Desire

(47) Space

The house was almost silent, only the sound of Florence lightly sweeping the entrance echoing around the room. But that all soon stopped once the front door to the home came crashing open. In stormed Robert, slamming the door behind him in Jessica's face. "Where is Kimberly?" He questioned Florence.

She looked at him unimpressed. "You blew my pile of dust over."

He kept his eyes on her, equally as unimpressed. "Sorry. Where is she?"

"She's in her room with Caiden."

Robert's heart dropped. He didn't even turn to look at Jess who was allowing herself in before he ran up the staircase and towards Kim's room. He burst open the door, but his eyes caught something he most definitely wasn't expecting.

Kimberly sat on her bed, Caiden seated opposite her with a pile of cards between the two. She had a smile on her face as she played a game of snap with the older boy. But when her gaze turned to him, her smile fell to a frown. She had seen what the tabloids had to say, how rumours were flying around that Robert and Jessica were getting back together to form the greatest power couple in the business world. She knew it wasn't his fault but it still hurt.

Neither spoke as they stared at each other. They Didn't exactly know what to say. Caiden looked between the two feeling confused. He himself had not looked at the tabloids. He felt they always said the same thing so never bothered, and Kim felt too embarrassed to show him.

"Hey, sweetheart." Robert finally spoke, but his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hi."

"Am I missing something?" Caiden knitted his eyebrows together in confusion.

Robert chose not to answer the question and instead ask one of his own. "What're you two up too?"

Caiden noticed Kim's need to be silent so he decided to answer for her. "Well I think lunch was successful, we made up, and in the process Kim told me how she enjoyed playing card games growing up so we decided to stop by a store and get some."

"Having fun?" He asked another question directed at the girl just to hear her speak. But she only nodded. "Caiden, would you mind giving Kimberly and I some space for a moment?" Robert was too emotionally exhausted to have an argument with his son.

Surprisingly Caiden nodded and left, even with confusion circling his mind. Robert slowly approached her bed and took Caiden's previous spot. "I know you've read it, and please know I never meant for this to happen."

She sighed. "I'm not mad at you, it makes me feel inferior. She's your ex wife, she gave you a child, you look perfect together."

Robert reached for his girl's hand. "She's my ex for a reason."

"Because she left you."

Robert couldn't believe what he was hearing. "If you believe for a single second that her being here will bring up any sort of feelings for her, it doesn't. All it makes me feel is terrified that you'll do the same."

She removed her hand from his, but only so she could be the one to hold his in hers. "Like I said, I'm not mad at you. I just don't like that you're my man yet getting paired up online with other women."

Although the wrong timing, Robert couldn't stop his heart from fluttering at her words. My man. "Tomorrow morning she'll be gone. You wanted to be the good person and let her stay but clearly it isn't working."

She hated to be the bad person but Kim had to agree. It just wouldn't work. "Thank you."

Robert lifted his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Now, would you like me to stay or would you like some space?" She looked down making her answer clear. He lifted her gaze with her his hand. "You can have some space. I'll leave you be for tonight but let me grab a few things for you first."

She tilted her head to the side in confusion like a puppy would as he stood to his feet and left her room. In a matter of minutes he appeared back with a box in his hand. He placed it on her bed in front of her as he regained his seat. "What's this?"

Robert opened the lid to the box and her eyes grew wide. "I got you this a few days ago but you had been spending so much time with me that I didn't want it to distract you from me." He nervously scratched the back of the of his neck. "So it's an iPad that can be used as a laptop. I know you're not supposed to have this sort of technology but I'd like for you to have something to do with your time. My card is already hooked up to it and I installed kindle to it. Buy any books you'd like to read, and please order yourself some food tonight. All my treat."

Kimberly sighed in awe. It wasn't that he was attempting to fix the problem with money that impressed her, it was the amount of thought he had put into it. It had her feeling rather emotional. She reached over to wrap her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "Thank you."

Robert ran his fingers through her hair, not wanting to ever let her go. "I told you before, I'd do anything for you."

She leaned back and pecked his lips. "I love you."

"I love you more." He insisted. "And if at any point you want me, you come and find me, okay?" She nodded in agreement.

He left her room after that, shutting the door behind him. She spent the rest of her night feeling pretty calm and relaxed. She ran herself a bubble bath as her iPad played a Netflix show to keep her entertained. She read a little, watched some YouTube and ordered herself dinner and a sweet treat for dessert, also adding on four hot cookies for Robert as she knew how much he liked them.

It's not that she needed space from Robert. It also wasn't that he had done anything wrong, it was just important that she has time to herself, especially with all the drama circulating at the moment. She enjoyed her own company along with the wonderful dreams she had of her man that night. Of course she would have liked to have fallen asleep with his arms wrapped around her, but she knew for the sake of her mental health she needed to take a step back and process just how complicated everything was now that Jessica had shown up. She always wanted to be the better person, being kind to everyone, but it was becoming progressively harder to be kind to such a cold hearted bitch.