“I’m going to take Duke for a walk.” It wasn’t a lie, but I was so jittery it came across like one.
She smiled brightly, seemingly excited by the idea. “Cool! I’ll come too. It’ll be?—”
“No.” I cut her off with a firm shake of my head. “That’s okay. You stay here and finish up your morning routine.” I didn’t give her a chance to protest any further as I turned on my heel and practically ran to my room to get dressed.
I was thankful Kaia didn’t follow me out of the kitchen. I didn’t know what to even say to her.Hey, sorry I’m being weird. I was distracted by your nipples and your butt in those shorts. Can I touch them?Yeah, that would’ve gone over well.
I shook the images away and headed out the door with Duke. I had to stop thinking about it. It had just been a little too long, that was all.
We started walking down the sidewalk and toward our favorite dog park. The closer we got, the more excited Duke became. He always found other dogs to run around with, and I enjoyed the fact I could be lazy and sit on a bench most of the time.
Today, though, I had brought his favorite ball so we could play together. I needed some exercise and something to do to keep my mind from wandering back to Kaia.
We got to the enclosed park, and I took off his leash to let him run around and get acquainted with everyone. After a while of sniffing and tail wagging, he came back to me. I smiled and squatted down to pet him and give him kisses.
Soon he’d start his training to become my service dog, and we’d be in strict training mode for most of the day, so I wanted to savor our play time together.
I tossed the ball with him over and over until my arm started to hurt, and I resorted to running around with the ball in hand, letting him chase me.
After a while, I got tired and sat on the bench. He settled next to me and I took out the collapsable bowl and water bottle I always had in my bag. He lapped at the water, and I took a drink from my own bottle, exhausted but not ready to head home yet.
I still couldn’t get the image of Kaia bent over in the living room out of my mind. I wished I could’ve walked over and felt her against me. Something was wrong with me, thinking something like that!
She had just moved in, just lost her father, and I was fantasizing about her. What kind of person did that? It wasn’t like I could control my thoughts, but they still made me feel vile. That was the last thing she needed. The last thing I should be thinking about was how her hands would feel on me.
I needed to focus on Duke and not the way I was thinking about Kaia. We were in such close proximity that I was bound to see her in different ways I wasn’t used to. I expected to see her in a towel after the shower, or walking around the house in her underwear and a tank top.
What I hadn’t expected was to have these kinds of feelings toward her just by seeing her doing yoga. I knew she did yoga, and I’d seen her in her yoga shorts before. I’d appreciated her body before, like any best friend would, but why these thoughts? And why now?
I had to rein in my libido and shake the thoughts. It wasn’t appropriate, and if she knew I was thinking about her in any way that wasn’t friend appropriate, she’d probably freak out and move out, and I didn’t want that.
When I came back from my walk, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Kaia had already left. The bookstore was closed on Sundays, but that didn’t mean Kaia would take a day off. She usually ran errands or caught up on some work at the store. I wished she would take at least one day off, but I knew how she liked to keep busy, especially now.
I spent the rest of the day working in my room and avoiding Kaia. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head so everything could go back to normal. She texted me a few times, asking if I was doing okay or if I needed anything while she was out. I kept my responses short but made sure to add my typical emojis so she didn’t think I was acting weird. She probably didn’t think anything of it.
Shedidthink something of it, it turned out. When she came home a few hours later, she kept asking if I was okay. At that point, I had done everything I could to forget about what had happened that morning.
I just nodded and deflected, but as we were sitting on the couch reading, she kept looking at me as if she wanted to say something, but didn’t. Eventually, I made the excuse that I was tired and went to bed. Tomorrow was a new day, and I was determined to go back to the way things were.
Chapter Six
KAIA
After the weirdest night of my life,I was happy to be back at the bookstore. Things in the house were… well, weird. More accurately,Daisywas being weird, and I didn’t know why. What had happened in the last forty-eight hours? Did I do something wrong that I wasn’t aware of? I literally just moved in, so I couldn’t have already done something.
We went to sleep and everything was normal. I woke up the next morning and did yoga, like I did every day. Then, I turned around and saw Daisy and froze. She was wearing a short pair of sleep shorts and had the cutest case of bed head I’d ever seen. I wondered if she’d caught me staring, and that was why she was acting so weird.
She ran into the kitchen like it was on fire, and then she jumped when I tapped her shoulder, like she hadn’t known I was there. After she ran out, I finished cleaning the kitchen and left. I didn’t want to be there when she came back in case she was going to kick me out or something. Maybe I unintentionally creeped her out and now she wanted me out?
I was being ridiculous. I was only staring, and she probably didn’t even notice. When I returned home, she wouldn’t even look at me and went to bed early. She was gone before I woke up this morning, so I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her since last night.
Our texts had been pretty normal, though, so I wasn’t sure what had happened. I didn’t have time to dwell on it because I had a meeting in an hour with Drea, but I intended to get things figured out tonight.
“Are you ready to get down to business, Kai?” I looked up from my computer and smiled at Drea as she entered her office and sat at her desk.
We’d been sharing her office for a few years, and I didn’t mind it. I didn’tneed anything fancy. Just a desk and chair worked for me, though sometimes her office became… a little crowded when Blair was there.
I adored them both, and I was so happy Drea had finally found her person, but I always felt like a third wheel and ended up leaving. They never intentionally made me feel uncomfortable around them, and they never got too inappropriate around me, but I wanted them to have their space.
