“We aren’t going to make it out of this kitchen if you keep looking at me like that,” Kyle threatened. His serious tone was alluring.
An image of launching myself at him crossed my mind. I swallowed hard. “Like what?” I asked innocently.
He pinned me with his eyes. “You know what…like I’m eye candy.”
“You already know you are my eye candy,” I teased. “It’s distracting,” I repeated his words.
He chuckled, shook his head, and grabbed another item out of his bag. I recognized the purple ribbon immediately. It had been hanging from the mirror in my bedroom for as long as I could remember.
“I needed a blindfold,” he answered my unspoken question as he stepped forward to wrap it around my eyes. Leaning in, he whispered in my ear, “Your date is a surprise.”
My heartbeat increased in anticipation. He took my hand in his, and we walked a short distance. When I heard a door open, I assumed it was the back door.
Hmm, why the back door?
Without a sound, he silently led me down a few steps, and then I felt the grass beneath my feet. I knew from the direction we had turned that we were in the backyard.
I could hear soft music and the faint sounds of fire crackling. I walked on the familiar stepping-stones as Kyle guided me. As we continued moving farther, I could smell burning wood.
He moved behind me and took off the blindfold. I gasped when I saw the setting before me. The fire pit was indeed burning wood, and hot dogs and buns were sitting on a stool adjacent to it. Next to the hot dogs on another stool, I recognized my old boom box from my bedroom. Small candles were lit inside glass jars arranged in a circle around the fire pit and hammock. Blankets and pillows were spread out across the grass near the fire pit. I did a double take when I saw the gray crocheted one.
Butterflies danced in my stomach as I took in this sweet romantic date that Kyle had planned for me. I turned to meet his stare. His warm eyes searched the depths of mine as he waited for me to speak.
“How did you do all of this? When?” I whispered.
He gave me a shy, knowing smile. “Damon helped with the food and candles. I came outside when you were working. I wasn’t sure if you would see me or not, but I was hoping that you were working hard.” He grinned in his mischievous way.
“I was.”
His eyes drew me in deeper.
“I wanted to take you on a date…to make you smile. You’ve had so much sadness in your eyes since we’ve been here, but I know that this is something you need to do in order to put the past behind you.” He paused, caressing my cheek with the back of his hand. “I know you’re stressed, so I wanted to take you away from all of that and give you something positive to look forward to.” He placed my hand over his heart. “This, Lily…us. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”
My chest tightened, taking in his expression and his words. They were filled with such love and adoration. The way he always spoke about the future, his feelings for me, and his desire to protect and care for me was all profoundly precious. Knowing that I was truly loved by someone made my heart overflow with awe, adoration, and love for him. He simply took my breath away.
When I smiled up at him, he ran his thumb across my bottom lip. “There is that beautiful smile that I would do anything to see,” he breathed.
Before I could gather a coherent response, his mouth covered mine. Kyle’s hands came to the sides of my face as he deepened the kiss. I moaned into his mouth when his tongue leisurely massaged mine.
He pulled back abruptly. “No more of that. This is a date.” He stepped back and gave me a salacious grin.
“It’s lovely, Kyle. Thank you.” I looked around again, taking it all in.
“You’re very welcome.” He walked over to the stool and grabbed the hot dogs.
“Hot dogs?” I teased.
“Hey!” He cocked an eyebrow at me. “I had limited resources since it was a spur-of-the-moment plan.”
I laughed. “You definitely surprised me.”
Lying down on a blanket, I sprawled out on my stomach and propped myself up on my elbows, leaning my head on my hand. It felt great to lie down and relax.
I watched as he prepared all the food. He definitely knew his way around a fire. I was beginning to think that there wasn’t much Kyle couldn’t do. He was just one of those people who was good at everything, even when he stepped outside of the box. I was one of those people who liked to stay inside the box—or as I referred to it, my bubble. It was safe and familiar and predictable.
“It there anything you can’t do?” I asked.
He came to sit next to me. He bent his legs in front of him and rested his arms on his knees. “What do you mean by that exactly?”
“Well, you are kind, compassionate, and romantic while also strong and protective, and you can cook meals. I’m just wondering when you are going to bust out the flaws,” I said lightheartedly.
“Only with you,” he said, playfully nudging me. “And I have plenty of flaws, Lily.” A handsome grin spread across his face.
“Like what?”
“For starters, I definitely can’t cook, except hot dogs and sandwiches. Oh, and I can make a mean omelet.”
“And?”
“And you already know I’m stubborn,” he added good-humoredly.
“Yep, I picked up on that one quickly.” I laughed.
“It’s another Madison family trait.” Kyle chuckled. “I was doomed from birth.” He stood and went back to the fire pit to turn the hot dogs.
“I’ll have to remember that,” I replied.
Kyle knelt down and stared into the fire before turning to look at me. “Did you work on your novel today or just respond to emails?”
“I wrote my synopsis for my current novel, took a few notes on little things here and there, and reread some parts of my story to choose a few teasers.”
Kyle raised his eyebrows in question. “Teasers?”
I chuckled. “A teaser is a short excerpt of the novel to give the readers a taste of the book. It’s kind of like a preview for a new movie coming to theaters.”
Kyle nodded in understanding. “Is it easy to summarize your stories?”
Feeling a cool breeze, I covered my legs with a blanket. “I’m not sure how it is for other writers, but for me, it’s very hard.”
Kyle watched me with genuine interest, so I continued to elaborate.
“I see so much more in my mind than what I put on paper. I always write more than I’m supposed to. Even when I was younger, I was good at long essays, but short summaries, not so much.”
“That makes sense,” he said. “You write the story from the vision you create in your mind while others read only what is written before them.”
“Exactly.” I smiled. I loved that he understood such an important part of me. “I have a vision and write the words, and the readers create their own visualization from my words. It’s the best feeling in the world when I follow up with readers and hear their visions of my story and characters.”
“What is your favorite book?” Kyle questioned.
“
The Notebook
by Nicholas Sparks.” I could tell from the expression on his face that he had never watched the movie, let alone read the book, and it made me chuckle.
We can fix that.
“It was made into a movie. I have the DVD at home. We can watch it together.” I gave him a reassuring smile, fighting to keep a straight face at his blank stare. “And snuggle.”
Kyle’s smoldering eyes reflected the glow of the fire. “Do I get to steal some bases?”
My gaze locked onto his heated stare, and I was momentarily hypnotized. I inhaled a shaky deep breath.
Damn, he’s sexy when he looks at me like that.
“Of course,” I breathed. I shifted my attention to the hot dogs. “Are they ready yet? Or are you burning them?”
“Almost done.”
Kyle rotated the hot dogs once more and then opened the package of buns. He pulled out the buns, separated them, lightly buttered each side, and placed them facedown on the grill.
“What are you doing?”
Kyle sat back. “It’s a trick my dad taught me.”
I eyed him warily.
He shook his head and laughed. “Just wait and you’ll see.”
“So, yesterday, you talked a lot with Jason about building again. Do you think you’ll do that soon?” I asked.
He lifted a bag from behind a stool. “I would like to. I have thought about it more and more lately.” From the bag, he pulled out paper plates, disposable plasticware, and napkins.
“What’s holding you back?”
“Nothing really.” He shrugged. “I just have to get all my ducks in a row, so to speak. I recently purchased a lot of properties. I have to see them through before I invest in anything else. Then, I plan to take the time to pick out where I want to build. I must be able to commit to staying in one location for a long period of time.”
He removed the hotdogs and buns from the grill, put them on paper plates. Packaged potato salad, chips, and a fruit dish came out of the bag next, and he positioned everything in the center of the blanket.
“Do you like working in different places?”
I opened the potato salad and dug out a spoonful for each of us. Kyle placed a handful of barbeque chips on our plates, and I added the fruit. It all looked delicious. My stomach growled in agreement.
“Good thing I’m feeding you.” Kyle snickered. “Sometimes, traveling and a change of scenery are nice. It has taught me a great deal about real estate and how regions can vary, but I don’t plan to travel to multiple places for much longer. It gets old quickly.”
I took a bite of my hot dog and groaned out loud.
“Good?” Kyle took a bite of his own.
I nodded. “Very good.” I like what you did with the bun.” There was something to be said about campfire food. I surely would not want to eat a hot dog every day, but when it was cooked outside on a fire, it was the perfect dinner.
We quickly devoured our plates.
Kyle scanned the blanket. “Hold on. I can definitely make this better.” He stood and walked over to the bag.
I cleared our garbage and threw it away into a small trash bag that Kyle had set in the grass. He returned with a bottle of red wine and two small clear plastic cups in hand.
I could not hold in my laughter at the sight of the plastic cups. Our date—complete with the fire, blankets, hot dogs, packaged foods, and wine in plastic cups—was utterly adorable and romantic.
“Very nice.” With a smile, I extended my hand to take the cup.
Kyle lifted his eyebrows. “Are you making fun of me, Miss Tidsdale?”
I bit my lip, trying to hold back another laugh. “Not at all.”
He sat down behind me, straddling either side of my legs with his own. He pulled me closer to his chest. His warm, strong body felt like heaven against mine, and I nestled in closer.
Taking a sip of the wine, it tasted of mixed berries as it went down my throat. It was a bit dry but very smooth.
I wanted to know more about him, especially since I had agreed to move to California with him. Just thinking about living with him made me so nervous.
There is still so much we need to learn about each other.
But every time I truly looked at him, it just seemed…right. Even moments ago when he was cooking us dinner, he had seemed so young and carefree working over the fire.
I decided to ask him questions.
Yes, questions.
It would keep me from my worst enemy
—
thinking.
“Did you go camping much as a kid?” I was still very interested to know more about his childhood.
He pulled my hair off my cheek and leaned in to kiss my temple. “Yes. My brother, sister, and I used to camp out a lot. Usually, we would set up tents in our backyard. Then, as we got older, my mom would let us venture out to different campgrounds, but she was always worried, especially about Abbey. Abbey always wanted to be with Ryan and me.”
It was nice to hear about his childhood. I could picture a younger version of him with Ryan and Abbey. During the short time I had spent with his family, I could clearly see their love for each other.
I had never really wondered what it would be like to have a brother. My cousins, Annie, and I had all grown up together, so it had always felt like we were siblings.
Kyle refilled our plastic cups and put the cap back on the bottle. The wine was surely one of the better ones I had tasted. It relaxed and soothed my wired mind.
Kyle had answered all of my questions willingly, so I decided to keep asking him more.
“Did you all fight a lot? Or did you and Ryan gang up on Abbey because she was a girl?”
“Sure, we fought like normal siblings. Abbey is more of a tomboy though. She can hold her own. She was right beside us, building tree forts, tubing in the ocean, or skiing down huge hills. But being the youngest and having two older brothers, she didn’t get to date a lot. As she got older, she started to get very verbal about those feelings.” He smiled, getting lost in his thoughts.
I chuckled. “I bet. My cousins did the same thing to me, and most of the time, I was mad about it. Looking back, I guess it was a blessing sometimes. It allowed me to focus on school instead of boys.”
“It was a very good thing,” Kyle growled teasingly in my ear. He grazed it lightly with his teeth before smoothing it over with his tongue.
Warmth flooded my core at the simple act. I tried to ignore the feelings he ignited in me. I was eager for more information. I shifted in his embrace, so I could see his face.
“Do you like that Abbey works with you now?” I reached out to grab an extra blanket to keep us warm.
Other than the fire glowing in front of us, it was pitch-black outside. Feeling a bit cold, I was grateful for the hoodie Kyle had made me wear. I tucked my hands into the sleeves and brought them up to my face to breathe warm air into them. I inhaled deeply, sneaking in the scent of his sweatshirt. His clean male scent filled my senses as I tried to concentrate on his answer to my question.
“I do. Abbey and I have a lot in common. We have similar personalities, and I think that’s why we get along so well. At work, she is all business and professional. I am in awe of her sometimes. She was always helping Ryan, Dad, and me with whatever we would allow her to do when we were remodeling houses, but we never expected her to pick a career in it. She never even told us she wanted to pursue it until she was in college.”