Then, over his shoulder, I see a familiar face approaching us.
“Jude,” I say.
Kas turns.
“Hey, man.” Jude greets him. They do the manly handshake-hug thing. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here today.”
“I brought Daisy.”
“I can see that.” He gives Kas a look. “Good to see you again, Daisy.” Jude leans over. Placing his hand on my upper arm, he kisses my cheek.
“Oh, hi,” I say shyly, a little surprised at his friendly greeting.
Jude is really open and friendly—the total opposite of Kas. Makes me wonder how they became friends.
“So, Kas brought you to see our place,” Jude says to me.
“Your place?” I glance at Kas, confused.
“You didn’t tell her.” Jude makes a tsking sound. “Kas and I own this place.”
“You do?” My eyes are still on Kas, but he’s glaring at Jude. I see the skin around his eyes tighten.
Finally, he brings his stare to mine.
“You own this place?” I ask again.
“Joint ownership with this idiot. And we have government funding.” Kas jerks his head in Jude’s direction. “Jude runs the place.”
“And what do you do?”
“He’s the money man,” Jude interjects.
“I handle the financial side of things,” Kas says, giving Jude a hard look.
Jude laughs, seemingly unaffected by Kas’s glare.
“How long have you had this place?” I ask them.
“Going on nearly three years now,” Jude answers.
“Well, I’m impressed. It’s amazing.” I let my eyes wander around the place again.
When I look back to them, Jude is smiling, and Kas is staring at him with a pissed off expression on his face.
He’s pissed off?
Happy Kas didn’t last long.
Honestly, if he didn’t want me to know he owned this place, then why bring me here?
I start to feel a little irked myself.
“Well, I should get back to it. I’ve got a class starting soon.” Jude starts to back away. “Nice to see you, Daisy.”
“You, too.” I smile.
“I’ll catch you later,” he says to Kas before turning and leaving.
And, now, we’re standing here in this awkward silence that wasn’t there before Jude showed up.
“I’m getting the impression that you’re pissed off because I know you own this place,” I say quietly.
“I’m not pissed off—”
“You’re not exactly happy.”
He turns to face me and reaches for my hand, which I let him take. “I just didn’t want you to think that I brought you here to show off.”
“The last thing I would ever think is that you’re a show-off. A pain in the arse? Yes. But a show-off? No.”
He chuckles. “You see me surrounded by my parents’ wealth every day. I guess I just…” He sighs. “I didn’t want you to think I was pushing this in your face as well.”
“I don’t. I’m seriously impressed. And you should be really proud of this place and what you’ve achieved.”
For the first time ever, I see a little color in his cheeks.
“I am.”
“Good.” I smile.
He moves in closer.
“So…” I say.
“So…” he echoes.
“Well, you brought me here. Whatever do you plan to do with me now?”
He grins and leans his mouth to my ear. His lips brush my skin as he speaks, “Teach you parkour, of course.”
Oh.
Oh, shit.
I lean back, staring into his eyes, my own wide with worry. “I’m not sure about that. There is no way I’m jumping off from a high height.”
A laugh rumbles in his chest. “That’s the advanced stuff. I just meant, I’ll teach you the basics.”
“Oh. Okay. And what do the basics involve?”
“Let’s go outside, and I’ll show you.”
I walk beside Kas through the academy. He doesn’t take my hand this time. I’ll admit that I’m a little disappointed.
As we walk, he explains to me the different structures and what they’re used for, and he introduces me to the people training here.
When we reach the back of the gym, I stop at the wall, touching my fingers to it. “I love this graffiti.”
“Jude did it.”
“Really?” I look back at him.
He nods.
“Wow. He’s really talented.”
Kas nods again in agreement. “Yeah, he is. He does abstract art as well.”
“Does he do it as a job? As well as running this place?” I ask.
Kas shakes his head. “Just a hobby.”
“Shame,” I muse.
“Yeah. It’s a real waste of his talent. But he won’t pursue it.”
There’s something in his expression that I can’t quite decipher. But whatever it is, I get that it is not something good and quite possibly has something to do with Jude’s past.
I’ve pried into Kas’s past enough without him knowing. I’m not going to pry into Jude’s personal business as well.
“Come on.” Kas tips his head in the direction of the exit door.
I follow him outside. I thought the inside was impressive, but out here is just as awesome, if not more so.
It’s like one huge park yet so much more.
There are climbing frames and a children’s playground, complete with a swing set, slide, monkey bars, and a seesaw. And what looks like an obstacle course is set out across the area. There are also all different kinds of structures that I wouldn’t even know how to describe.
“This is amazing,” I say, walking past Kas, taking it all in. I turn back to face him. “Did you build all of this?”
“Not with my bare hands.” His lips curve into a smile. “But Jude and I did design it. Well, actually, Jude did all the drawings, and all I did was give my input every now and then. We hired contractors to build it all.”
“It really is fantastic.”
“Yeah.” He smiles again, and this one reaches all the way to his eyes. “Come on.” He walks over and takes my hand, leading me toward one of the metal climbing frames.
Attached to the climbing frame are two platforms facing each other, about three feet of space between them.
Kas stands up on one of the low platforms. “Climb up here, beside me,” he says.
Taking my bag from my shoulder, I put it on the ground by the climbing frame. Beside him, I step up onto the platform.
He glances down at me. “Okay, so we’re just going to do some precision jumps to get you started.”
I give him a dubious look.
“You’ll be fine. It’s just about balance.”
“Of which, I have none.”
He laughs. “Just watch what I do.”
Kas moves so that his feet are at the edge of the platform. Then, he jumps forward with both feet landing easily on the other platform.
He turns around. “See? Easy. Your turn.”
“Oh, yeah, really easy.” I roll my eyes, giving him a look.
He folds his arms, giving me a no-nonsense stare.
“Fine,” I huff.
I step up to the edge, exactly as he did.
My heart starts to beat a little faster as I look down at the three-foot gap, which doesn’t sound like much, but it is.
“I don’t think I can do it.” Taking a step back, I look up at Kas.
He takes in my wide eyes, and his expression softens, his arms dropping from around his chest. “You can do it, Daisy. You’re strong. You’re not afraid of anything.”
“I’m afraid of falling down there.” I grimace, pointing at the space between the platforms, which is only about a four-foot fall, but it’s four feet more than I want to fall.
“I won’t let you fall.” The pledge in his voice lifts my eyes to his.
I stare into his warm eyes. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
I take a deep breath and step back up to the edge.
“Okay, bend your knees, and use your arms for balance,” Kas guides me, showing me exactly what he means.
I copy his stance.
“Now, just push off the platform with your feet, and propel yourself forward.”
I meet his eyes.
“You can do it,” he whispers. “Trust me.”
Something happens in this moment as I stare into those eyes that I once thought were so cold. I realize that I do trust him.
Then, I just do it. I push off the platform, and I jump.
My feet land soundly on the other platform.
“I did it.” I beam.
“Yeah, you did.” He smiles.
“No,
I told you so
?” I grin up at him.
“As if I would be so arrogant as to say something like that.”
He chuckles, and I laugh.
“Do you want to go again?” he asks.
“Okay.” I nod.
We spend a good few minutes with me jumping from one platform to the other, and Kas watches.
Honestly, I’m really enjoying myself.
This is the best date I’ve ever been on, and it’s only just started.
“You up for trying anything a bit harder?” Kas asks.
That stops me in my tracks. “Harder? Like how?”
He gives me a secret smile. “I’ll show you.”
“How about you show me what you can do, and then I’ll do something harder?”
He stares at me, a panty-melting grin appearing on his face. “Okay. Deal.”
He moves off the platform we’re on and walks over to another climbing frame. I pick up my bag and follow him over.
He climbs up the frame until he’s about ten to fifteen feet high. Then, he gets up onto a platform and stands at the edge. He front-flips off the platform, landing on his feet, into a crouch, his hands touching the floor. He pushes up and takes off running toward a pommel horse. With his hands on it, he does an almost cartwheel-like movement. He lands on his feet on the other side where he proceeds to do a couple of backflips in succession, and then he lands on his feet, stopping.
“Show-off.” I smile, walking over to him.
He smirks at me.
I stop a few inches away from his body. He’s barely out of breath.
“That was seriously impressive,” I say.
The smirk vanishes, and a smile touches his eyes as he lifts a shoulder.
I love how modest he is about this.
He reaches out, taking ahold of my hand, and pulls me into his body. He wraps his arms around me and brings his lips down to mine.
He softly kisses me, brushing his lips back and forth over mine. It’s a teasing kiss. A kiss with a promise of more. He gives a gentle sweep of his tongue over my lower lip, eliciting a soft moan from me. My hands grip his waist. He grazes his teeth over that same bottom lip, and then all too soon, he’s moving his lips from mine. I almost grumble in displeasure.
“Your turn,” he says, a husky lilt to his voice.
“For what? More kisses? Because I could totally go for that.”
He laughs softly and rubs his nose over mine. “More parkour.”
“Oh, that.” I give an exaggerated groan. “You sure you don’t want to kiss some more?”
He presses his lips to mine again. “If I kissed you as often as I wanted to, I’d never get anything done,” he murmurs against my mouth.
“I could live with that.”
His laughter rumbles against my lips. I smile, loving the sound and feel.
“Come on.” He gives my butt a light slap, making me jump, before he releases me.
“So, what am I doing?” I ask, following him over to the pommel horse.
“I want you to jump this.” He taps the pommel horse with his knuckles.
“Um”—my eyes go to the pommel horse and then back to him—“are you insane?”
He laughs. “Not certifiably but quite possibly borderline.”
“Funny,” I deadpan. “But no bloody way am I jumping that thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because I like breathing. And I’d like to see Jesse finish school and go to university and graduate, at the very least.”
He laughs again, and it rumbles through his chest. “You won’t kill yourself from jumping this, Daisy.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Maybe not kill myself but very likely break my neck.”
The laughter starts back up again, his whole body shaking with it.
And, now, I’m fighting a smile because of the infectious sound of it.
Bastard.
His shining eyes meet mine, and he walks over to me. “You won’t hurt yourself, gorgeous, I promise.”
He called me gorgeous.
I puddle.
Yeah, I’m
that
girl right now.
I clear the simpering girl out of me and stare up at him with a slight frown on my face. “Well, if I do break my neck, I’ll expect sick pay for the rest of my paralyzed life.”
I can see he’s fighting a smile.
“Deal.”
“Fine. Let’s get this over with then.”
I drop my bag onto the grass and walk toward the pommel horse. Kas follows behind me.
“What do I need to do?” I ask him.
“Just take a good run at it. Then, when you reach it, put your hands on the top, and vault yourself over.”
I glance over my shoulder at him, giving him a skeptical look. “That easy?”
“Yeah.” He smiles. “That easy.”
I take a deep breath and walk backward, putting plenty of space between the pommel horse and myself.
Kas steps off to the side, smartly not saying a word.
I stare at the pommel horse like it’s Mount Everest. My heart has stepped up its tempo, and my pulse is beating in my neck. I can feel my hands starting to sweat.
I clench my fists in and out, and then I press them to my pants to dry them. I take a deep breath and set off running. I make good speed, but too quickly, the pommel horse is on me, and I can’t do it.
I skid to a stop in front of it, hands pressing to the top.
“For God’s sake!” I grumble, annoyed with myself.
I glance back at Kas, who is standing, watching me.
“You can do it,” he encourages.
Turning away, I take another deep breath. Then, I jog back to my previous starting point.
Come on, Daisy. You’ve faced worse than this stupid pommel horse. You can do this. Just imagine it’s Jason; you’re running at him, and you get to smack your hands on his head and jump over the bastard.
And then maybe go back and kick him in the nuts.
My little pep talk seems to have ignited something in me. I start running, like I did before, but this time, a determination builds in me as I go. When I reach the pommel horse, instead of wimping out, I plant my hands on it and vault myself over, landing safely on the other side.
I did it.
I bloody did it!
I spin back to Kas. “I did it!” I throw my hands up in the air, doing a little victory dance.