She yelped in surprise, dropping some loose papers she was holding and turning around with eyes wide as saucers. "Trey! What are you doing here? You scared me half to death!"
"I've come to help out," he said with a wide grin, happy to see her.
"Oh, really? Good! There's actually not much to pack anymore. We were just about to start cleaning up inside so there wouldn't be much to do after the place gets emptied tomorrow, but Dylan insisted on getting cleaners in instead. But it's good you're here. We're having pizza delivered to celebrate Ari's last night in this place. She's invited some of her neighbours."
"Sounds good," he replied, helping her finish her task.
As they walked back into the building, he casually draped his arm around Kris' shoulders. Just that morning he'd seen her and made love to her, yet he still had missed her—a lot. He felt a tightening in his groin and was sorry they wouldn't be alone tonight. She just turned him on all the freaking time.
He stopped her in the middle of the stairs and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. He just couldn't help himself.
"I missed you," he breathed after he was done kissing her. He didn't mean to say it out loud, but what the heck, it was already out of his mouth.
"I missed you, too," she responded with that happy smile he loved seeing on her face.
They resumed walking up the stairs and he slinked his arm around Kris' waist, squeezing her tight against him. He sighed contentedly as she copied his gesture.
He was aware that something was shifting in his world. He didn't know what, why, or how, but the truth was, he didn't want to look deeper. He had a feeling it would scare the hell out of him if he did.
*******
"Happy birthday, Linda," Trey said, cordially greeting Dylan's mother with a kiss as he handed her a present.
"Wow, thank you, Trey. It's so nice of you to come and join us. It's been a long time since I've last seen you," Linda replied, hugging him hard and sounding pleasantly surprised to see him at the door.
It was Dylan who had invited him and Adam to come and help celebrate his mother's sixtieth birthday. He now wondered if he was even on Linda's guest list.
A grinning Dylan appeared. "Hey, Trey. Glad you could make it."
"Of course," he replied as Linda motioned for them to follow her to the vast backyard.
He pulled Dylan aside. "Did your mum actually ask you to invite me and Adam?" he whispered. "It didn't look like she was expecting me."
Dylan chuckled. "Part of our surprise for Mum is to invite more people. We couldn't give her a surprise birthday party because she was already fully expecting she would have one. But she thought it was only going to be family and her close friends only."
"That's nice. Is Kris here already?"
"No. I don't think she's coming," Dylan said.
"Really?" Trey asked in complete shock. "She told me last night she was. She said she and Ari were going to help Sam and your sister with the food for the party. Apparently, Sam had been grinning from ear to ear in excitement about it."
Dylan chortled. "Well, well. For two people only having a fling, you sure know a lot about what the other is doing on a daily basis."
Trey flushed. Yes, he went red, and the fact that he did made him even redder. Argh!
He and Kris had indeed been sharing a lot with each other. It wasn't a conscious decision on his part to suddenly open up to her with things he only normally shared with his best friends, but it just happened. With Kris, it just seemed right and natural.
"Well," Dylan drawled. "Kris told me your mother's having an engagement party on Monday night. Strange time to hold a party."
"I know. Don't ask me why. I don't even bother asking."
"Right. Kris also said you're taking her. For two people only having a casual affair…"
"I didn't want to be stuck having to chat with someone I didn't want to talk to, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring a date with me," he justified.
"So, you two are dating now, huh?" Dylan said with a Cheshire cat grin.
"Uh, we haven't discussed anything of the sort. We're just going with the flow."
Dylan patted his shoulder. "Well, you have just over a week to figure out where you want to take this, bro. You'll need to talk about it before she goes home."
He sighed. "Yes, I know. But hopefully, she gets that three-month teaching contract. That'll be good."
"Ooh, now you don't want her to go yet."
"It's not that," he tried to deny. "She just really, really wants it. When her idiot of an ex mismanaged their studio, a number of their supporters and clients got angry at them for broken promises and delays in returning pre-paid fees. Working in Blake's studio will go a long way toward re-establishing her reputation in the industry. It's really important to her."