It's All Relative(73)
Kai drew closer to her, and she drew closer to him. They were within a foot of each other now, and Jessie’s heart was leaping from her chest. Her breath was fast and shaky, and she tried to look anywhere but his lips, but she couldn’t. They were slightly parted, the breath flowing from them fast and ragged, and the shape of them pulled all of her attention. They were the most inviting pair of lips she’d ever seen.
They were nearly on hers when they suddenly shifted to her cheek. Jessie inhaled a quick breath, relishing the heat and hating it all at the same time. A peck on the cheek wasn’t what she really wanted, but it was much more appropriate than where her thoughts had been.
Needing to leave, his lips still lingering near her face, she breathily whispered, “Goodnight, cousin.” Then she opened her truck door and left her grandmother’s house as quickly as her truck would take her; she hadn’t even waited for a response from him.
After that, Kai listened to Jessie’s advice and answered all of the phone calls he got from April when they were together. And that was when Jessie started to notice something about her good friend that she hadn’t really noticed before. April liked to talk on the phone…a lot.
When Jessie had gone to the store and found an unbelievable buy one, get two free deal on Kai’s favorite canned meat, she’d snagged a bunch for him. Later that evening when she’d gone to his place to drop the groceries off, Kai had been on the phone with April when he’d opened the door. He’d given Jessie an apologetic smile and immediately tried to get off the phone with the chatty girl. It had taken him three tries to successfully disengage from the conversation.
When Jessie was at home, watching a little mindless TV, April would, more often than not, be sitting beside her on the couch, laughing on the phone as she talked to Kai. It made Jessie bite her cheek in annoyance to watch her friend twirling a strand of hair, subconsciously flirting with a man who couldn’t even see her. But phone calls were all April got from Kai that entire week after their first date.
Since Kai was busy with work and with Grams, they weren’t seeing each other again until Saturday night. April wasn’t thrilled about their dates being a week apart. She was anxious to speed up their relationship, but Kai was content with the slow pace. And Jessie didn’t fail to notice that even though his work did keep him out late during the week on occasion, and even though a lot of his free time was spent with their grandmother, Kai always made time to see Jessie.
They met up at Gram’s house to watch a movie with her a couple times. On the second occurrence, Grams had glanced at where they were sitting on the couch, a respectable distance between each other, and asked him, “Kai, dear, shouldn’t you spend a little time with your girlfriend, instead of always hanging around a couple of Harper girls?”
Both Kai and Jessie had cringed at her question, but Kai shrugged as he answered her. “April and I are just casual right now, Gran.” Looking over at Jessie, he softly added, “Besides, I like spending my free time with Harper girls.”
Those words had given Jessie a warm glow that had lasted several days.
In the middle of the week, Kai called Jessie and asked if she wanted to go exploring the city with him. Getting home right around the time she’d gotten off work, he’d met her at the clinic with a huge, adventurous smile on his face. Laughing at his enthusiasm, Jessie hopped on his bike behind him and proceeded to show Kai the numerous beauties her city had to offer.
They drove past Denver Museum of Nature and Science, a beautiful building that Jessie thought Kai would appreciate, even if it was closed. Clearly delighted, he was eager to go back when it was open. She showed him the Botanical Gardens, the Art Museum, and Coors Field. Grinning ear to ear, Kai made her promise to take him to a baseball game in the summer. With joy and laughter, they began making future plans to visit all the places they were driving past, and Jessie found herself starting to look forward to weekends again. At least she would still get a little of his time.
Since it was the last week it would be open for the season, they ended up spending the bulk of the night at Elitch Gardens Theme Park. They played the games and tried out all the different rides. They stayed right up until the place closed, even lingering on the grounds until someone finally escorted them out. They just hadn’t wanted the evening to stop.
Jessie woke up exhausted the next day, but she was exhilarated, too. They’d both had an amazing evening. But when she spotted April’s glum face at the breakfast table, checking for messages on her phone that weren’t there, she felt really guilty, too. Running around the city with Kai, holding hands and laughing, none of that was helping him have a relationship with April.
It made Jessie feel even worse when she considered the fact that their night had almost been a date. It hadn’t been, she’d only been showing her cousin around town, but thinking back to the long looks and Kai constantly brushing stray curls out of her face…well, that hadn’t been quite so cousinly. And as much as she had enjoyed their time together, that underlying sexual tension was always there. The hunger and passion they’d both struggled to ignore.
April did unknowingly diffuse it at times. She’d call right as their gazes lasted a little too long. She’d text him right as he was beginning to cup Jessie’s cheek, and late Friday night, when they’d been sitting on his bed side-by-side, watching an old black and white movie, April had inadvertently stopped them from caving into that tension.