Kayden squints his eyes. Still uncertain.
“More than I like Brent and Evans?” He asks in a hesitant tone.
“Well, I don’t know about that.” I shrug, leaning back against my seat. “But they’re just as fun, I promise.”
Kayden leans forward, tenting his hands together across the table. A muscle twitches in his jaw as he stares at his hands. “I don’t do well with people, Lucky. You know that.”
“Pretty please?” I say with a pout. “You owe me for Julian.”
Kayden tips his head back, coughing out a strained laugh. “Owe you? I’ve never felt this beaten down in my life.”
His darkened gaze pinpoints mine when he says, his voice a little scruffy, “You should be punished for Julian.”
“Oooh. Punished, huh?” I wriggle my eyebrows teasingly. “I like the sound of that.”
Kayden lets out a frustrated sigh. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“You know, between you and me, I do like the occasional spanking—”
He hisses out a string of obscenities.
“Sienna,” he warns in a dangerous yet tortured tone.
When I look up at him, his eyes are molten with desire.
I force myself to look away, feeling stupid for threading that fine line again. But at the same time, I wanted it. And I knew exactly what I was saying and the kind of reaction I’d get.
My mind can’t help wondering what Kayden would be like in bed. Would he be tender and kind, like during those moments when he’ll do anything to put a smile on my face, or would he be rough and possessive, like his sculpted physique and intense gaze suggest? Callous hands pressed up against my skin, tongue sweeping over the bottom of my lip teasingly, hand clamped around my neck as he rams into me like the blazing force of the nature that he is—
Stop thinking about him like that. You don’t deserve to.
“I’m kidding. You’re so uptight sometimes.” I clear my throat, wanting to change the subject. “For what it’s worth, I am glad that you prefer my training sessions to Julian’s.”
Kayden shakes his head. “Be careful, I never said that.”
“Oh trust me, you didn’t have to.”
My eyes scan his body again, scrolling up the bruises on his arms. Kayden smirks, his broad chest heaving from the movement.
“Let’s go home,” he announces. “I reek.”
“Yeah, you totally do,” I say with a grin while sliding out of my seat. “You want anything before we go?”
“Probably just a chilled bottle of water,” he says, grabbing his wallet out from the side pocket of his black joggers. He opens it to pull out a ten and a picture falls and skitters to the ground.
“Hey, who’s this?” I bend down to pick up the picture.
It’s frayed at the sides and folded over many times, with huge creases running across the paper. But the image of the girl is still as clear as day—a pretty dark-haired teenage girl beams at me, showing a beautiful set of braced teeth. She looks about thirteen or fourteen. And she has the exact same pair of grey eyes that Kayden has.
He snatches the picture roughly from me. “Nobody.”
“Doesn’t seem like nobody to me.”
“Just drop it, Sienna,” he snaps.
“Kayden, wait—”
He doesn’t hear me. Or he chooses to ignore me.
Whatever the case is, he’s already storming out of the café.
I squeeze my eyes shut and release a shaky breath, already mentally slapping myself for my own stupidity.
One step forward, ten steps back.