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Her dark pink dress hugs her slender body in all the right places, her heels clearly uncomfortable and impractical for this rugged terrain. I can’t shake the feeling that she seems so out of place here, that there’s an underlying reason for her presence.
“Son of a…” I hear myself mumble when I see Kace coming down the same alley from the opposite direction. He’s in his running gear, covered in sweat. His t-shirt is drenched, and he’s got his earphones in. He doesn’t even see Ramada until it’s too late to avoid her.
Ramada skitters up to Kace and throws her arms around him. It happens so fast, so unexpectedly. Kace responds instinctively by bringing his hands up.
“Got you!” Ramada giggles, gluing herself to him.
“Ramada,” Kace says sternly.
But it’s too late. “You’re not getting away this time!” She kisses him.
Kace doesn’t react. His hands stay up close to his shoulders while Ramada shoves her tongue into his mouth. She makes the most of it, taking advantage of what looks like confusion to deepen the kiss, yet as soon as Kace grabs her by the shoulders, she’s already pulling back.
Was he going to push her away or was he going to get more out of it?
My brain is a hot mess, thoughts jumbled and fractured as my emotions get the better of me. I forget that I’m not hiding anymore, now in plain sight, standing by the fountain like an idiot, gawking at them with my jaw close to the ground.
“I’m not going to apologize, you had that coming, handsome,” Ramada says, one hand resting on her hip. “I’ve got more where that came from, just so you know.”
“Wow, Ramada, that’s not—” Kace pauses upon noticing me.
My blood runs cold. Ice cold. It gets worse when Ramada follows his gaze, her eyes landing right on me. The sneer slitting her face makes my stomach churn. She’s enjoying the look on my face so much, it is beyond disgusting.
Kace watches, eyes wide with a mixture of emotions, as I nod slightly and walk away. I can feel his gaze burning into the back of my head, but it burns nowhere near as hot as Ramada. Whatever that was, she achieved the desired results. She wanted to be seen out with Kace.
As I look around, I notice there are plenty of people out on walks—clients, employees, business partners. Most of them saw what just happened. They saw Ramada staking her claim to my man. My man. What the hell am I saying? He’s not my man. They’re not my men.
We were just getting something started, then I got scared, and now he’s letting some pumped-up heiress fondle him in public where everyone can see.
I’m walking as fast as I can, desperate to get out of his sight and to get him out of my mind. I shouldn’t think much of it, given Ramada’s pushy behavior from the moment she came into my yoga studio. Kace assured me that there’s nothing going on between them. Yet my heart is aching, my throat tightening as I struggle to get that image out of my mind.
13
Amaya
Less than an hour later, I’m driving back to Sacramento with Mikey sleeping in his car seat. I packed an overnight bag and booked us into a hotel for the night. I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow, but I know I can’t stay at the estate. Not anymore.
The pain I’m carrying in my heart cuts deep, and it is hard to process any rational thought I’ve got in my head while being so close to Kace, Finn, and Elias.
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just Ramada’s ploy to get Kace’s attention. Maybe it was the manifestation of something they did earlier, or something they were working toward. Business lunch, my ass.
Oh, God, I’m definitely jealous. I hate this feeling.
The road ahead isn’t as busy as I thought it would be at this hour and I’m grateful. I should arrive into Sacramento at a decent enough time to grab dinner and give Mikey a bath before bed. I check on him in the rearview mirror. Still in dreamland.
I need to keep my wits about me, at least until we get to the hotel.
My phone rings. It’s Mira.
I haven’t spoken to her since before the restaurant date. I did text her about it, and she replied with a ton of fireworks emojis. She’s the only one who knows anything going on in my personal life, the only one I trust with my secrets. Of course, the idea of me hooking up with Kace, Finn, and Elias had Mira gasping and warning me to think twice about it—not because it came as a shock to her, but because apparently, she knew about their romantic preferences.
“Hey, girl,” I answer, putting her on Bluetooth through the car’s speakers. “What’s up?”
I’m trying to sound way calmer than I actually am, and Mira is quick to pick up on it.
“What the hell did you do?” she asks, her tone clipped.
“Huh?”
