Barely Breathing(40)

Kane came over to my desk and leaned the backs of his legs against the side I sat on, looking down at me. He put two fingers under my chin and tipped my face up, our eyes locking.

“You’re upset,” he said.

“Yeah,” I repeated.

He took me by surprise by getting down on his knees next to my chair and taking my hands in his.

“I’m sorry I left. You were right . . . about Brooklyn and about me walking out. I’m trying to make it right by coming here.”

I reached for his cheek and cupped it, brushing my thumb over his dark beard.

“Okay. Next time don’t walk out.”

“I won’t.”

I sighed heavily. “I was feeling bad earlier because of you leaving, but then things got worse.”

He drew his brows together with concern. “How?”

“Grayson came over. He looked better, like he’d showered. He admitted he has a problem and . . . anyway, I thought we were making progress but then he used my bathroom before he left and I realized about ten minutes later that he stole my watch.”

Kane’s gaze iced over. “He stole from you?”

I nodded miserably. “It was a Bulgari. Probably worth quite a lot. It was my grandma’s last Christmas gift to me before she died.”

“Damn, Viv. I’m sorry. Does Grayson know that?”

“He knows. He was there when I opened it. Probably already pawned the pocket watch she gave him. Plus I texted him on my way here and reminded him. I’m not getting it back.”

“That f*cking *.” Kane’s expression was grim.

“That watch is priceless to me. I’ve worn it every day since Gram gave it to me. She was so happy when I opened it and . . .” My throat tightened. “I’m just pissed. I feel like a doormat.”

“You’re not.” Kane wrapped his hands around my hips, still kneeling in front of the chair I sat in. “This isn’t your fault, babe. Grayson would do anything for his next fix.”

“But that’s so low . . . even for him.”

“Doesn’t get much douchier than that.”

I laughed and opened my arms to him.

“What?” He cocked a brow.

“The word douchier. Now hold me to make up for this morning.”

He pulled me close and spoke in my ear. “I’ll hold you all you want, but I also brought you something.”

“You did?” I pulled back and looked at the sack he’d left on my desk.

Kane got up and reached into the sack. “Remember when we were out walking a couple weeks ago and we stopped at that bakery? You tried a chocolate and I thought you were gonna come right there in the store.”

“Hey.” I swatted his thigh. “I wasn’t that into it.”

“You were all ooooh. Mmmmm. Yes.”

“Okay, maybe. It was really good chocolate. Anyway. . . .”

“I got you a whole box.” He pulled out a long white box with a red bow tied around it.

“Oh, Kane.” I took the box and smiled up at him. “That was so sweet. Thank you so much. I’m gonna eat the hell out of these.”

He reached into the sack again, pulling out another box. “This, too.”

“You shouldn’t have.” I shook my head. “I mean, you should have on the chocolates. I’m keeping those. But nothing else.”

“Just open it,” he growled, thrusting the box at me.

“Okay.” I pulled the gold wrapping paper from a small box and found a beautiful black and gray scarf inside. “Oh, this is gorgeous. You bought this? For me?”

He shrugged. “I know a lady who owns a boutique. She wraps Brooklyn’s presents for me. She said you’d like it.”

“I do. I love it. Thank you.”

He reached into the bag again.

“Kane, no. Seriously. I don’t want you thinking you have to spend a bunch of money to get my forgiveness. You have it, okay?”

His face fell. “Okay. That’s good, but . . . I wanted to buy you these things. I’m no f*cking good at saying stuff.”

I stood and cupped both his cheeks in my hands. “Let’s work on that instead of you buying me presents.”

“You don’t want this, then?” He pulled out a small blue box.

“Tiffany?” I pressed my lips together, trying to stay strong. “Whatever’s in that box, I don’t need it. I just need you.”

“What if you can have both?”

I considered. “Well . . . maybe. I mean, if we agreed that you won’t buy me anything else for a very long time. That can be my Christmas present.”

He smiled and handed me the box. “Just open it.”

I did, relishing the moment. It had been years since I’d had a relationship so serious it involved gifts. And I’d only gotten a nice coffee bean grinder out of that one.

The necklace made my heart skip a beat. On the delicate silver chain was a pendant; a lower case letter ‘k’ with sparkling inlaid diamonds.

“The saleslady said I should get you a ‘v’, but I liked this idea better. To remind you . . . you know. And this way when some * strikes up a conversation by asking about your necklace, you can tell him the ‘k’ stands for me.”