“I’m keeping a pretty big secret from her. And it’s killing me that I can’t tell her.” Flick said, the words rushing out.
“You’ve been asked to keep whatever it is quiet?”
Flick nodded.
“Will the secret affect her?”
“Indirectly. She’ll be surprised, hurt, when she finds out,” Flick admitted. Damn, she wished she could tell him. Not only because it would help to share the load but also because she thought that he’d have an idea of what to do with the junk, of how to start. Kai, she guessed, wasn’t a man who was short on ideas.
Kai was silent and Flick gave him some time to sort through his thoughts. “Is anyone in danger? Is keeping this secret going to result in physical harm to someone?” he asked.
Only if one of her children murdered Gina when they found out that she’d all but emptied her bank accounts to fill up her house with junk. It was a possibility. A very remote possibility but still...
“No,” she replied.
Kai shrugged. “Then you can’t tell, not until they give you permission. It sucks, and it’s horrible but you chose to hear the secret so you have to keep your mouth shut until you’re given permission to do otherwise.”
That was what she’d thought. Flick dropped her feet to the floor, swiveled around, and placed her forehead on the table, knocking it against the wood. “Dammit, crap, hell.”
She felt Kai’s large hand slide into her hair. “Hey, there are better ways to bang.”
A laugh made its way up her throat and came out sounding rusty.
Kai’s fingers massaged her skull and she released a soft, grateful moan. “Not the type of moaning I had in mind either,” Kai quipped, and she turned her head to look at him. His fabulous eyes were filled with amusement and...could that be...tenderness? Affection?
Yeah, no. She was imagining emotions he didn’t feel. The man liked her enough to talk to her and was attracted enough to want to sleep with her, but that was it.
“About this secret...it’s worrying you and you obviously need help to sort something out.”
“Yeah.” Flick moved her head under his fingers in a silent plea for him to get him to start massaging again. When he did she felt warmth slide down her neck, into her shoulders.
“Ask her if you can tell me. I don’t know anyone in town, I don’t talk to anyone in town, and her secret will be safe with me. Maybe I can help you.”
“You’d do that for me?”
Kai looked as surprised as she felt. Obviously, he hadn’t been intending to make the offer. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, I suppose I could help you work through some shit. If I’m here and if I can.”
And he would, she knew that. Flick sat up and stared at him. Did Kai still have something of a white knight syndrome? Was that the reason why a long-ago, now-dead friend, sent her daughter to him? Actually, it made sense. His strength, mental as well as physical, encouraged people to lean on him, to take a load off. He radiated control, calm, and a can-do attitude.
God knew that she desperately needed some can-do. “I’ll think about it.”
“You do that.” Kai yawned again and sent a hopeful look toward the coffee machine behind the counter. “Any chance of firing that up?”
Flick nodded and pushed her chair back from the table. Walking over to the machine, she turned it on. “It takes a couple of minutes to warm up.”
“I can wait.”
“Long day?” Flick asked, pulling her hair up into a messy knot and securing it behind her head with a band she found in her pocket.
“Long. Frustrating. Confusing. Weird.”
Flick tipped her head in a gesture inviting him to elaborate.
“The team-building exercise was long and frustrating, my partner Axl dropped in unexpectedly and went ten rounds with Reagan—you met her earlier.” Kai rested his forearms on the table and tapped his fingers against his big biceps. “I think we might have trouble with those two.”
“Meaning?” Flick grabbed two cups off the rack above her head and pulled milk from the small fridge under the counter. “Cappuccino?”
“A double espresso would hit the spot,” Kai replied. “They fought, which isn’t unusual because they fight all the time. But—” His words trailed off.