Page 37 of Kayla's List

“It’s okay. You can always tell me when something is wrong, Kay.”

“Okay,” I say shyly. I can tell by the conviction in Anderson’s words that he means what he said.

“Are there any other restaurants that your bitchass ex took you to?” Anderson’s face is again blank, but his blue eyes are glowing with anger. The look is surprising, but I bust out laughing.

I’m not sure how I expected Anderson to respond, but what I didn’t expect was his anger. I continue to laugh as he stares at me with big blue eyes. I don’t thinkheexpected my laughter.

“I’m sorry. I just never heard anyone talk bad about Warren. Well, except the girls.” I shrug unapologetically.

“Fuck him!” Anderson is serious, but his eyes twinkle with mirth, and I continue to smile goofily at him.

I sense that he isn’t quite ready to delve into our pasts, so I think I’ve shared enough for one night. He doesn’t really need to know about all of my insecurities at once. Besides, I’m working on them, and that’s the first step. When I look down at my watch, I notice that we’ve been talking for almost an hour. And although it’s not late, I feel emotionally drained.

“Do you think we can just order something and hang here tonight?” I ask.

Initially, I was excited about tonight. I dressed in a purple wrap dress that hugged my curves and a pair of chunky heels. They aren’t stilettos, but I’m making progress.

“Are you asking me to Netflix and chill?” Anderson’s eyebrows dance up and down. His gaze roams over my body before he bites his plump bottom lip. His prurient thoughts are showing in his blue eyes.

“That’s exactly what I’m asking.” I stare at Anderson boldly. I concentrate on not dipping my head in embarrassment. I am a grown woman, and I have sexual desires. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

#15. Be bold.

I mentally cross off another number.It’s a good thing I memorized my list!

“Well, doll face, you don’t have to ask me twice,” Anderson says. A wide grin breaking out on his bearded face.

I don’t know what he has in store for me, but honestly, I can’t wait.

17

In Trouble

ANDERSON

It was hard for me to hold my shock in at Kayla’s boldness. She’s always so embarrassed and shy whenever I do anything overtly sexual, so I’m mindful not to push her too much.

We’ve been dating for two months, and although I’ve had the worst case of blue balls since I was a teenager, I can say that I don’t regret it. Getting to know Kay has been an eye opening experience. She’s such a pure soul.

Kayla thinks I don’t know about her childhood and why she wants a family so bad, but I know. I hired a private detective when my fascination with her grew. When we started dating, and she didn’t volunteer the information, I had my guy, Dominque look into her.Some people might call that an invasion of privacy, but I call it a necessity. I’m not only the owner of a multi-million-dollar company, but my family is worth billions too. Even though I don’t speak to my parents and they’ve claimed to have disowned me, I’m very much still in contact with my grandparents.

I can’t in good conscience put my grandparents’ legacy in jeopardy because I was infatuated with a woman. I have to protect my family, well my grandparents at least. However, after the report from Dom, I know Kayla is only hiding her shame of being a foster kid. She told me about her parents’ death, but she never told me who raised her or how she grew up. None of it matters because I know that she doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body.

I considered telling Kayla about my research, but I figured in the grand scheme of things that it didn’t really matter.

The knock on my door brings me back to the here and now. I kiss Kayla on her temple before getting up and answering the door. The TexMex food smells divine. I tip the driver before taking the food and spreading it out on the coffee table.

We eat, talk, and laugh like we normally do. I have never questioned the chemistry between Kayla and me. It’s been there since I glimpsed her in that red dress. Every day we get more and more comfortable. I’m glad she shared with me what happened with her ex. It makes so much sense now why she was closed off.

Now that Kayla has opened up more, maybe we can move forward, and she’ll begin to trust me more.

We finally settle in with us wearing gym shorts and t-shirts. For as shy as Kayla is, she doesn’t mind asking to wear my clothes. I smile because the reality is I’d rather have her wearing my clothes or nothing at all. Yeah, I think I would prefer her naked.

“Babe, are you watching?” Kayla looks over her shoulder with a smirk.

“Uh, yeah.” I smile back at her, but she shakes her head with a chuckle.

“I doubt it. This is the good part. Look how he snatched her by the neck.”