“Okay, true, but….”
“No but’s, Saint Sadie.” Kimmy flashes me a smile. “You should have seen the looks on their faces. They were pissed. But I guess they learned their lesson.” She shrugs before flouncing off into the rows of vintage clothes.
“I doubt they did.”
I whipped around, hand flying to my chest. The dress drops to the floor, but neither Sadie nor I reach down to grab it. Of all the fucking people who could be in this store right now…
Killian’s leaning against one of the posts holding up the ceiling, smirking as always. There’s a glimmer in his eye that tells me he enjoys scaring me half to death. Beside me, Sadie’s eyes go round, and I hate myself for knowing exactly why she reacted that way.
His black leather jacket is beat up and worn, but on him, it looks perfect. The dark color makes his eyes pop, a stormy gray swimming beneath thick lashes. Dark hair curls slightly at his ears, falling into his eyes, and his skin is so sun-kissed that he looks like a damn Greek god. The black t-shirt underneath fits him a little too perfectly, nearly etched across his skin like a tattoo and revealing everything. My eyes trace the hard edges of his chest and down to the well-fitted dark-washed jeans before I remember who the hell I’m admiring. When they jerk back up to his face, I know I’ve been caught.
“Who are you?” Sadie squeaks. She clears her throat, red tingeing her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come out sounding rude….”
Killian looks at me in mock surprise. “Why,tesorina, you didn’t tell your friends about me? I’m hurt.”
Yeah, right. He looks anything but offended. If anything, he looks like a cat about to play with the mouse he just caught.
“Wait—is this—” Sadie’s face goes blank with surprise.
“Yeah,” I reply flatly, “it is.”
“I’m Killian. It’s very nice to meet you, darling.” He holds out his hand. Sadie just stares at it. Unfazed, he lets it drop as if the hiccup never occurred in the first place.
“I’m going to, uh, find Kimmy,” Sadie tells us, edging towards the back of the shop. My head jerks around, eyes pleading with her not to leave me alone. But she doesn’t see it. She’s already halfway down the row before disappearing behind a rack of vintage purses.
“Where’s your bodyguard?”
I ignore him, snatching the dress from the ground. I hadn’t really had time to look at it, but now that I needed a distraction, I see Kimmy was right—it probably would look good on me. The material was soft and stretchy, in a black color I knew made me look sexy rather than dreary. The sweetheart neckline led to short sleeves that would fall halfway down my arms and a box pleated skirt that flared out at the waistline.
Killian stepped closer, clearly hating to be ignored. “I asked you a question, Cara.”
“And I don’t have to answer it.” I whirled around, miscalculating just how close he’d come. My hands bumped into his chest, sending me backward. I caught myself in time, glaring up at him. “Why are you even here? How did you even find me?”
He turns away, pretending to be interested in the faux fur-lined jackets hanging from an opposite rack. “It really wasn’t that difficult to follow you out here.”
“You followed me?” I stare at him, unable to comprehend his words. “As in, you waited outside my gates like a total stalker and then…just followed us all the way out here?”
“Basically, yeah.” He flashes me a smile over his shoulder, and damn him, it makes me stumble a bit.
“You—you can’t just—I—” My mouth refuses to work.
He pats me on the shoulder as he passes by. “Don’t think too hard about it, princess. I’m not even sure why you’re so surprised. I just wanted to spend more time getting to know you.”
That’s the wrong thing to say. I highly doubt he wants anything to do with me other to torture me. I might not know the exact reason he’s really here, but I know it isn’t because of that. He turns away, looking over a table full of colorful scarves and sunglasses.
Before I can reply, my friends come barreling back down the aisle. Kimmy stops short when she notices Killian, her eyes raking down the tight curve of his ass. When she’s done ogling my fiancé, she flashes me a thumbs-up before giving me the cheesiest wink.
“Hey, Cara, we were just about to leave….” Sadie stumbles as Kimmy throws her arm around her shoulders.
“Right. We were going to check out that one store I wanted to go back to. But you two can, like, totally stay here. I’m sure whats-his-face can take you back home?” Kimmy glances over at Killian.
He grins to himself before facing my friends. Looping an arm around my waist, he yanks me closer. I stumble to the side, my foot landing on his. He doesn’t even flinch. Was this guy made of fucking stone or something?
“Of course, I can. You girls enjoy.”
Sadie looks at me, waiting for my response. I want to argue. But I know I can’t. Killian isn’t going to leave me alone, and I really don’t want him around my friends. From the few times I’ve met him, he’d most likely let something slip just to make my life miserable, and I’ve gone six years without my girls knowing anything about my other life.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell Sadie. “You guys go ahead.”