Love Me Like That (20 page)

“We need to get packed,” I tell her.

She groans and mumbles a few cuss words but rolls off of me and heads into the bathroom.

Today is the ninth day we’ve been in this cabin together: eight nights of us being in her bed or vice versa and I don’t want to leave. Things are too easy here with her. Life doesn’t suck when we’re tangled up in bed with each other.

Now I have to go back to a city, to a condo, to a job I had no intention of ever returning to. I almost mentioned my plans of suicide to her on several different occasions, but I don’t want her to know just how weak of a man I really am.

I asked her to come back with me. I offered her a room in the home I shared with my wife and now that the day has come for her to be there I wish I’d never said the words. I don’t want to get rid of her, but I know how difficult going back to my place is going to be. Bringing someone back with me? That seems almost impossible to me as I pack my clothes.

After making sure everything is unplugged and the bed is stripped, I make my way to the foyer with my duffle bag. I place it near the door and head into the kitchen to begin the process in there.

The doorbell chimes through the house and I’m fairly certain it’s the first time it has ever sounded off of the walls. I set the pile of dishes I was pulling from the dishwasher down on the counter and make my way to the door. I pull it open and see a uniformed man there. He’s here to transport London’s car back to my place in Spokane. I’m signing his paperwork as London makes her way down the stairs, dragging both her suitcases down behind her.

“What are you doing?” I ask. Handing the guy his clipboard back and turning to grab her things. “I was going to come up and get those for you.”

She smiles, and it nearly makes my heart stop. “I can handle them.”

“Clearly,” I say grinning back at her. I take both suitcases from her and collapse the pull bars, picking them up easily and walking them to the front door, setting them beside mine.

“Who was at the door, caveman?”

I laugh at her term of endearment. If she thinks helping a woman is acting like a caveman then she most definitely has been around assholes her whole life. “That was the transport company. They’re here to load up your car.”

I start walking back to the kitchen so I can continue the cleanup in there. “What do you mean ‘load up my car?’ I’m driving my car to your place.”

“No, you’re not. You’re riding with me.” I begin putting the plates and saucers in the cabinets where they belong. It doesn’t go unnoticed that she isn’t responding.

I turn my head in her direction to find her standing all indignant with her hands on her hips and her foot turned out. She’s annoyed and angry and if she wasn’t so fucking cute that way I’d be agitated myself for her making a big deal about such a trivial thing.

With my now empty hands, I stalk over to her and sweep my hands inside the crook created at her elbows. I bend my head close to her ear. “I thought the trip would be more enjoyable with a little road head.”

She gasps. I laugh. I honestly didn’t even think of getting my dick sucked until the words came out of my mouth, but suddenly it sounds like the best idea ever.

“Yeah, maybe for you since you have the dick,” she says stepping away and slapping my arm playfully.

“Seriously, London. The roads are still shitty, and I don’t want you ending up in another ditch when a large mammal walks out in front of you.” I step forward and kiss the top of her head.

“You could have lead with that,” she mutters.

I cock an eyebrow at her. “Seriously? You went all evil twin on me before I had the chance to.” I wince at the evil twin part. The shit that comes out of my mouth.

I place the last piece of silverware from the dishwasher into the drawer and turn back to her. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yep. You need help with anything else?” She asks looking around for something to do.

“I don’t think so,” I respond and make my way out into the den. This and the bedrooms upstairs are practically the only places we’ve been the last week and a half.

My eyes dart to the tiny drawer across the room. The house has a great alarm system, but that doesn’t mean someone still can’t break in. I can’t in good conscience leave a loaded gun and full bottle of prescription painkillers in the house.

“Hey, will you run upstairs and grab the sat phone for me. It’s plugged into the wall by the lounge chair.” I begin to straighten the cushions on the couch and fold the blanket that she’s been using.

“Sure,” she says and heads out of the room and up the stairs.

I calmly walk over to the drawer and tug it open. I reach in and pull the gun out, the feel of the cold metal in my palm causing a wave of eeriness to cloud my mood. I shake my head to clear the gloom that is trying to settle in my bones. Grabbing the pill bottle, I take them both to my suitcase and zip them up inside, telling myself I will flush the pills as soon as I unpack back at the condo.

London makes her way back down the stairs empty handed. “It wasn’t up there.”

I walk into the mudroom and grab it from the table on the inside wall. “Sorry,” I tell her holding it up so she can see it. “Forgot I brought it down the other day.”

I stick it in the pocket on the side of her suitcase, not willing to take the chance of unzipping mine again.

“So we’re ready to go?” She asks looking around again for anything to do.

“Yeah. I’ll have Lisa send someone out to make sure everything is taken care of. I had the transport people pull my truck up so it should be nice and cozy.” I hold out her jacket for her to slide her arms into it.

I’m surprised when we step outside of the cabin to leave and a sleek, jacked-up Dodge was sitting in front. I was certain we were going to be taking the old truck we went to town in the other day. I don’t know where this thing came from, but it’s beautiful and perfect for driving on the roads in the horrible conditions we are certain to encounter.

I notice it’s a quad-cab when Kadin hefts all three of our suitcases up and settles them on the floor board in the back. He turns around and holds out a hand; an offering of assistance into the cab. I smirk at him and take his hand. Surprisingly he doesn’t cop a feel or even linger on my body like I’d expected him to. He just lifts me with economical movements inside.

The door closes with a soft whoosh, and he comes around to the driver’s side. We sit up incredibly high, and I feel much safer on the passenger side of this truck than I knew I ever would have driven myself in my car.

I watch as the flatbed truck drives toward the gate with my sleek Mini Cooper strapped to it. So much, yet so little has happened since I drove that car into the ditch outside of Kadin’s gate. My head is still spinning, and I have no idea what the future is going to hold, but I’m taking a leap of faith. Faith in what, I’m not even certain of at this point.

I noticed the change in Kadin’s mood when I came back down the stairs after looking for the satellite phone. We’re over an hour into the trip, and it just seems to be getting worse. He's not rude, but he’s also not being very interactive either. Every question I’ve asked has been answered with as few words as possible on his part. I eventually gave up.

My phone has rang half a dozen times, and I grew so frustrated with it that I put it on silent, but I can still hear it occasionally vibrate in my purse. When it vibrates again, I reach into my purse determined to tell Trent to leave me alone and never call me back.

I press the answer button and begin to bring it to my ear when Kadin reaches out and grabs it from my hand. He looks at the screen, confirming it is who he thought it has been calling so much.

“Hello?” Kadin says.

Pause.

“None of your fucking business. Why don’t you tell me why you’re calling my girl?”
His girl?

Pause.

“From what she tells me it ended with your ass the second she caught you with your dick in her whore of a best friend.” I wince at the blatant crudeness as the truth spills out of his mouth.

“Don’t worry where she’s at fucker.”

Pause.

“Say it again fucker and I’ll track you down and make you wish you were dead.”

Pause.

He pulls the phone from his ear and looks at the dark screen. Trent evidently hung up on him. He hands it back to me.

“Thank you,” I tell him weakly watching his face for his reaction to the situation.

He winks at me and turns his focus back to the road.

“What did…?” I begin.

“Leave it alone, London.” I slide my phone back in my purse and sit in silence until we pull up to a small store with a large sign on the front that reads nothing but “CAFÉ.”

“Hungry?” He asks putting the truck in park at the front of the wooden building.

Lunch at the café went just as I figured it would with the way the first leg of the trip was. It was quiet and awkward, and Kadin seems, even more, somber as we drive through downtown Spokane, navigating the roads to his place.

Pulling up to what Kadin informs me is his building I can do nothing but stare at the tall glass and steel structure. It’s sleek and elegant and somehow masculine at the same time. It’s over a dozen stories high and looks incredibly regal with the late afternoon sun shining down on it.

I look back at him. “You live here?”

He grins at me, clearly finding my astonishment comical. “I don’t own the whole building, London.”

“And when you say you don’t own the
whole
building you’re actually saying you own
part
of it?” I turn my head back to my window and watch as we drive into a subterranean garage. He turns the corner toward an empty parking space, and I see my car backed into the spot beside the one we’re heading toward.

A quick ride in the elevator brings us to; you guessed it, the damn top floor. I should have known with the opulence of the cabin that he was rich but it never honestly crossed my mind. He drove a ratty truck and wore flannel more than once while we were there, and the last thing he presents as is uptight and snobby. Exactly what I would expect from a man that lives in a place like this.

He opens his front door and strangely goes in ahead of me and drops the luggage unceremoniously at the front door. Thankfully the home is equipped with motion sensor lights so the foyer and living room to the right light up as he makes his way further in. I linger near the front door unsure of how to act, especially after the weird mood he’s been in since we left the cabin.