20. Wentworth
TWENTY
Wentworth
THE TRUTH OF IT IS, I DON’T GIVE A FUCK IF CON IS watching or not. Wanting to put on a show to feed the Gilroy family rumor mill is secondary to the fact that the same thing is happening that always happens when I allow myself to be around Kait.
I don’t want to let her go.
I forget what it felt like when she left me. I start to fall and I’ll find any ridiculous, half-baked reason to keep her with me for as long as I possibly can. If I’d been smart, I’d have let her shut the backdoor in my face, waited for her to lock it, gotten back into my car, and gone the fuck home where I can quietly obsess over her in peace.
Because obsessing over Kaitlyn Barrett is a habit I’ve never been able to break—I have about a hundred sketchpads filled with a thousand dirty drawings of her to prove it.
Which is why, instead of going home and giving myself some much-needed space to get my head right, I’ve trapped myself in an elevator with her.
“You can do this for Grace, you know.” She turns her head and angles it up so she can look at me. “I know what we agreed, but you can walk her to her door if you want. It won’t bother me.”
It’s the first thing she’s said to me since I forced my way in after her and locked the door behind us. I have my own key and security code for the center. Patrick gave them to me, not long after I started walking Grace home after work. Accepting them felt risky but refusing them would’ve sparked suspicion and eventually questions I didn’t want to answer. So, I accepted them but resolved never to use them because the center is Kait’s territory and we both agreed that I’m not welcome here.
And now, here she is, telling me that I am.
Looking down at her, I let my gaze drop to her mouth and instantly feel my cock swell. I’ve been half-hard for hours now. How I managed to get her tattoo done and keep the both of us dressed is as miraculous as it is confusing. The fact that I’m seconds away from knowing which apartment is hers, coupled with the fact that, thanks to Con and Henley’s wedding and Tess’s do you want to fuck Kait? bullshit, I can’t avoid her anymore. I went from half hard to hard enough to hammer nails the second we stepped into the elevator. Lifting my eyes to meet hers, I give her a shitty smirk. “No, I can’t.”
I watch her forehead pucker, slim dark brows lowering over bright blue eyes. “Why not?”
It’s a stupid question.
She knows why not, but I’m an asshole so I’m going to answer her anyway. The shitty smirk curves into a wicked grin. “Look down, Sunshine.”
Bottom lip caught between her teeth, she resists, keeping her gaze pinned to mine—but only for a moment before curiosity gets the better of her, letting her gaze slide away from mine and down my chest. When it lands on the stiff outline of my cock, pressing against the front of my jeans, she lets out a soft gasp. Like it recognizes the sound, my dick jerks the second she makes it.
“You seem to have forgotten what happens to me when you’re within fucking distance,” I remind her quietly, just as the elevator we’re on reaches her floor with a soft bounce and the doors slide open in front of us. I ignore them and so does she. “If I let myself come up here, there’s no way in hell I don’t end up pounding on your door and there’s no way in hell you don’t let me in... and we both know what happens next because, as recent history has proved, hating you doesn’t make me want to fuck you any less.”
When I say it, Kait’s gaze jerks up to meet mine. Eyes wide like I just slapped her in the face, she shakes her head. “Went?—”
“I know.” My mouth twitches itself into another shitty smirk. “You’re sorry. You’ve already said that—now tell me why you left.”
The elevator doors slide closed before either of us have a chance to move. If Conner is watching, he’s probably wondering what the fuck is going on right now. Why Kait and I are standing here, staring at each other. Me, with an obvious hard-on, and her, looking like someone just punched her in the gut.
Fuck , this was a mistake.
Leaning past her, I jab the button that’ll open the elevator doors again while Kait stumbles back like I took a swing at her.
Yeah—Con’s gonna come looking for answers. He’s almost as protective of her as Ryan is.
Shit.
As soon as the doors open, I plant myself in front of them so they don’t close us in again and wait for Kait to step into the hall. Stopping, she turns toward me with that sick, punched in the gut look. “I?—”
Before she can say anything else, a door opens at the end of the hall and a gray and white, hundred-pound bullet shoots through the gap to barrel toward us at breakneck speed. Seeing what must be the infamous Mook, Kait gives me a pleading look before she turns away from me to drop into a crouch. Just when it looks like the dog is hellbent on barreling into her and knocking her down, he pulls the brakes and stops on a dime, inches away from plowing straight into her. Sitting in front of her, stub of a tail wagging so fast and hard he can’t keep his ass still, the massive Pitbull lets out an impatient whimper.
“He must’ve heard you,” Ryan says from his post in the open doorway. “He’s had his nose stuck to the crack under the door for the last five minutes.”
Kait lets out an exaggerated sigh while she lifts a hand to ruffle his ears. “Let me guess, your BFF fell asleep hours ago and now the second fiddle is home—is that it?”
The dog chuffs quietly before rolling his gaze away from his mistress to watch me suspiciously with ice-blue eyes.
“Went, this is Mook,” Kait says without looking at me. “Mook, this is my friend, Went.” When the dog keeps staring at me, Kait sighs. “Don’t be like that—say hi.”
Still eyeing me like he wants to know what my leg tastes like, Mook lifts his paw. When I don’t take it after a second or two, he cocks his head at me, his expression so clear, I can practically hear it. The fuck? Are we shakin’ or what?
Stepping away from the elevator, I drop into a crouch next to Kait and take his paw while the elevator doors slide closed behind me. Giving the paw in my hand a shake, I let it go with a nice to meet you.
Mook licks his chops before dismissing me completely to focus his attention on his mistress, waiting for his reward for not eating me.
“Don’t let him scam you. He just went out,” Ryan says, still standing in the doorway, watching us with the same can I bite him? expression as the dog. Ryan and I have always had a rocky relationship—probably because he thought I had a thing for Grace and I never did or said anything to make him think otherwise. Matter of fact, I can think of more than one occasion when I just made it worse. “He should be good until morning.”
“Thank you for keeping him for me,” Kait offers him a smile that twists my guts into angry knots because even though I know that Ryan is completely gone for Grace, and Kait took away my right to feel jealous over her years ago, I still feel it. I still want to punch him in the face when he smiles back.
Like he can read my mind, the dog in front of Kait looks at me and licks his chops again.
“You put up with my cranky ass and my crazy kids, day in and day out—the least I can do is watch your dog.” Shifting his gaze from Kait to me, the smile falters. “’Night, Ritchie Rich.”
Whether Kait heard it or not, I heard it loud and clear.
You got her home safe, now get the fuck out.
“Goodnight, Kait.” Under the watchful eye of both her guard dogs, I hold my hand out to her. When she takes it, I stand, pulling her up with me as I go. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Goodnight.” Kait nods her head, a nervous smile pushing at the corners of her mouth. “Thank you for bringing me home.”
“Thank you for letting me tattoo you.” Turning away from her, I punch the call button for the elevator before turning back at her. “Make sure you cross it off your bucket list.”
Eyes wide, Kait’s mouth opens but before she can say anything, I give into the urge that’s been stalking me since she walked into my shop and fucked everything up. Careful to go slow, so I don’t get mauled by either of her guard dogs, I lift a hand and slip it around the back of her neck, thumb skimming up the length of her throat to press against the underside of her chin. Tipping it up to angle her mouth under mine, I lean down and make the second biggest mistake of my life.
I kiss her.
The second I feel her mouth under mine, I want more. I want to push my tongue past her lips. I want to lick and taste every part of her I can reach. because when I’m touching her, I forget. When I’m kissing her, I can forgive her.
I want to forgive her.
I want to pretend that the last six years never happened. That she never left. That she didn’t just use me for a few weeks’ worth of orgasms and the chance to escape the life her asshole father was trying to force her into.
Pulling back before I forget we have an audience, I let out a shaky breath. “Do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?”
Gaze stuck to my mouth, Kait’s brow furrows like she doesn’t understand the question. I don’t blame her. Five minutes ago, I was reminding her that I hate her and now here I am, kissing her and asking her out on a date. I’m just as confused as she is. “You work.”
Shit, she’s right—I work the door at Gilroy’s on Saturday nights and she does the Gilroy family dinner thing on Sundays.
“Okay—Monday,” I say, bobbing my head. “Do you want to have dinner Monday night?”
Still confused, Kait nods. “Yes.”
Relieved, even though I’ve just made things a million times worse, I smile. “Give me your phone.”
Looking up at me with a nod, Kaitlyn fumbles her phone out of her back pocket and offers it to me. Taking it from her, I add my number to her contacts, sending myself a quick text before handing it back to her. “I’ll text you so we can sort out the details.” Forcing myself away from her, I drop my hand to look down at the dog who’s managed to wedge himself between us. “Nice to meet you, Mook.” Looking up, I aim my gaze down the hall to the man who’s still standing in his doorway, waiting for me to leave. “Later, Soldier Boy.” Flipping Ryan the bird, I back myself onto the elevator and leave while I still can.