Saturday (Timeless Series #6) (12 page)

Morning

Rose

When I woke up I realized I was in my bed. I didn’t walk there myself, and I certainly didn’t take my shoes off. I was carried—by strong arms. The previous night returned to my thoughts and I remembered the last thing I did before I fell asleep. I was sitting on the couch—with Kyle.

I pulled the blankets down and realized I was wearing the same clothes as the night before. My Warriors jersey was still on, and my jeans were on as well. My baseball cap had fallen off at some point.

The anxiety passed when I realized there was nothing to be upset about.

I was fine.

Before walking into the living room I went into the bathroom to check my appearance. Just as I feared, my make up was a mess. The mascara was bleeding all over the place, and my foundation was pretty much gone. No make up was better than this clown stuff.

I washed my face and patted it dry before I walked into the living room.

Too many sizes too big, Kyle lay on the couch with his feet dangling over the edge. He was an enormous man in comparison to the small furniture. He probably got a terrible night of sleep. One arm was draped behind his head while the other rested on his chest.

It was the first time I slept alone with a man. We were in different places, but we were still in the same apartment. I never meant for it to happen, but it came to pass anyway.

But nothing happened.

I walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Kyle must have heard the refrigerator door because he sighed then sat up. He rubbed the sleep from his eye then fingered his hair. For just waking up he looked undeniably handsome. The sleepy look in his eyes was somehow sexy. Not too many people could pull that off. “Good morning.” He eyed me hesitantly, like he expected me to do something upsetting.

“Morning.” I put on a pot of coffee. “Would you like some?”

His chest automatically deflated with ease. “Sure.”

I grabbed two mugs and listened to the pot make its usual noises. The water boiled from within, making a loud rumbling noise.

Kyle leaned against the couch and continued to rub his eyes like he couldn’t wake up. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good. You?”

He eyed the couch with a sarcastic grin. “It’s not quite as comfortable as my bed…”

“Why didn’t you go home?”

“I didn’t want to leave the door unlocked all night. And I didn’t want to wake you up.” He rose to his feet then brushed the wrinkles out of his clothes.

I watched the way his shirt fit to his body. It wasn’t tight, but it fit snugly against his chest. The definition in his torso was obvious even when he was clothed. I could see the distant grooves of his pectoral muscles. His arms were just as strong, as if he threw tree logs around for sports. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Black.”

I poured two mugs and handed one over.

He sat at the kitchen table and drank it slowly, the steam rising from the surface and making the apartment smell like morning.

I sat next to him and added a splash of cream and sugar. At one point in time I didn’t trust Kyle at all. When he took me to his apartment building I jumped to the worst possible conclusion. And when he took me to his beach house I made him leave because I couldn’t stand the idea of being alone with him. But now I made it through the night with him just in the other room. Was I getting better? Or was Kyle just an exception?

“Do you have any plans today?”

“No. I need to wash my bedding since I slept in the same clothes I wore to the arena.” I cringed in disgust. I wasn’t the most hygienic person, but I was particular about the bed I slept in.

He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s true. You have a washer and dryer in here?”

“Yeah. Down the hall.”

“That’s convenient.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. But I know how rare that is.” He drank his coffee until the glass was empty. “Thanks for the fuel.”

“No problem.”

He placed the empty cup in the sink then gathered his phone and wallet from the table. “Well, I should get going. I’m in desperate need of a shower.”

The disappointment washed over me and I wasn’t sure where it came from. I hadn’t expected him to stay but I didn’t expect to depart right away. Normally, I couldn’t wait to get away from any man I was near, but now I found myself dreading his absence.

It was a strange feeling.

Nothing could ever happen between us because I simply wasn’t capable of it, but I loved being with him. He made me feel comfortable without even trying. He always made me laugh, and he even made me feel safe.

He was my best friend.

“Okay.” I did my best to keep the sadness out of my voice but some of it slipped through. Without making eye contact I walked to the door and acted natural, bottling up the letdown. I was beginning to scare myself, disliking this attachment that came out of nowhere.

Kyle met me at the door, but instead of walking out he looked into my face. That usual intensity was there. He stared me down like he had every right to do so. The look no longer haunted me. Now it was so common that it was strange when he didn’t do it. My mouth went dry like it always did, but now it felt right. My breathing picked up and I suspected he noticed. “Unless you want me to stay.”

I held his gaze but didn’t respond.

“Because I will if that’s what you want.”

He had the unnatural ability to pick up on my mood, to read my thoughts even when I wasn’t sure what I was thinking. He knew things about me without asking any questions, and he seemed to understand me even though he knew me for a short amount of time.

“I want to stay too—but only if you want me here.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud. A part of me was ashamed of my answer. I was beginning to need him, to want him beside me all the time. If he knew the truth about the things that happened to me he wouldn’t want me. I was wasting his time and his hopes but I couldn’t stop myself. It was nice to feel at ease around someone, to trust someone like this. “I want you to stay.”

***

“What do you think this one is about?” Kyle stood beside me in front of the painting. We spent the afternoon at The Museum of Natural History, something neither one of us had ever done despite living in the city our whole lives.

“Uh…” I tilted my head to the side like that would help.  Getting a different angle could make a difference. But the colors and images still blurred together without significance. “Herding cattle…?”

He chuckled. “I guess that could be it.”

“What do you think it is?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said with a shrug. “I think they’re firefighters trying to spray down wild animals with firehouses.”

I definitely didn’t see that. “That’s an idea…”

“Too bad they don’t have the answers posted on the wall.”

“That would make it too easy.”

We moved onto to the other paintings in the museum, looking at the different artwork that didn’t make sense to either one of us. Some of the portraits of significant figures were beautiful, and a lot of the handmade pottery was fascinating as well. But neither one of us understood abstract art.

“What do you think this is?” Kyle stood in front of a display of metal balls. They were dispersed around a metal base, looking random and strange.

I eyed the title. “
The Tale of Time
.”

“Well…that title didn’t help.”

It seemed like a random creation, with different balls hovering around. None of it made any sense.

“I could totally be an artist,” he said. “I could throw my garbage together and auction it off to the highest bidder.”

“It seems that way, huh?”

He walked around the display, looking at it more carefully. “Do you think they are planets?”

“Could be.” They were all spherical spheres. “But it can’t be our universe. They aren’t placed correctly.”

“No…” He leaned forward to get a better look. “This one is Saturn—look at the rings. That’s Jupiter because of the granular surface. But you’re right, they aren’t in the correct locations.”

I was still lost.

He considered the situation like a mathematical problem. He rubbed his chin as he remained deep in thought. Then when he had the answer he snapped his fingers. “It’s the beginning of time, when the planets exploded in the Big Bang and stretched outward across the universe.”

That made sense to me. “I think you’re right.”

“That’s why it has that title.”

Another clue. “Good point.”

He flexed his biceps. “I win.”

“I didn’t realize it was a competition.”

He gave me that cute smile, the one that reached his eyes. He had such a handsome face, and it really showed when he had that grin on his face. “Not a close one, at least.”

***

We decided to get sandwiches for lunch, so we sat across from each other at the deli just down the street. We shared a bag of chips while we discussed the museum.

“Could you make a design for a building and submit it as art?”

The question sounded like a joke, but since he said it seriously I knew it wasn’t. “Depends on what the building is.”

“Couldn’t it be anything? What if you made a real-life model of the whole city? I think that would be pretty cool.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“I’m sure you’d get paid for it.”

“Eh.” I wouldn’t be compensated appropriately for all the hours that would require. It would be a donation of my time, something I had very little of anyway.

“Eh?” he asked with a laugh. “You’re Canadian now?”

“No, it was just the best response.”

“Eh.”

I chuckled and threw a chip at him.

He opened his mouth and caught it like he’d been expecting it. “Thank you. Now I can eat hands free.”

I eyed his thick sandwich, layered with turkey, ham, and roast beef. “You think you can catch that hands free?”

He shrugged. “Eh.”

“Oh my god. Stop making fun of me.”

“What?” he asked innocently. “It’s fun. And it’s so easy to do.”

“When the tables are turned you won’t like it very much.”

“There’s nothing to make fun of me for. I’m awesome.”

I rolled my eyes.

“What? You don’t think I’m awesome?”

I tried to stop myself from smiling but I couldn’t. “Eh.”

He laughed before he took another bite of his sandwich.

A quiet companionship fell over the table. As time passed I grew more comfortable around him, but now it reached an all-time high. It seemed like we’d been friends all our lives, that we knew each other better than anyone else. I wasn’t self-conscious about what he wanted from me. I didn’t think about that horrible night four years ago. I was at ease—I was happy.

More people filed into the deli, the bell ringing overhead. I couldn’t see anyone who walked inside because I was facing the opposite way, but that damn bell told me everything I needed to know.

Kyle glanced at the door then did a double take, like he saw someone he recognized. He immediately looked down at the table, hiding his face and his attention. He kept eating like nothing had changed, but his body language said otherwise.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He ate a few more chips and kept his head down.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw a group of girls. There were four of them, and they were all the tall and beautiful type. Their hair was done to the point of perfection, and their make up was good enough to make an appearance on TV. If I spent that much time dressing myself up I’d never leave the house. It’d be bedtime by the time I was finished.

One of the girls stared at Kyle, and when her eyes widened in recognition I knew she knew him.

I quickly faced the other way and tried to act like I wasn’t staring.

Heels echoed behind me, and within seconds she appeared. “Kyle.”

Kyle looked up when he realized he’d been spotted. “Hey, Cassandra. How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” she said coldly. “I haven’t heard from you in a while.” She turned to me and gave me a cold look. Then she turned back to him.

I felt uncomfortable—even a little sick.

“I’ve been busy.” Kyle stopped eating and focused all of his attention on her. He gave her a look that wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t inviting either. “It was nice seeing you, Cassandra. Have a good day.”

She pressed her lips tightly together in a scowl. “When you call me I won’t answer.”

“Well, that works out,” he snapped. “Because I won’t be calling you.”

Her mouth gaped open, appalled. “You’re such an ass.”

“Thank you.”

She flipped her hair so hard her neck almost snapped. Then she marched off, her hips shaking dramatically. Instead of ordering, she pulled her girlfriends out of the deli and left.