Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1)(70)

Fair enough.

“This,” she repeated, waving a hand between them. “We hooked up once, and then again—”

“Hooking up is a one-time thing. When you start seeking the same person out to f*ck again, it no longer falls into that category.”

He’d said a similar thing the night before. And he had a good point.

Violet wasn’t exactly able to say with confidence that it wouldn’t happen again between them, because honestly, she was already wondering how she could get him back into his bedroom after he was done eating. She didn’t think she would have much trouble convincing him, but she was still thinking about it.

And that in itself said a lot.

“My point was that I thought about taking off and just … letting it be what it was,” she said.

Kaz stopped eating entirely, discarding his fork to the side and picking up a napkin to wipe at his mouth. He didn’t look pleased at all over her statement, and for the first time all morning, he wouldn’t look at her. “Is that what you want to do, then?”

She was there, wasn’t she?

“I didn’t leave,” Violet settled on saying.

Kaz nodded once. “About last night, when you woke up.”

Violet frowned, not wanting to go into specifics about why she’d woken up. It was enough that he had been able to pull details from her mumblings to make a story and go with it. She didn’t have to confirm it.

“Let’s not go there,” she said.

“I have to.”

“I don’t want to talk about the dreams again, Kaz.”

He chuckled, but the sound came off entirely dry and not the least bit amused. “No, not that.”

“Then what?”

“I didn’t grab a condom, and—”

Oh.

Violet’s wide eyes and growing smile was enough to quiet him. “It’s fine.”

“Is it? Because I’m not sure that it is.”

“Worried about making some illegitimate babies with a woman your father doesn’t approve of?” she asked, smirking just enough to tell him she was teasing.

Kaz scoffed. “Babies, yes. My father, not in the least.”

Violet didn’t entirely believe that. “You sure?”

“Partly,” he said, shrugging. “For someone else, it probably wouldn’t be an issue to my father, as long as shit was handled. But since it’s you … Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“Wouldn’t be different for your father, no?”

Violet’s smile melted away instantly. “Point taken.”

“I thought so.”

“Still, it’s fine. I have regular shots to take care of that, so no illegitimate babies to worry about. My father overlooks men in my life as long as I don’t … ‘shame him’, as he says.”

Kaz’s expression remained aloof and impassive as he watched her from across the island. “Shame is an interesting word to use between a father and his daughter.”

“My life in a nutshell?” she offered.

It was truer than she wanted to admit.

And she could tell, just by the flashing disapproval in Kaz’s gray eyes, that he didn’t like it at all.

She didn’t know what else to tell him.

“That’s not my only concern,” Kaz said quietly.

“The birth control shot?”

“Yes, that and more.”

Violet didn’t know what else there was. “Table’s open, so to speak.”

“Are you seeing someone else?”

She damn near choked on the sip of coffee she had just taken in as he asked the question. Putting the cup down to the island, she cleared her throat. “I beg your pardon?”

“Someone else. I want to know if you are f*cking someone else,” he clarified calmly.

“And if I was?”

“That would be a problem.”

Violet steeled her spine, irritated in a blink. “We’re not an item, Kaz, or a couple. You don’t get a say in any other relationship I may or may not have, just because we had sex.”

His tongue peeked out to wet his lips, and he laughed a husky sound. “You’re right, I don’t.”

“Then don’t ask if you know.”

“But I intend to,” Kaz said just as fast, his gaze cutting to hers. “Us, and this. I intend to be something with you, and I think, based on the fact you keep coming back and also last night, that’s exactly what you want, too. And so, no, I won’t have other men to compete with or concern myself over that you might be seeing.”

Violet swallowed hard, but she appreciated his candor. “What I said still stands, though. We’re not something. You don’t get to ask.”

“And I still want an answer.”

“Kaz.”

He cocked a brow at her, never wavering. “An answer.”

“What if I asked you the same thing,” Violet shot back.

“I would answer.”

“What would it be?”

“One that would please you,” Kaz said simply, still unbothered and watching her. “And probably surprise you.”

Violet sighed. “What are you trying to say here?”