Kai
God, how could she be such an idiot? She had let him take what he wanted from her and now, he was shutting her out again. Or maybe it was the other way around—he gave her what she needed, and she was the one stomping away. Either way, they just couldn’t seem to land on the same page together.
Her plan wasn’t working. In fact, it was basically crashing and burning around her and there was nothing that she could do about it. Her only hope was to keep going and sooner or later, Taz would come around and stop acting like an asshole. It was a stretch, but it was her only hope.
She walked back to Ryker’s office and gently tapped on the door. “Come in,” he called from the other side.
She opened the door and popped her head in, hoping that if Harlow was in there, they were both wearing clothes. “Hey, Ryker,” she said. “I’m looking for Harlow.”
“She’s in the ladies' room,” he said. He seemed distracted and she didn’t want to bother him.
“Okay, I’ll look for her in there, thank you,” she said, closing his door behind herself as she headed across the hallway to the lady’s room. “Harlow,” she called, sticking her head in to check for her friend. “You in here?”
“I am,” Harlow said. “Come on in. I’ll be right out.” She heard the toilet flush, and Harlow came out of the stall to wash her hands.
“You okay?” Kai asked.
“Yeah,” Harlow said. Her smile said it all—Taz was right about what she and Ryker were doing back in his office, not that she had any room to talk. She and Taz were doing the same thing in the kitchen, of all places.
“I think that the question is, are you okay, Kai?” Harlow said, giving her a little wink.
“You heard?” she asked.
“I think that they heard you two towns over,” Harlow teased.
“Oh God,” Kai whispered.
“Yeah—I heard that one too, just a bit louder,” Harlow joked.
“Stop,” Kai said, covering her face with her hands. She felt as though she wanted to crawl into one of the bathroom stalls and die from embarrassment. “So, Ryker heard us too then?” she asked, already knowing the answer to her question.
“Yep,” Harlow said. “And he’s worried that Taz is taking advantage of you.” That was laughable. It was more like the other way around.
“I’m the one taking advantage of him,” Kai insisted. “I’m the one who basically blackmailed him into bed Monday night.”
“You blackmailed him?” Harlow asked.
“Yeah, I told him that I’d keep his secret about going to Paris to become a chef if he slept with me,” Kai admitted. “I’m a horrible person.”
“Yes, you are,” Harlow said, giggling. “But I see how hot Taz is too, and no red-blooded woman would blame you for tricking him into your bed, honey. Did you have a good time?”
“Yes,” she said. “But then, he went and put all these stipulations on our being together, and well, I think that I was just sex to him. He doesn’t want anything more with me. He said that us being together was a one-and-done situation.”
“Yet, he just gave you what, three orgasms in the kitchen, from what I counted,” Harlow said. “That hardly sounds like he was just giving you one time with him. I mean, you just had a second turn with the big guy, so he can’t be serious about all of that.”
Kai shrugged, “I guess. I’m just frustrated and God, I want him. I might have gone and done something really stupid to try to make him jealous,” she admitted.
“What did you do, Kai?” Harlow asked.
She winced before even telling Harlow what she had done. “I asked a guy from college to meet me here for a dinner date tonight.”
“Is this guy someone you’re interested in?” Harlow asked. “Or is he someone you’re dicking around to make Taz jealous?”
“The second one,” Kai admitted. “If it helps, the guy is a real asshole. In fact, I’m pretty sure that he had a threesome with two girls from our class this afternoon, before coming to our date.”
“Well, he sounds like a douche, but that doesn’t mean you should lead him on or play with Taz that way. You’ve met Taz, right?” Harlow asked.
“Yeah, we’ve met,” Kai grumbled. Sometimes, she wished that she hadn’t met Taz or that she could fall for some random guy at college, but that wasn’t the case. She wanted Taz, even if he pushed her away at every turn.