Page 49 of Cloud Nine Love

With each second that passed, my heart thumped louder in my chest. I didn’t know exactly what my plan was other than to not leave without having an actual conversation.

The door opened, and without saying anything, Taylor grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside, just like I had when I’d seen her standing in the hallway at Kane and Ruby’s. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but this was better.

She slammed the door and tugged her robe tighter. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she lifted her toes and peered through the peephole. “Anyone could have seen you.”

Okay, so maybe her enthusiasm had nothing to do with her seeing me and everything to do with no one else seeing me. I’d definitely read that wrong.

“Why did you tell Kenna to ask me to go to the wedding with her?” When I heard the question leave my mouth, it surprised me. I hadn’t considered addressing it, but it had been bothering me since the moment Kenna said that her asking me was Taylor’s idea.

Slowly, she turned and blinked at me as if she were just as confused by my inquiry as I was. Instead of answering me, she turned the tables with a question of her own. “Why haven’t you told anyone that Misty cheated on you and is pregnant?”

“Why do you care?” I countered.

“Why do you care that I suggested Kenna ask you to the wedding?”

I inhaled slowly through my nose, and tried to tamper down the irritation that was beginning to bubble just below the surface. I was an easygoing, laid-back guy. I didn’t get frustrated, or irritated, or flustered. She challenged me at every turn. Not only that, I’d never had sex in public, or even where anyone could hear me. But Taylor, she brought out sides of me I never even knew existed.

That should be reason enough to take her cue and stay away from her, yet somehow, I felt myself even more drawn to her.

“I asked you first,” I replied, fully aware that my argument was the playground equivalent of I’m-rubber-and-you’re-glue, but apparently Taylor brought out my inner child.

She closed her eyes, and it was her turn to take an audible breath. When she opened her lids, she exhaled as she explained, “I told her to ask you because nothing can happen between us, nothing real anyway, and I don’t trust myself around you.”

I stared into her eyes as her words sank in. “We’re definitely going to circle back to why you don’t trust yourself around me, but first, I want to know why nothing real can happen between us.”

“Because Kenna was your third strike.”

“So…wait, are you saying Kenna asking me to go to the wedding was a test, and I failed?” I couldn’t believe that Taylor would play games like that. Thinking that she had made me wonder if I actually knew her at all.

“What? No.” Her face scrunched in confusion, as if that hadn’t even crossed her mind. “That would be…stupid. No, the fact that you and Kenna were together was the third strike.”

“We weren’t…it was high school. We never even hooked up. I took her to homecoming because I knew Milo and Mason, and she didn’t have anyone to go with. After that, we hung out a few times, but it was never anything serious. I think all of it was more for Sam’s benefit than mine.”

Taylor’s nose crinkled. “They’re in love with each other, right?”

“Yes, I think so, but I don’t want to talk about them. What are my other strikes?”

“You are Kane’s best friend and Ruby’s brother.”

“Exactly, and we were just in their wedding, so I don’t think that should count against me as a strike.”

She pressed ahead. “You just got out of an eight-year relationship that ended moments after we met. I mean, that is a textbook rebound. I don’t do rebounds.”

I was silent, not sure how to rebut that. Technically, she was right, but this wasn’t a rebound. I just didn’t know how to make her understand that.

“You’re turn.” She crossed her arms in a defensive stance. The movement caused her robe to part slightly, revealing a hint of cleavage. Every cell in my body took notice, but I did my best to ignore it. “Why do you care that I suggested to Kenna that she ask you to go with her to the wedding?”

Taylor was one of the smartest, if not the smartest, people, I’d ever met. Surely, she knew what I felt about her. She had to. It was painfully obvious, with an emphasis on pain. “Do you seriously not know the answer to that?”

“I don’t ask questions I already know the answer to,” she stated flatly.

“I care because I’ve never met anyone like you, and I know there is something real between us. I care because this time last week, I was buried deep inside of you before I even knew your name. I care because a few days ago, I made you come so hard that you saw stars in a public place. It was reckless. I’m not reckless. You make me reckless. You make me crazy in the best way. And I can’t stop thinking about you.”

It wasn’t the most eloquent thing I’d ever said, but it was honest. It was real.

Her expression didn’t change. I tried but could not puzzle out what was going on behind her gorgeous emerald eyes. “Why haven’t you told anyone the truth about the breakup?”

I had no idea what she was talking about. “Everyone knows we broke up.”

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