Denial (Careless Whispers #1)(72)

He grins, and it’s truly sexy and hot in every possible way. “That’s what you get for messing with me, sweetheart.”

I laugh and push to my toes and kiss him again. He cups my head and gives me a long, drugging kiss, and then turns me to the mirror, and I have as much shaving cream on me as he does him. I grab the towel he has sitting on the sink and pat my cheeks.

“Now you know what happens when you argue with me,” he teases, reaching for the brush again.

“I’ll do it,” I say, stepping in front of him and taking the brush from his hand, our laughter in the middle of what could have been a fight feeling right in the same way our comfortable silences are.

He lifts me and sets me on the counter. “Are you as dangerous with a razor as you are with a gun?”

I grin. “Of course, but at least I’m accurate with the gun.”

“You aren’t making me confident about putting a blade in your hand, and how do you know you’re accurate with a gun?”

“My father made me practice. I resented him then, but it’s actually really comforting to know I can handle myself.”

“You will get no argument from me on that. What else do you remember?”

“My mother was redheaded and beautiful.”

“No surprise there.”

I blush with the compliment. “Thank you, Kayden.”

He drags a finger down my cheek. “Just speaking the truth, beautiful. Anything else?”

“I was close to her, and I think she died of cancer.” I shake my head. “I said that so matter-of-factly, but it didn’t feel that way when I remembered it. You know, Giada lost her mother to cancer too.”

“That doesn’t make you like her.”

“She’s alone. She has no one.”

“She has her brother and Marabella.”

“Not you?”

“I look out for her, and she knows it even if she doesn’t like it.” He gives me a heavy-lidded stare, his hands flattening on my bare legs beneath his shirt. “You aren’t alone. You have me now. You know that, right?” A firestorm of emotions attacks me, jumping around in my belly, and I cut my gaze. His finger slides under my chin and he gently brings my eyes back to his. “You have me.”

“For now.”

“Not for now. You don’t know that yet, but you will.” He reaches for the razor. “This is what you call trust.”

I close my hand around the razor, heat sliding up my arm and over my chest as our fingers touch. “Trust,” I whisper.

“Yes. Trust.”

We stare at each other and the air shifts and almost burns, the connection between us expanding, deepening, and he is safe and right in ways that matter more than ever after my flashback this morning. “Last night . . .”

The blue in his eyes darkens. “What about last night, Ella?”

“I just . . .” I wet my lips.

“We can go slow.”

“That’s not the point. I just wanted you to know that I . . . slept pretty good with you.”

He gives me a curious look, those sexy lips curving into a smile. “I slept pretty good with you too. Now. Shave me, woman.”

I laugh and am about to go to work, but I’m not ready to let go of his grumpiness from minutes before. “You know—”

“Don’t bring up Giada again.”

I pause mid-swipe. “How did you know I was going to talk about her?”

“Because I’m figuring out quickly that you don’t give up easily.”

“You can be a big brother to her.”

“See what I mean?”

“I’m serious, Kayden.”

“She has Adriel.”

“Who she resents.”

“She resents me.”

“Please—”

“No.”

I glower openly. “We’re back to ‘no’?”

“We never left it.”

“You’re being stubborn.”

“Yes. I am.”

I set down the razor I haven’t even used and scoot off the counter. “You need to shave yourself.”

“Because of Giada?”

“Because if I stay this is going to become our second fight,” I say, inching away from him.

“Second?”

I pause at the doorway. “The bar last night was number one. If I stay right now, we’ll be two for two, so I’m not staying right now. I’m going to shower. Alone.” I accent that statement by leaving, making a beeline for the door and exiting into the hallway, where cold stone meets my bare feet. I pass the stairwell and realize that Marabella could be here, and I start running. I enter my room and shut the door. I wait, half expecting Kayden to follow, but half not, his desire to avoid a Giada conversation powerfully evident.

Inhaling, I’m trying to figure out what sore spot she hits in him, and failing. After flipping on the fireplace switch I cross to the bathroom, undress, and turn on the shower, taking my new products with me when I enter. I step under the warm stream of water and quickly wash my hair and drench it in conditioner, returning to my prior dilemma. What is it with Kayden and Giada? And why do I feel so weird with Adriel? Actually, I felt kind of weird with Giada when we were here yesterday, so maybe being stalked by cops and gangsters has me feeling paranoid.