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“Oh, Caitlyn.” His voice held a twinge of sadness and concern, but seemed to lack the judgment I expected. “You can’t stay in that sort of environment. Tell me your address and I’ll settle the bill. He won’t ever touch you in an inappropriate way again. Besides, if you leave here, you’ll be placing yourself straight into harm’s way. It isn’t a good plan.”
“Don’t you fucking dare!” I jumped to my feet. “Don’t you dare spout off ridiculous promises you can’t keep. You don’t know me at all. I do what I need to do in order to stay at my apartment. I’m sure lots of people do the same.” Tears pricked behind my eyes again. I’d had enough. I didn’t cry easily. I wasn’t going to reduce myself to a sniveling mess again. Truth be told, I hated the apartment. I hated my landlord. He frequently came to my apartment to collect mid-month money, and when I was short, he’d do whatever he wanted to me. The memory disgusted me, and I sank back into the cushions. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who has to do uncomfortable things just to survive.”
“Please let me help.” Kade touched my cheek. He brushed away a stray tear that had slipped down my face and my heart fluttered. “No one has the right to demand anything from you, short on rent or not. Not even me. I just want you to be safe, and I don’t want anyone to harm you.”
“You-you don’t even know me.” I protested but I’d already stated it more than once and he stared back at me without repeating himself. “Whenever you look at me, I want to open up and share things I’ve never even thought about sharing with someone else. And yet, I feel like you already know some of them. How can that be?”
“I don’t know how.” He sighed. “But I’m sincere in my offer to pay your rent, give you a place to stay and protect you. Stay here, with me.”
I did the stupidest thing I recalled doing in a long ass time. I kissed Kade squarely on the mouth, and damn it felt good. He pulled back, and his eyebrows furrowed. I’d clearly confused the fuck out of him. “I-I’m sorry. I sort of thought—”
My words died on my lips when he crushed his mouth to mine, and claimed me with his tongue.
Holy fucking hell.
His hand tangled in my hair, and I mimicked his actions. He damn near devoured my soul, and I let him. For whatever journey I was about to embark on, it couldn’t top this deliciously wicked moment. Kade pushed me backward until we were laying on the couch with him on top. I wrapped my legs around his waist and arched upward. I wanted him so fucking bad. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know each other, there was a palpable connection between us in this moment.
“Easy, sweetheart.” Kade pushed back slightly, bringing us both crashing back to reality. “If you’re trying to distract me with your body so I forget about your plan to traipse back into your place of employment and apartment without any sort of back-up like nothing has happened, then I won’t fall for it.”
God. That was a brilliant idea. Why hadn’t I thought of it?
I grabbed the bottom of my shirt, but he halted my movement with his hands and placed them over mine. I used my body to get what I wanted from people I never cared about, so why couldn’t I use it for the one I did?
“You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to kiss,” I said, throwing out the truth for once, but hating how vulnerable it left me. “I’m a bit overwhelmed by the realization, but my first intention wasn’t to distract you. I’ll do what you’ve asked me. I’ll stay here but I can’t lose my apartment. It’s all I’ve got.”
“Fine,” he conceded with a sigh. “I’ll give you the difference so that leech won’t have a reason to touch you, but I’ll bring you there. You’re not going alone.”
“Yeah, okay,” I agreed quickly, but I’d have agreed to almost anything to get back to what we had been doing on the couch. “Did you hear what else I said?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what the hell to say in response.” He rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip. “It’s getting late though, so we should probably go to bed. Not together. I know you’ve been out of it the past few days, but you need real rest. You can stay in the guest room.”
Kade climbed off of me, and I missed both the warmth from his body and its weight all the same.
Nodding in bereft agreement, I got to my feet. He had a point. As much as I wanted him to just throw me down and fuck me senseless, the reality of the situation poked at me like a bad idea. We were strangers, not old lovers.
“Thank you for saving me. As much as I hate the idea of being rescued, I’m grateful it was you.”
“You’re welcome, Caitlyn. Sweet dreams.”
I shuffled out of the living room and went upstairs. Kade had placed a new set of sheets and pillowcases on the nightstand, the one which held my clothing, and I quickly fixed the bed. I wasn’t planning on staying through the night, but if he poked his head into the room, I wanted the semblance of normalcy. I didn’t want to be further in his debt. I wouldn’t take money from him, no matter what my landlord would do to me.
With my plan in place, I smoothed my hand over the soft cotton blanket and got into bed. I knew Kade would be pissed at me when he woke up and realized I’d left in the middle of the night like a common criminal, (well not really a criminal), but I had priorities. Heaving a sigh, I snuggled into the mattress, and tried not to entertain the idea of staying here and letting Kade take care of me for real.
Fuck. I’d miss his damn kisses.
