Page 70 of Forever By Morning

“Keep your voice down.” He urged me to sit on the swing and blocked me with his huge body. He glanced back at the building next to the taproom, then he returned his gaze to me.

“Is this where you’ve been?” I dropped a hand over his and squeezed. I was used to reading articles and hearing about his crazy exploits in the years since we’d met, but he’d gone radio silent last year. “I was sorry to hear about your dad.”

He closed his eyes. “Thanks.” His voice was uneven and unusually quiet. He cleared his throat. “What are you doing here?”

That was a very good question. I thought I’d had a handle on that until just a few minutes ago. “Helping Laverne.”

“How long are you here?”

“Nice to see you too, Kain.”

He sighed. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, but things are…complicated.”

I pointed to his jacket. “Anything to do with that?”

He slumped back against the bench seat, his green eyes unusually serious. “Look, I know this is a very heavy and weird ask, but could you not mention how you know me to anyone?”

I tipped my head. “You want me to lie? Because I’m pretty sure a billionaire doesn’t need to be a chef at a taproom.”

“Bah. Billionaire.” The disgust was heavy in his voice. Kain had always been more comfortable in battered Carhartt pants and a rude T-shirt than in a suit. Evidently, now he had a chef’s jacket to add to his collection. “For fuck’s sake.”

I turned my knees toward him on the swing until they pressed against his tree trunk-sized thighs. “It’s what you are. If you weren’t before, you certainly are now…” I let the sentence trail off.

My father was more into the real estate end of business than actual construction and building like Kain, but the N’ai name was synonymous with eco-friendly, high-end architecture. And to my mother and father, those optics meant status, clout, and money—their favorite words.

They were willing to overlook the less than desirable traits of Kain’s personality because of it.

“Can you stop being so damn loud?” He swiped his hand over his head, pushing off the stretchy hair wrap he was wearing until his dark hair sprung free. His sides were shorn, but he still had a ton of long, wild curls that whipped around his shoulders in the breeze.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Can you stop being so evasive?”

I’d worked with Kain’s company on a major renovation of The Children’s Hospital in Manhattan. My parents were on the board of directors and of course that meant I handled the mundane things my mother found boring.

We’d hit it off during endless meetings and had remained friends.

He sighed. “I just like it here. It’s quiet and no one expects anything from me. Well, except for cooking. And that’s infinitely easier than…everything else.” He kicked a foot out and set the swing to rocking with the heel of his boot. He didn’t look at me now, his gaze on the orchard below. His face was far more pensive than the man I remembered with the gregarious laugh and shocking humor.

I followed his gaze and my breath backed up at the view. Sunlit green-capped trees were lined up in the valley below. Some as straight as soldiers, while others were clustered in cheerful bundles. It was a vast property and from way up here, it didn’t show the maze of trails I’d raced over the day before.

A day ago. It felt like a lifetime.

Yet here I was, looking for ways extend the fantasy. It surely wasn’t based in any reality considering what I’d overheard a few minutes ago.

We sat in a companionable silence for a few more moments.

“I know it’s asking a lot,Haleigha.”

The old nickname in his rumbling accent made me smile. It also was his way to cajole. I remembered it well from when he didn’t want to deal with meetings.

At least his machinations were mostly sweet-natured, unlike my mother’s.

“I’m not great at secrets, Kain.” They caused far too much pain in the end.

“It’s not exactly a secret, just a…lack of full detail about what I do when I’m not cooking for the taproom.”

I snorted. “Oh, you mean lying?”

He sighed. “I just don’t want to answer a lot of questions. When I’m here, I’m just Kain.”

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