Page 208 of Torrid Passion
After her three-month non-paid internship, Chanel were so impressed, they offered her a temporary position. She isn’t making millions, at least not now, the experience counts.
“I guess every good thing must come to an end,” Stella says.
“Don’t I know it?”
Suddenly a wave of sadness engulfs me.
“Why do I sense we’re no longer talking about Harlow?” Hayden asks carefully.
I shake my head, swallowing down my emotions.
“Kyla?” Hayden presses.
“I thank God this nightmare is behind me, but for six weeks, I lived an idyllic dream,” I say. “Soon after we became official,” I say with air quotes, “Loki and I were forced to live together… I didn’t expect to like it that much.” I let out a long sigh. “We’ve been apart two hours and something inside me already feels empty.”
Stella reaches for my hand. “You guys are going to still see each other?”
I shake my head.
“He broke it off?” Stella looks horrified.
“No. We’re still going strong,” I offer a small smile. “Loki has to go to New York. He’s leaving tomorrow and he’ll be there for a week. Rod is in Miami and he’ll join him. They have some big business in the Big Apple. It’s back to the grind. The fairytale is over.”
“But your relationship isn’t over,” Hayden points out.
I give her a one-shoulder shrug. “I know. I’m being silly.”
Hayden squints her eyes at me. “Wait a minute. Kyla O’Keeffe, you’re hiding something from us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I feign ignorance.
“What did I miss?” Stella asks, her eyes bouncing from mine to Hayden’s.
“Someone fell hard for Mr. Lochlan Berkshire.” Hayden already knows. She’s too quick for her own good.
Stella’s eyes grow as wide as saucers. “Did you?”
“We’re back in LA,” I say, nervously brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “Everything is different. He’s living in his house in Manhattan Beach and I’m here at the guesthouse. We’re back to the same rhythm as we had before the unwanted media attention exploded online.”
“Did you fall for Loki? Yes or no?” Stella insists.
I roll my eyes. “Falling for him this soon would be ridiculous. Dangerous, even.”
“Was that an answer?” Hayden asks.
I purse my lips together, trying to avoid the inevitable.Crap.My eyes sting with tears.
Stella pushes her chair back, gets up, circles the table and kneels next to me. She grabs my hands into hers and squeezes. “Silly Kyla O’Keeffe, you fell for your gorgeous, sexy and formidable bad boy lover.”
Hayden rubs my back in comforting circles. “I reckon, we’re all blind here.”
“What do you mean?” Stella asks.
I’m still too choked up to speak.
“Kyla fell for him so long ago… this isn’t a crush anymore,” Hayden says. “And she’s long past the, ‘I like him’. Even, ‘I like him a lot’, doesn’t cut it anymore.” She pauses. “My guess is we’re talking about the L word.”
“Are you in love with Loki?” Stella asks.
