Chapter 89

Chapter 89

When at last they broke apart, the air around them was different Charged. It was unlike it typically was, though. This time. This time it felt safe Warm, even

The walk to Kylan's car was silent and comfortable, and when she sat on the passenger seat of his Bentley, he pressed a few buttons on the dash and the seat beneath she warmed at once.

He had turned on her seat warmer, and for whatever reason, that solidified how she was already feeling

"Kylan" she paused, watching him fiddle with his radio until he found the song he wanted. Soft, familiar jazz filled the space around she, and she couldn't help but smile. He was just.. Kylan. A complicated, broken man that she loved. That she wanted to be close to. To know

"Yes, Kate?" Kylan pulled away from the valet after nodding his head in thanks and she eyed his side profile in the moonlight while he drove away from the hotel.

She squared her shoulders and steeled her resolve to ask the question waiting on the tip of her tongue. "How are you feeling about Intimacy' (just mean. If you wanted to. I don't. Well I don't have to go home right now. We could.. We could spend time playing chess, or watching a movie, or cooking a late-night snack." She was rambling, but her jaw felt slack and incapable of closing. She was seared, Vulnerable, even, to be asking something like this

Kylan was quiet for a moment too long, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking in the near darkness. She wondered if she royally f*cked up her hear thundering and her palms sweaty in her lap

Should she give him time to process? Or should she say something elser

"I'm not suggesting we do anything, if that's what you're worried about." She laughed a broken, nervous laugh, subconsciously tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear and shifting her gaze to stare out at the city instead of his face.

"I feel Fine, with intimacy" Kylan's words were slow, calculated, and precise. She didn't dare look at him. "I feel. Fine, if it's with you." She heard Kylan move his hand across the center console, his fingers quietly finding the bracelet on her wrist and then resting there. "How do you feel about croissants and tea at one in the morning""

She smiled at him then, blinking away a few tears that nearly fell from her eyes. "I feel like those are the perfect snack to indulge in at one in the morning." Her voice was shaking with the sheer amount of emotion that filled her, but she allowed it to peak through, just as she had throughout the night.

"Alright, then," Kylan took hold of her hand and didn't let go for the remainder of the car ride.

-0-0-0-

It was nearly two o'clock by the time the croissants were done in the oven, because Rylan was particular with his cooking process. He was clean, meticulously so. He even made Katrina wear an apron and tie back her hair, to which the didn't protest. id discard the jacket.

She felt a bit silly, maneuvering around his kitchen in her formal gown. Kylan also stayed in his suit, though he did

She was a hilarious pair while she washed each dish she used to make the croissants and tea. She worked well in tandem with one another, and it made a near permanent smile form on her face.

"I still don't understand how you can drink tea without any kind of sweetener," she admitted while she dried the last dish and Kylan stirred either of her cups of tea.

She watched him shake his head and raise his eyebrows at her. "The right tea doesn't need sweetener, Kate. It only takes away from the natural essence. He eyed the tea in question with an almost holiness and she laughed at him.

"I'll try it your way, just this once," she relented, wiping her hands on the cotton fabric of her apron. She joined him at the counter, resting an elbow next to her cup of tea.

Kylan pushed a small plate with a croissant her way. "Raspberry jam is acceptable for your croissant, though." He gestured to a small jar of jam near ber, and she nodded her head.

"Thank you for your blessing" she teased lum, carefully splinting #part her still steaming croissant, before spreading a bit of the jam around Inside with a butter kiule.

"You should try a drink of your sea before you take a bite of your croissant, or the sweetness from the farm will cloud your tastebuds." Kylan sounded serious, incredibly so.

She took a long drag from it, staring at Rylan all the while. It was bitter, undenably so. However, she could pick up on the subtle hints of malt and

eyes at her. "You're a terrible liar, Kate He drunk from his own cup, grasping it the way he always

now, let me drink and eat in peace." She blanked at him innocently, taking a bite

before taking another bite and relishing in the sweet mixture of the taste of bread and raspberry jam on

your food, Kate, Rylan scoffed at her, though he didn't actually sound annoyed, and she

place it back in its respective case. "Oh, um. you can go first." She felt her face flush warm and opted to look away from him. If she was bold, she might have suggested showering sogether, but he hadn't brought it

he walked by her, leaning down

on his bed a bit awkwardly said he emerged from his bathroom ten minutes later, a towel secured around his waist. She watched him. disappear into his closet and then step out again with a pair of grey sweats clinging

"You

if you'd like." Kylan made to hand her a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved shirt

remembered what she was wearing. "Um, de you mind!"

short of her back and then deftly unzipping her dress enough that she would be able to step out of it without any issue. His fingertips grazed her skin for a brief moment, and then he was moving

rushed into the bathroom and

-0-0-0-

showered her body quickly and then borrowed a dollop of Kylan's face cleanser to remove her makeup under the stream of warm water She finished up and stepped oun, drying her body and hair alike with the towel Kylan

fingers shaking while she brushed her teeth with a spare

deciding moment. A transitional moment. Or perhaps she

mind recalled the words

intimacy, as long as

that mean,

couldn't handle it if he walked away

also wanted to connect

and she was his,

ready for

She was ready, only

actually ready this time.

trying? Was it

and packed through the knots in ber

at her dress that rested against the doorframe on a hook, her mind remembering the root top and Kylan's sweet words there, too. His words that were for her and only

apologized to her father. He asked for his blessing to be with her, even

things. They meant

meant everything

She was in love with

be

herself to overthink it too much, she gripped the towel tightly around her and with a hand that was far too unsteady for her liking, she opened the bathroom door and stepped out

sitting on his bed, his laptop opened in front of lam, the glow of the

Chapter 24

This shower

realize she was out of

saying anything.

lips, stepping away from the bathroom and stopping in front of the base of

you to tell me if I'm way out of line here. I just... you said. I don't know." She was losing steam. that she

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