Ours To Be (All Ours, #1)

Chapter 11

Kayden

I don't know what I'm doing here. I honestly don't.

I think spending the day with her yesterday threw me off the loop.

Saying we spent the day together would be pushing it. It was a meager hour. But what an incredible fucking hour it was. She really was the cutest fucking thing. In her little black sweats that wouldn't even fit into one of my legs. And the matching hoodie, almost swallowing her whole, with her damp, coiled hair plummeting over it. I don't know what the fuck that girl puts in her hair, but that smell alone would be enough to get a grown man hard as a rock. 

I certainly was.

I feel like I made headway with her last night. We laughed like little fucking kids in that kitchen. It felt... natural. Natural being around her. Natural spending time with her. Natural toiling and laughing with her. It almost became instinctive. Like we'd known each other for years. She was tense. I could tell she wasn't aware I would be there. But after the little coup with that crazy chick (goddammit, I've never wanted to throw a girl out the window as bad as I did when she called her a fat bitch, my knuckles are still white) and a glass of wine, she loosened up.

And seeing her like that? It was everything I thought it would be and better. Her laugh lit up the whole entire room. I felt like a fucking clown with the way I kept on joking, just to hear it again and again. Not that she seemed to mind. She only got louder by the minute.

I know I freaked her out by the door. I don't care. The way the mischievous glow evaporated from her eyes when she got insulted, like she was experiencing some kind of déjà vu and trying to hold it in, only made me angrier. More irrational. She had to know. She had to know it was all bullshit and how beautiful she was. Not only on the outside. She seemed like the most beautiful person all over. One day I will find out for sure. All of her. I just need her to warm up to me.

Perhaps that was my goal by offering to pick her up from work and drive her to Joshua's opening night.

Again, I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know what came over me. It was three o'clock, and four of those friends of hers were helping Josh set everything up in his gym, then the Asian one- Ann? Jenn?- asked who would be picking up Isabella. I didn't even give anyone the chance to offer and was toddling out the door with a stammered ''I'll do it,'' before any of them could even ask whether or not I knew where she worked.

Which turned out to be kind of stupid, since I don't know what time she gets off. Will she even get in the car with me? I'm practically a stranger to her. Fuck. I should've thought this through.

The expectancy made me light up a cigarette and lean my body against my car like my feet would give out. My gaze burning holes into the boutique's glass doors, patiently waiting for a set of curls to waver out of it. I had been here for about half an hour now.

Which appeared to be contrasting, only getting me more anxious.

Cassie would have a fucking field day if she heard about this. Being altruistic has never really been in my handbook. Neither is patency. This girl is breaking down my fucking walls and she has no idea.

Picking her up like this is fueling up some weird... possessive ambiance all over me. Which is insane, I know that. But being here like this, knowing I'll be all alone with her in my car, knowing I'll be the one to walk into the party with her... it's asserting, in a crazy way.

God, could I sound like any more of a creep?

My thoughts are being cut short as I notice the door skid open and finally, strolls out the only woman that's ever made me lose my breath. Bag over her one shoulder, hand on the handle to close the door behind her and her phone wedged between her ear and other shoulder, muttering something over the line. She's in a black floral dress with light pink flower designs over it, which is fucking adorable. Even more adorable matched with black sandals and one of those half-up-half-down ponytails.