted to just get back to the house and get to know the woman who saved the day for Rachel, cause, honestly, she saved the day for him too.
He pulled the Lamborghini out onto the road and headed back to Hamby, the only place he considered home, doing the speed limit the whole way there.