Page 11 of The Interview

Or maybe not, considering the way the apples of Tim’s cheeks flushed red.

“Yes,” Tim agreed flatly. He pulled his hand free of Kaylan’s and motioned to the man standing on his right. “This is my boyfriend, Karl.”

I clenched my teeth to hold in my anger. It was a struggle to not grind my teeth. Karl, as in Karl from work. As in,“There’s nothing going on between us”Karl.“We’re just work friends”Karl.

“Nice to finally meet you, Karl. Tim told me a lot about you,” I said, trying so very hard to keep my tone flat. I probably shouldn’t have said anything at all. Should have been the bigger man. Walked the fuck away.

“Have you been dating long?” Kaylan interjected. He stepped onto the small arched bridge and leaned on the metal railing with the waterfall behind him.

“A few months,” Tim answered, not daring to make eye contact with me. “What about you and Arden?”

“We just met today!” Kaylan reached out with the arm that had his coat draped over it and hooked one of his fingers through a belt loop, pulling me in close enough to bump against his chest. With his free hand, he cupped my cheek, tipping my face toward him. “But this has been the best date of my life. I can’t wait to see how hetopsit.”

My jaw dropped on a choked gasp, and Kaylan struck. The devilish man jerked me in close and plunged his tongue into my mouth. It tangled with mine and I couldn’t stop myself fromwrapping one arm around his slender waist, pulling him in even closer.

Kaylan was pure magic. With one toe-curling kiss, my ex and his new boyfriend disappeared. The crashing water of the two-story, man-made waterfall vanished. All sounds fell away, so that there was only the wet heat of Kaylan’s hungry mouth demanding that I do dirty, dirty things to him. And God help me, I wanted to. My body ached to give him everything that kiss was begging for and more.

Time slipped away from me, and I was more than a bit dazed when Kaylan broke off the kiss and glanced to his left from the corner of his eye. I followed his gaze to find that we were alone. Tim and Karl had left, but I had no idea how long we’d been alone.

“It’s okay if you hate me now,” Kaylan murmured, sliding one finger across his damp bottom lip.

“I’m sorry, what? Why would I hate you?” Had Kaylan killed brain cells with that kiss? I wasn’t following.

He released me and shrugged one shoulder as he fully leaned on the railing. “I wasn’t thinking. He just…I don’t know…something about him rubbed me the wrong way. Sounded like his new boyfriend is someone he knew while you were together, which makes me angrier. If he was cheating on you, I hope there’s a plant in here that can eat both of them.”

I stepped into Kaylan again, placing one hand on his hip while resting my forehead against his. “You mean like an Audrey II.”

“Precisely.”

And, of course, my geeky heart soared that he’d gotten my dorkyLittle Shop of Horrorsreference.

“I don’t know if he technically cheated. Karl is someone he works with. He said they were just friends.” This time, it was myturn to shrug as I lifted my head. “Feelings for Karl might have been what pushed him to end our relationship.”

Kaylan jerked his head back and narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t sound or look upset by any of this. Why?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m over Tim, and any anger I felt was my ego being tweaked.” I leaned in close, placing my lips right beside Kaylan’s ear. “But it might also be from the amazing kiss I just received.”

“Mmmm…” Kaylan hummed. “I’m a polyglot. Makes for a very limber, talented tongue.”

I jerked away from my date, my head falling on an explosion of laughter. Of all the things I’d expected him to say, that was not it.

“It shows,” I agreed when I caught my breath. Taking his hand, I tried to pull him to the path so we could continue, but Kaylan tugged me in the opposite direction.

“Wait. We need a selfie, and this is the perfect spot.”

“To mark the occasion of our first kiss?” I asked as I returned to his side.

“I wasn’t going to bethatsentimental. My thought was to prove to my boss that I went out on this date,” he muttered as he fiddled with his phone.

“Got it. Kaylan is not a romantic,” I teased as I stood beside him with an arm wrapped around his waist. The waterfall tumbled behind us while lush greenery framed the rest of the shot.

“Hey, now! I can be really fucking romantic when I want to be. I just didn’t want to make any assumptions.”

He lifted the phone to get us both in the shot. I rested my cheek against the side of his head and smiled while getting lost in Kaylan’s bright grin.

“What kind of assumptions?” I inquired after he finished snapping pictures and put his phone away.

“You know…assumptions about whether there will be a second date. Or a second kiss.”

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