Chapter 14
Ash
The movie doesn't even make it to the credits.
One minute Kai is kissing me, begging me to fuck him with that sweet voice that somehow manages to knock every coherent thought out of my head.
The next—A flashlight beam lands directly on us.
“Seriously?!”
I freeze.
Kai freezes harder.
An employee, who looks approximately twenty, stands at the entry of the theatre wearing the exhausted expression of someone who absolutely did not expect this to happen before lunch.
Kai launches off of me adjusting his clothes with his back to the employee. “I'm so sorry.”
I bite the inside of my cheek as I pull my shirt to cover my cock.
The employee sighs. “I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. PDA isn't tolerated.”
It's a good thing this guy caught us when he did, because I was about to do a lot more than PDA. It seems like he didn't realize that I was about to do anything worse than kiss Kai in my lap, so that's good.
Kai looks like he wants the floor to open up and swallow him whole. “I'm really sorry.”
The guy waves a hand toward the exit. “Just…take it somewhere else.”
I stand, grab my drink, and offer Kai my hand. He takes it automatically.
His face has gone the deepest shade of red I've ever seen.
The second we step into the hallway, I lose the battle. I start laughing.
Kai groans. “Ash, please.”
“I'm trying.”
“No, you're not.”
“I'm really not.” I button up my jeans.
He covers his face with both hands. “I can never come back here.”
“You absolutely can.”
“No, they'll have my picture on the wall that says PERVERT.”
“They'll forget.”
“They won't.”
“They've seen worse.” I laugh harder.
Kai swats weakly at my shoulder as we walk toward the exit. “This is your fault.”
“My fault?”
“You started it.”
“I distinctly remember you climbing into my lap.”
“I was caught up in the moment.”
“So was I.”
“You were encouraging the moment.”
“I usually do.”
He groans again. “I hate you.”
“You've said that a lot lately.”
“I mean it more every time.”
“Nah. You smile too much when you say it.”
He points at me. “Stop psychoanalyzing me.”
His ears somehow become even pinker.
I reach for his hand again as we step outside. This time, he slips his fingers between mine without hesitation. The gesture feels so natural that I don't think about it until we're already halfway across the parking lot.
Then I do think about it. Far too much.
The parking garage is almost empty this early in the afternoon. Our footsteps echo softly off the concrete as we make our way toward my truck.
I unlock the car. Before Kai can climb into the passenger seat, I catch his wrist.
He looks back at me. “What?”
I don't answer. Instead, I gently guide him toward the back door.
His eyebrows lift. “Ash?”
I open it.
He gives me a look that somehow manages to be suspicious and trusting at the same time.
“Get in.”
He does. Of course he does. He always does. Not because he's weak. Not because he can't make his own decisions. Because somewhere along the way he decided I was safe enough to follow.
Kai climbs into the back seat without another question. I follow, pulling the door shut behind us. I lean forward and he meets me halfway. Our lips find each other easily now. Without hesitation. Without uncertainty.
The kiss is frantic and needy. His fingers curl into the front of my jacket. My hand is knotted in his hair as I push him down into the cushions. His legs wrap around my waist as his hands pull up my shirt so he can drag his hands across my back.
I kiss down his neck, my cock hard and straining in my pants.
“Ash.” He says my name on the sweetest sigh, and something inside me immediately melts.
God.
He's so soft.
Every emotion crossing his face without a care in the world.
Every feeling crosses his face before he has the chance to hide it.
Every blush.
Every laugh.
Every moment of uncertainty.
He's endlessly kind even when the world has given him every reason not to be.
Yesterday, he'd been worried about Noah instead of himself.
Today, he'd apologized to a movie theater employee like he'd personally ruined the man's afternoon.
He thanks waitresses. He remembers birthdays.
He alphabetizes spice cabinets because it makes other people's lives easier.
He still says thank you to vending machines when they actually work.
He's…
He's good.
The realization lands so suddenly that I actually pull away.
Kai blinks. “Ash?”
I stare at him. He looks thoroughly kissed, slightly confused, and entirely too beautiful sitting in the back seat of my truck.
Oh.
Oh, hell.
I'm in trouble.
Real trouble.
This isn't just attraction anymore. It isn't just incredible chemistry. It isn't just enjoying the way he responds to me.
Somewhere between buying him books…
And washing his hair…
And carrying him through yesterday…
I'd started falling.
The thought hits me like a body check.
Kai tilts his head. “What?”
I don't answer. Because I don't actually know.
I just know that I'm looking at him differently than I was a week ago.
I care whether he eats.
I care whether he sleeps.
I care whether he laughs.
When he cries, it feels like somebody is squeezing my ribs.
When he smiles, I catch myself smiling back before I realize I'm doing it.
That's…
Not casual.
Not even close.
Kai watches my expression change in real time.
Then, completely unexpectedly, he laughs. Not loudly. Just one warm, sleepy laugh.
“What?” I ask.
“You look so serious.” His grin grows. “It's kind of cute.”
Cute? Me? The word alone nearly short-circuits my brain.
He reaches over and pokes the center of my chest. “You've been thinking really hard for like…thirty seconds.”
Another poke. “Get off me.”
I blink. “What?”
He laughs again. “You're crushing me.”
I look down. Somewhere during the kissing I'd managed to squish him deeply into the cushions.
“Right.” I immediately shift backward. “Sorry.”
The apology leaves my mouth before I think about it.
Kai's eyebrows rise. “You just apologized.”
“I know.”
“I don't think I've ever heard you do that.”
“It was an accident.”
He smiles. “I'll treasure it forever.”
I roll my eyes and climb back into the driver's seat before I embarrass myself any further. Kai follows a moment later, still smiling to himself. I start the truck. The engine rumbles to life.
For several blocks neither of us speaks. I'm too busy trying to untangle my own thoughts.
Feelings. I have feelings.
Fantastic.
Exactly what I was trying to avoid. This was supposed to be uncomplicated.
Two adults. Good chemistry. Mutual kink interests.
Instead, I've somehow become emotionally invested in a man who apologizes to movie theater employees for getting caught kissing.
Dante is going to be unbearable when he figures this out. I'm doomed.
The realization earns a quiet sigh.
Beside me, Kai shifts in his seat. Without saying a word, he reaches across the center console. His fingers slip into mine, like it's the most natural thing in the world.
I glance over. He's already closing his eyes. The adrenaline from yesterday. The emotions. Actually eating a full meal for the first time in days. They're finally catching up with him.
Within minutes, his breathing evens out.
His head tips gently toward the passenger window. He's asleep. His hand never leaves mine.
I drive the rest of the way home one-handed. Every now and then I glance over at him.
Still sleeping.
Still holding on.
I squeeze his fingers once, careful not to wake him.
He unconsciously squeezes back.
God help me.
By the time we pull into my parking garage, Kai is barely awake.
He blinks slowly as the car comes to a stop, looking around like he's forgotten where we are.
His hair is sticking up from where it rested against the window during the drive, and one side of his face still carries the faint imprint of the seatbelt.
It's one-thirty in the afternoon.
The man looks like he hasn't slept in a week. Considering yesterday, he probably hasn't.
I leave him where he is for a second while I climb out and walk around to the back of the truck. Before we'd left his apartment this morning, I'd quietly packed an overnight bag for him. Just in case.
Fresh clothes. His phone charger. His toothbrush. A hoodie I knew he'd want later when he inevitably got cold. He hadn't noticed or maybe he had and decided not to mention it.
Either way, the bag is waiting in the back seat next to my hockey gear.
When I open the passenger door, Kai is already trying to sit up. His eyes are only half open.
“Anyone home?” I ask.
He nods once. “I think so.”
“You think so?”
He rubs one eye. He gives me a sleepy little smile that nearly finishes me off.
He's going to kill me one day without even trying.
I shoulder both bags before holding my free hand out. “Come on.”
Kai slips his hand into mine without hesitation. He's still half asleep as we walk toward the elevator, shuffling beside me with absolutely no concern for where we're going because apparently he's decided that following me requires no thought whatsoever.
My heart does something deeply inconvenient.
The elevator doors slide open. Kai leans against the mirrored wall almost immediately.
His eyes drift shut again.
“You awake?”
“Mhm.”
“Liar.”
“Mhm.”
I laugh quietly.
“You've got about three functioning brain cells left.”
“I only use two most days.”
“I've noticed.”
The elevator dings. Kai startles slightly, like he'd forgotten we were moving. I guide him out with a gentle hand against his lower back.
By the time we reach my condo, he's practically swaying on his feet.
“You don't have to ask,” I tell him as I unlock the door.
“What?”
“Permission to take a nap.”
He blinks. “Oh.”
Like he's confused that I knew exactly what he was going to ask.
I usher him inside and quietly kick the door shut behind us. The condo feels familiar in a way it didn't two days ago. Not because anything has changed. Because he's here.
Kai wanders into my bedroom while I set the bags down. He stops beside the bed, looking at it with the kind of longing usually reserved for people stranded in deserts finding water.