Kai grinned at me.“You, naive?”
I tried to mirror the expression, muscles feeling as dull and awkward as if I’d already downed the glass and several more like it.“I know; shocking, isn’t it.”
“Not much of a romantic, are you, Tate.”
A realist, perhaps.
“Endings are normal, natural,” I told him.“The difficult part is recognizing when they’re meant to be.Not fighting it.”
I reached for the glass, only for Kai to stop me.His fingers around my wrist: not tight, but brooking no argument, either.Guiding my hand to his bare chest, still wet from his swim.
“Sure.But you have to remember to enjoy what time there is, too.”
Heat, and smooth skin, and the steady throb of his heartbeat against my palm.
I looked up, from my fingers to his knowing smile, and wondered what Alistair would say if he could see me now.From across the pool, perhaps; the sunset shimmering in its ripples as though the world Kai and I had created, this bubble we occupied, was forever on the cusp of tearing apart.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ihave to go away,”I tapped into our chat.“It’s for work.Just let yourself in and use the pool whenever while I’m gone.”
It’d been another “fun” day at the office, punctuated today with news that I was going to a conference.Not something I’d normally look forward to, frankly, and this time was no exception.The thought of standing in a room full of people, probably wearing a name-badge and feeling awkward...well, it was near to my idea of hell.
If there was a saving grace, it was that everything was so sudden I hadn’t been able to agonize over it on my calendar for weeks.Instead I was looking at last-minute flights and trying to figure out whether I could change a hotel reservation from my sick colleague’s name into my own.
Messaging Kai had been procrastination from that, albeit tinged with actual disappointment that I wouldn’t get to see him for a couple of days.I kept half an eye on my phone as I scrolled through reams of booking Terms and Conditions.
“Why don’t I come with you?”
I stared at his suggestion, surprised.Before I could figure out what to reply, a second message from Kai popped up to follow the first.
“Only if you want, I mean.Just an idea.”
I thumbed the phone unlocked.“I don’t know how much fun it would be for you, I’d be at the conference most of the time.”
He sent back an eye-roll emoji.“You over-estimate how much fun it is living with your parents.”
