One Condition (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #1) (2 page)

I keep my arm in front of my face, dazed for a moment, just standing there like an idiot as they circle. They left me alone in college… Until the incident. Now they’re back. I need to get out of here, but I’m breathing hard, and they’ve crowded around, leaving no room for me to walk past.

A warm hand grabs mine and leads me down the wide steps, past the men with cameras.

I look up, and it’s the guy from inside the building, wearing dark glasses. My anxiety fades away, and adrenaline shoots through my veins.

“What are you do—?”

“Shh—no talking,” he says. “Let’s get you away from these guys.”

He leads me a few feet down the sidewalk, and the cameras snap away. A few of the men yell things to us, but my head’s buzzing, and I can’t seem to make out the words.

There’s a sleek sports car parked right in front of the building in the reserved spot. My white knight pulls me around to the passenger side and hits the button on his keys. The car beeps, low beneath the sounds of the flashes and the shouts, and he pulls open the door and tries to shove me inside.

“Wait,” I say, pressed up against the car. “I’m not—”

Sexy says something, but there’s too much going on—it’s too loud, and I don’t hear him. I shake my head, and he leans in. He’s inches away from me. I can’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but his mouth… He’s got full lips, kissable ones. I bite my own lip and lean closer because I can’t help myself. I
want
to be closer to him. The chaos around me, my tingling hand swallowed up in this guy’s… I should be irritated, anxious like I always am when paparazzi show up. But my blood’s been spiked with adrenaline, and I feel high. It’s the same thrill I used to get when I’d steal. I feel my cheeks redden.

“Get in the car,” he says, his voice low and deep.
Demanding.

“I’ll get my own car,” I say. “It’s just down the street. The garage.”

“They’ll follow you. We’ll get rid of them, and I’ll drive you back to your car.”

I glance around, seeking escape, but the paparazzi start crowding us, pressing against the car, and my stomach turns. They won’t give up. They’ll follow me back to the penthouse and figure out where I’m staying if I don’t lose them now.

I look up at this stranger and see myself reflected strangely in his sunglasses. “I don’t know you.”

He smiles and leans so close his lips are practically touching my ear. “I’m Kaidan,” he says. “Now you know me.”

His deep voice reverberates through me, and I shiver. Thinking things through isn’t something I’m known for. So I get in the car, and Kaidan shuts the door. There’s a deep, musky scent lingering in here. Musk with a hint of forest. Sex in the woods. I like it a little too much, and my heart pumps faster as I hazard a glance through the tinted windows to the camera chaos outside.

One of the paparazzi is pressing a camera against the tinted glass on the driver’s side. Kaidan reaches him and gets in the man’s face, points at the sidewalk, and shoves him to it. The guy falls to the curb, waving his hands theatrically. He looks ridiculous in his patch-covered vest, with a giant gold hoop earring swinging from one earlobe as he yells at Kaidan. He’s a pap pirate. A ridiculous giggle bubbles out of me.

Kaidan slides into the driver’s seat, starts the car, and pulls into the street. I look in the side mirror to see the paparazzi chasing after us, like a hoard of groupies as the tour bus pulls away. A few of them run for their own cars, parked further down the street.

“Sorry about that,” Kaidan says.

Why is he saying sorry? It’s not like it’s
his
fault they showed up. I try to slow my pounding pulse with deep breaths, and I inhale that woodsy scent again. It’s stronger now, coming from Kaidan. It must be his cologne.

“You don’t need to apologize,” I say, sounding breathless.

“Let’s lose these guys. Then I’ll drive back around. They won’t expect us to circle back. You in the parking garage on the corner?”

“Yeah. Thanks for getting me out of there.”

“No problem.” Kaidan speeds up a little, trying to weave around the mid-afternoon traffic, but this is LA, so we aren’t getting anywhere fast.

I buckle my seat belt and sink back in the passenger seat. By the feel of the leather and the look of the tech on the dash, it’s obvious Kaidan’s car is high-end. Like one of my dad’s customs. Is this Kaidan guy
somebody
?

We get stuck at a red light, and he pulls off his sunglasses and throws them in the console. I sneak a glance at him, but nothing about him seems familiar. I
have
been gone for eight years, though. I ignored the tabloids as much as possible, attempting to hide out for four years in boarding school, then four more at college in Massachusetts.

Kaidan catches me staring and gives me a half-smile. His eyes meet mine, and he holds my gaze, a little too long, like he sees something he likes and wants to remember it. His eyes drop, just for a second, to my exposed thighs, and his lips part. Warmth spreads between my legs, and I clench them firmly together, shifting in my seat. His gaze goes back to the road, and his hand tightens around the shift stick. God, he’s gorgeous. But so are a lot of people in L. A. I focus on the light, willing it to turn green.

“So now you know
my
name,” he says, his voice husky. “What’s yours?”

I remember what just happened, and like that, the excitement fades. I clear my throat and try to hide the skeptical expression I know I’m sporting. He just saved me from paparazzi, and he definitely seemed to recognize me in the building. He knows my name. But sure, I’ll play along. “My name’s Hayley.”

“Nice name. You a client at the firm?” he asks.

“Nah, I just like to spend my free time hanging out in office buildings.” My voice comes out snappy, and I cross my arms over my chest. “Why, do you work there?”

He gives me a look, like I asked something so stupid he’s surprised I said it.
Is
he a lawyer? That would explain the fancy car and the reserved parking spot. But he’d be the youngest guy in the place.

The light finally changes, and he turns right, heading back in a wide circle toward the parking garage. We’ll be there soon, and I’ll have to get out of the car. I get a sinking feeling in my stomach and stare out the window. It must be the adrenaline fading. And all the bills I won’t be able to pay this month. I’m so screwed.

“So are you from LA?” Kaidan asks.

Really? He was going to take this all the way then, pretending like he hadn’t recognized me back there. “Nope. I’ve been living on the East Coast for school. I just come out here to visit my dad every summer.” Saying that makes my heart hurt. Even though he ignored me every time I visited, I’ll still never see my dad again.

“You finish college already?”

“Just graduated.”

“Why’d you decide to come back here afterward?”

I clench my jaw and shoot him a dirty look, but he’s watching the road and seems utterly oblivious. There’s no way he missed the news about my dad dying. It’s been everywhere, on every news network, for days. “I’m just visiting. My dad’s got a huge party planned to celebrate my graduation.”

I watch him carefully, but he doesn’t wince, nothing. He just nods like he’s mildly interested. Wow. Maybe I’m wrong and he’s an actor, not a lawyer.

“We stop at another light, and the silence stretches on and on, until I want to leap out of the car and walk the rest of the way to the garage. It’s not that far, but what if the paparazzi are still nearby?

“So you grow up here?” I ask.

Kaidan furrows his brow and studies me with those intense brown eyes. I feel myself blush, and I self-consciously smooth back my hair. Do I have something on my face?

He sniffs and shakes his head. “Yeah. I’m from here, but went to college up North. Decided to come back to see if I wanted to work in the family business.”

He sounds unhappy about it, but now it all makes sense. His
dad
is the bigwig lawyer. It explains everything. The car, the reserved spot, his utter lack of smarm. His dad must be a partner or something.

“Ah. Daddy got you a job.” It’s out before I can clamp my mouth shut.

Kaidan’s face darkens as he shifts the car into gear. “Actually, that’s pretty much exactly right.”

The thought of Kaidan’s dad, making life so easy for him… It’s like a knife twisting in my chest. My own dad left a giant “fuck you” note to me, even in death. “So Daddy hired you. Still live with him, too?”

Kaidan narrows his eyes at me, then works his jaw. “Yeah,” he finally says. “It’s sad, right? I’m twenty-eight and still living at my dad’s house.”

I swallow, and shame floods me. What the hell is wrong with me? This guy rescued me from the cameras, and I’m being a giant bitch. “Sorry. It’s cool. I wish I had a job waiting for me, too.”

Kaidan’s silent for a few moments, but then his expression shifts, like he’s decided to forgive me for being a bitch. Or maybe he just realizes we’re almost back to the garage. “You plan on staying here and working?”

“Maybe.”
No.
But I might not have a choice.

“What’d you major in?” he asks.

“Communications. I hear there’s some great opportunities in the tabloid industry here.”

He gives me a rueful grin. “And now you have some on-the-job experience.”

God, he’s hot. I suck in a breath, inhaling sex in the woods, and I avert my eyes. My seat suddenly feels uncomfortable again. I’ve been really rude to this guy, and he’s been nothing but nice. “Thank you for getting me out of there. Those cameras—they’re overwhelming.”

“They really are.”

He hangs another right, and we’re on the same street we left. I stare out the window at the palm trees and skinny women walking tiny dogs, a heavy weight growing in my chest. I don’t want to be in LA at all. Not a lot of great memories here. I wanted to start a life somewhere else. Somewhere where no one remembers my parents. I almost laugh out loud at the absurdity of
that
thought. I’d been recognized within twenty-four hours of starting college on the East Coast. And now the paparazzi are after me again. It will never end.

We reach the parking garage, and my shoulders slump as he pulls into it.

“What level you on?”

“Three.”

We ride to level three in silence.

“My car’s here,” I say. Why do I feel like I want to cry?

He stops his car and gets out. He’s around to the other side, opening the passenger side before I’ve even gotten my purse from the floor.

He offers me a hand and pulls me out of the low seat. But he doesn’t back away. I’m pressed up against the open door, standing there, staring up into his dark brown eyes. I can smell his woodsy scent, feel the heat radiating between us.

I draw a ragged breath and shift on my feet. He takes a little step back and openly looks me over again, drawing his gaze up my body from my exposed legs to the curve of my hips, to my breasts peeking out of my top. His eyes finally come to rest on my face.

Longing shoots through me, and I want to close the space between us, feel his hand on mine again. I’m sure he can tell.

A little smirk appears on his mouth, along with a dimple on his cheek, and he challenges me with his lust-dark eyes. I don’t know if I should smack the smug expression off his full lips or kiss them. My emotions are a mess. I swallow hard, getting ready to speak to fill the electric silence with something, anything else.

His phone goes off. He licks his lips and turns away from me to pull the phone from his suit jacket. He looks down at it, and his jaw tightens. Anger replaces the lust in his eyes.

“You good now?” He looks back at me, and whatever spark we had between us has vanished. Did I imagine it?

I catch my breath and point to my Mercedes. “My car’s right here. Thanks again for the ride.”

He nods and looks at his phone again. “See you around, Hayley.” Without giving me another glance, he gets back in his car, revs the engine, and drives off.

I’m a bundle of raw emotions and longing as I get into my Mercedes and slam the door. My dad’s dead, my brother won’t talk to me, and I’m broke with no hope of fixing it any time soon. And then Kaidan… I don’t even know his last name. Whatever that was between us, clearly he didn’t care to continue it. He didn’t even ask for my number.

I drive toward the penthouse, and when I get past the endless traffic and hit the beach, I lower my window. The salt-tinged air blows my hair into a knotty mess and stings my eyes. The whole time I drive, I try to think of anything but Kaidan. But everything about coming home has been shitty. The funeral, the headlines, the empty penthouse, Rowan ignoring me… Everything up until the moment Kaidan grabbed my hand and pulled me to his car. And every time I blink to keep the tears away, he’s all I see.

It’s starting to get dark when I type in my code and pull into my building’s parking garage. Another car sneaks in behind me, a black SUV with dark windows, not bothering to input their code. I roll my eyes and frown in my mirror at them. Then I shake my head and drive up to my floor.

The penthouse was a better choice than my dad’s house for lots of reasons. My dad died there, so that’s one reason I never want to go back. Second, it never really was my house. Rowan lived there for a little while, but I got sent away at thirteen, which was the year after my mom died and the year my dad bought the new mansion. I thought Rowan would take it, but he’s apparently living in a crappy apartment in Santa Monica. I’ll never understand him.