Page 58 of The Scars of Us

“Are you sure?” I leaned closer before trailing soft kisses along her jaw line.

She lightly moaned but still resisted. “I can’t, baby. I’ve been slacking at work the past few weeks, and I really need to catch up.”

“Okay.” I nuzzled my face in her neck, getting as close to her as I could as I slid my hands in hers. Pulling back, I said, “Hey, don’t make any plans for Friday night. I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh, yeah? Will I like it?” she smiled coyly at me.

I pressed a kiss to her lips, then another to each side of her neck. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

When I pulled away, her eyes were closed as she wore a look of contentment. They slowly fluttered open as she smiled at me. “I can’t wait.”

Me neither.If everything went according to plan, I’d be breaking one of Kaiya’s rules that night, getting closer to her in the process. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yes. Do you want to meet for dinner after I get off of work? I’ll tell Kam that he’s on his own.”

“Sure, baby. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I replied as I opened the door for her.

As she drove away, my mind was racing in preparation for Friday.Everything needs to be perfect.

I picked up the earlier shift at work on Friday so I could get off with enough time to get everything ready for my date with Kaiya. As I was leaving, one of the receptionists stopped me. “Hey, Ryker, someone left a message for you.”

No one usually calls me at work.“Who was it?”

“Um, I’m not sure.” She rifled through some papers at the desk. “Some guy—he said something about it being important and for you to call him as soon as possible.” She snatched a small paper from the mess and read the name aloud, “Ethan Campbell.”

All my muscles tensed as anger gripped every limb, just the sound of that name infuriating me. I clenched my fists as I gritted, “If he calls back, tell him to never contact me again.”

Storming out of the entrance, I didn’t wait to hear a response from her.Why the fuck would Ethan be calling me? He knows that I want nothing to do with him.

Brushing the thoughts away, I focused on getting everything ready for my night with Kaiya. I sent her a text telling her to be at my place at seven. Just seeing her reply put a smile on face and wiped away most of the anger that lingered from hearing about Ethan.

I found out from Nori that Kaiya loved gnocchi from a little Italian bistro two towns over. She didn’t get to go very often because it was out of the way and never had time to make the trip. So I made arrangements to pick it up for our date.

My palms were sweaty as I set up everything, which was strange for me—women never made me nervous. But Kaiya had me feeling like I was some high school kid about to take the hottest girl to prom.

When the doorbell rang, my heart rate kicked up as my stomach tightened in anxiety.Chill out, it’s just Kaiya.Walking over to the door, I opened it and took Kaiya in. She was wearing a light blue strapless dress, almost the same shade as her eyes, and her hair was loosely curled.

“Hi,” she smiled, her cheeks flushing as her gaze settled on mine. I didn’t need words for her to know what was going through my mind at that moment, my eyes said it all.

“Hey,” was about all I could manage before I had to clear my throat.Smooth.How does she do this to me?“You look beautiful.” I leaned down to kiss her cheek before I brought her inside and closed the door.

Her eyes widened and an astonished smile spread over her face as she looked around my apartment. Candles and rose petals were scattered along every surface, including the table, which I had set with my best dinnerware, but that wasn’t really saying much. Bachelors didn’t have fine china.

Kaiya looked up at me, her eyes lighting up her whole face. “Ryker, you didn’t have to do all this for me.”

Leading her to the table, I pulled out her chair. “I wanted to.”

I picked up her plate before taking it to the kitchen and serving the gnocchi on it. I returned and gently placed the plate before her. “It’s not homemade or anything, but Nori said that this was your favorite.”

She stared at it for several seconds, then darted her gaze to mine. “Is this from Luciano’s?”

Grinning, I answered, “Yeah. I picked it up before you came.”

Another wide smile spread over those beautiful lips. “Thank you.”

I bent down to kiss her. “You’re welcome.”

I’d also bought a bottle of her favorite wine, the house Moscato from the restaurant. I poured us both a glass and sat down to eat.

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