Still, the man had another think coming if he thought he could say he loved her and she would forget it all.
Because this one time in her life, Queen Jocelyn wanted it all. And dammit, Kai Aiona was just going to have to deliver.
Someone was trying to break his head open. Or at least it felt that way to Kai. He tried to open his eyes and should have known better. The sun had been hot on his face and now it seared his eyeballs.
“Fuck.”
“That’s a good way to put it,” Jocelyn said.
Fuck. He was at Jocelyn’s house. How did that happen?
“You might want to get up because considering how much whiskey your brother-in-law claimed you drank, you probably need to use the bathroom.”
With that she left him blessedly alone. It took him some time to be able to open his eyes again. When he could, he slowly rose to sit up in bed. His stomach threatened to lose the contents and he closed his eyes. He heard her soft footsteps as she walked toward him. She grabbed his hand, placed something cool in it. He opened his eyes and found a glass of clear, fizzing liquid.
“Drink it. If you are going to lose it, you’ll clean it up if it ends up in my bed.”
Again, she left without waiting for an answer. It took him longer to drink down the cure than he expected, but he kept it down. Twenty minutes later, he walked into the kitchen to the smell of food. He’d showered and it had cleared his mind. He had a lot of apologizing to do for his behavior yesterday.
She apparently hadn’t heard him, so he felt free to watch her as she puttered around the kitchen. God, he had been an ass last night. He didn’t know what he had said to her, but he hoped he didn’t say anything he would regret. It was all fuzzy, but he remembered Evan dragging him out of the club. He also had a vague memory of Evan carrying him into the house.
She turned and her mouth opened as she gasped. “Don’t sneak up on me.”
He walked to her then, took the plate of food and placed it on the kitchen counter. Taking her face into his hands, he leaned closer and kissed her. Long, slow, sweet.
He pulled back, but held onto her face. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything—”
“For yesterday. For blaming you for something I did.”
She frowned at that.
“I should have told you about Keisha. Should have told you everything, but I hadn’t dealt with it.”
And he had allowed the ignorant actions of his old high school sweetheart to make him almost lose this woman. The one he wanted forever.
“I want to tell you about her, about why I messed up.”
She sighed. “I would like that.”
“But not right at the moment. First, I need coffee. And I need to grovel. Or I think that Evan said I did.”
She picked up a mug and handed it to him. “Food’s for you.”
She wandered out to the little lanai and he joined her there a few minutes later.
“Thank you.”
She glanced at him, then back to the view. “What for?”
“First, for taking me in last night. Not sure that I would have gotten any care at home. Probably would have gotten yelled at.”
“Why is that?”
“I think my father would kill me if I messed things up with you.”
She smiled. “Yeah, I got that feeling when he called looking for you last night.”
Damn, it was like he was a teenager again, his father looking for him past curfew. “Sorry about that.”
She shook her head and looked at him. ‘I understand. I was worried when I couldn’t reach you, but I thought you might be ignoring me.”
He heard the catch in her voice and felt like a bastard. She looked away.
“Jocelyn, I’m sorry.”
She nodded.
“No. I am sorry.” He took her hand and tugged on it until she looked at him. “I was an ass. I expected everything from you, but I wasn’t willing to share. I should have. There wasn’t much I could tell you other than Keisha used me. I thought I was okay with it until she packed up and left. And I knew if I had realized my feelings earlier, she might have not left and gone back to that bastard.”
“You feel guilty. It’s not your fault.”
He shook his head. “Not all my fault. But partially. I should have realized. I am not sure if we would have lasted. I doubt it. But I would have liked to have tried.”
“Why do you think you two wouldn’t last?” she asked.
He looked at her hand as he played with her fingers, then glanced back up at her face. “Because I realize I was waiting for you.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Kai.”
“I know that it sounds stupid.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid at all.”
“I wasn’t always truthful with Keisha. Not that I lied or cheated, but I kept it light because I thought she wanted it that way. Maybe she didn’t, I’m not sure. But I didn’t take the chance. I just didn’t want to do that with you. I didn’t want to lose you.”