Dream Date (28 page)

“Not much. We haven’t seen each other that often since I was college. I only visit them when I can, especially during the holidays. I have plans to fly to Montana this Thanksgiving. Don’t worry,” Kellan said. “Grayson and I won’t leave you unprotected. A man we trust will come here to protect you. He’s a Navy SEAL, ex-military…and doesn’t have a family.”

“I’ll be okay. You visit your family. They’ll love it.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking Amanda’s hand. “In the meantime, I’ll still protect you.”

Amanda looked at her hand. She met his eyes.

I may have a good chance with her,
Kellan thought.
She doesn’t want a relationship with Nathan.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked, motioning with his head towards the dance floor behind her.

“Yes,” said Amanda.

Once the music started, Amanda and Kellan walked to the dance floor. By that time, Emmy had already returned and Barton asked Judith to dance with him. She took his hand and they walked forward.

“I wish Brad was here,” Emmy muttered to herself.

Amanda looked up at Kellan as they danced. Being no stranger to dancing, she noticed he wasn’t as good at it as she was. He’d been so much better at poker.

“I can see you haven’t had much practice,” she said.

“What, dancing? No. I dislike it, but my sister insisted on teaching me.”

“You have a sister?”

“I do. Older sister. She would have me believe that the women I date won’t stick around for long if I don’t know how to dance.”

“That’s weird. Plenty of women can’t dance.”

“Exactly. I never liked it much, so I didn’t pick up on everything my sister taught me. Sounds mean, but I just don’t like dancing.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think you’re mean.”

They continued dancing, Amanda taking the lead.

“Have you dated?” she asked suddenly, hoping Kellan wouldn’t read anything into it.

“I had a girlfriend in college. We split when I told her I was firm in becoming a security guard. She couldn’t cope with my choosing such a dangerous career.”

“I’m sorry.”

Kellan shook his head.

“No, don’t be. This was long ago. Or at least, it seems like that to me.”

Amanda sighed knowingly as the piece they were dancing to ended, and another one started. She also felt her relationship with Liam had been ages ago.

“Is this what you always wanted to be?”

“Security? Yes. There’s something about it that fulfills me like nothing else. At the risk of sounding like a thrill junkie…I like the thrill of it. But I also like the responsibility. I take my job seriously.”

“Are you afraid?”

Kellan looked at Amanda, curving an eyebrow.

“Of my job? No. I know it’s dangerous, and I can live with it. Between you and me, Grayson’s more dangerous.”

Amanda guessed she should be glad that she had such a dangerous man for a bodyguard. Hopefully, no one could harm her with him around. Or Kellan.

“You love your job, right? Haven’t you thought of something else? I mean, it’s doubtful you’ll be protecting me forever. Hilbert—or whoever else is trying to hurt me—has to give up sooner or later.”

“Amanda, I know men like him. I’ve read everything there is to know about him, plus I am very…intuitive about people and the way they are inside. Hilbert will not give up on you.”

“He’s obsessed with me, but he can’t keep chasing me forever. It’s pathetic and, frankly, desperate.”

“It’s dangerous, Amanda. That creep will stop at nothing until he has you. I won’t rest soundly until he is put a stop.”

“How can we achieve that? Hilbert hasn’t really done any wrongdoing. I can’t put a restraining order on him because he’s sort of my boss. It’d take real work to put my career back in order without him. Plus, as the son of an important politician, he’s untouchable.”

“One way or another, he has to stop.”

Amanda looked into Kellan’s eyes, seeing conviction. She hadn’t realized Kellan had grown to care so much about her. That made her feel warm inside. She smiled at him, and they continued to dance. Close to where they stood, Judith and Barton were in their own bubble. Amanda looked towards their table. The food hadn’t yet arrived, but Emmy was nowhere to be seen. She looked around and spotted Emmy in the dance floor with a guy they didn’t know. Probably a local, Amanda thought as she smiled. She was glad Emmy wasn’t left out.

Amanda then looked at where Barton and Judith danced together. She seemed smitten about him. Amanda felt better knowing that Judith hadn’t let Ashton’s games get to her head and make her wary of relationships.

The weekend went by. Nathan thought about the best way to tell Kayla that he was in love with someone else. He wanted to do it carefully to prevent as much pain as possible.

Nathan had only run into Amanda in the hallway a couple of times, and she’d looked at him with disinterest. He couldn’t tell whether she meant it or not. Nathan still didn’t know Amanda that well.

Things with Kayla were sort of the same. They’d got approval on Friday to move to Cayuga Place. Between working on her book, doing schoolwork, and preparing to move with Nathan, she was busier than usual. A different thing was that Nathan could no longer look at Kayla as he always did. He hoped she wouldn’t notice his reservation before he had a chance to tell her how he felt.

Nathan decided to take Kayla on a date during lunch time on Monday. He would have liked to schedule it for the afternoon, but he had work. As Nathan walked out of his dorm that noon, he thought carefully about what he was going to do. Ashton didn’t know anything. Claire was the only one who knew about Nathan and Amanda.

When Nathan arrived at the Gimme! Coffee café, he killed his car’s engine and stepped out. He took a deep breath. Though he’d broken up with women before, Nathan had never done so with a woman that he loved so much. He walked slowly up to the restaurant, trying to keep his composure.

Kayla was sitting by herself at a table, passing the time by reading on her Kindle. Nathan hadn’t told her why they were meeting, so she thought it was a usual date. She had dressed up to attract. Kayla was wearing a rosy violet dress with a black leather belt and matching sandals. Along with liberal makeup and red lipstick, she looked stunning.

Kayla looked up when Nathan approached. He stood next to her when he reached the table.

“Hi, Kayla. You look fabulous.”

“Thank you,” she said, standing up and placing her arms around him. She kissed him. After that, Kayla sat down, and Nathan did the same.

“Have you already ordered?” he asked.

“No. I wanted to wait until you were here.”

“Were you reading your book?”

“Yeah. I find that loading the file on my Kindle and reading in it is useful for finding errors. It’s like reading on paper. I save myself a ream.”

“I thought you’d finished editing.”

“Yeah, but now I’m looking for small errors that are easily overlooked. I’m also testing the design,” Kayla said, showing Nathan the screen. “The headings are not well aligned yet. The designer’s working on it.”

Nathan nodded, thinking about what he was going to tell Kayla. She looked so happy that he wondered if he’d have the heart to break the news to her then.

Their food arrived, and they started to eat. Nathan looked at Kayla, torn because of how lovely she looked and how much he loved her.

“The casting calls have proved a success,” Kayla told Nathan. “The guy I hired to take charge of the book trailer has e-mailed me the photos of the finalists. I just have to pick who gets to play my characters.”

“Wow. You’re close to meeting your leads.”

“Ha. You make it sound like I’m casting for a movie. The actors are just going to speak a few lines. The trailer’s going to be short and simple.”

Kayla’s eyes suddenly gleamed. Nathan knew the look. She always did that when she had an idea.

“You know, I think I could have had these amateur actors be on the book cover. Unfortunately, the cover designers have already used their own models.”

“They don’t have to look exactly alike.”

“True.”

“Your trailer is going to be on YouTube, right?”

“Can’t afford not to put it there. I’m posting on Vimeo as well.”

Nathan continued to eat, casually looking around the restaurant. He saw no familiar faces.

“How far along are you in my book?” Kayla asked, breaking Nathan’s train of thought.

“I’m in chapter eighteen, almost done. It is riveting enough that I found myself reading late these previous few nights. You’ve got awesome talent.”

“Thank you. Did you find anything not to like?”

“Well, this heroine of yours is kind of a bitch at first, but she changes and she grows into you.”

“I know. I had a lot of fun writing her.”

After they finished their food, Nathan prepared to tell Kayla what he’d asked her on the date for.

“Kayla, there’s something I want to tell you.”

She looked at him with eyebrows furrowed.

“Tell me.”

Nathan had rehearsed the words in his mind for the past couple of days. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean saying them would be so easy.

“You should know about…” Nathan began, gauging Kayla’s expression. To his surprise, she smiled.

“They got back to you, haven’t they?”

Nathan frowned.

“Who?”

“You told me that you had told the school you were moving out of your dorm. Have they approved it yet?”

“Um…yeah. I might move today.”

“Great. That way we can start packing.”

“What?”

“It’s great news, right? I’ve already packed a couple of boxes. It’s just some of my clothes. If you want, I can stop by your dorm to help you with yours.”

“You don’t have to, Kayla. I’ll stop by your dorm and help
you
pack. I don’t have much stuff.”

“Okay. Just call me to make sure I’m not away.”

“Sure,” Nathan said, looking at Kayla. She was still so damn happy. He could tell that Kayla wouldn’t give him a chance to tell her the truth. Nathan would have to wait for another time.

Ashton spotted Grecia walking through a hallway in the opposite direction to him. As soon as she noticed he was there, Grecia flinched and turned right into a different hallway. Ashton frowned, wondering what he’d done to her. He decided to follow.

Grecia continued walking until she exited the building. Ashton came out after her and looked around. He saw she was already about thirty feet away from him, heading nowhere in particular. Her fiery red hair was easy to spot. At one point, Grecia surreptitiously looked over her shoulder. She didn’t see Ashton, who took a shortcut to intercept her.

Before Grecia reached the northwest corner of the Johnson Museum of Art, Ashton appeared in front of her. She stopped in her tracks, staring daggers at him.

“What’s wrong with you, baby?” Ashton asked. When he got close enough, Grecia slapped him. He put his hand on the side of his face, looking at her with wide eyes.

“I don’t want to see your sorry ass ever again!”

“Grecia, what the hell? What’s gotten into you?”

“And you still ask? Get away before I kick you in the balls next.”

Ashton instinctively took a subtle step back.

“Why are you acting like this? I haven’t done anything to you!”

Grecia snorted.

“Go. Away. Now!”

Grecia started to walk in the direction she had been going. Ashton blocked her way. She moved to kick him in the groin, but Ashton deflected her kick with the side of his hand and then grabbed her by the arms.

“Explain what the hell this is all about.”

“Let go of me!”

Grecia struggled in Ashton’s grip, trying to get free. She tried kicking him, but he avoided all her blows. One of Ashton’s movements made his head vulnerable, and Grecia took the opening to head-butt him. He flinched, but didn’t budge. Grecia groaned.

“Ow.”

Ashton resisted laughing.

“Why all this hostility? I have no idea what is going through that freakin’ head of yours right now.”

“Let go or I’ll scream.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Grecia shot Ashton a look that made him reconsider. He let go of her arms. She rubbed them, and then put a hand on her forehead.

“Aim for a softer target next time,” Ashton suggested.

“The hell I will.”

Grecia turned around and stormed away.

“Grecia! Wait. What’s going on with you?”

Ashton hurried forward, but when he spotted Grecia’s red mane, she was too far away, running aimlessly away from him. He rubbed his chin, wondering what had possessed Grecia to attack him.

After classes ended, Nathan decided to confess his feelings to Amanda. It was time that she knew. He walked outside the building where he knew Amanda had her last class. Nathan checked his watch. According to the time, she was due to leave at any minute.

As he stood outside the building, Nathan got an idea. He knew what Amanda’s car looked like, so he had parked his close to it. Nathan walked the short way to the parking lot, getting into his car and waiting.

A minute later, Amanda got to the lot. Behind her was Kellan. Nathan chuckled. With his youth, he was perfect for his job. He easily passed for a college student. Nathan wondered why Kellan didn’t go all the way and start taking courses. He could make his schedule coincide with Amanda’s.

Kellan opened the door for Amanda. When she was in, he got to the driver’s side. Once the car pulled out and headed away, Nathan followed after them.

Amanda’s car left the campus through the west via University Avenue. Shortly ahead, the car took Highway 13 to the north. Before Nathan knew it, the car took a couple of right turns, stopping outside an apartment complex.

So this is where you’re staying,
Nathan thought once he got to the building. He had followed Amanda’s car from far enough away that Kellan wouldn’t notice that someone was following them. The whole drive took five minutes, anyway.

Kellan drove through Savannah Park road and bypassed the first parking lot. He turned right again at the next intersection. Up ahead, there was a second lot. Kellan found a space and parked the car. Nathan drove past that lot and turned left, parking in the first empty space that he found. He killed the engine and looked in the direction of the other lot.

Kellan was now leading Amanda, walking in Nathan’s direction. They appeared to be heading to the building in front of where he had parked. Nathan watched them, hoping Kellan’s eagle sight wouldn’t spot him.

Once Amanda and Kellan were out of sight, Nathan got out of the car and locked it. He followed them to the building where they entered. Nathan peered around a wall and saw them taking the elevator. When they were inside, Nathan walked up to it. By the lights on top, he saw that they were exiting at the third floor. Nathan took the stairs up there. When he got to the top, he was out of breath. Thankfully, no one had seen him. He peeked into the hall and saw Amanda and Kellan entering a room.