*Krisa
I lay in bed that night recapping every single moment with Kale.
Four hours it took. Four long hours of cleaning up every slice and shard of glass; so small some of them were, you could only feel them. After several cuts I had to wear gloves. I peered down at the bandages on my hands, reflecting on the look of concern shone on Kale’s face every time I winced in pain.
“Are you alright, Krisa?” he’d ask, going out of his way to say my name correctly as much as possible. Then he’d touch my hand and look down at the injury like he was so genuinely worried, and it wasn’t a look I got much in my life.
I admit the task was an absolute horrendous one, but being around that man for such a long time had me seeing him in a less asshole-ish light. It also helped he was so damn easy on the eyes. Wearing a slim fit top, I could see every defined muscle on his back and arms. And yes, I did take a good look at both his legs – as discreetly as possible, mind you. Though he was wearing his jeans and shoes, I swear the man had both of them! There was no awkwardness in his kneeling or bending, no concern for his leg as he helped me.
Courtney was wrong. She had to be. It was another brother.
At times I felt his eyes on me and when I turned to look at him, he’d already looked away. Other times I turned and met them, and he would stare into mine without a care in the world that he’d been caught. I hated that my cheeks went warm at the attention. I couldn’t help it.
I was honest to myself and was aware of my current condition: a crush. Ugh. I had a damn crush on Kale Brenner! And to be fair it wasn’t like it could be helped. I did spend four hours in one room with him, after all. It was inevitable. You can hate someone and… like them, too. You can want to rip their eyes out one second and then appreciate their hypnotizing colour the next. Right?
Right.
It’s possible, especially when you know nothing will come of it.
Just thinking about him again had my chest tightening. I shook my head, disappointed at my unwillingness to think of something else. But, seriously, what the hell ever happened in my life? This was sadly a big event for me: hot dangerous looking guy with tattoos – taboo in every sense of the word. In truth, I loved having that temptation in my mind. It distracted me from the life I was currently living.
For most of the evening, I thought of Kale’s thick lips and bulging biceps. Of his blue eyes looking into mine. Of the serious looks he’d given me throughout our silent time together, as if he was observing me through a different set of lens each time. Jeez, it was like he… he wanted me.
HA.
I shot that thought straight out of the water. No freaking way. No. But having a crush on someone meant overanalysing every stupid thing – every look and every word exchanged made me feel like it meant something.
Oh, this was dangerous territory, one I had to let time fix. Yeah, the more time that went on the more I’d get over it.
But deep inside I kept thinking of the last thing he said to me.
“Thanks, Krisa. I hope this hasn’t turned you off of coming here and that you’ll come again in a few days. If that suits you, of course.”
Oh, Kale, it suited me just fine.
*
The rest of the week was eventless and dreary. I realized that the only awesome things that had happened was lunch with Courtney and cleaning up a kitchen filled with thousands of pieces of glass alongside a sexy man that possessed the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. You know you’re lame when…
I had my phone glued to me every single agonizingly long day. Just waiting like the lame person that I was. Waiting for his call. For him to tell me to clean his house. Maybe there would be another room of broken glass and four hours of him within arm’s length of me. Romantic, right? Oh, I was so pathetic. Really, now, this was just sad. How had I become one of those stupid girls?
It was Sunday night when my phone rang right before bedtime. It rang and rang.
And rang.
I hurried out of the bathroom, leaping into the bed to grab it off the night table. When I saw the private number display, my heart skipped a beat.
“Hello?” I said rather too excitedly.
“Hey Krisa, it’s Kale.” He actually called!
“Oh, hi,” I replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“Was wondering if you could come around tomorrow morning. Nine to one again, if that’s alright for you?”
I smiled so wide, I swear the corners of my mouth were going to split open. “Uh… Yeah, it should be okay.”
“Should or no?”
I swallowed. He wanted a damn straight answer. “Yeah, yeah, it’ll be okay.”
“Great. I’ll see you, then, Krisa.”
“Sure. See you.”
He hung up straight after and I gazed at the phone seeing nothing but the face of Kale before me. I let out a dreamy sigh, ecstatic and quite shocked he rang me when I didn’t think he would –
“Who was that, Krisa?” I looked at the doorway and found Paul standing there in his usual bossy boots mode. My heart skipped a beat. When he was like this, answers were required a flash of a second later, or else he was onto you.
“Client,” I answered quietly. God, he sucked the fun out of everything. “For tomorrow.”
“What client?”
“A Brenner estate.” I tried to be as vague as possible, worried that he would know it was Kale and forbid me to see him. “One that Aunt Marie put me through to.”
At the sound of her name he eased up considerably. If Marie had put me through to the house, then it must have been alright.
Still, he regarded me with a suspicion that made the bones in my body stiffen. Then he walked off, leaving me to sag into the mattress with relief. No more displays of happiness from now on, missy!
How many more days until he was gone again?