“After Kayden took me home from the hospital last week, we kind of had sex.”
Harper’s eyes bugged so far out of her head that it was almost comical. “Lastweek? And you didn’t tell me?”
“Shh!” She glanced around. Yep, people were definitely staring. “I wanted to tell you in person.”
“Well, yeah, having sex with Kayden Walker is kind of big news thatshouldbe dropped in person.” Harper leaned forward. “Tell me he hasn’t been at the bar because he’s been with you each night.”
“He hasn’t been at the bar because he’s been with me each night.”
“Oh my Lord.” Harper leaned back and massaged her temple like she needed help digesting the information. “This is huge.”
“Itishuge. I mean, it feels huge to me. We haven’t spoken about where it’s going or anything but…it feels good.”
“I am so happy for you, Tilly.”
“Thank you.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “The thing is…I like him. Like,reallylike him. And I think I’m a bit scared to ask questions about the future in case I get answers I don’t like.”
“Till…if he’s spending every night with you, then I don’t think that will happen.”
“It might. All of this might just be temporary for him, and I’m scared of what that might do to me.”
“Has he said anything to make you think it’s temporary?”
She ran a finger over the edge of her glass. “No. But he hasn’t said anything to the contrary.”
“Maybe you should ask him.”
She could…it was just working the “I’m scared” out of her first. “We haven’t spoken about whether we’ll tell anyone at work. On the first day, he just smiled at me, and we sort of slipped into this secret relationship.”
Harper tilted her head. “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
Maybe not. Or maybe it meant he didn’t want his colleagues knowing he was dating Martin Taylor’s daughter.
Argh.She hated feeling so insecure.
When her phone rang from the table, she looked down, thinking—hoping—it might be Kayden. Her skin chilled at the private number that flashed on the screen. This was the first time he’d called since Cody’s birthday dinner.
Did she want to talk to him? Absolutely not. Did she want to know why he was contacting her though? Yes. A million times yes.
She was about to excuse herself to take the call when the door opened, and Kayden walked in. His gaze moved straight to her, as if he could find her in any crowd, amongst any number of people. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, and that was what he did to her with one single look.
This time, instead of smiling, his eyes darkened before he nodded. It wasn’t until he looked away that she sank deeper into her seat.
Harper leaned forward and whispered, “That look he just gave you was not a ‘this is temporary’ look.”
No…it didn’t feel that way to her either.
Her phone stopped ringing, and she realized she’d missed her father’s call. One look from Kayden and she’d forgotten all about it.
“Hey,Kayden, how’s your morning been?” Elle asked as she made his coffee. He noticed the new worker serving food at the other end of the counter.
“One tour done and no missing people yet, so that’s a success.”
She chuckled. “It’s always nice when you come back with the same group size as you left with.”
“How’s the café?”
“It’s okay. Back to its normal bustling self. It’s justmewho feels different. I miss Macy.” She gave him a sad smile that made the familiar anger pulse through his veins that Macy had been killed right here in these mountains.
