Page 35 of Text Me A Kiss

Chapter Thirteen

Graham

I wanted to see the way Kady’s lashes tickle her cheeks, so I gently took a single finger and brushed her soft hair behind her ear. She shifted, her lips parting ever so slightly, but she didn’t wake up.

Every morning was like this. I woke up early for work, showered, changed into my suit, then sat on the bed and just watched Kady sleep for a few minutes, thinking about the vibrant, beautiful woman who would be waiting for me when I returned from work.

Having Kady live at my house…. Far from becoming used to her presence or bored with anything at all that we shared, every minute I spent with her made me happier. The more I saw her, the more I missed her when I couldn’t see her. Whenever I could, I worked from home. Somehow, just knowing she was nearby helped me concentrate. I could take my eyes from my work just for a second, find her cooking in the kitchen or flipping through channels, and know she was safe and happy.

Happy. Whenever she looked into my eyes, she was happy. When I touched her, running my hands over her body or cuddling her in my arms, she was happy. When we talked, she was happy.

But when I sat typing on my laptop, sometimes I looked over to see my Kitten staring out a window or watching water stream from the faucet, lost in thoughts that put a gloomy, pensive frown on her face. If I spoke to her, it would disappear and those brown eyes would fill with a love as warm as molten chocolate.

I knew what caused it. Five weeks had passed since Kady had become pregnant, and she still hadn’t told her parents. Every day, I sat down with the intention of talking her into telling them. Out of those days, I only managed to make myself bring up the subject three or four times, and I could never find it within myself to buckle down and argue with her when she said no.

She always had a reason not to tell them. I’d believed them at first, but now I knew she was just stalling, nervous, afraid. The longer she waited, the harder it would become to finally reveal the secret, and I hated to see her not only uncertain and worried, but living in the same city with parents she loved, yet unable to visit them because of the lie.

For me, too, keeping this secret was getting harder and harder. Multiple people at Midwest had noticed a change in me.

“I saw you at the ballet yesterday, Graham,” one of the board members had said. “No woman this week?”

“You’ve been working from home a lot,” someone else commented one day after I managed to take my work home with me for two days straight.

“When’s your next business trip to New York?”

So many questions, and I had answers to none of them. All I did was smile and laugh, even though most of them weren’t jokes, and resolve to be more firm next time I talked to Kady.

I never was. Her voice melted my resolve like butter.

Today, maybe, would be the day. When I got back from the office, I’d talk to her again.

“Oh, Graham,” a familiar voice stopped me just as I was about to step into the elevator up to my office’s floor.

“Allen.” I arranged a smile onto my face and stepped back, allowing the elevator to continue its journey up without me. “I was actually about to email you back.”

“No worries, it wasn’t very urgent.” I’d read the email and knew this already, which was why I hadn’t replied this morning when I saw it. “But, I want to move the board meeting from next week to this week, if the timing works out for everyone. I’ll be sending out an email about that as well.”

“I thought you had business in New York this week?” The up button to call the elevators was just a foot from my hand. The square plastic button kept flickering, clearly plagued with some sort of wiring problem. That, or it was mocking me.

“I hoped to, but my daughter’s busy. I’d rather fly to New York when I can visit her, so I’m postponing the trip.” Allen started down the hallway, calling as he went, “Look out for that email!”

Kady wasn’t busy. She also wasn’t in New York.

I caught the elevator and walked down the hall to my office, but I couldn’t relax into my comfortable black office chair. My highly polished shoes took me from one end of the large room to the other, clacking against the polished floors.

This wasn’t working. Not Kady and I; we were great together. Wonderful together. She made me a better man, and I knew I made her happy.

Not telling her parents was what wasn’t working. For a while, for Kady’s sake and the security of my job, a little lie of omission had been okay. But now, Kady was pregnant. She lived with me. I worked more closely with her father than ever.

I loved Kady, genuinely and deeply. Allen and I might have had our differences in the past, but I truly wanted him and the mother I hadn’t yet met to like me, for Kady’s sake. No young woman should have to choose between her parents and her boyfriend. Getting between them, especially since the three were so close…. I didn’t know if I could do it, and the longer we waited to reveal the truth, the more reason Kady’s parents would have to hate me.

Not only was this not working, I didn’t know if I could take it anymore. Seeing how much this enormous secret bothered Kady set a crushing weight across my shoulders, one that no amount of vigorous workout sessions could help me bear.

Talking to Kady tonight would help. Talking to Kady always helped.

?

“Whoa!” I staggered backward as a weight slammed into me and a wall of hair slapped me across the face. “Hey, Kitten.”