Page 15 of Rekindled

"Journee," I growled. "Howdid this happen?"

She scratched her head, then took a seat on the stool opposite me. "When I invited you during our last phone call, I'd done so while juggling five meetings that day. Work has been insane leading up to the holidays. I forgot to tell Zyair, but I figured he'd be fine with it since I've always invited you out to the cabin."

"WithKai," I reminded through my teeth.

"Okay, that's true," she agreed. "Well, I guess Zyair and I were sharing a brain, because earlier today, he called Kai and invited him, too, unaware that I'd already invited you. By the time he told me, we both thought it would be wrong to tell you two to turn back around on Christmas Eve so Zyair and I... we just... we braced for impact."

I sighed, closing my eyes. "I gave up Miami for this."

"Maven."

I ran my fingers through my hair and opened my eyes to hers. "I could have been in a hotel room dressed in an oversized white plush robe, oversleeping then waking up from my nap hangover to snack on gingerbread macaroons while waiting for my spa appointment. Instead I amhere, feet away from my ex. What is my life right now?"

"Well, at least you showed up here looking better than money." She smirked. "You look good, and Kai looks—"

"Great," I admitted, looking away. I balanced my elbow on the island, then dropped my chin into my hand. "He looks great. More handsome than when I last saw him at your wedding months ago."

Journee and my eyes met, and she gave me her signature puppy dog pout.

"Why does he looksogood, Journee?"

Kai has never had a day when he didn't. Shallow, maybe, but that was one thing that drew me to him when we first met. The man took good care of himself. He was an anomaly. An alpha, ultra masculine, pretty boy; the latter a title friends gave him and that he absolutely hated. When he was younger, his mother was a buyer for major retail brands and when she resigned, she became a stylist to the social and wealthy. Her knack for fashion rubbed off on her son, who I swear never had an off day. Pair that with the gym which he made his second religion and spa visits he was never too hung up on himself to book, you've got the sharply dressed chocolate Adonis who was in the guest room just a few feet away from me.

Hmm, about guest rooms...

"Umm…" I perked up in my seat and held up two fingers. "The cabin only has two bedrooms."

Journee twisted her lips to one side.

"Where ishesleeping?"

Journee cleared her throat, then stood from her seat, making her way to the counter to pour herself a fresh glass of wine. "So, that's a bridge we haven't crossed yet."

"Oh, no, no, no." I shook my head. "See now that right there is a non-negotiable. Where is my phone?" I was up and off of the stool in search of my purse. "I'm booking a hotel."

"There aren't any rooms available. They're all booked," I heard to the right of me.

Kai was my focus the moment I twisted my head toward his voice. He swaggered into the kitchen with Zyair not far behind.

"I just checked," Kai added. "There's no availability at any of the hotels in the area for the next two nights. The only place with availability is a roach motel about thirty miles north of here."

I rolled my eyes over to Journee and bared my teeth.

"I'm sure we can work something out," Zyair reasoned.

I forced a smile. "Oh, I already have the perfect idea on how we canwork it out;Journee and I can room together and you and Kai can take the guest room."

Zyair chuckled. "Oh, Maven, I can tell you right now your solution just won't work, you see..." He walked up behind Journee and wrapped his arms around her. I had to bite back my smile when Journee bit down on her bottom lip the moment her man held her in his arms. "There's no way I'm spending my first Christmas as a married man rooming with my homie while my wife sleeps in the same cabin as me with her girlfriend. Not gonna happen."

How could I argue with that?

I folded my arms and turned to face Kai, who'd closed even more space between us. "Okay, then fine. Kai," I addressed. "Youcan sleep on the couch and I'll take the guest bedroom."

Kai peeked over at the living room and met my eyes once again. "As cozy as the couch appears to be, I've been working my ass off for the past week and will not be sleeping on no one's couch, especially not here in this cabin."

"Well," I huffed, "It seems you don't have much of a choice. I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."

Kai puffed out his chest. "Perfect. Then that's settled.You'llsleep on the couch."

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