Page 20 of The Redemption of Alex Cade
He snorted, setting his empty plate on the coffee table. “If you say so.” He stretched, pushing his arms into the air, his sweatshirt riding up to reveal a narrow strip of taut, pale skin, before he melted back into the sofa, as relaxed as a cat lounging in the sunshine.
I leant back, mimicking his posture, but it felt awkward. Forced. The sofa was too soft, too inviting, and I didn’t know how to sit on it without feeling like I was letting something slip.
“This is weird,” I muttered.
Kit turned his head toward me, his expression curious. “What is?”
“This.” I gestured to the comfortable, slightly untidy room that was so much a home. “Sitting here. Eating proper cooked food, and watching a film. It’s not something I do often.” Or ever. “It feels a bit strange, I suppose.”
“Strange good or strange bad?”
I hesitated, my fingers tightening slightly around the stem of my wine glass. “I’m not sure. Just strange.”
Kit didn’t push me. He just nodded, like that answer was enough, and turned his attention back to the TV.
We didn’t speak, but there was nothing strained or awkward about the silence between us, and little by little I relaxed into the sofa, allowing it to give me its big hug. I let the low hum of the film wash over me, along with the warmth of the room, and the faint, but rich smell of the meal which hung in the air. It felt good, it felt safe. It felt right.
“You’re different.” The words slipped off my tongue before I could stop them.
Kit turned to me, the question in his eyes clear and unguarded. “Different how?”
“You just are.” I returned my attention to the TV, unable to hold his gaze.
He didn’t press me on that either, and I was grateful.
After a moment, he shifted, and his knee brushed against mine, just a light touch, fleeting but enough to send a jolt through me. I froze, half expecting him to pull away, but he didn’t. Instead, he leant back further, letting his shoulder rest lightly against mine. The contact was so small, so subtle, but it made something inside me loosen.
In the spring, just a few months away, I’d be hitting forty. Yet, for the first time ever, I’d been invited to another man’s home for nothing more than a casual meal, a few glasses of wine, and a film. No agenda, no ulterior motive, no expectations, just the two of us slouched down into the comfy,squashy sofa. With the warmth of Kit beside me, his company easy and undemanding, the last of the tension in my limbs melted away as the faint, unfamiliar feeling unfurled that maybe, just maybe, I didn’t need to keep my guard up tonight.
And that scared me more than I wanted to admit.
CHAPTER TWELVE
KIT
After the film had finished I’d had to wake Alex up, but before I did I took the time to just look and drink him in.
He’d been tense and keyed up when he’d arrived, and I’d wondered if he’d share whatever it was that had been holding his shoulders tight. Perhaps I could have helped, if it was anything to do with his employees—I was the consummate HR professional, after all, with the qualifications and letters after my name—but he’d not said so I hadn’t asked. He’d relaxed as the evening had progressed, but it had taken a while, so when he’d fallen asleep I took it as a sign not that he’d been bored in my company, but that he’d reached a place where he’d felt at ease enough to drop off.
And from the looks of him, he’d needed it.
Along with the tightness in his muscles, there were faint shadows beneath his eyes, as though good sleep was a rare commodity. In truth, I hadn’t wanted to wake him because helooked so restful and I’d been about to dig out some blankets to cover him with when he’d woken himself by half coughing and half snoring. He’d snapped awake immediately, with no sign of bleary eyed drowsiness.
I’d wondered if he’d ask if he could stay, and I wouldn’t have said no. But he didn’t ask, so I didn’t offer. He called for an Uber, and ten minutes later it pulled up outside my house. It would have been easy to take his departure as a rejection, but honestly, that was the last thing it felt like as I watched the car drive off with Alex waving from the back seat and me waving back. Minutes later my phone pinged with a message. He wanted to see me again, and soon. Turning off the lights, I went up to my bedroom with a smile on my face, even if I was going to bed alone.
I still had a couple of days left of my leave and although there was a ton of stuff I could and should have been doing, all I wanted to do was be lazy, curled up in front of the fire with a good book.
The bell rang, yanking me out of the fantasy world I’d been immersed in. I wasn’t expecting anybody, I hadn’t ordered anything online, and somehow I doubted it was the Jehovah’s Witnesses coming to save my immortal soul. For a second I wondered if it was Alex, but calling around on spec didn’t strike me as his style, and I dismissed the idea. No doubt it was a delivery for my neighbour, so I went to the door, ready to sign for whatever.
“Hello, Kitten.”
Kelvin leant against one of the struts that supported the small porch, his smile as warm as an Arctic wind. The flip inmy stomach turned to a hard knot as my grip on the door tightened.
“Kelvin,” I rasped. What the fuck was he doing standing outside my front door, looking me up and down and clearly not liking what he was seeing? It was impossible to not think back to that weird meeting; I’d called him scary and as his gaze travelled up and down my body, I had no reason to think differently. I’d met the man only once, and he spooked me. He wasn’t welcome, but he was Alex’s friend and business partner… “This is a surprise. What are you doing here?” I don’t think he was convinced by the forced cheer in my voice, or my rictus of a smile.
“Not disturbing you, am I?” He made a show of looking past me, into the short hallway. “It’s not often I’m in this neck of the woods, but I was passing, so thought I’d drop in. Thought we could get to know each other a bit more.” He gave a theatrical shiver. “Bit parky out here, Kitten. You gonna invite me in for a cuppa?”
My shoulders stiffened. Kitten… The name scraped down my spine with sharp and vicious claws. “Of course. On condition you stop calling me that. As I said before, my name’s Kit.” I stood aside to let him in, when what I really wanted to do was slam the door in his face but that, I knew in the pit of my stomach, would be an unwise thing to do.
