It's All Relative (15 page)

Grabbing the awkwardly large box, Jessie shuffled over to the elevator, and pressed the third floor button. She leaned back against the wall as the cage started to rise. The lifting movement mixed with her butterflies and increased her anxiety. She swallowed three times to calm herself. Really, she’d seen him every day since the club. She should be used to the anticipation by now.

The doors dinged open, and she headed to his apartment. Once again, her arms were too full to knock, so she kicked a greeting with her toe. She heard a muffled, irritated reply, followed by what sounded like low curses. Worrying her lip, she started wondering if maybe she shouldn’t be bugging him again. He was going to think his cousin was stalking him if she kept this up. Just as she decided to set down the box and leave without bothering him, the door swung open. Jessie’s gaze locked with Kai’s, and she halted her movement. And her breath. She just couldn’t get used to the absorbing color of his eyes. She couldn’t look away.

He tilted his head as he regarded her standing there. “Jessie?”

He sounded a little peeved, and Jessie was sure he wasn’t happy to see her…yet again. Shaking her head to jolt herself out of the trance created by the color of his eyes, she sputtered, “I’m sorry, you’re busy. I can come back later.” Her cheeks felt red-hot, and she suddenly wished she could hide the massive box she was holding behind her back. Guys didn’t care about this kind of stuff. He was going to think she was an idiot, and maybe she was.

Kai’s face softened, like he just now realized that he seemed grumpy. Shaking his head, he reached out to touch her arm. With pleading eyes, he said, “No, I’m glad you’re here. Please help me.” His face scrunched into an adorable expression of helplessness.

Confused, Jessie cocked her head as she studied him. It was only then that she noticed he was half-naked. Dressed only in jeans, he was scratching his bare chest, just below the black ink of the tattoo swirling over his collar bone. Her eyes widened fractionally at the sight of him, and she thought she should leave for an entirely different reason. But…he was family, and he’d asked for help. She couldn’t leave now. Nodding, Jessie followed him into his studio.

Giving her a bewildered expression, Kai gingerly took the box from her once she was inside. “What’s this?” He lifted the box a little, indicating it. Jessie’s eyes strayed to his flexed biceps when he did.
Damn.

Clearing her throat, Jessie helped him set it on the floor in front of his bed.
The
bed. “Uh, just some crap I had lying around.” Looking at all his bare walls, Jessie began envisioning where he could put everything. “Just a little something to make your home a bit…homier.”

When she returned her eyes to his, Kai was staring at her; he seemed stunned. Finding his voice, he whispered, “You didn’t have to…you’ve already done too much…I can’t…” He bit his lip, still scratching his body, and Jessie smiled at his overwhelmed face. Finally, he shrugged and said, “Thank you, Jessie.”

She felt warm in places that her cousin really shouldn’t be warming her. Looking away, she muttered, “Well, don’t get too excited. It’s just some candles, art, knick-knacks…nothing to write home about.” She peeked up to see him softly smiling at her. He was also still partially nude. It was so distracting; it hitched her breath.

Trying for casualness, she touched his chest with her fingertips. His skin was cool…and inviting. “For someone who’s always cold here, you sure are shirtless a lot.” She started to laugh, but it came out in a nervous titter, so she stopped.

Instead of laughing with her, he sighed and dropped onto his bed. “Stupid bees,” she thought she heard him mutter.

Sitting down next to him, the huge box at their feet, she started twirling a curly lock of hair around her finger, mainly to stop herself from trailing them down his chest. “What?” she asked, still distracted by the shape of him.

Kai glanced back at her, and his expression froze, like something she was doing was equally distracting to him. They stared at each other in silence for a second, and Jessie swore that if she leaned in to kiss him, he’d lean in too. She let the fantasy fill her for the briefest moment, until the accompanying horror flooded over the top of it. They couldn’t.

Looking away, Kai seemed to snap out of it, too. “Uh…” Frowning, he scratched his shoulder blade. “I got stung today…stupid bees.”

He seemed so sullen about the incident that Jessie couldn’t keep from laughing. Kai snapped his eyes to her; his weren’t amused. Smoothing her face, Jessie finally stopped her giggle. Kai smiled at her restraint and reached behind her. The move brought his bare chest in contact with her arm. He was colder than she was, and a shiver went through her entire body, but she was certain his temperature had nothing to do with that. Her eyes half-closed, her breath increased. They shouldn’t
.

Finding whatever he was looking for on his messy bed, Kai started to straighten. When he noticed her face, he paused. His body was still leaning against her arm, and his head was directly in front of hers. His tropical eyes flashed over her face, taking in the desire that she knew was apparent in her features, clear in her fast breath. His gaze flicked down to her mouth, and his tongue darted out to briefly wet his bottom lip. Grotesqueness filled Jessie, but it was squashed by the rising need for him to press those lips to hers. They couldn’t. They shouldn’t. But…if he did…she would, too.

Kai leaned in, and Jessie leaned forward. When she was certain it was happening, that they were going to willingly cross that line, Kai suddenly flinched and pulled back. Irritation on his face, he ran a hand over his shoulder to rub a spot on his back. Taking long, slow breaths, Jessie moved away. No…they couldn’t.

As Kai’s face twisted in discomfort, he lifted a jar of what appeared to be a natural salve for stings, bites, and burns. His expression miserable, he pleaded for her help. “Please?”

Grateful to have something to do other than fantasize about kissing him, Jessie took the jar of ointment. As he twisted around to show her his back, Jessie’s eyes ran over the tattoo across his shoulder blade. It curled and spiraled in a delightful way, and it took everything inside her to not trace the lines. Focusing elsewhere, she finally noticed the angry red welts upon his skin. Several of them. Jessie laughed again as she unscrewed the cap. “What happened to you? You walk into a swarm of killer bees?”

Kai hung his head with a sigh as she rubbed a nasty bump on his back. He flinched then groaned in relief. “No…honey bees.”

Jessie laughed harder, and he looked over his shoulder and glared at her. Biting back her giggles, she applied some healing cream to the spots that he hadn’t been able to reach. Smiling, Kai shook his head. “My boss is studying why the bees are dying, and I was helping him.” He shrugged. “Apparently, I suck at it, and the bees let me know…repeatedly.”

Enjoying the feel of his skin under her fingertips, Jessie finished up with all the angry areas that she could see. “Oh,” she quietly stated as she studied the pleasing contrast in their skin tones. “Well, at least you’re not allergic.” She twisted her lip as she thought about that. She wasn’t allergic either. Was that a genetic thing? She wasn’t sure. Sighing, she added, “Maybe you won’t have to do that again for a while.”

Kai grinned as he looked back at her. “Next time, I won’t try to be so macho…and I’ll put on the damn suit.” He shook his head. “I just didn’t realize how offensive bees found me. Now I sort of hope all the little bastards die.”

Jessie giggled and then let out another wistful sigh. She didn’t find him offensive at all. Since a good deal of the cream was still on her fingers, she started to work out the kinks in his shoulders; he
had
had a long day. With a groan, Kai relaxed in her hands. Even though the professional side of her immediately kicked in, the satisfied noise he’d just made gave her a small thrill.

He let out another one just like it. “God, Jessie…you’re amazing. You should do this for a living.”

Pausing, Jessie laughed. “I do, Kai.”

He looked back at her with a grin. “Really?” She nodded, and he closed his eyes. “Well, good, you’re amazing at it.”

Her hands drifted down his back, trailing along his spine and working outwards. “You should come by my work sometime. This would be so much better if I had some oil, and you were lying down.” He held his breath, and a different sort of massage immediately flew through Jessie’s mind. Her fingers low on his back, she sucked on her lip and tried not to engage the fantasy spinning through her head. She couldn’t entirely push it out, though.

Kai slowly twisted his head to look at her. Face serious, he quietly said, “I think I’d like that.”

She had no idea if he was talking about seeing her at work, or if he was sharing her fantasy; since the image had popped into her head, she had to assume it had popped into his, as well. And when his eyes flicked to her lips, she was certain it had. Jessie watched his face, watched the desire and conflict building. She knew her expression matched his. She also knew letting this feeling run away with them was wrong and stupid and would lead to nowhere good. Giving him one last squeeze, Jessie removed her hands from his skin. “All done.”

His eyes lingered down her body, igniting it. They slowly drifted back to her face, and he gave her a warm smile. “Thank you, Jessie.”

She flushed and nodded. Then she shucked off her shoes, brought her legs up onto his bed, and crossed them—anything to put some distance between them. Even with all their vows for space, they seemed to subconsciously drift toward each other.

With a deep, cleansing inhale, Kai grabbed the jar and lathered some spots on his chest before closing it up. Jessie sort of wished that she could have helped him with the front too, but it was for the best that she hadn’t. Besides, he could handle that part himself. As he slipped his shirt back on, hiding all that glorious skin from her, Jessie sighed. Such a shame. Needing to think of something else, she spouted the first thought that came to her head. “My roommates really want to meet you.”

He looked over at her as he smoothed out his long-sleeved shirt. “Oh?”

Trying to stop herself from reliving the feeling of his skin under her hands, Jessie nodded. “Yeah, they are very curious about my just-in-town cousin.” She didn’t mention just how curious April was; she didn’t want to think about that again.

Kai studied her for a second, then turned his attention to the box at their feet. “Were they the ones checking me out at the club?”

Jessie tensed. She’d forgotten that he’d seen that. Of course, a lot of that night was still a little hazy, and, unfortunately, a lot of that night was perfectly clear. Glancing at their reflection in the TV, she swallowed. Jessie saw Kai look up at her in the set, then twist to look at their reflection, too. By the pained expression on his face, she knew that he was remembering, as well.

Clearing her throat, she turned away. “Yeah, um, I don’t think they remember much about you, though.” She tossed him a smile. “April thought you were blonde. Harmony thinks you’re Latin.”

Shaking his head, he leaned down to open the box. “Well, if they won’t remember that it was me that night…I don’t see why we can’t all meet.”

The awed look on his face as he picked out and examined the things that she’d brought over for him made her smile. She hoped he was right, and her roommates didn’t piece together their secret. She didn’t want them to ever know that she’d slept with a family member. Thinking of it that way returned that horrible nausea to her stomach, and she scooted away from him a little bit. Sometimes it felt so right with him; sometimes it felt really wrong.

She watched Kai chuckle as he pulled the camel out of the box and set it on his nightstand. He seemed as amused by it as she was, and that delighted her. Digging through the box, he picked out various items and set them around himself, occasionally shaking his head; he smiled the entire time. Jessie tried to not notice how amazing his lips looked when they were curved up in a small grin. She also tried to not notice how nice his back looked, as he stretched and flexed while he moved and twisted. She tried to not notice, but it was difficult. He was just very attractive.

Kai pulled out a picture and his smile dropped as he examined it. Curious, Jessie shifted her attention to look at it, too. It was a picture of a red-rocked river that Jessie had bought from a local nature photographer. The photo had been taken so closely, and captured so expertly, that the water streaming past the crimson rocks appeared to still be moving. The photograph seemed alive. It was a breathtaking piece, probably Jessie’s favorite.

Kai’s finger drifted over the glass in the large frame, barely touching it. After another silent moment, he softly said, “This is great. Are you sure you want to get rid of it?”

He was clearly touched by her gift, and Jessie smiled seeing the uncertain appreciation in his eyes. “Yes, I want you to have it.”

He tilted his head and stared at her, like he was completely taken aback that she would willingly part with something so beautiful. Jessie loved that he seemed to like the piece as much as she did. Watching him drink her in, she had the odd thought that the photographer should take a picture of Kai’s eyes. Truly, that would be his most stunning work, because nothing on this earth could be as beautiful as Kai’s eyes. She swallowed under his intense gaze.

Still looking dazed, he told her, “Thank you, Jessie.”

His hand lifting from the frame, started to reach out for her. Jessie was sure he was going to cup her cheek or run a hand through her hair. The anticipation of the tender contact made her heart begin to beat faster, but then Kai dropped his hand to his knee instead. Jessie’s heart stubbornly sank.

Smiling as he put the picture back in the box, Kai motioned to the kitchen. “Hungry? I could make us some soup.”

It amused Jessie that he wanted something warm in his stomach. She nodded. “Sure, sounds great.”

Standing, Kai gave her a brilliant grin before heading to the kitchen. Jessie sighed as she watched his backside walking away from her. Seriously, she needed to shut off whatever part of her was still attracted to him. Kai was
not
an option. It would be better for her if she went back to her two-timing ex-boyfriend.