Desiree
For the next few days, Khane didn’t join me for breakfast, but he had left me enough food to get me through the day. His freezer was stocked with pre-packaged gourmet meals that I took from the containers and warmed in the oven. He had shown me where everything was the first day, after the darkness had taken the view, and the cold had forced us to reenter the house.
Khane had sat with me through some of the most peaceful hours of my life. He didn’t voice one complaint and listened as I talked nonstop about art and design. He claimed he’d never studied design, but his house highlighted that he might have had more than a fleeting interest. He was maybe being nice, but I never got the sense that my conversation bored him.
I had been unable to sit still, standing and drooling over the view one moment and sitting way too close to him the next. Twice, he had politely stood to put space between us, and I would drift right back into his space. The kicker was that I wasn’t doing it on purpose.
For reasons I had yet to understand, I was comfortable with him. It was a natural comfort that I didn’t usually experience with someone until I had known them for a while.
He had allowed me the luxury of his shoulder as I soaked in the living portrait laid out before me. His warmth and the beauty of the view had seduced me into such a peaceful place that I had fallen asleep. I had woken to him shaking me awake. I had been pressed into his side like I belonged there.
However, I think I may have been a bit much for him as he was now choosing to stay away. He claimed he had business to attend to, but I knew when I was being avoided. He assured me that Sam, along with another guard name Mack, was near and would be protecting me while he was away.
On my third day at Khane’s, I was determined to see him when he returned home. However, I found myself covered on the couch the next morning after he had cooked and left me breakfast. Why was he avoiding me?
By day four, I stayed in bed and slept past noon to make sure I would be awake when he returned home. I kept glaring at the clock as the minutes ticked by 12:10, 12:15…When was this man sleeping?
When the door finally swung open at 1:25 a.m., I sprang up on his living room couch. His lookout area provided a level of peace I had never gotten anywhere else, but I needed someone to talk to while I was out there, to hear someone’s voice, and have a human connection. Truth be told, it just didn’t seem as magical a view without him.
“Are you avoiding me?” I questioned, not at all what I intended my first words to be to him after not seeing him for three days. I tossed my legs over the couch and stood to my feet, not caring that I didn’t have a robe on this time.
His eyes matched, letting me know that he was wearing an eye contact. It blended well, matching his natural eye color perfectly. If I had met him wearing the contact, I would never have known that he was nearly blind in one eye.
He dropped his gaze, contemplating his answer. When his eyes lifted to meet mine, his expression was filled with something unreadable.
“Yes,” he answered before turning and walking away. I slid my feet into my slippers and followed, my mouth shooting off before I started to move.
“Why would you want to avoid me? Do I talk too much? I can be quiet if that’s what you prefer.” I continued to follow him.
His abrupt stop and turn towards me, caused my house slippers to scrape across the floor, searching for grip to stop my movement. Too late, I collided into the solid slab of male thickness that was his chest. He was so warm, and he felt so strong.
There was no point in attempting to shake off the effect he had on me because I was enamored the moment I felt his hands on me from the collision. His big strong hands were at my waist now, the heat searing me down to my bones.
“No. You don’t talk too much.” As if just noticing he was touching me, he snatched his hands away like I had burned him.
“Why else would you be avoiding me?” I questioned, wanting to know. “I need to know why you don’t want to be around me.” Why did I need to know so badly, questioning this man in his own house? I was desperate to know why he was avoiding me. Why?
“I enjoy your company.” His face scrunched, like the idea irritated him. “I’m not supposed to be enjoying anything. I’m supposed to be keeping you safe until my brother returns. But…” He swallowed.
Was he choosing his words wisely, or was he having trouble expressing them? Now that I was face to face with him again, I immediately recognized what I had been missing for the last three days. For some, it was a stiff drink or prescription drugs, but for me, it was Khane. He gave off something that comforted and relaxed me.
“I never connect with people. I don’t even like people. You, you’re not like them. I like being around you. But, you’re a distraction. It takes a lot not to let you in, to not rest in your presence, to not soak in the good vibes you give off.”
His raspy voice was a thick smoky blend of vibrations that tickled my insides, and his beautiful words about me left me stunned. I stood gaping at him with my lips parted, swallowing nothing, and awed by all that he had revealed, but also relieved that he had admitted sharing the instant connection I couldn’t shake.
We stared, eyes searching, bodies suspended in place. The silence that swarmed between us was a riot of pulse-racing energy, turning the space around us into a vicious storm of swirling hot need and raging want. I could tell by his heavy-lidded eyes that I wasn’t the only one caught in the storm.
He backed farther away, taking all that masculine warmth with him, but he hadn’t turned away yet.
“This shouldn’t be an enjoyable experience. I’m what stands between you, danger, and death. I’m your protection. It’s all we are to each other, and all we should be to each other.” His voiced lowered to a breeze, a sound above a whisper. “Instead, I become flooded with chaos every time I’m around you.”
Chaos? What was he talking about?
“We’re not doing anything wrong. What’s so wrong with enjoying someone’s company? I enjoy yours. It’s why I’ve been waiting up for you every night for the last three nights, trying to figure out what’s wrong.”
The statement caused his gaze to widen in surprise, but he stamped it down quickly. He turned away without replying, turning into the hall that led to our bedrooms. I followed, wanting my damn questions answered.
Used to walking on carpet and not hard floors, my stupid slippers slapped the floor as I struggled to keep up with his long-legged stride. “I thought we were getting along. What’s wrong with my company? Did I do something wrong?” I was firing off question after question, wanting an answer to a least one of them. I was never this needy with anyone. Khane had given me an answer, a good one, but I greedily wanted more.