It's All Relative(72)

He averted his eyes, but not before Jessie noticed how torn he was over the idea of her being with someone else. Jessie didn’t want to think about herself with someone else either. She just couldn’t imagine that anyone she might meet soon could even remotely compare to the amazing man before her, but she shouldn’t think that, and she definitely couldn’t tell Kai that.

She shrugged, even though he couldn’t see it, since his eyes were still on the floor. “Who would I go out with, Kai?” He peeked up at her with disbelieving eyes. Maybe he thought she had a little black book tucked away with pages and pages of men who were eagerly waiting for a phone call from her? She let out a soft chuckle at how untrue that was. “You have any roommates I don’t know about?”

Smiling, he leaned back on the counter behind him and said, “No…the one perk of having a studio apartment.”

Without thinking about what she was saying, Jessie rolled her eyes and muttered, “I suppose I could call up Jeremy.” Knowing that the horn dog would probably take her back so long as he got some made her grimace.

“No!” Kai suddenly exclaimed.

Jessie blinked in surprise at his passionate reaction. Face firm and eyes hard, he shook his head. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand, and in a softer voice told her, “No, don’t lower yourself for that douche, Jessie. You’re too good for him.” By his tone, it was painfully clear that Kai thought Jessie was too good for anyone…except, maybe him.

She sighed as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. As she felt the awkward tension begin to build again, Kai cracked a small smile and added, “You could always start seeing Harmony?” His grin grew as he interlaced his fingers with hers.

Jessie laughed at his comment, and felt the last of her nerves disappear. A pleasant warmth flowed in behind it as she gazed at him, admired him, and cared for him in the only way their relationship would allow…from a distance. “Cute,” she said.

“Oh, Jessica Marie, you’re here to check on me, too, I see.”

Shock raced up Jessie’s spine, and she snapped her head around to watch her elderly grandmother waddle through the back door. Jessie and Kai simultaneously dropped each other’s hands and stepped even farther apart. Slapping on a warm smile, even though her heart was pounding, Jessie walked over to help her grandmother into the kitchen. “Morning, Grams. How are you feeling?” she asked, wrapping an arm securely around her.

The old woman snorted as she shifted her gaze from Kai to Jessie. “Besides feeling a little smothered by the two of you worrywarts, I’m perfect.”

She narrowed her eyes at the two of them, her wrinkled brow furrowed in concern. “Everything all right here?”

A flare-up of terror raged through her body, and Jessie did her best to swallow it back. Her grandmother could not know about them. Free spirited or not, she would surely have a problem with her grandchildren lusting for each other. “Of course, Grams. Kai and I were just…going over his date with April.”

Jessie grimaced right after the words left her mouth; Kai gave her a disbelieving look, as well. Why the hell had she just given her grandmother that opening? The sprightly woman jumped all over it too, wanting to hear all about the girl she was positive would one day be Mrs. Kai Harper. The thought instantly soured Jessie’s stomach.

Faking a smile, she sighed internally. She couldn’t help it if Kai and April were forefront in her mind. And now that Grams only wanted to talk about them, thanks to her, they were forefront in everyone else’s mind for the rest of the afternoon.

Later that evening, when Kai and Jessie were saying goodbye to their grandmother, Kai’s phone started chirping. Pulling it from his coat pocket, he glanced at the number, silenced it, and then put it back into his pocket. Jessie instantly knew who had just called him.

While he walked with her to her truck, she called him on it. “That was April, wasn’t it?”

Sighing, he slowed at the front of her truck. Resting his hand on the hood, he studiously watched his fingers circle a ding in the paint. “Yeah, I didn’t want to answer it with you…”

Jessie sighed, too. “It’s okay to talk to her in front of me. She was probably calling to set up another date. She’s anxious to see you again.”

Kai looked startled when he raised his eyes to hers. “Really? I didn’t think she had a very good time.” He cringed, like he hadn’t meant to bring up the date again.

Remembering April at the table going over and over the part she had liked, Jessie whispered, “Some of it…appealed to her.” Kai looked about to apologize again, but not letting him start, Jessie spoke first, “You’re dating her now, and you’ll need to talk to her, and if you and I are going to still hang out together, then you should feel free to do it in front of me.”

Kai slowly let his breath out as he studied her face. “It feels…disrespectful,” he finally said.

The look on his face made Jessie’s heart compress, but she pushed the feeling back and forced herself to say the words that needed to be said, no matter how much they hurt. “It’s not disrespectful to talk to the woman you’re dating. And you and I aren’t…anything.”

His hand reached up to cup her cheek, and he muttered something under his breath that almost sounded like, “Aren’t we?”