Chapter Four
When Hayden woke up in the morning, his first thought was, what did I do?
He’d wanted to kiss her, sure. But he shouldn’t have. Not without talking to Gabby first. Not without making sure Kaelyn was really interested because now there was no escaping her. She’d kissed him back, yes. But what did that all mean?
Usually, there was some time after a kiss like that: a half-drunken, unexpected, off-the-cuff, without-much-thought kiss. He needed time to process and figure out what he was feeling. But she’d be there. As soon as he walked out of the room, she’d be there.
He sucked it up and walked downstairs. The smell of coffee and bacon was making his stomach growl. Kaelyn was already sitting at the small table in the breakfast nook, sipping coffee. She looked up when he entered and her cheeks went pink.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning.”
He poured some coffee and sat across from her. A few minutes later, his cook came in with a plate of eggs and bacon and set them down on the table in front of them. Hayden didn’t waste any time digging in, but Kaelyn ate slowly, pushing her food around her plate.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She set her fork down. “Or maybe not. I don’t know. Did I make a fool of myself last night?”
“No? Why would you think that?”
“I drank a little more than I intended, I guess, and then when we…”
So, apparently, they weren’t just going to ignore it. Better bring it up and get it over with, then. “Well, I kissed you. If anyone was inappropriate, it was me.”
She blinked at him. “Do you wish you hadn’t?”
“It’s not that. It was a great kiss.” He stuck a piece of bacon in his mouth, looking for the right words. “I just think maybe it was fast? We didn’t really discuss that at all and with you staying here...”
“Yeah. It is kind of awkward.”
“It is.”
She chuckled. “So maybe we don’t hook up unless we discuss it first?”
“Or maybe when we’re not living together?”
“Right.” She nodded. “Agreed. No more kissing until I move out and we discuss it.” She breathed out a hard sigh. “That makes it better. No pressure.”
He did feel relieved, even if he was somewhat disappointed. He’d enjoyed kissing her. But it was better this way. They could wait a few months, then see what happened when she had her own place.
***
After they got past the initial awkwardness and set the boundaries for their relationship, things got a little better. That next week, Kaelyn started her new job. They went back to being friends, though they did tend to flirt a lot. They had never done that back in high school. When he walked by her, he could feel the sexual tension between them.
He became grateful for their no kissing rule. So many times he wanted to kiss her and wondered if he could or should. Then he remembered that they’d agreed not to, and it made things simpler.
That morning, they’d had a nice breakfast together, crepes and ham, and they had talked about her first week of work. She was enjoying her new job as a database administrator. Working with computers all day was what she’d gone to school for and was good at. She thought it would only be a month or so until she could save a bit and look for a place.
Kaelyn had headed out for the day to meet some friends for shopping and Hayden was pulling on his shoes, meeting his own friends for a game of basketball at a local gym. He picked up his keys and gym bag and headed toward the garage.
Before he could leave the house, though, someone knocked on the door. Usually, he let the housekeeper answer it, but he happened to be nearby, so he peaked through the window beside the door. He made a face to himself when he didn’t recognize the man outside but pulled the door open anyway.
“Can I help you?” he asked, with a slight edge in his voice. If this guy was selling something or belonged to some media outlet, he’d curse himself for not letting the housekeeper answer. And if he was at the door, it meant either someone had given him the pass code to the gate that protected the property, or he’d gotten it some other way. Once or twice, his passcode had been hacked. Probably someone at the security company selling information, they’d told him the last time it happened.
“Is Kaelyn here?”
This took him a bit by surprise. Not that she wasn’t allowed to have people come to the house. That didn’t bother him. But he thought she might have mentioned it.
“She’s out at the moment. Can I tell her who stopped by?”
“I’m Will. I’m her boyfriend.”
Hayden kept a straight face, but the jealousy raged in his chest. Was she dating someone? Had that happened before or after their kiss? Was she ever going to bother telling him, or just lead him on, letting him think that maybe they had something?
“Boyfriend, huh? I didn’t know she had a boyfriend.”
Will grinned. “We’re in love. But she doesn’t like to tell too many people. Doesn’t want to seem like we’re bragging about it or anything.”
Hayden pressed his lips together. “Right. I’ll let her know you stopped by.”
Were they in love? Was this guy for real? If that was true, then it couldn’t be new. At least not within the last week. Which meant she’d been dating him when they kissed. And the whole time they talked that night, she hadn’t bothered to mention him once?
By the time he slid behind the wheel of his Jag and backed out of the garage, the rage and jealousy were warring with each other. This happened to him sometimes. Shifters tended to be somewhat hot-headed by nature. It was something in their biology. He ground his teeth together and wished he could run Will over with his car. The little weasel had already left, though.
He found himself driving too fast in his rage and had to force himself to take his foot off the gas. The whole time he played ball, he found himself throwing the ball too hard, taking more risks than he normally did. His teammate missed a shot and he nearly took his head off yelling at him.
“What is your problem today?” Lee asked. “This level of aggression is not necessary. It’s a hangout game. It’s supposed to be for fun.”
“Whatever.” Hayden took a hard sip of his water and tossed the bottle back in his bag. “You could still get the shot.”
“I’m gonna call it a day,” Doug said. “It’s getting late anyway, and I have stuff with the kids to take care of.”
Two of them left and it was just Lee and Hayden. Lee grabbed his own gym bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“Go out and have a drink or something, man,” Lee said. “You’re wound up.”
“It’s nothing.” Hayden snatched his bag from the ground and threw it over his shoulder. “Good game,” he muttered and walked out.
Kaelyn wasn’t home by the time he returned, so he showered, the hot water doing nothing to ease his frustration. In his head, he kept going over everything Will had said and everything Hayden would say to Kaelyn when he saw her.
He was in his office, trying to work and failing, when Kaelyn finally came home. He closed his laptop lid, took a deep breath and walked out of his office. Kaelyn came from the garage with bags in her hands.
“Hey,” she said cheerfully.
He didn’t smile back. “Have fun?”
“Yes. It was really great. I got some new work clothes and a few things for when I have my own place.”
“You get anything for date night?”
She pulled together her eyebrows. “Date night?”
“When you go out with Will. I assume you dress up nice for him.”
Her face fell and she dropped the bags. “Will?”
“You know, the boyfriend you forgot to tell me about.”
“Boyfriend?” Her lip started to quiver. Her reaction made no sense unless she was upset that he’d found out.
“He stopped by today. Told me how you two were so in love.” Hayden crossed his arms. “Nice of you to tell me that before I kissed you. And spent the last week flirting with you.”
“No, it’s not like that.” She put her hand to her mouth. “He came here?” Her voice cracked and she looked like she was about to cry.
“Sure he did. Why didn’t you tell me?” He was trying very hard not to shout. But he wanted to scream at her so badly.
“He’s not my boyfriend. I don’t know how he got this address, but he shouldn’t be coming here. I didn’t tell him where I live. And I’m certainly not in love with him.”
Hayden dropped his arms. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
She shook her head and wiped away a quick tear. “Nothing. I just have to go take care of something.” She picked up her bags and was several feet from him before she turned back and said, “Is there a way we can stop him from getting onto the property?”
“You really didn’t give him the passcode to the gate?”
“No.” Her eyes were wide with horror.
His anger melted into concern. Something was very wrong about this situation. “We need to change it, then. Kaelyn, who is this guy? What’s going on? Is he causing trouble for you?”
“Please change the code. No, it’ll be fine.” She hurried up the stairs and into her room.