Page 31 of Fragile Kiss (Fragile 2)
Lillian looked at the ground with a forced smile. “
The juice is great, thank you.”
“Isn’t it? I buy it from a juicer in Santa Monica. He gets the raw ingredients from farmers somewhere. I’m not sure of the details, but it’s wonderful.”
Feeling uncomfortable, Cayden cleared his throat. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting the two of you. I can come back—”
“You were absolutely not! Have you eaten? Lillian and I ate already, but I would be happy to...” she looked Cayden straight in the eye, “feed you before our workout.”
“I just ate,” he managed to say, turning his head to stare out the window.
“All right, then. Lillian, I believe we must pause here for the day.”
“It’s a good stopping point, anyway. Tomorrow we’ll finish the dishes and work on the bookshelves in the living room.” She smiled, seeming totally unfazed by the obvious sexual comment Katharina had just made.
“I’m really looking forward to that part. Let me go change and then I’ll call a car to take you back to your hotel.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I can do it myself.”
“Nonsense, let me do it. I’m going to change to my workout clothes. Be right back.” Without another word, she sauntered down the hallway. The sound of her bedroom door closing echoed on the hardwood floors back to the kitchen.
“How long have you been here?” Cayden heard himself asking.
“I just got here this morning.”
“You weren’t going to tell me you were coming?”
“I assumed you knew, Cayden. You were the one who brought me out here, basically.” The smile faded from her face.
“I had no idea you were actually coming!” He had to force his voice down to a whisper. “I just mentioned what you do in passing. I thought she was taking your number from me out of courtesy.”
“Wow. Thanks.” Lillian crossed her arms.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No worries.” She looked at her phone. “I’ve really got to go.”
No, Cayden yelled in his head, but he said, “I wish I’d known you were coming.”
She just stared at him. “So you could have avoided meeting here? It’s clearly very uncomfortable.”
I shouldn’t have said that, he thought, but he didn’t regret it.
They heard something thump against Katharina’s door and kept quiet for a second, waiting to see if she was coming back out.
“You shouldn’t have told her about me,” Lillian mumbled.
“Why not?”
Her eyes softened like she was hurt, but she pressed her lips and didn’t respond.
He tried to say something in protest, but he had trouble finding the words. “Why did you come here, then?” he finally spat out.
“I came here because...” Suddenly she stopped and looked at the floor.
“Because why?” he pressed, desperate.
“Because I wanted—”
