“You don’t know?!” Leona squeaked. “You’re here as the resident expert. I could have provided insight such as I don’t know. Start proving yourself useful, or Carmella stops cleaning your bathroom.”
“Carmella cleans your bathroom?” Drea asked, looking at Dalton, confused.
“What? I pay her.”
“And that is technically against her employment contract, so I can make it stop at any point,” Leona said, looking smugly at Dalton.
“Look, I really don’t know. I know he likes you, any idiot can see that there is something between you two, and from the sounds of it, he was enjoying himself. So my guess would be that he got up in his own head and freaked himself out.”
“So, now what?” Drea asked, feeling the knots in her stomach multiply.
“Now, you leave it to me. I told you I would help and I did, and I will continue to until it’s either happily ever after or you’re a puddle of heartbreak and tears, in which case I’ll supply the ice cream and booze to Leona over here. Can you continue to trust me, just for a little longer?”
“Is it going to involve another bikini?”
“Oh, absolutely, because that apparently worked significantly better than I thought! Just trust me, okay?”
“Okay, I think.”
“I’m not so sure,” Leona interjected, crossing her arms and looking skeptical.
“Well then, it’s a good thing I don’t require your trust, Lee, because then we’d never get anywhere. Now, shall we go get food? Because if I have to be up this early on my day off, then I deserve magic muffins that are straight out of the pan.”
Kyle had checked pretty much all the places he could usually find Drea in the morning. She hadn’t answered her door, she wasn’t on the beach where she normally ran, and the gym was empty. That only left either Leona’s office or the kitchen. Please let her be in Leona’s office, please let her be in Leona’s office, he pleaded in his head. At least in there they could be alone; Leona would excuse herself and give them the privacy they needed. In the kitchen, they’d have to deal with the staff, or worse, her family. He wasn’t ready to face them, not after last night. He needed to talk to Drea first, needed to see where her head was at. He knew he was an idiot for running out the way he did, and he knew that she had to be all kinds of pissed at him. She had every right to be—it was a dick move on his part.
He just needed time to think. He certainly hadn’t been thinking when he pulled her into his lap last night while they were revealing their green-eyed monsters, or when he allowed himself to lean all the way into her lips or when his hands had taken a field trip up her tank, exploring all those beautiful, soft curves she’d been unknowingly taunting him with all day. Even now, he was getting hard just reliving the memory of her slowly moving her core against him. If it had felt that good with clothes on, man, the real thing would be out of th
is world. But he needed her to know he wasn’t just after her for sex, that it was her that he wanted. Her kindness, her giggles, her knowledge of sailing and the islands, her sense of adventure.
Leaving last night the way he had might have just been one of the biggest mistakes he’d ever made. He’d realized that before he was even halfway back to the staff dorms. He’d heard Grayson’s advice loud and clear on that walk back. “At some point, consequences be damned, you just gotta go for it.” This was that point. He just hoped Drea was still on the same page.
Making his way around the front desk and down the little back hallway that led to Leona’s office, he was feeling pretty confident. He was just about to the office door when it flew open and Dalton walked out with his arm around Drea.
Kyle stopped dead in his tracks, his hackles coming up. What the fuck was this? He knew he screwed up in leaving last night, but had she really run to Dalton? That was low—so, so low.
“Morning, dude,” Dalton said, removing his arm from Drea.
“What the fuck are you doing here? You’re never up this early, much less on a day off.”
“Kyle, we were just—” Drea started.
“Just what?” He crossed his arms and stared at them both.
Leona came bounding out of her office, bumping right into Drea and Dalton. “I thought we agreed on food. Why aren’t you moving? Oh, hey, Kyle.”
“They were just about to explain to me why they were coming out of your office all snuggled up together.”
“Dude, moody much?” Dalton said.
“It’s my fault. Somehow word got out about Dalton's little cleaning arrangement with Carmella and someone else asked me if they could have the same arrangement and so I had to remind Dalton it’s against policy so he needs to shut his trap about it, since we don’t want the uncles finding out, and I asked Drea to be here as a witness so Is are dotted and Ts are crossed, all that,” she spat out.
He didn’t believe her, but had to give her credit for coming up with something so quick. But the guilty looks on both Drea and Dalton’s faces told him that there was way more to the story.
“Whatever,” he scoffed and took off down the hall.
Kyle burst into the kitchen, not bothering to care if the door slammed behind him. He wasn’t entirely sure exactly why he was so mad, but seeing the two of them together had ignited something in him. She told him last night there was nothing going on...with Brig. But if there was nothing with Brig, certainly there wasn’t something with Dalton. Dalton had been out with Staci. And Drea...Drea had been in his lap, kissing him back, moaning out his name. Pulling out one of the chairs from the family table, he threw himself into it and pounded his fist on the table.
“Something the matter, son?” Miller’s voice came from behind him.
