Chapter Six
Kayson
I wasn’t usually one to move to the bedroom right after meeting someone, but there was something about Reid I simply could not resist. His eyes called to me. His scent blanketed my conscience with a homelike warmth. I could’ve stayed wrapped in him for a long time.
“How fast can you get out of here?” Reid asked, his voice laced with want.
“I can get things put away in about ten. Closing an hour early is no big deal, things are ready for tomorrow, and all of today’s deliveries are out.” I began doing the absolute minimum required. My aunt would understand. She was all about me finding someone to spend time with, even if his time in Mapleville was limited.
He got up, gifting me a long look at him, closer this time. Whoever Topher was, his middle name had to be idiot to give up this one.
“Are these for the wedding?” His nose was scrunched as his long fingers tapped one of the sprigs of baby’s breath.
“They are. She’s changed the order, oh, I don’t know, forty times. She started out with a cream-colored theme. Then it became coral and pink, which was atrocious. Before the end of the first planning meeting, she had gone the full spectrum, finally deciding on everything white with coral hints here and there. That was before her mother stepped in. I’m surprised she hasn’t called today, though it’s too late. I told her that the last change was final.”
He listened intently, keeping eye contact with me the whole time I spoke. It was hard to find someone who didn’t constantly glance down at their phone or lose interest after a few seconds.
Reid was apparently enthralled, and I was equally taken.
“And Knox said I was picky.” Reid mumbled the sentiment under his breath, but I heard it all the same. So that was the deal. Knox must have been his at one time—or Celeste. I had to know which one.
“You know Celeste?” My fishing-for-information skills had depleted. I used to be good at getting information from guys in a suave manner. With Reid, all those skills had flown out the window.
“I know of her. Knox is my connection to the wedding party, since that’s what you’re getting at.”
Slick omega.
“Guilty. He was your alpha?”
Reid’s shoulders stiffened at my question as his hand fell from the flowers. “He was at one time…”
The more Reid talked, the more I was confused.
“Before Topher?” I remembered the name. Sounded like a stuck-up country club golfer to me.
He turned around, and the biggest smile had taken over his face. “Topher was intended to be a rebound.”
My heart plummeted to my stomach. Maybe that’s what Reid intended me to be, a rebound.
“I don’t make good rebound material. I play for keeps.” I had to get my intentions out there. Reid needed to know I wasn’t a love-me-and-leave-me type of alpha.
“No, I can sense that about you.”
“Yet, you’re still here.”
He nodded. “I am.”
“The hotel in town is ten minutes away, tops. It’s the only hotel in Mapleville. Don’t think I’m your stalker or something.”
“Didn’t even think it. I’m ready when you are.”
I locked up the till and grabbed the keys from my workstation. Reid was still standing there, watching my every move. I loved that he was watching me. His eyes on my body made me feel taller.
“You sure you want this?” I asked, making sure my breath fanned over his lean neck and taking his hand. His fingers laced in mine. I took the opportunity and pulled on our union, making him step closer to me. “Knowing who I am, all you have to do is say no.”
“Yes,” he whispered, his brown eyes fixed on my mouth.
“Let’s go.”
With our hands still joined, I led him out of the store, stopping only to lock the door and shoot him a smile. His cheeks reddened more and more by the second.
When we finally reached the hotel lobby entrance, I’d opened the door for him to go through, when my phone rang.
Both our faces fell. We’d walked all the way there on a cloud and were now plunged back to Earth with one ring.
“It may be nothing.” I pressed the green button on the phone and stepped inside the lobby, watching him take a seat on a stiff-looking sofa. “Hello?”
It was Celeste. She was at the flower shop and ten seconds away from breaking and entering if I didn’t get over there and let her see what I had done, in case there were changes.
She was a spoiled-rotten brat. “This is the last change” apparently hadn’t resonated with her at all.
“I’m sorry.” Those were the only two words I could say after hanging up the phone. I kneeled in front of Reid and placed my hands on his hips, drawing him closer. “I wanted this so badly.”
“I can tell you did. Bridezilla?”
“Yes. If I don’t get over there, I’m afraid she’ll break the glass and tear the place apart looking for her stuff.”
His hands covered mine as he leaned forward. “How about later? She can’t bother you after hours, can she?”
A smile took shape. “No, she can’t. Let me come pick you up here. What’s your room number? I’ll take you out to dinner. Do this the right way.”
A new blush blossomed on his cheeks, making my thighs pull taut and my stomach flutter.
“That would be great. It’s 206. My room number is 206.”
“How’s seven? I need to go home and change.”
“Seven sounds perfect.”
It took all I had in me not to scoop him up and find 206, 106, or whatever the nearest room with a door was so I could show him how much I wanted this now.
“I’ll see you tonight, Reid.”
I grabbed the phone from his pocket I’d seen him put it in earlier and plugged in my number before dashing out to tend to the bride.