His to Steal

Ch. 12: Kiss

Sutton

I step back through the lobby doors, my heart threatening to pound out of my chest. Leaning against the wall, I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths.

What the fuck was that? When I bribed the night guard in the lobby to let me out without saying anything to my dad, Jason, or Dom with a Starbucks gift card, all I wanted was to take a walk by myself. I didn't expect to—

"You weren't gone very long—you sure that was worth $25?"

The night guard's voice breaks through my thoughts, and I jump out of my skin. "Shit, Lauren, you scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry," she says, holding her hands out toward me. "I didn't mean to scare you. But you weren't gone more than ten minutes. What happened? Are you okay?"

"I—" Glancing around the lobby, I check to make sure it's empty before I step closer, drop into the chair in front of her desk and continue. "I can honestly say I don't know."

Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows come together under the bill of her uniform cap. "What do you mean? Did someone hurt you?" Her tone has gone from curious to truly concerned in an instant, and I am touched that she cares. Maybe she doesn't just see me as a little rich girl who lives in the penthouse who can give her gift cards as a bribe to turn her head.

"No, no, nothing like that. Well, not physically, anyway. I ran into someone in the park that I didn't really want to see." I give her the short version of the Nicolai saga, and even that much has her eyes widening.

"Wow," she says, relaxing back in her chair. "And he was mean to you again tonight?"

The memory of Nicolai pushing me up against that rock, pressing his body to mine with his obvious arousal between us washes over me and I can't help but squeeze my thighs together.

"That's what's even more confusing. He was, but..."

"Buuuuuut..."

"But he was also...I don't know, it's hard to explain. It was like he...was also happy to see me?" My voice ticks up on the end and I raise one eyebrow suggestively. I don't know Lauren very well, so I don't want to get too personal, but maybe she'll pick up what I'm throwing out.

When a smirk turns up her plump lips, I know she's picked it up and is laying it right back down.

"Oh really? And you say you were best friends?" She throws a set of air quotes around her last two words.

My cheeks flush and I fidget in my chair. "I always had feelings for him. I wanted more, but I never knew how to tell him. He's three years older, so when he turned 18 it was too weird. But even before that, he worked for my dad, and I never wanted him to end up losing his job because of me. So I never said anything. But then when he left like he did, and he was so cold, so heartless...I was glad I hadn't. It was clear he wouldn't have wanted the same."

"That's a lot for you to go through at what would that have been...16?"

I nod. "And you see how I live. I don't get to go anywhere unless I'm surrounded by my dad, Jason, or Dominique. It's not like I had a lot of friends to begin with. And I lov—" I stop and shake my head. "I'm sorry. I can't believe I'm unloading on you like this. You're just trying to do your job and this 19-year-old girl is blabbing about her sad, lonely, little life."

I'm getting up to go back up to my room and drown myself in a pint of Ben and Jerrys when Lauren reaches out and grips my wrist.

"Stop. You're not bothering me; being a night guard isn't exactly the most exciting job in the world, so talking to people is something I enjoy that's sort of a rare treat. And just so you know, I'm only 21. You being 19 isn't weird for me."