by Lexy Timms
I shouldn’t have said that, he thought, but he didn’t regret it.
They heard something thump against Katharina’s door and kept quiet for a second, waiting to see if she was coming back out.
“You shouldn’t have told her about me,” Lillian mumbled.
“Why not?”
Her eyes softened like she was hurt, but she pressed her lips and didn’t respond.
He tried to say something in protest, but he had trouble finding the words. “Why did you come here, then?” he finally spat out.
“I came here because...” Suddenly she stopped and looked at the floor.
“Because why?” he pressed, desperate.
“Because I wanted—”
At that moment Katharina’s door opened, and her footsteps quickly rapped down the hall. “Did you miss me?” she asked happily, but Cayden could hardly tear his eyes away from Lillian.
Katharina didn’t seem to notice his fixation. “All right, Lillian, let’s get you a car. Your hotel has a spa. I trust the clerk has told you about all the amenities?”
“Yes, he did. Thank you so much. It’s much more than I could have dreamed of.” Lillian’s face, exasperated a few seconds ago, somehow magically turned to a cool, professional smile.
“Oh, really? Do you usually not stay at hotels with spas?” she laughed. “That’s the point of staying at a hotel, darling. To relax.”
“No, I usually don’t stay at hotels with spas.” Lillian sounded a tad timid.
“Well, don’t worry about that. I’m going to spread the word to my contacts all over the country and you’ll be staying in them much more often. Of course, mostly in Los Angeles, though. So I can see you regularly.” Katharina tapped and scrolled on her phone while she talked. “I must get a photo of you two. Go on, scoot together. Smile!”
Before they could do anything Katharina held up her phone and snapped a photo, scrutinizing it immediately afterward. “One more, okay? Smile, Cayden!”
His body almost physically hurt at how much he wanted to put his arm around her and pull her close against his side. He side-stepped and pulled one corner of his mouth up a little.
Katharina looked at the picture again. “Beautiful. Now, one together! Look at the lighting from these windows—isn’t it just perfect for photos?” She trotted forward between Lillian and Cayden, asking him to take a photo. Awkwardly, he took the phone, held out his hand, and snapped a photo.
Please don’t ask me to do it again, he begged silently.
“That’s perfect. I can’t believe it; only one take!” Humming to herself she opened another app, typed a few things in, and a happy little sound effect chimed. “Lillian, we’ve got you a car. The driver’s such a sweetie. He’s the guy I call to take me places. I only use three, so you know he’s good. Leo’s just at the end of the road now.”
“Great. I appreciate it, Katharina. Thank you.” She slung her purse over her shoulder and shoved a binder into her worn leather bag.
“Can you see yourself out?”
I’ll walk her, Cayden shouted to himself.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. It’s just right here. I think that’s the driver, actually,” she noted, craning her neck to see down the street.
“We’ll be in touch about the time tomorrow.” Katharina danced up to Lillian and kissed her on both cheeks. “Thank you, darling.”
“No problem. See you tomorrow. Enjoy your workout.” She opened the door to leave.
Is she going to say goodbye to me? Cayden wondered.
She didn’t. With a final smile at Katharina and a split-second glance at Cayden, she shut the door behind her. From where they stood, he could see the end of the driveway. Lillian was there in an instant, climbing into a swanky white SUV.
Then it was gone.
“Isn’t she a doll?” Katharina pinched Cayden’s cheek. “Are you sure you don’t need food before our workout?”
“I’m not hungry,” he muttered, pulling his eyes away from the window. “Thanks.”
“If you insist.” She shrugged, scrolling absently on her phone. Cayden figured she was probably editing photos. “All right, let’s have a stroll down to the gym, shall we? The sun’s just divine today. It would be a crime if we didn’t enjoy some of it.” Giving his arm a quick tug, they walked down her back steps to one of the lantern-lit pathways that led to her separate gym. All the while, Katharina rambled about how her other actress girlfriend had a massive swimming pool, something about a party, Cayden must come...
I’ll come if Lillian is there, he thought, not paying attention to anything else she said. It was only the sight of all her gym equipment when she opened the door that he was able to shake the image of Lillian from before his eyes. She was just as beautiful as ever, and he knew without a doubt he wanted her.
He needed her.
She’s in Los Angeles, he thought. I’ve got to fix this somehow.
Chapter 07
Katharina winked at him. “Come on.”
Cayden felt like his body was breaking into a sweat, but there was no way to be sure. He had just worked out alongside Katharina, coaching her through her exercises while he was using every piece of equipment she had available in her personal gym.
“I don’t know,” he managed to croak out, wishing he could have just left her place like normal.
“Come on. I’m so lonely.”
“Don’t you have, like, a million followers on there?” He didn’t know what “there” was exactly, so he just nodded at her phone that seemed glued to her hand.
She scoffed. “They’re not friends, Cayden. Not like you are.” The look on her face—calm but mischievous, she knew exactly what she was doing and wasn’t sorry about it—almost made him squirm. It was like she was looking straight through him, into his very soul.
“I’m your trainer, Katharina,” he attempted weakly.
“Do trainers get together with their clients?” At Cayden’s confused look, she reminded him, “You know, last week when we had dinner and came back here.”
Shit, caught me. In his head, he held up his hands in surrender and melted into the floor. “What about it?”
“What was that?”
“We had dinner.”
“A very delicious dinner,” she purred, glancing at her phone then at his torso. “It was nice afterwards, as well.”
“Katharina,” Cayden interrupted. “Nothing happened that night. I told you about Lillian when we came back and then I went back home.”
With a cheeky pout, she made puppy eyes at him.
“And, actually, I would’ve liked to have known Lillian was coming.” He didn’t mean to say it, but he also kind of did.
“And why is that?” she retorted, that mischievous hint of a smile on her lips. “If we aren’t friends, why should I tell you what my plans are?”
Before he could control it, a groan came from his throat. “Listen,” he started, but realized that what he wanted to say probably wouldn’t be such a good idea. “I have to go now.”
“You won’t stay for a little while? I have a little scotch in a bottle that I would like to drink up. It’s just enough for two tastes.”
“I have things to do this afternoon.”
“What kind of things?”
“Personal things,” he said a little too sharply, and started toward the door.
“I wasn’t meaning to intrude,” she whimpered as he opened the door and put his foot out.
He turned around and saw her standing there in the middle of the room, her eyes fixated on him.
“I really didn’t.” Her face was, for once, expressionless.
Cayden couldn’t make himself say anything.
“Are you going to see Lillian? You two were in a relationship?”
He hesitated a second and then nodded.
“You haven’t seen her in a while, have you?”
Before he realized what he was doing, he grimaced. Immediately he swept the look off his face, but not before Katharina saw
it.
“And you haven’t spoken in a while?”
“We...” He definitely didn’t want to share anything about his situation with Lillian with this woman. Not with her social media following and famous contacts. “It’s complicated.”
“I see.” She looked at the floor and touched the tip of her foot to the edge of her bookshelf. “Do you need a car?”
Cayden shook his head. “I’m okay.”
“Do you know her hotel?”
He sighed. What a mess. He was letting his personal life interfere with work. “I don’t. I didn’t even know she was coming.”
Katharina strolled to the kitchen counter and took a card from a dainty glass dish. He watched the card in her hand as she came over to him. Just the other day, before there had been any mention of Lillian, he watched her hips sway gently back and forth while she walked, enamored by the fluidity of her movements but also wishing it was Lillian he was watching. Now, he couldn’t make himself notice anything about Katharina even if he tried.
Not while Lillian was here, in the same city, in a hotel that couldn’t be too far away.
“I put her at the Eden,” Katharina stated. She was done with the flirty talk and innuendos. Cayden had never heard her so serious in the short time he had known her, and he imagined this was like the attitude she had when directing or producing—whatever it was she did.
“Where is that?”
“Just let me get you a car.”
“No, really. I can get it myself, it’s fine.”
Katharina looked at him, still without an expression, but a small glint of a glare in her eyes. “You’re refusing my help?”
“I’m just saying it’s not something that...” Dammit, he thought, frantically searching for words that wouldn’t piss her off. “This is something between Lil and me, so I don’t feel right having you help.”
When he called her Lil, Katharina noted the nickname instantly and her ears almost visibly perked up. She nodded, looking thoughtful. “Understandable,” she responded, taking her phone out of her designer jacket’s pocket. She tapped and scrolled and had her eyes glued to the screen again.
Cayden looked at the card. It was made of paper that was obviously ultra-high quality and there was a dime-sized circle on the side made from a clear material. The logo was printed there. This must be a nice place, he mused. It was the most impressive business card he had seen, and it distracted him for longer than it should have. Clearing his throat, he got out his phone and began to type in the address of the hotel to order a car.
“I hope you’re not finding transport,” purred Katharina, sounding as sultry as she usually did but without the flirtatious edge.
He looked up. “What?”
“I just ordered you a car.”
Shit. The terrifying, sinking feeling of a third person getting involved came over him. Katharina was probably one of the worst people to be involved. “You didn’t have to.”
“I know.” She raised an eyebrow, her lips in a fashionable pout. He expected her to say something else, but she kept her eyes focused on the screen. Not sure what else to do until the car arrived, he slipped his phone into his back pocket and walked out onto Katharina’s wraparound porch. It was mostly in shade by now. It was good to not feel the sun evaporating the beads of sweat on his skin, which had oddly increased since their workout ended.
He had no thoughts. Staring out at the cityscape in the not too far distance, he tried to mentally prepare for meeting Lillian—just the two of them, finally. He wasn’t quite sure why he wanted to see her, exactly. All he knew was there was some powerful unseen force driving him to her. It had to be fate. Of all the cities and all the situations that could have happened he had Katharina as a client, and she had a great need for someone with Lillian’s particular skills.
That couldn’t be an accident. It just couldn’t be.
“The car’s here,” Katharina called suddenly. Her voice projected, and it sounded like she was right beside Cayden. He turned around quickly, surprised to see her standing in the doorway, her weight put on one foot to enhance that trademark curve of hers.
“Thank you,” was all he could say.
“Bah.” She waved her hand at him. “Before you leave, darling, could you take a photo of me? For all my lovebugs out there.” Winking, she dangled her phone in front of her.
Cayden reluctantly took it and waited for her to get into position. He snapped a couple of her posing elegantly on the edge of the porch, the cityscape in the background. He tried to pay attention to the angle of the phone when he took the photo. Last time he had just snapped it like he normally would have, and she had gotten upset, snatching the phone away from his grasp and explaining how to hold it so her legs looked longer. Right now he wasn’t entirely confident in the way he was doing it, but he took a couple more photos of her doing a handstand.
Taking a deep breath, she turned back onto her feet and reviewed the pictures, nodding. “Fine,” she concluded, still looking through the photos. “There’s one good one. I can edit it now. Do you know any good quotes?”
A car horn honked from outside the driveway gate, and Katharina whipped her head around to see who it was. A black SUV waited.
Grunting angrily, she opened her phone. “Who is that?” she muttered to herself, tapping until she came to the app. “Oliver.”
“’Bye,” Cayden tried.
“Did he honk? Did you hear that?” she demanded. “I know it wasn’t only me.”
“I heard it.” Cayden wondered what the heck the honk had to do with anything.
Grunting again, Katharina stared at the SUV. “Pity,” she mumbled. “I did like Oliver. He’ll be hard to replace.”
Before she could go off on another tangent, Cayden started hopping down her steps three at a time. “Thank you,” he called behind him, just in time to see her front door slam. Wincing, he jogged up to his ride and climbed in. Oliver greeted him and made no effort to say anything else, probably used to rich people who preferred to be making calls and not socializing with a lowly driver.
But Cayden didn’t pick up his phone and scroll mindlessly, or call someone or check his emails. He stared out the window, counting down the minutes until he would be in the same room with Lillian.
He could almost feel her smooth skin and smell the sweet-scented body spray she used after every shower. He wondered if she brought it with her to Los Angeles.
Maybe he would get a chance to actually see her, with his own two eyes, spray it on her body. That would make him feel alive again.
HE WAS ALWAYS SO CHILLED out; she had never seen him this surprised. And seeing him that shocked made her anxious. He told her about me in the first place, she thought, trying to figure it out for herself. He should’ve known I was coming. I guess. Maybe. It was kinda quick.
Scratching her chin, she stared into space for a little while. If Cayden and Katharina were seeing each other, certainly she would have told him that Lillian was coming. If they weren’t seeing each other, it seemed less likely.
None of it fits together like I want it to. She wondered why she even had to know what was going on between Cayden and his sexy, famous client, and she couldn’t come up with a good reason. She just wanted to know. There wasn’t anything wrong with being so simple, was there?
Because I still want him. It sounded like a voice that wasn’t hers speaking up suddenly from inside her heart, and it sounded so loud she jumped.
“I don’t still want him,” she muttered to herself and to whatever spirits were in the room pestering her, but she heard it again.
Yes, I do.
“Don’t argue with yourself, Lillian,” she grumbled, gingerly lowering her body flat on the bed. If she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t expected to see Cayden while she was here. Especially so soon after arriving. She had assumed that Katharina’s workout life and her home life were separated, but obviously she liked to overlap the two—for obvious reasons. She was clearly into Cayden, not
even bothering to hide her flirting.
Damn, that was awkward. In the moment it happened as well as right now just remembering it, she wished she could melt and disappear from the world. It’s getting cold in this hotel room, she realized, squinting her eyes to see what the thermostat on the wall was set to. Blinking hard, she rubbed her eyes with her knuckles and looked again.
It shouldn’t have been as cold as she felt; in fact, it should have been hot. But she was shivering and felt drops of freezing-cold sweat squeeze out of her skin and drip down the side of her neck.
What’s going on? she thought, discounting anything serious. I flew today, and got up much earlier than I usually do. It must be the routine change and wiping down all of Katharina’s furniture and trinkets and dishes.
Lillian shut her eyes, pretending the world wasn’t spinning, but of course pretending didn’t help her feel any more stable. She pulled the covers over her head, trying to trap her body heat and force her temperature to rise again. In the dark and warm space, her energy was completely sapped. She dozed off, enjoying the total lack of sound in the room.
These walls must be soundproof, was the last thing she thought before falling asleep. Immediately she began to dream of unpacking boxes and arranging furniture and Katharina’s kitchen, seeing herself standing there with a pile of fragile dishes in her arms.
Where would these fit the best? she asked out loud in the dream, and suddenly the situation swapped to being in a car with Cayden. He looked over at her and smiled, nodding at his open hand there on the seat between them. She smiled back, feeling warm, and took it. His fingers closed over hers, and the sun shone hot through the window.
Very hot. Oddly hot. Her smile gradually faded as she felt her skin begin to burn. Cayden kept driving, unaware that anything was happening. Lillian looked down at her dream skin and saw red patches of sunburn.
Suddenly her eyes opened, and she tore the covers off her head, gasping for air. The cold sweat had turned to burning drops of water rolling down her skin. Her throat was so dry it hurt to breathe.
