Page 75 of Cloud Nine Love

As much as I wanted to argue with her, I could see that she was serious.

“Fine. But this conversation isn’t over. Promise me we’ll talk about this.”

She closed her eyes and exhaled. “There’s nothing to?—"

“Yes, Ana, there is.”

At my use of our code names, her eyes opened, and I saw that they had softened. She’d let me in. Again. “Fine. But not here. Not tonight.”

Taylor brushed past me as she walked back to her date. I started to head back to the bar when I heard a sound behind me. When I looked, I saw Kenna standing at the end of the hallway, looking like she’d just seen a ghost.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“You called her Ana.”

I was so tired of hiding what had occurred between us. I knew that it wasn’t my place to tell our story, but I wasn’t going to lie. “It’s a nickname.”

She pointed at me as if she’d just deciphered the Davinci Code. “You’re Kyle.”

Right. It made sense that if she knew about ‘Kyle’ she knew about ‘Ana’ too. When I was hiding in the pantry, she’d said that was what she was going to use to weed out the creeps from her Desperately Seeking Kyle ad.

“How is that possible?” she asked. “I mean, did you plan it? Did you know?—"

“No. Our planes both got grounded because of the storm. I had no idea who she was. She didn’t know who I was.”

I wasn’t sure how Taylor would react to Kenna's in-the-know. Would she be upset? Angry? Relieved? No, she’d be upset.

“Kenna!” Bryson shouted from the bar.

“Coming!” Kenna still looked shell-shocked as she walked past me and went back to work.

When I came out of the hallway, I saw Taylor and the doctor get up and head out. I’d respected her decision not to have this conversation happen here, but it was definitely going to happen tonight.

34

TAYLOR

“The hearts of people in love are actually in sync.” ~ Tim Rhodes

Relief washed over me as Carson pulled up to my house. This date had been a bad idea—it was a Hail Mary that failed. I felt bad that I’d agreed to go; it hadn’t been fair to Carson. “Thanks again for tonight.”

“I’m just sorry it had to come to an end.” He turned to me and grinned. “I’m guessing that the complication had something to do with it.”

I didn’t want to lie. Remi was the reason. “Yeah.”

“He’s the guy from your first day, right? The one whose mom came in unconscious.”

My brows knitted. “How did you know?"

“I saw him follow you when you went to the bathroom and recognized him. He looked like a man on a mission.”

“Right.” Even though I knew technically, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I still felt like shit. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. But, if things ever get uncomplicated, I would love to do this again. Deal?”

“Deal.” I nodded, grateful that Carson was taking this so well. He really was a catch; he just wasn’t my catch.

“Thanks again.” I smiled and got out of the SUV.

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