Page 26

Kaden blinked several times. And then, as if he seemed to realize how close he was to me, he stepped back and lifted his hands from the bar, running them through his hair. He uttered a frustrated groan.

Just then the bartender set Dawn’s glass of water down in front of me. As I tried to squeeze past Kaden, he held my arm in his grip. His thumbs stroked my skin and my arm broke out in goose bumps. “Where are you going?”

“I have to take care of Dawn, then I’m heading home. You have a nice evening with her,” I said, jerking my chin toward the girl with whom he’d been dancing, and who was now staring daggers at me from across the room. “Look, she’s pining for you already.”

He drew me a bit closer. I felt his breath on my temple as he murmured: “And what is it that you pine for, Allie?”

I shook my head. “For my bed, Kaden. My bed.”

With these words I left him standing there, and headed for Dawn.

A racket outside my room startled me awake. My heart pounded. Then I heard cursing from the hallway.

I sighed with relief. It was Kaden, who had finally come home at the fine hour of 3:30 a. m.

More clattering; then something hit the floor with a massive thud. Kaden swore at the top of his voice.

Suddenly there was only silence. That was more unsettling than the string of explicatives I’d just heard. After a few minutes, the silence began to worry me, and I got out of bed. I went to the door and opened it a crack.

“What’s going on?” I hurried over, my arms crossed over my chest.

Kaden lay on his stomach, stretched out in the hallway. Now I saw where the rattling had come from: While trying to remove his shoes, he must have knocked into the jackets and fallen, ripping out a few coat hooks on the way.

He let out a muffled groan.

I sighed and knelt down beside him so I could remove his boots from his feet. No sooner had I managed that, than he began to kick.

“Leave me,” he muttered. He tried to stand but only managed to prop himself up with his back against the wall. His head sagged to the side, his lips were parted, and his eyes were closed.

“You can’t sleep in the hallway,” I said.

He wrinkled his nose and tried to shoo me away with his hand.

Sighing, I shook my head.

“Come on, Kaden,” I murmured, leaning down to wrap an arm around his waist and put his hand on my shoulder, so he could support himself.

“Leave me alone.” This time his voice was loud and clear.

“Get a grip and let me help, for God’s sake!”

Stubborn, I got him standing. I barely managed to maneuver him through the living room. With every second step he banged into another piece of furniture. It almost seemed like he was doing it on purpose.

Finally in his room, I helped him spread out his blanket. I was becoming an old pro at this. I’d done the same thing for Dawn a couple of hours before. Then I went in search of aspirin and a bottle of water.

As I reentered the room, Kaden was wrestling with his belt. His shirt and socks were strewn on the floor. I put the water on the nightstand, just as he fell backward onto the bed. Wearing only tight boxer shorts. I looked away.

“Here, take these,” I urged, holding the pills out to him. He shoved them in his mouth and swallowed them dry. The sight of this made me queasy. I handed him the water bottle. “Now drink at least down to here,” I indicated the topmost groove.

“You realize I’ve been drunk before, right?” Kaden said with a crooked grin, placing the bottle to his lips.

“Can I leave you alone now?” I asked.

Kaden set the bottle down on his nightstand. A sly grin played on his lips. With his tousled hair and laugh lines around his eyes, he looked irresistible. I wanted to turn away, but couldn’t take my eyes off him.

He must have done some weight training. Oh yes, I was pretty sure of that. Such defined muscles didn’t come from hiking. I stared at his naked torso, the pattern on his biceps, his belly, and the narrow path of hair that disappeared under the band of his underwear. Damn. What a body.

“You’re checking me out,” Kaden observed, sitting up. He looked pleased with himself, almost excited.