Risky Rockstar: A Hero Club Novel, стр. 68
“Maybe that’s the key? I mean, I’m not saying do something that’s going to trigger you, but if you’re focused on being tied up and relinquishing your control, maybe you’ll be so focused on that, that you won’t be able to overthink anything?”
“Hmmm, you might have a point. I’m usually so focused on what’s happening in my head, and trying to control my body, maybe if I give all that up to Kade, I’ll be able to forget the rest. Besides, something he said at the book signing makes me think he could really get into the idea of tying me up.”
I feel like I can breathe easier than I have all day. This could work. I take a sip of my lukewarm coffee and wish I’d brought wine instead. “His birthday is in a few days. I’ll get some goodies online and surprise him with a nice hotel. That time in Orlando after the book signing was explosive. I was about to come when we were interrupted by a phone call. Maybe if we go back to a hotel, get lots of champagne and the cuffs, it will work.”
“I think it could. But maybe you should talk to him about the whole incident at the Falls first, so he knows what’s going on?”
I stand, noting the tide is coming in, and head back to the house. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll definitely tell him, but I think this is going to work. Bridge, I love you. You’re a sex guru.”
“Well, don’t thank me yet,” she chuckles, then stares off camera. “How can she possibly still be hungry? I just fed her.”
Simon’s voice comes through the line. “I don’t know, luv, but I can’t say I blame her. I can’t wait to have some breast time too.”
Bridget laughs. “I have to go. Excuse my crude husband. Tell Kade, Hayley. You’ll feel better.”
She ends the call, and I walk back to my place. I spend the next forty-five minutes browsing the sex shop. Let me just say, there were things on there that I can never unsee, but eventually, I get what I need. I check out, happy with my purchases, and sure Kade will be too. If this doesn’t work to get me out of my head, I’ll definitely talk to Kade, but for now I’m confident I have the right recipe to make his birthday incredible.
“On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons comes on the radio, and I turn it up, singing at top of my lungs as I head to the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. It’s cheesy, but I feel like the song resonates. I’m pounds lighter now that I have a plan, and I know things can only get better from here.
Chapter 33
Hayley
“I got you something. Well, two things, but open this one first.”
We’re sitting on the king-sized four poster bed in the Presidential West of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hill. I’m cocooned in one of those oversized fluffy gowns I couldn’t wait to get into as soon as I got here. I’d given Kade directions and a time to arrive a little after me so I could get settled. He followed them to the letter and showed up looking all types of fine in dark jeans and a light blue button-down.
I lean down and open the drawer where I stashed Kade’s gifts earlier. I hand the first one to him, suddenly shy. “I hope you like it.”
He takes it from me and sets it on the bed, then leans over the bowl of chocolate-covered strawberries to thumb the worry lines from my forehead. “You are enough for me.” His hand sweeps across the room. “You didn’t have to do all this. And you certainly didn’t have to get me anything.”
“I wanted to. Now will you open it for Pete’s sake?”
“Is someone showing her impatient side?” he teases. “You want me to just rip it open or take my time?”
“Rip it!”
“Like this?” He peels the tape back slowly from the paper, trying desperately to hide his smile as he does.
“Oh, let me do it.” I make a grab for the package, but he holds it out of my reach.
“Excuse me, didn’t you say this was mine?” He reaches for the champagne with his free hand and refills my glass. “Here, drink.”
I narrow my eyes at him but take a sip of the Cristal. “I should’ve just got you a gift bag.”
Kade spends the next two minutes agonizingly peeling back every piece of tape until the gift is exposed. I swear he’s having more fun messing with me than he is opening the gift, and my cheeks hurt from smiling so wide. When he can finally see what I got him, his face turns serious and he flicks his eyes to mine. “Hayley. I don’t know what to say.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s a first edition.”
“Yes.”
“How did you find it?”
I smile, thinking of how I combed every bookstore site on the internet for a mint-condition first-edition copy of The Velveteen Rabbit. “I have my ways.”
“I don’t know what to say,” he repeats. “This is so thoughtful; I can’t believe you remembered.”
Kade places the gift down carefully on the bed and moves the strawberries aside. Breaching the small gap between us, he traces a finger down my cheek with his thumb before pulling me in for a kiss. He isn’t gentle or tender as he shows me how much my gift means to him without using words.
Everything ignites in me, and I lean back against the pillows, pulling him on top of me before breaking the kiss. “If you’re going to kiss me like that, I think it’s time for your next present.”
“Yeah?” He smirks, but did I see a flash of nerves in his eyes? Guilt threatens to ruin this night as I suspect I’m the reason he’s being so tentative. Maybe he does know