Loving War(63)
By the time I’m finished, Kode is waiting by the door, his eyes greedily raking over me like I’m wearing a sheet instead of modest clothing.
“We should hurry,” he says, shifting as though he’s aroused.
I giggle like an idiot while nodding. It’s like we’re a normal couple here. Nothing is barring us from getting closer, and it feels good—freeing.
His arm immediately goes around my shoulders as we head out, and it doesn’t move. When we reach the elevator, he has me pressed against him and kissing me hard, not giving a damn that we’re not alone, and I carefully maneuver my body so that it doesn’t hurt the bruises hidden beneath his shirt.
Ignoring the disapproving throat-clearings, Kode kisses me like he’s flipping the world off, and I kiss him back with the same intentions. This is going to be a good day.
***
TRIA
“I’m too full to eat another bite,” I groan.
Kode laughs while taking a small bite of the third piece of chocolate cake he has ordered. He might have a badass personal trainer to keep him from feeling guilty for eating so much, but I don’t.
“Just one more bite, Tria, and I swear I’ll leave you alone.”
He’s enjoying feeding me apparently. I’m fairly positive every woman in the restaurant is officially green with envy, because Kode has been against my side since we got here, and he has been feeding me dessert like it’s his mission to make me fat.
Opening my mouth, I let him slide the forked bite inside, and I close my lips over it. As he pulls the fork back through my lips, he smiles down at me, looking boyishly adorable and excited. I suppose going into a sugar coma or getting sick from a sugar high is completely worth that look.
He wipes the corner of my lip with his thumb before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to my lips. Yeah… there’s not a woman in here that doesn’t hate me right now. And I love it.
“What time is your meeting in the morning?” I ask as he pays the waiter, reluctantly. I think he wants to keep me in the public eye at his side for as long as he can before we have to go back to covert lovers.
“Nine. Let’s head back. There’s something I sort of need to discuss with you.”
The frown that replaces his smile has me worried. It’s barely eight at night right now, and I expected us to stay out a little later. Not here, but somewhere.
“You look worried about something.”
He’d better not be breaking up with me. That look is filling me with too many insecure thoughts.
“I am, but I hope you’ll see things my way. Come on. I’ll explain everything at the hotel.”
I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but it fills me with dread. He helps me out of the small, curved booth of the intimate, underappreciated restaurant that definitely surprised me with its food.
Deciding not to dwell on the fact he suddenly seems uncomfortable, I try to shift the subject. Maybe I’m overreacting.
“That was a nice place. How’d you find it?” I ask as we reach the sidewalk, leaving the hidden gem behind. The hotel is just a couple of blocks from here, so Kode wraps his arm around me and steers me in the direction.
If he’s still holding me like this, then it can’t be anything too bad.
“I go there every time I come to New York. I found it by accident. I was starving one day, and staying… close by.” He seems hesitant about that last part, but I know why. He always stayed with Rain when he came to New York. He continues, not noting my tension. “I stumbled upon it, and decided it was a better option than waiting forever on a table or eating something from a hotdog stand. Obviously I was shocked at what I found. I would have overlooked it if it hadn’t pretty much landed in my lap. It seemed like a fitting place to take you on our first real date.”
My tension is replaced by excited butterflies. That last piece had meaning behind it. He would have overlooked me, too, if he hadn’t accidentally hit on me in a bar where he never thought he’d run into me.
“My turn to ask you a question,” he says when I become too stupidly happy to respond. “Why’d you decide to get into cosmetics? It seems a little random, but I’ve seen you be passionate about making this work.”
He looks down as I snuggle in closer to his side. When he tightens his hold, my worry of what’s to come dissipates. He’s not leaving me, or he wouldn’t be acting like he’s scared to let me go.
“I graduated college with no major in anything, no real idea of what to do with my life, and no direction to go. Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do. Finally, I started to look into different investments, and stumbled across Leo’s work. He needed an investor, and I needed someone to invest in.