Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss

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.

at Rylan all the while. It was bitter, undenably so. However, she could pick up on the subtle hints of malt and caramel, mixed in with the intensely overwhelming

"You're a terrible liar, Kate He drunk from his own cup,

in peace." She blanked at him innocently, taking a bite of her croissant next and nearly groaning "Now this,

sweet mixture of the taste of bread and raspberry jam

your food, Kate, Rylan scoffed at her, though he didn't actually sound annoyed, and she was certain there was a ghost of a smile

cleaning the remainder of the dishes, the followed kylan into his bedroom. "Would you like to shower before or after me?" he asked her, taking off his watch and opening a drawer of his dresser to 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

walked by her, leaning

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 to his hips, and nothing else. Her throat was

"You

to hand her a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved shirt and she smiled at

quietly. She stood up to go to the bathroom, and then paused when she remembered what she was wearing. "Um, de you mind!" She moved her hair away from her neck to reveal

face was blank as he stepped to her, stopping just 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 away from her. "You should go take a shower His voice sounded strained,

Okay, I'll be back With that, she finally rushed into the bathroom and shut the door

-0-0-0-

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

while she brushed her teeth with a

A transitional moment.

words

with intimacy, as long as it was

did that mean,

rejected again. She couldn't handle it if he walked away

wanted to connect

she

meant he was ready for a step like

She was ready, only

actually ready this time.

it worth bringing up

and packed through the knots in ber hair,

that rested against the doorframe on a hook, her mind remembering the root top and Kylan's

for his blessing to be with her, even though she

things. They meant everything to

everything to

him. She was in love with

was meant to be changing into, and

gripped the towel tightly around her and with a hand that

opened in front of lam, the glow of the screen reflecting on the lenses of his

Chapter 24

This shower

was out of the bathroom, and then he

moving. Not saying

licked her lips, stepping away from the bathroom and stopping in

just... you said. I don't know."