Page 27 of Rekindled

I noticed when Kai flexed his jaw by clenching his teeth together, but he said nothing.

"What was that earlier, anyway?" I asked, turning to face him. "Youkissedme."

"And youkissedme back," he retorted.

I folded my bottom lip into my mouth and dragged the fullest part between my teeth. "I wasn't thinking."

"You were feeling," he corrected. "Like old times."

We held our stares for a moment, voices traveling around us like a buzz of bees.

"Listen." Kai swiveled more to face me and took my hand. I dropped my view to the grip his long fingers had around my hand and smiled. "I've been thinking about what you've told me... today and the day I moved all my stuff out of the apartment we shared."

"Uh-huh?"

"And I'm sorry."

I blinked in response.

"You and I were great together and no, you were never wrong for wanting more. You deserved more. I just..." Kai dropped his view to my hand, then focused up into my eyes again. "I had a plan and would let nothing or anyone impede it. A detour was not an option, no matter how slight it was, and that was insensitive of me because you would have been the perfect detour."

I smiled.

"You did nothing wrong, as I'm sure you already know. Work was just a huge priority for me, Maven, and I thought you understood that. The thing is, after I got promoted to A&R, I wanted more after seeing how possible it was to move up in the label. Senior Director seemed not very far off and I poured all of myself into leveling up to that position. In the end, I sacrificed one of the most important people to me. Someone who gave me more than her weight in gold. Maven..." He lifted my hand to his lips and planted a kiss there. "I'm sorry for making you feel you were asking for too much. In reality, you shouldn't have even had to ask. I should have known to give it to you because you deserved that and more. You deserved it all, love."

I inhaled the air and fought back the tears brimming my lower eyelids. I'd been wanting to hear Kai say those words since the day I asked him about the plans for our relationship. Breaking up with him was the last thing I wanted, but he left me no choice.

Closure wasn't a necessary thing for me, but the conversation we had at the bar lifted a weight off my chest I didn't even realize I was carrying.

"Thank you, Kai. Seriously," I told him. "You saying all that means more than you could ever know."

He bobbled his head. "Same."

I twisted my lips to one side and bit inside my cheek. "So... what now?"

"We drink." He lifted his glass. "Toast to squashing our beef and hopefully wiping the slate clean."

"And?"

A sexy grin spread across his lips and the walls between my thighs reacted by contracting.

"Let's just enjoy the moment, like old times."

I lifted my martini glass and held it in line with his. We clinked our glasses, and angled our respective drinks in front our lips, sipping in silence while masking our smiles.

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