Secure Love (Wet & Wild 3)

Package delivered. She took it.

She took it.

Holy shit, she took the package into her house. Kallie had it at that very second. The thought made Ash’s mind swirl. It was completely out of his hands now, and the control freak inside of him screamed. He rose up from the couch and walked over to the window, trying to focus on anything he could. His mind drifted to the ocean. Bali. The sandy beaches. The city lights. The honking of horns. The people walking below him, like ants on the sidewalk.

But he knew he would be in his own personal hell until tomorrow night. He knew that as much as he wanted to hear from her, he wouldn’t. He wanted an answer now. He wanted to call her and ask her how she liked the gifts. If she’d read the note. If the lingerie was overkill or not.

He looked down at his phone in his hand before he tossed it onto the couch.

He couldn’t be near it. He couldn't look at it. Because if he did, he would ruin it. His want to be next to Kallie was overpowering what he knew he had to do in the first place. He walked away from his phone. Away from the living room. Shut himself up in his bedroom and then walked into his bathroom. He put every single barrier he possibly could in between him and that phone, then began stripping out of his clothes.

A shower.

He couldn't pick up his phone while wet.

He stood in the hot water until it turned cold. Steam filled the bathroom as he blocked out all essence of Kallie from his mind. He turned the water off and reached for a towel, but purposefully didn’t dry himself off. Instead, he simply wrapped the towel around his waist and quickly crossed his apartment, finding himself in the kitchen. Food. He could cook himself up some food. Fill his stomach. Cook the most luscious dinner imaginable, with popping, hot grease and all sorts of ingredients he didn’t want his phone around.

He dried himself off before wrapping the towel back around him.

He spent the entire day doing things that would force him away from his phone. He cooked an amazing dinner before sitting down to eat it. He hated having his phone around while he ate. Then he put on some workout clothes and made his way to the gym in his apartment complex. He never took his phone to the gym for fear that he would smash it to pieces. He ran until he worked up a sweat so great the only thing he could think about was taking another shower.

Then he washed himself down in the piping hot water until it ran cold again.

By the time he was done, he was exhausted. He fell into bed face-first, then breathed in the scent of his pillows. It smelled like the detergent his maid used, coupled with the faintest hint of something he recognized.

Something he could never forget even if he wanted to.

Kallie.

Her wild scent still filled his nostrils. Even though the sheets had been washed. Even though the pillows had been fluffed and flipped. Even though it had been weeks since she’d been in his place. His home still clung to the smell of her. Clung to a hope that one day, she would return back to it.

Fuck.

His mind was back on his phone again.

Chapter 26

Kallie

Kallie was shocked when a gift bag appeared at her door via a very well-dressed delivery man. It was big and white, and the handles were tied shut with a beautiful red bow. She took it from the man and thanked him for it, then asked him who it was from.

“There’s a note inside,” was all the man said. “Read it after you open everything.”

Then she watched as he backtracked down the hallway and stepped into the elevator.

Reaching her foot out to close the door, she took the bag over to her kitchen table and set it down, then began unraveling the red bow. The package was so beautiful she almost didn’t want to touch it. But she was curious as to who it was from and what was inside.

The note was the first thing she grabbed, but she obeyed the instructions of the courier. She set it off to the side and pulled out four boxes, all of different sizes and lengths. She opened up the smallest package first and found a beautiful black velvet box. She cracked it open and gasped at the jewelry, watching as it sparkled in the light of her apartment.

“Oh my gosh,” she said with a whisper.

Her fingers danced along the beautiful stones and pearls as tears rose to her eyes. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. She set it down and took out the second box, then opened it up to find not one, but two pairs of dark red shoes. A pair of heels the likes of which she’d never owned before, and a pair of flats.

Both of which were in her size.

She set them down and pulled out the next box, gasping as she unwrapped its contents. She pulled out the dress and held it up to her body, stunned when she saw how perfectly it fit her. She scrambled out of her clothes and slipped into the dress, sighing as the fabric slid across her skin. Soft. Silky. Beautiful.

She gave it a twirl as her giggles filled her living room.