BLUE ICE (ICE SERIES) (20 page)

              ‘Go back to sleep, doll.’

              I must be dreaming
. He looked perfect, but he couldn’t be real. He was coming back on Saturday and it was still Friday. ‘Dylan?’

              He smiled and kissed my forehead. ‘Yeah baby, who were you expecting?’

              ‘You scared the hell out of me, who let you in?’ Even in the middle of my somnolent state I knew this was weird. 

              ‘I have a key.’

              ‘You what?!’ I was shouting, now I was wide awake!

              NOTE TO MYSELF: Sleep with my bra on from now on.

              ‘Shhh, we’ll talk tomorrow, I just wanted to sleep with you.’

              He got into bed and spooned me. I was really angry, but I had missed his touch and he smelled really good. I moved my hand to touch him and noticed he was still wearing his jeans.

              ‘Why are you keeping your jeans on?’

              He whispered in my ear. ‘I though you would freak out if I took them off.’

              ‘You didn’t think I would freak out because you have my house key without my permission but I would freak out because you took your jeans off?’

              Without answering he stood up, took his jeans off and came back to bed just in his shirt and boxer briefs. I was not making a sex proposal, but I knew that sleeping in jeans was the most uncomfortable thing in the world. I relaxed in his arms and fell asleep again.

              The morning was here and I was too comfortable to wake up. I opened my eyes slowly and found out that Dylan was staring at me, piercing me with those perfect eyes.

              ‘What are you doing stalker?’

              ‘Watching you sleep.’ He smiled; that smile that could melt icebergs.

              ‘I know, that’s why I’m calling you stalker, the question is, why are you doing it?’

              He laid back looking at my ceiling. ‘You look calm when you are sleeping, beautiful, you feel so approachable that I think I can touch you, but then you are asleep and I don’t want to wake you up, so I can’t touch you. I think it resumes the way you are.’

              ‘Too deep for this early on a Saturday, Berkeley. And bullshit won’t get you out of the trouble. Why the hell do you have a key to my apartment?’

              He smiled at me, every time he got into trouble he smiled. Maybe that was his way out in boarding school. ‘So I can see you whenever I want.’

              ‘That statement could be a reason for a restraining order, you know?’

              ‘No restraining order would keep me away from you.’

              He was an adorable stalker and I felt something warm in my chest. ‘Why did you come back early?’

              He came to me and removed a strand of hair that was on my face. ‘I missed you. It’s been too long and I wanted to wake up with you in my arms.’

              ‘You are too weird.’ I smiled and winked at him, this was my way of letting him know I was kidding.

              ‘I am not weird, I am honest. People usually hide the real motives behind their actions, I don’t.’

              The atmosphere was changing to something thicker, I needed a way out. ‘Ok philosopher, are you spending the day here?’

              ‘No, we are going to my apartment, so get dressed. And I talked to Kevin, we are going to a club with him tonight.’

              I’ve always hated to be bossed around and to be ignored while making decisions, but I was learning that after deciding mine and my staff’s future, it was a relief to have a man telling me what to do instead of asking me. Not that I would admit it. ‘Ok, I’ll take a shower, you can sleep some more and I’ll be ready in an hour ok?’

              He just kissed my forehead and went back to sleep. He got into the shower while I was putting my makeup on. I noticed his luggage was in my room so I went to the kitchen so he could have some privacy.

              We spent the day at his house. He worked almost the whole time while I painted my nails, watched TV and read two books. It was a good day until it was becoming late and that dreadful clubbing plan was imminent.

              ‘Why are we going clubbing with Kevin?’

              ‘I want to know him better, he lives with you. I need to trust him.’ He didn’t even look at me when he said that.

              ‘One, no you don’t, he’s my best friend, you are no one, you have no say in this; second I hate clubs and knowing Kevin it might be a strip club.’

              He turned to see me, he was losing his patience. ‘Shut up. You don’t have to worry about the place, we’ll have fun. We’ll leave in half an hour ok?’

              ‘I didn’t bring any night clothes.’ I pointed to my lazy jeans and black shirt.

              ‘You look amazing like that, let me finish this and we’ll leave.’ I must have been interrupting his work because I didn’t look amazing, I didn’t even look presentable.

              Max took us to the club, a trendy place with the longest line outside. We got in as soon as we arrived and I noticed something was odd when the bouncer greeted Max and Joe; maybe it was a regular place for Dylan. Things got odder when the manager and the waitress greeted Dylan.

              ‘You are a popular boy here, Berkeley.’

              ‘You are popular when you own the place.’

              ‘Oh, so you sent the strippers home for the night?’

              ‘Stop saying stupid things Katherine.’ He took my hand and made me walk towards the table.

              We sat down with Kev and three of his closest bimbos. They all flirted with Dylan and I was beginning to feel murderous. I needed to mark my territory, he wasn’t mine but he was there with me. They were on my friend’s arms, well, they would have been if he had three arms, but the point was that they couldn’t be that slutty right in front of my face.

              ‘I want to dance.’

              ‘With me?’ That stupid smile was on Dylan’s face. He was enjoying the fact that I was asking him to dance with me.

              ‘You are the only man I know here, but if you rather I can dance with Kevin.’

              He took my hand and dragged me to the dance floor, it was a happy song, but he wanted a slow dance. He wrapped his arms around me and looked directly into my eyes, then to my mouth and slowly I bit my lower lip. His eyes were glowing with a dark edge, I opened my lips slowly, he moved his face closer and I closed my eyes to receive my “territory” kiss.

              ‘Katherine.’ His low voice was on my ear and I couldn’t wait for him to kiss me.

              ‘What?’

              ‘I’ve made a decision.’

              ‘Aha.’

              ‘I am not kissing you.’

              ‘Whaaat?’ I opened my eyes in shock. I was supposed to remain cool but he was really messing with me.

              ‘I’ve kissed you a lot and you haven’t kissed me once. I’ve decided that I won’t kiss you until you start the kiss.’

              Initiative wasn’t my thing, initiative means desire and in my fucked up mind I was invulnerable to desire. I put my lips as close to his ear as I could without touching him. And whispered in a low breathless voice. ‘I know for a fact I can live without kissing you, the question is, can you?’

              He laughed, gripped me harder and kept dancing. We went back to the table and as usual he put his hand on my leg. He talked to Kevin, to the other girls and at some point he made an invasive move towards Kevin, crossing in front of me, his face so close to mine that I felt he was about to kiss me. Then he winked at me and turned around. Two could play this game.

              I waited until the manager came to Dylan and the three sluts went to the dance floor to turn to Kevin. ‘Kev, dance with me. I’m getting bored.’

              My dear friend was happy to be here and just agreed with me. ‘Sure baby girl.’

              Blue Eyes’ face froze when he noticed I was dancing with Kevin, but he remained still. He was firm in his decision and it was making me crazy.

              ‘Kevin, I recommend that you not touch Katherine like that if you appreciate your arms.’ Dylan came to the dance floor and interrupted our dance.

              ‘Oh, back off Berkeley, Kevin is my best friend. He can touch me as he wants.’ I knew that I did that to bother him, but he was not going to threaten my best friend for an innocent dance.

              Kevin let me go and tried to apologize to Dylan. This was stupid, I was just playing and now he was angry. ‘Sorry man, it’s not like that with Katie, she’s like my sister.’

              ‘But she’s not.’ Dylan was being rude, this did bother him. He should have thought about that before challenging me. ‘It’s getting late, we better go, Katherine. Kevin, I’ve already gave orders about the bill so don’t worry. We’ll see you tomorrow at the hockey game. We leave at seven, ok?’

              ‘Sure man, thanks for everything. Good night, baby girl.’

              Berkeley grabbed my hand and took me to the SUV that was waiting for us by the entrance. He was angry as hell. I was guilty, but it was his fault, so I tried to look as innocent as I could. ‘Did you have fun, Dylan?’

              He stared at me for an eternity. ‘Don’t play with me, Katherine.’

              ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’

              He opened my door when we arrived home and I had never wanted a kiss as much as I wanted it at that moment. Maybe it was because he had said I wouldn’t get it, but I wanted it badly. He put his hands on my waist.

              ‘Goodnight doll, I’ll be here tomorrow early, ok?’

              I opened my mouth slightly and licked my lips, I was going to win this. He put his forehead against mine and, as if he was gathering all his courage, he breathed hard. ‘Open that fucking door and go inside Katherine.’

              ‘Or what?’

              ‘I am not giving in Katherine, get inside.’

              Frustrated I entered. It had been a week since our last kiss and I was fine until he told me I had to kiss him first. Of course I dreamed of kisses, lots of kisses and those perfect lips that night. Who would have thought that Dylan’s kisses could become so addictive?

              Mr. Lips Bastard didn’t arrive until 1 pm. He was looking fine in those jeans and black light sweater; and he smelled like heaven. On purpose, I made an effort with my nicest jeans, a sexy white blouse and a dark red, blueberry flavored lipstick.

              This time it was me who gave him a “too long” cheek kiss. I stayed long enough for him to smell my lipstick. He just smirked darkly. We took a walk and bought lunch at a taco car on the street, even against his fancy will.

              Kevin, one of his friends, Dylan and I left for the hockey game at seven. It was a great first period and I was happy that I left some room for the hot dogs of the arena. We were chatting and having fun when that fucking camera man made the mistake of his life. It was that funny moment, the kiss cam, I’ve always made fun of the poor jerks that got caught by it. It seemed awkward that you have to kiss someone just because of the arena pressure, but it was tradition.

              Suddenly, I looked up and there in front of the entire audience, Dylan’s and my face were on the big screen with lots of hearts and smooches around. I laughed and winked and all the jerks in the Madison Square Garden started shouting ‘KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS!’

              ‘I am not kissing you, remember?’ The fucking bastard whispered to my ear and I had more pressure than I could stand. I was about to turn around, but those jerks were shouting even louder. After fighting with myself, I turned around, took his face in my hands, looked in his eyes and gave him the greatest kiss ever. The crowd went crazy, started shouting and whistling. Just after a couple of seconds he grabbed the nape of my neck and my head and started moving, really moving. I even backed off a little because I was not comfortable with this massive PDA shit, but he pulled me closer. After a long, wet, hot kiss we both laughed and I stood up to bow to my ovation. He whispered in my ear again. ‘I need to be inside you, now.’

              ‘Shut the fuck up and smile.’

              With not much embarrassment, Dylan excused us and dragged me out of the arena, he was a man in a mission. The black SUV was waiting for us outside and he literally pushed me inside.

              ‘What are you doing?’ I knew I had pushed some buttons but his reaction was a little too much.

              ‘Shut up because I don’t care who sees us, I want you now.’

              He was making me nervous, but a good kind of nervous, I would have never predicted this reaction after a tiny public kiss. He remained on his side of the seat, as if touching me was dangerous. He was much more turned on than I was.

              ‘We are going to my apartment Max.’

              I turned around to him and reminded him we couldn’t do that. ‘No, I have to work tomorrow. I have to go home.’

              ‘What time do you have to be at work?’

              ‘Nine-ish’ Maybe I was giving in to this fine specimen.

              ‘Ok, you’ll be home at 7 am so you can get to work at 9. I promise.’

              Yes, I know it’s stupid, but I was also ashamed of Max and Joe knowing I was staying with him. It’s ridiculous but I was really uncomfortable. Also, I needed to fulfill my Sunday rituals of beauty creams, nail polish and calling mom and dad. That would be the only one doable.

              ‘I have to make one phone call.’ I took my iPhone out of my purse and called them. ‘Hey mom, how are you? Yeah, I’ll wait for dad. Hey daddy, I am just leaving the hockey game, are you watching? No, mom, I went with Kevin and one of our other friends from San Antonio, do you remember them? Michelle is still in Chicago. His name is Dylan, Dylan Berkeley.’

              Blue Eyes was smiling to me and that was making me even more nervous. It was terrible to call your parents just before being fucked.
Focus on the call!