Page 53 of Kylo
Like he somehow knew that shit had just gotten interesting.
I texted him back, telling him I’d have some updates for him in the morning. Then I turned off my phone and climbed out of the car.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rue
I was in a bit of a daze after sobbing out all the fear and anxiety I’d been feeling leading up to—and during—the delivery.
I cleaned up and repotted on autopilot, not really focusing too much on what I was doing, just letting my body do what needed to be done while my mind completely shut down.
When we finished, it was like all my thoughts came back at once, each of them tripping over one another as they tried to get noticed.
It was the only explanation for why I’d agreed to go to Kylo’s house.
Because I knew I was too vulnerable to be around anyone right then. What if I slipped up on my story? If I just blurted it all out?
“I can do this,” I told myself as I pulled up behind Kylo’s car in his charming neighborhood.
Kylo’s townhouse curb appeal left a bit to be desired, but he apparently only lived here part-time, so I guess I couldn’t be too judgmental of him not wanting a sprawling garden to maintain if he wasn’t around all the time.
“You have to promise not to be too hard on me,” Kylo said after I coaxed Ernest out of the backseat.
“Hard on you for what?” I asked, grabbing my purse and wondering if I had some eye drops in there anywhere. They felt oddly dry after all that crying.
“The state of the place. I’m indecisive as fuck when it comes to paint, something I’m just now learning about myself.”
“I went through six different shades of yellow before I settled on one. I get it.” Kylo led me into a small, rounded foyer with three doors.
“Bathroom,” he explained, waving to the left. “Mechanical room, garage. This area is especially bleak,” he said as I looked around.
“It just needs some art. Maybe a mail table. And these windows next to the door would be enough for a ZZ or snake plant.”
“Another excuse to drop into the shop,” he said, flicking on lights as we moved further into the house. “So, quick tour: kitchen, dining, living.”
“Oh, wow,” I said, spotting the wall where he’d swatched eight different paints. But not different shades of one color. Oh, no. He’d swatched gray, blue, taupe, a burnt orange, sage green, an off-white, and greige.
“Yeah, so far I’ve only ruled out the blue.”
“Which might have something to do with it beingelectricblue,” I said with a little laugh.
It was kind of amazing that I was even capable of a smile after a night like I’d had. Maybe it wasn’t a terrible idea for me to come here after all.
“In my defense, it looked different in the store.”
“It’s like they go out of their way to have the worst possible lighting in the paint department. I actually think a blue could work here. Maybe a teal or lapis. Or, oh, an Aegean.”
“Aegean blue,” Kylo said. “I’m gonna have to look that up.”
“I think it would be warm without being too feminine. And it’s pigmented enough to make a statement but not too much that it would be overwhelming with the high ceilings in here. You weren’t kidding about the light.”
The windows stretched clear to the twenty-foot ceiling.
Several of the plants we’d picked out together were already situated near those windows.
“The rest are in the kitchen,” he said, gesturing.
“Oh, I like this. You don’t see kitchens in this shape,” I declared. It was almost an octagon. “Do you cook?”
