Begin Again (Again #1)(54)

I didn’t get to ask him what he meant by that. My breath was already slowing down. With his hand on my hair, I fell asleep.

A knock awoke me. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. Judging from the reddish rays filtering in through the window, the sun was setting. Dinnertime.

The door to our room was ajar and Kaden was wheeling in a cart with food after tipping the hotel staff. He’d thrown on his shirt but his hair was so disheveled that he couldn’t have been up for long.

Kaden brought the cart into the room and closed the door. I stretched out, sighing. My arms and legs still felt heavy; each movement was in slow motion. But I felt fantastic. It had to be because of Kaden’s presence. I no longer felt incomplete, and even my rage at my mother had faded. Instead, an exciting, tingling sensation coursed through my body.

Kaden took the lids off the various dishes and platters and sniffed the food. My stomach began to growl. With an amused twinkle in his eyes, Kaden faced me. When our eyes met I had to think of everything his mouth and fingers had been doing with me just a few hours ago. I felt hot and a throbbing sensation spread between my legs. I averted my eyes. The danger of my losing control and jumping on Kaden was too great.

“No.” He walked around the bed and knelt on the mattress, which sank under his weight. Then he put two fingers under my chin and lifted it. “Let it go.”

“What?” I croaked.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He leaned forward and placed his forehead against mine. “Don’t withdraw from me.”

I closed my eyes. Kaden stayed where he was, and after a moment I swallowed hard and nodded. I stopped trying to put up my inner walls again and instead enjoyed the moment of closeness. Leaning forward, I brushed my lips on his. Kaden sighed and stroked my cheek with his thumb.

“Could you please put something on now? All I can think of is your naked body under this thing,” he whispered, tugging at the belt of my bathrobe.

I nodded, smiling, and slipped out of bed. Kaden’s gaze burned on my back, and took all my will power not to turn back toward him. I picked out a pair of leggings, an oversized sweater and underwear from my travel bag and disappeared into the bathroom. I let the bathrobe fall from my shoulders. My skin was sensitive, and I still felt Kaden’s lips on my breasts. I buried my face in my hands.

It wasn’t as if I regretted anything. The opposite was true. I just felt anxious about my own desire for him. If he hadn’t drawn a line I would’ve gone all the way. That’s how much I wanted him.

That wasn’t good at all.

I got dressed and ran my fingers a few times though my disheveled hair before getting up the courage to leave the bathroom again.

Kaden had placed the dishes from the cart on the round table by the window and was pouring wine in our glasses. When saw me, he lifted the bottle high. “I thought it would be nervy of us to put this on your mom’s bill.”

I smiled. “That sounds marvelous.”

“I’m glad you like my plan. Come.” He nodded toward the empty chair at the table, and I crossed the room in a few steps to sit across from him.

Amused, I looked at the feast awaiting us. There was fried meat, rice, a selection of stewed vegetables and even cheesecake with blueberry topping.

“Your stomach was talking in your sleep, so I decided to call room service,” Kaden explained, raising his glass of wine.

I did the same. His expression was mysterious. True, he was grinning, but there was also something melancholy, pensive, in his eyes.

“Why did you come here, Kaden?” The question had burst out. But I also didn’t want to destroy the moment.

Kaden’s expression didn’t change; he kept looking at me. “You needed me. So I came. That’s what friends are for, right?”

Of course. I lowered my eyes and looked at the food. I couldn’t avoid thinking about everything we’d shared in the short time we’d known each other. For sure we were more than just friends. Kaden had to know this, too. But …

“Allie,” he interrupted my thoughts and leaned over the table. “We have so much other stuff to deal with. That has to come first, don’t you think?”

He was right. Of course he was right. So I nodded and forced a smile. Kaden beamed back at me and raised his glass again. “I think we should toast to … freedom.”

We clinked our wine glasses together. “I’m always game for some freedom.”

We drank and then set in on the food. I ate myself silly, until I couldn’t think about anything except the fullness in my belly. After drinking the last drops of wine, we called room service to remove the cart.

“I’ll never be hungry again,” I murmured, cradling my round tummy.

Kaden got up and walked over to the French windows that opened out to a balcony. He unlatched the door and stepped out, only to return a second later and grab one of the oversized blankets from the bed. He looked at me over his shoulder and with his chin beckoned me to follow.

By now it had grown dark and cooled off quite a bit. I wrapped my arms around my body and looked at our surroundings. The view wasn’t so special—just houses, streets and an industrial zone in the distance.

“I understand why you don’t like it here that much,” said Kaden after a few minutes.

He spread the blanket on the small bench at the balustrade, and sat down.