All I can think about today is what if.
What if he hurt her worse?
What if he didn’t bring her back?
What if I didn’t stay to talk to Carey at all?
And I keep thinking about the look on Brent’s face when he opened the door, his brows pinched together in confusion, and he asked, “What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Kayla?” If I needed a clue that something was wrong, there it was. He called her mother while I was able to surprisingly get Suzanne’s number from Dax. She wasn’t with either of them. The next call was to the detective. When Brent asked why I thought she would be there, all I told him was we got into a fight and she stormed off, so I assumed he picked her up. He was already pissed with me, but it increased tenfold at finding out just what we were fighting over and that I chose to talk to Carey instead of running after her.
I’ve never felt bad for choosing to side with being a good friend before. I did last night. I still feel bad today. Here I thought a relationship would be smooth sailing because there’s something inside of me that tells me this girl is mine, that we’re perfect for one another, but look at how stupid I really am. I let one long-term friendship get in the way of what will hopefully be my lifelong relationship because I didn’t want to be a bad friend or hurt Carey’s feelings.
“Handsome?”
I turn my head to look at Kayla. We’re still lying in bed. I’ve been up for hours, but I think she just woke up.
“Stop worrying about it.” She props herself up on her elbow, her head cradled in her hand, and reaches her other hand out to rub my forehead. “It’s done and over with. We should move on.”
“I don’t like what happened, what I did.”
“Then make sure you don’t do it again,” she says as if it’s as simple as that. “Hell, maybe you shouldn’t feel bad at all. I overreacted and stormed off. I probably shouldn’t be as upset about this whole Carey thing anyway.”
I grab her hand and rest ours on my chest. “Don’t dismiss your feelings like that, especially since she shouldn’t pop in unannounced any time she wants. I wouldn’t want Syd to do that. I wouldn’t want my parents to do that. She shouldn’t get special treatment. You’re still in the right here, Kayla.” And I’m still most definitely in the wrong. I sigh. “Stay here and don’t get up.”
I think it’s time she has breakfast in bed. I get out of bed, pull some pajama pants on, and walk to the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, I return with two plates and two cans of soda. Her eyes light up when she spots the food.
“I earned breakfast in bed? What did I do?”
“More like I think you deserve it.” Once I settle in next to her, I ask, “Did you still want to go to your mother’s or spend today with me and go tomorrow night?” I frown as I think of the third option. “Or did you want to go home?”
“I’m right where I want to be, Logan.” She pauses for a moment, thinking something over, and then says, “We probably shouldn’t cancel on my mom.”
“Okay.” I’ll have her for most of the day before we drive over to her mom’s for dinner. What should we do with that time? Breakfast in bed isn’t enough to make up for my mistakes. It’s not until she goes to the bathroom and I take our plates to the kitchen that it hits me.
We can redo Valentine’s Day. The rose petals are long gone, but I still have some chocolate left. Surely, I can rig something up. With this in mind, I move back to my room, thankful there’s not a window in here. I find the few candles I have, which are for emergencies, and light them.
“What are you doing?”
I whirl around to face Kayla. “Making good use of our time today. We’re redoing Valentine’s Day. It won’t be as good as it could’ve been, but we’ll make do.”
Her eyes light up. “Oh! We can take a bath together!”
I was thinking more along the lines of giving her a massage. That was one of our original plans anyway. I even bought a bottle of massage oil. Plus, I’m not sure the tub is big enough for us both. But if that’s what she wants to do, then we’ll make it work. “Take my shirt off. Braid your hair.” She put it on while I was cooking breakfast. “We’re doing something else first.” I grab two towels and the bottle from the bathroom and lay the towels on the bed. “Lay down on your stomach.”
When she’s settled, I straddle her ass, push her hair off to the side, and drizzle oil over her back.
“Do I get to return the favor?” she asks.
“Maybe.” She can do whatever she wants. “If Valentine’s Day is all about love, that’s what we’ll talk about,” I say as my hands begin to knead her muscles.
“Love?” she moans.
I laugh. “Yeah, sweet cheeks.” I playfully slap her ass and then get back to work. “What do you love about living in Raleigh?”
It only takes her a moment to answer. “My family is here. They’re usually annoying, but at least they’re nearby in case we need each other. What about you?”
The question actually stumps me. “I don’t know. I just knew I didn’t want to go back home after college, especially since Sydney and Savannah are here. Plus, I had better job opportunities here. If I could ever get past the interview part,” I add with a chuckle.
“You’re welcome,” she says smugly and with a smile. “And now, I’m here, too.”
“Exactly. Now, I have to go wherever you go.” I lean down and kiss her neck. “What’s something you love about me?”
She giggles. “Trying to inflate your ego?”
“No, trying to see if you like me for anything other than my good looks and being good in bed.”
“Now I can add that you’re good with your hands,” she teases. I stop moving my hands. She has to tell me or no more massage. Kayla props herself up and glances at me over her shoulder.
“I’m waiting, sugar.”
She rolls her eyes, lays back down, and extends her arms down her sides, her fingers playing with my pajama pants. “I love that you can make me laugh when it’s the last thing I’m thinking about.”
I grin as I resume the massage. It’s easy to make her laugh in those situations. I just have to bring out one of my names, like pooks, and she’ll laugh a little. “Well, I love everything about you.”
“Oh, that’s such a copout of an answer,” she complains. “I had to be specific and serious and couldn’t even use one of my go-to answers. I demand the same of you, Logan.”
“Okay, okay. Let me think.” Choosing just one thing I love about her isn’t easy, but I decide to go with the first thing that comes to mind. “I love that your reaction to my first proposal was to laugh and then come introduce yourself to me.” I move down her body to massage her legs.
“What dessert do you love?” she asks me.
“Anything chocolate.”
“It’s the classic chocolate chip cookie for me.”
We go back and forth asking about the things we love until I roll her over and spread her legs.
“About to massage my stomach?” she teases.
I shake my head as I crawl back up her body and lie on top of her. Kayla’s hands grab my neck and she kisses me.
“Do you know what I don’t love?” she whispers against my lips.
“What?”
“The fact that I’m the only one naked. Strip, handsome.”
“That’s another thing I love: the way you think.” I kiss her first to work her up further. She’s ready now, I know based on when I flipped her over and opened her legs up for me. Today, we have all the time in the world and there’s no need to rush. That’s the way I kiss her, love her, and fuck her until we’re both a sweaty, oily, satisfied mess. Our chests labor and struggle for air. Kayla closes her eyes and sighs. She looks like she couldn’t bear to move if I asked her to, and I’m lying on top of her with not much energy either. I do manage to lift a little to alleviate my weight on her body.
“It’s bath time,” I say softly, kissing along her collarbone.
She groans. “I can’t move, much less get up.”
I laugh. “I’ll get you there, don’t worry.” I manage to get myself off the bed, cover her up to shield her from the chill in the air. If I can now feel it, I know she will. In the bathroom, I turn on the water and start running the bath. She probably wants more than just water, so I look into the little closet at all of the things that came in that basket of crap I bought her. There are like three different things that I’m assuming can go into a bath. Can they all go in together? Just one at a time? Or what? What do they even do? The bubble bath one is obvious, but the other two? No freaking clue.
Fuck it. I walk back into the bedroom where Kayla still lies with a peaceful look on her face. “Baby?” She opens her eyes. “Which of these am I supposed to use?”
Kayla laughs. “Just do the bubbles today.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you looked so confused. It’s kinda cute.”
I roll my eyes and go dump too much of the liquid into the water. She walks into the bathroom a second later, looking way too excited for a simple bath. She steps in as I turn off the water and takes my hand to pull me in with her. Just as I thought, there isn’t a lot of room. I sit at one end of the tub, my legs bent at the knee, and Kayla sits in front of me. She doesn’t seem to mind that we barely fit in here. She simply leans against my chest, rests her head next to mine, and closes her eyes.
“For a last-minute redo, you didn’t do too bad, Logan.”
“You don’t give me enough credit, pooks.”
She laughs. “No, I don’t,” she agrees. “This has been the best day. Let’s just hope my mom doesn’t ruin it.”
Her or her stalker. Even if they do, I’d like to focus on the bright side. Like how for hours today the only thing we thought about was each other. We were able to relax. That is nearly priceless.