“Very.” Something mysterious hid behind the word. “There is a condition, though.”
“And that is?”
“The premiere’s in Miami and you’d have to stay with me while we’re there.”
She swallowed in reflex but was otherwise cool. “Any reason for that?”
“Damn right there is.” His tone was as easy as his manner when he turned her into his kiss.
Davia revised her earlier remark about the view then. Having Kale join her wasn’t all she needed to enjoy it forever. This—his kiss—was all she needed. The snow began to drift downward at a steadier pace. The temperature had dipped, but the fact held no sway over the lovers.
The kiss possessed all the steam and heat that had so far epitomized their encounters.
“Is that the reason? So you can kiss me?” She panted once he finally let her take in air.
Propping an index finger beneath her chin, Kale tipped back her head as if to prepare her to take another kiss. “Among other things, Ms. Sands,” he said. “Among other things.”
Chapter 15
Miami, Florida
Kale’s home was all that Davia expected and much of what she didn’t expect. The chic and refined qualities were ones she agreed were well earned, but the warm and homey touches were a definite surprise.
Upon arrival, there was, of course, the unmistakable impression of wealth and elegance. Davia’s jaw dropped when the car rolled past the white-iron fence beyond the security booth.
Kale, who was working at his phone, noticed Davia scooting closer to the window on her side of the chauffeured car. He forgot the phone, preferring to observe her reaction to the place he’d called home for the last six years.
Intrigued and impressed, Davia scanned the grounds that were awash in late-afternoon sun. As the car rounded the circular drive with its centerpiece of towering palms, she could see the edges of an in-ground swimming pool in the rear of the property. Beyond it, a smaller pool sat in its own raised-platform gazebo. The house itself was a multistory construction in Coral Gables. The Mediterranean-style estate had a mesmerizing view of Biscayne Bay and the serenity of the view was awe inspiring.
Davia shook her head in wonder. “This place would make a great inn for Barrett and Estelle,” she mused.
Kale blinked, a brief frown tugging at the sleek lines of his brow. “You don’t approve?”
Davia still eyed the estate. “No, I think it’s gorgeous.”
“But you don’t approve?” he persisted.
“That depends on how many people live here with you.” Davia flashed him a teasing smile across her shoulder before she turned to take in more of the view. She’d meant her words as a tease, never realizing how much the man at her side cared about what she thought.
“No, no roommates.” Kale sighed. “This is all for me,” he said as the car pulled to a stop in the circular redbrick driveway.
Davia didn’t wait for the chauffeur to escort her, but left the car under her own steam. She was eager to begin her tour of the place.
“It’s all right, Jerry.” Kale sent the driver an easy wave and went to where Davia stood looking up at the glorious azure sky. She stood with her face turned toward the sun and smiled when she looked over at Kale.
“Been missing the sun?” he guessed.
Davia shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a Cali girl at heart, but I will admit that I think I could survive without year-round sun.”
Kale moved closer, nudged her arm with his elbow. “But it doesn’t hurt sometimes, does it?”
“No.” She turned her face back up to the sky. “It doesn’t hurt at all.”
When Kale touched her arm again, it was to turn her toward the wide semicircular steps leading up to the front door. “Show you inside?” he asked as he offered his hand.
Davia obliged and soon they’d cleared the entrance staircase and were strolling the gleaming black-and-mocha checkerboard floor of a large foyer that opened into a bright, airy living room. The area was expansive and finished in shades of cream and gold. Large, healthy plants occupied space in wide brass urns that claimed opposing corners of the room. Persian rugs complimented the color scheme of the walls and plush seating graced the polished marble flooring.
Kale kept a measurable distance from Davia once they entered the room. He followed her quietly as she strolled his home looking up and all around like she was a kid taking in her first museum. Once she’d covered much of the main level, she found the stairway and began her tour of the next floor, which consisted of a well-equipped gaming room, gym and mini den.
By the time she’d gone through a few of his home’s nine bedrooms, Kale admitted to himself that he was more than a little eager to know what she thought.
“So?” he probed when she finally came to a stop and was leaning against the doorjamb to the lounge at the end of the bedroom wing.
Davia’s manner was playfully nonchalant. “Splashy on the outside, cozy on the inside. How’d you manage that?”
Kale felt some of his apprehension ease. “Does that mean you haven’t lost all respect for me?”
Davia shrugged. “The warmth of your home is a redeeming quality...so, no, I haven’t lost all respect for you, but I’ll save my final opinion till after I’ve gotten a taste of your hospitality skills.”
Kale left the scoop, swivel chair he’d occupied and came to where she stood inside the doorway. In one, fluid move he had her tight against his chest. “My hospitality is the best part about being at my house.”
“In what way?” She smoothed the backs of her hands across his cheeks. She felt no need to cling to him for support. She felt completely secure in his arms. She was gasping a second later when his perfect teeth latched onto her earlobe, assaulting the tender flesh with a painfully sweet suckle that caused her to shiver.
“To answer that, I’d have to show you to another room.”
Davia leaned in to him. “I thought I’d seen almost every room.”
“Almost.” He abandoned her earlobe and made his way down her neck. “Stop talking to me and kiss me,” he ordered in a pretend huff.
She complied.
The act started off lusty and amplified from there. Davia threaded her fingers through Kale’s close curls and shivered then, as much from the feel of his hair under her fingertips as she did from the sensation of his tongue plundering her mouth with thunderous determination.
Eventually she moved her fingers from Kale’s hair to curl them into his shirt collar as he carried her easily down the corridor beyond the rooms she had just toured. Kale rounded the long hall en route to a set of towering double doors that proved to be their final destination. The master bedroom.
Beyond those doors, the couple made speedy work of shedding their clothes. Pieces either drifted to the floor or were flung clear across the room. When they stood in front of one another at last naked, they took but a breadth of time to drink in the sight of one another. Then he lifted her into his arms.
He ascended the few stairs of the brief platform to his bed and lay her on the mattress. Then he followed her down, breaking their intense kiss only to lavish Davia’s body with more of the same.
She arched into every glide of his lips each time his tongue treated her skin to a lengthy bathing. When Kale favored her sex with one of those deep kisses, Davia arched into the most perfect bow and shuddered his name. She expected more of the same when he made his way back up the length of her body. She wanted more of his tongue’s extraordinary skill.
Kale had other ideas, however. He took a condom from one of the unfinished wooden night tables then began making his way down her body to treat her with more of the lavish kisses. He was undoubtedly prepared when he finally covered her and claimed her the moment his body aligned with hers.
Davia’s hunger fo
r him reached ravenous proportions within seconds of him seating himself to the hilt inside her. With one thrust she threw back her head and sobbed out her delight.
The night was lengthy and sensuous. And everything she’d hoped for.
* * *
Davia was at work the next morning, manning two of the six burners on the pristine chrome stove in Kale’s kitchen. There, she watched over an iron skillet of plump pancakes and one that sizzled with slices of fragrant bacon. She smiled and gave in to a faint shiver when Kale’s arms eased around her waist as he drew her back against him.
“I appreciate you going to all this trouble but you didn’t have to cook for me.” He spoke into her hair.
Davia gave the pancakes one final turn. “Can’t have you accusing me of not being a proper houseguest, can I?”
Something in her tone gave Kale pause, for he eased back just a fraction yet kept her trapped in the small prison his hands made on either side of her.
“Did I overstep by bringing you here, Davi?” he asked after the passing of a few silent moments.
Davia stilled her work at the stove. “Why would you think that?”
“We really don’t know each other well enough for me to have you here alone and at my mercy, do we?”
Davia removed the bacon from the stove and began to move the pancakes to a warming plate. “Have you got anything in mind that would require me to need your mercy?” she asked.
Kale drew his nose across Davia’s nape and nuzzled her there. “I did go a little easy on you last night.”
“Such a shame. Had I known that, I’d have urged you against it.”
“Urged me, huh?”
Davia lost her interest in the food and was snuggling back into their lovers embrace. She savored the sensations Kale sent rushing through her body as one hand cupped a breast beneath the silk robe she sported. He began a delicious thumb massage through the material. Its twin was subjected to a slow, thorough squeeze. In seconds, Davia was panting.
“I take it you can’t wait until after breakfast?”
Kale was at work on her earlobe, suckling and kissing. “If you wanted to spend your time cooking, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”
“Really? So...where, then?”
“Hell, we could’ve stayed in Iowa. You could’ve cooked at the inn to give Estelle a break from all that kitchen work.”
Davia laughed but was soon sobering as she observed her surroundings. “I think it’d be hard for anyone to come into a kitchen like this and not want to cook at least one meal.”
“I’ll remember that next time.”
Davia recovered quickly from the momentary tension roused by his words. Her recovery sadly wasn’t fast enough to escape Kale’s notice. Silently, he decided not to follow along the line of conversation her response begged.
It was just as well, for Davia had another topic of discussion she wanted to investigate just then. She made a move to free herself from Kale’s prison, smiling when he granted her release.
“How’d you find out I was the one who started the rumor about you and Tella?” She set the food onto the wide bar top lining the cooking island while she waited on his response.
“Does it matter?” On slow steps, Kale made his way around the island.
“Guess not. I mean, the damage is already done.” Davia went to grab plates and eating utensils. “I’d like to know, anyway, though.”
It was true. She wanted to know. But she couldn’t admit that she wanted to avert whatever conversation was about to take place following his mention of a return trip to his home.
“I found out when I almost lost out on a deal.” Kale took his place at the island and started preparing his plate. “It was a land purchase deal I was hoping to close shortly after...what happened with Martella.”
Davia prepped her plate, as well, though her movements gradually slowed as she fixed on Kale’s explanation.
“The owner’s wife was...unhappy about us doing business together. The news was disappointing.” Kale added maple syrup to the side of his plate instead of dousing the pancakes. “It wasn’t the first time a husband and wife team didn’t see eye to eye and I wasn’t about to be responsible for the guy falling out with his wife. I was ready to let it go when the guy told me his wife didn’t just have an issue with us doing business but with us also being friends. I’d known him since grad school.” Kale shook his head while breaking a strip of bacon in two. “Anyway, that’s when we both figured it’d probably be a good idea to find out what was at the bottom of it.”
Davia had her plate filled but couldn’t rouse the energy to dive into the meal.
“Thankfully we all knew each other long enough, so she felt comfortable talking to me when I pressed the issue. Evan and Sonya Mayes?” He looked to Davia then. “Sonya says you and she are friends.”
Davia forced a nod. “Yes. I, uh... I’ve known Sonya for years.”
“Well, she was the one who told me how...unhappy you were with me.” Kale chewed the piece of bacon. “I explained what really happened, and I told Sonya it was possible that you had no idea of the truth. I didn’t need them to tell me I’d most likely have to repeat the story to others.” He smiled an ill-humored smile. “I already told you why I hadn’t been interested in doing that at the time.”
Davia looked as though she’d lost her appetite for the delicious-looking breakfast. “I’ve made a real mess, haven’t I?”
Kale swallowed the bacon and reached for another slice. “You had your reasons.”
“Doesn’t excuse what I did. I took one look at you and just—”
“Assumed,” Kale said with a smirk, recalling their previous conversation on the matter when they were en route to Iowa. “Would’ve been good if we could’ve met and hashed all this out before now.”
“I think it happened when it was supposed to.” Davia finally felt up to cutting into the hot, fluffy stack of pancakes. “Any sooner and I may not have been able to hear you.”
“And so here we are,” Kale taunted.
“And so here we are,” Davia agreed, finding comfort in the idea she carried hope there was a chance they could be more.
Chapter 16
The day was, of course, a glorious one that captured everything one thought of when Miami weather was the topic of discussion.
Kale and Davia made quick work of showering and dressing following breakfast. The day was slated to be one of sightseeing mixed with business. Kale wanted to show Davia some of his favorite movie houses—ones he hoped to bring in just a touch of for their Iowa project.
Likewise, Davia made note of a few houses she was interested in visiting. Kale was both stunned and impressed by her knowledge of his town. Additionally, he was more than a little peeved to learn she’d spent so much time there and within his reach without him being aware of her presence. Missed opportunities were definitely not among his favorite things.
It was no surprise that Kale’s choices for his part of the sightseeing outing were among the biggest and splashiest of the Miami film scene. While Davia didn’t think any were appropriate for the Iowa locale, she couldn’t help but admire Kale’s eye for detail.
More than that, she could see that for all the flash and dazzle of the stunning multiplexes they visited, there was an obvious sense of warmth that managed to thrive in the midst of all the opulence. She didn’t tell him so, but Davia was quite certain her unlikely partner would bring the same attention of warmth and welcome to a project of a smaller scale.
The day wrapped up with time spent off the beaten path when they took in a few dinner theaters in the area. Kale was shocked to learn that she’d been responsible for them and for many of the more quaint locales they’d visited that day.
He was once again reflecting on missed opportunities by the time they’d re
turned to his home to get dressed for the evening’s movie premiere. The discovery that Davia had worked the jobs they’d visited before everything that happened with Tella gnawed at some new place inside him.
“You know, I never get romantically involved with folks in our profession.” Though her words were true, Davia offered them in a teasing fashion while she smoothed invisible wrinkles from her gown. She didn’t realize how seriously the man on the other side of the bedroom was taking her words.
“I remember you saying that you’d give it all up for something that was really worth it.” Kale spoke absently while surveying the tux he’d laid out on the bed.
Teasing losing its sheen, Davia turned to him with curiosity welling in her eyes. “Kale, does it seriously not matter to you at all that the only reason we came into each other’s lives is because of an inheritance—and one we don’t even know if we’ll be able to do anything with if Mitch Barns and his other like-minded Mullinsers have their way?” She left the walk-in closet where Kale had insisted she put her things. “My point is, if not for the inheritance, we’d have never met each other.”
“And because of that you don’t trust what we have. Don’t trust me.”
“Kale...”
He pulled her close and put a kiss to her temple. “I understand, Davi.”
When he left the room, Davia hung her head. “No, Kale...no, you don’t.”
* * *
The premiere of the fifth installment of the Xyler Chronicles was slated to be an over-the-top event and those rumors had not been exaggerated in the least.
Kale and Davia were arriving on the red carpet around six that evening. The glitter and glamour appealed to all in its midst, especially to the swarms of eager fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the celebs in attendance. Of course, the movie’s popular stars were at the top of that list. The paparazzi were in full gear with cameras of all shapes and scopes ready to immortalize the images of the stunningly dressed members of the audience filing into the theater. The sun was the perfect finishing touch to set the scene in elusive brilliance. It was starting its descent, which had the city lights beginning their nightly illumination.
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