Page 43 of Rayna's Daddy

I skipped behind him.

“I’ll wait up for you.” I gripped the door before he could close it. “Or maybe I could go with you. Patrick’s supposed to keep an eye on both of us, remember?”

Patrick and another gentleman I hadn’t met stood outside the door.

“Morning boss.” They said in unison.

Kyler ignored them. He turned back to me. His eyes sweeping up and down my body.

“I’ll be fine, but it’s not safe for you, yet.” His gaze returned to my eyes. They were no longer filled with desire. Hurt, and regret shined in those steely grey eyes. My heart sank. “I’ve got to go. Stay out of trouble.”

I watched him walk down the hall. When the elevator arrived, he looked over his shoulder. When he caught me staring, his head dropped with a shake.

I frowned and turned around.

“You want one pancake for breakfast again?” Patrick called after me.

Kyler’s behavior hurt my feelings.

“No.” I said. “You’d better get me the whole stack

CHAPTER12

Maybe a pancake coma was not the answer to my prayers.

“Ugh.” I held my stomach and flopped in front of the television. Nothing was on and I was bored. I grabbed my iPad to find a book to read. An alert stated I had a new email.

I opened it. It was a bill for tuition and a letter from the dean stating due to tuition increases, my scholarship wouldn’t fully cover my final year of school, and I should make other arrangements.

“Shit.”

I knew I had to come up not only with living expenses, but supplement my tuition, too.

“Crap!”

I tossed my iPad, kicking the couch.

“Ouch.” I grabbed my foot, attempting to rub the pain away. I look around the penthouse I had been squatting in for the last five days. “What am I doing?”

I wasted a whole week pining after a man who obviously didn’t want me. I have stuff to do. I was mad at myself. Who cares if Kyler Grant is the man and the Daddy I have been waiting for all my life? It didn’t matter that he was the best kisser to ever live. Not that I had many kissers to compare to, but sometimes you knew you were among greatness.

As much as I wanted to stay and figure out my feelings for Kyler, I didn’t have the luxury of a billion dollars to tide me over for the summer. My tuition and rent were due in a few months. My options were narrow, head back to Jersey and get a job or take off a semester and go down to Tamba and stay with my grandmother. I wasn’t even sure if I would be allowed to stay with her for longer than a week or two.

My suitcase sat in the nearly empty closet, mocking me. I packed and checked for flights back to Newark. It was too expensive to book a flight for today. A saver fare was available for tomorrow afternoon. It had two stops and would get me into Newark after midnight. The rock in my gut grew, but I ignored it. Transportation was done. Now I needed a place to stay. My landlord had sublet my place to a summer school student.

I texted my friend Emily.

Rayna: Em, I’m coming back to Jersey tomorrow. Can I stay with you for a couple of days?

Emily: Sure. What happened to your super cool Vegas job?

Rayna: It’s too depressing to explain over text. I’ll tell you about it when I get there. I’ll send you my flight info. <3

Emily and I met in freshman orientation. We’d been classmate friends, sharing several classes the last three years, but we ran in two different circles.

Now that I had my temporary living situation handled. The rock felt like a boulder and I had nothing but time to kill until tomorrow.

Kyler wouldn’t be in until late and would probably head off again tomorrow morning.

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