It's All Relative(69)
Kai threw a beaming smile April’s way. She was breathing heavier, too, but she didn’t look so happy about it. She swatted at a bug flying around her face, then sighed when she examined the dusty stone steps they were going to be sitting on. As Kai noted her unimpressed expression, he couldn’t help but think that he was failing miserably at this date.
Suppressing a sigh, he opened his bag and pulled out the thin blanket he’d stuffed inside. It wouldn’t do much for padding, but it would help keep the dust off of April’s clothes. He laid it out on a wide path between two sets of carved benches. April gave him a polite smile as she sat down on her hip. She shifted a few times to get comfortable, then watched Kai as he sat down and began pulling various objects from his bag.
Not really knowing a whole lot about packing for a picnic, Kai had eagerly listened to Louis’s suggestions. Of course, Louis was into far more exotic foods than Kai, and had wanted him to pack caviar, escargot, and foie gras. Kai had decided to pack cold pasta, chicken salad, cheese and crackers, strawberries, and a bottle of red wine instead. It had sounded good to him, and Jessie had nodded in approval at hearing it, but as he studied April’s face while pulling out the food, he suddenly got the feeling that she would have preferred the snails.
Keeping a tight smile on her face, she immediately grabbed the bottle of wine. Kai wanted to sigh again, but instead he tried to begin a polite conversation with her.
The date went by slowly for Kai. It wasn’t that he was having a bad time or anything, he was having fun, kind of, but April was clearly not an outdoorsy girl and Kai could tell she wasn’t having the best evening. She kept her thick coat zipped all the way up and looked a little disappointed that she was covered. Kai remembered her tight, long-sleeved shirts and thought that April was probably more comfortable when she had her body to flirt with. Being bundled up was hampering her seductiveness. She constantly swished away bugs and other minute creatures that Kai didn’t even notice, and she picked at the food on her paper plate with her plastic fork. Kai suddenly felt really bad for not going to the cliché restaurant. She obviously would have preferred a high-class meal.
But if she was having a bad time, she never once complained about it. Kai had to give her credit for that. She kept up a nice stream of conversation, most of it about her and the many struggles between her and her parents. Unlike the relationship Kai had with his Mom and Dad, April’s parents seemed to continually disapprove of her life and her choices. Kai didn’t have much to add to the conversation, since he and his parents had almost everything in common. But for the fact that his parents were no longer married, and outside of work they generally didn’t talk much, Kai’s family was a pretty harmonious one. Well, it was, before Kai’s Dad had gotten so odd. Not cold, but definitely distant, like he was waiting for something.
By the end of the meal, Kai and April were sitting close together on the thin blanket with their legs stretched out in front of them and a plastic glass of wine in hand. April leaned into Kai’s side as she laughed at a joke he’d made. He wasn’t sure if she was laughing to flirt or laughing because she genuinely thought he was funny. Aside from finding him attractive, Kai was never entirely sure what April thought of him.
After finishing her glass of wine, April had a pleasant rosy glow on her cheeks. Kai was staring at her as the last gulp flowed down his throat. She watched him silently as she grabbed his glass and placed it inside of hers. Oddly enough, she made that simple movement suggestive. Intrigued, Kai watched as she blindly set the glasses on the step above them.
Her gaze suddenly locked onto his lips. Kai could clearly see what she wanted, what she expected, and he wasn’t sure if he could go through it. She had kissed him before, briefly, and he’d responded to that, but a part of him didn’t want this, and if he leaned down to her lips, if he initiated the contact…
Kai just didn’t know if he was capable of that yet.
They stared at each other, their faces tantalizingly close, her warm breath light on his cool skin. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip as he contemplated. April’s eyes tracked the movement, and she seemed to approve. Maybe tired of waiting for him, she made her move. Before Kai could even get nervous about kissing her, April’s lips were on his. She skipped right past the shy, tentative stage and engulfed him in a deep kiss. Kai didn’t want to like it, but she tasted good, smelled good, and felt good, and he couldn’t stop himself. His hand cupped her neck and pulled her into him.
April let out an eager moan as their tongues lightly brushed together. Kai’s body instantly reacted to the noise, even though he sort of wished it wouldn’t. Finally enjoying her evening, April ran her hands through his hair, tilting his head to get a better angle at him. His breath increased as her tongue flicked across his mouth, searching, teasing, tasting.
Leaning backwards, she pulled Kai with her. Against his better judgment, he went willingly. She lay down on the ground, her body half off the blanket, but now that they were connecting on an intimate level, she didn’t seem to mind the dust. April groaned as Kai’s upper body laid over hers. Their kiss heated as Kai ran his hand down her side to her hip. The lower halves of their bodies were still lying side-by-side, hers flat to the ground. It was a position that would be easy for Kai to take advantage of, if he wanted more from her. But as his mouth moved over hers, he consciously kept his hips away. He wasn’t ready. Honestly, he wasn’t ready for her hands running up his chest and her tongue probing his mouth, but she wanted him and she was being aggressive about it, and Kai sort of had a weakness for that.