Hidden Love by MINK

7

Layla

Idrop the last box harder than I should, but I feel frustrated with my last order for the day. It took everything in me to concentrate long enough to make all the stuffies properly, and this last one is taxing me.

“Sorry,” I apologize to the pandacorn. The horn gave me more problems than it should have, but I got it done. It’s turned out nicely, and I think the customer will be happy.

With all the boxes finally done, I let myself check my phone. When I first started working, I was obsessively looking at it and getting nothing done. I forced myself to put it away. I made myself a promise that I wouldn’t get it back out until I’d gotten everything done that I needed to.

Not that putting my phone away helped much. All I could think about was that kiss. The way he’d touched me. My body warms all over again just thinking about it. I wanted to let him stay so badly, but I knew I couldn’t. Not if I wanted to get everything done today. Business before pleasure. I need the money. I don’t have the luxury of turning down work or causing the deliveries to be late because I was fooling around. It’s not only for bills, but to pay Kent back, too. He acted as though it was no big deal, but I don’t like being in debt to anyone. I’d rather go without than owe someone.

I open my kitchen drawer and grab my phone. When I tap the screen, it doesn’t light up. I huff and take it over to the charger. I wonder if he texted me. I stare at the phone, willing it to power on faster. Of course the one minute it takes feels like eternity.

My heart jumps when I see a bunch of missed texts. I click them and Gia’s name comes up.

“Oh, crap.” I’ve missed 20 texts from her and three calls. They start off asking me what I’m up to, then morph into her finding out about her brother stopping by and then about my mystery man.

I go to call her back when a banging sound comes from my front door.

“You better be dead in there!” Gia shouts as she keeps on pounding. “Wait. Don’t be dead. You better be asleep in there.” I walk over to the door as quickly as possible, knowing she’s probably so worried. I only hesitate a second before I pull it open.

“No one can sleep through that.”

She pushes past me. “What the hell? I’ve been worried about you.” She drops her giant purse before giving me a huge, hard hug, squeezing all the air out of me. For someone so small, she sure is strong.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ve been working.” She lets me go. I don’t mention Kent or the kissing we’d been doing before I started working.

“I know you’re not used to someone worrying about you, but you’re going to have to get used to it. You can’t drop off the map,” she half scolds me. At least I think she’s trying to be tough with me, but in the sweetest of ways. Her eyes start wandering around my place, and I know she’s looking for Paisley.

I’m sure he’s under my bed or in some other hiding place I don’t know about. Especially since Gia is here. Usually as soon as he hears her voice, he books it and I don’t see him until she leaves. He does it with everyone. I’ve told Gia not to get offended. Yet, he hadn’t done it with Kent. He’d warmed up to him instantly, which is odd. Then again, Kent is odd.

“I know. I’m sorry. I wanted to get all of my work finished, and I knew I wouldn’t if I was distracted.”

She lifts one of her perfect eyebrows at me.

“So you’re going to make me pull it out of you. Aren’t you?” She squints her eyes at me. “You sure this is how you want to play it?”

“What?” I know exactly what she’s talking about.

“So you didn’t meet some strange guy, allow him to give your battery a charge, and then drive off with him?”

“You’re always telling me I should date.” I turn, heading for the fridge to get a Coke.

“Not strange men who just hop in your car!”

“I think your brother wants to date me.”

Gia makes a gagging sound. “Don’t.” She holds her hand up. “You’re not even his type.”

I look down at myself. I was Kent’s type. Or at least his penis thought so. That had been crystal clear. A shiver shoots through me at what he felt like in my hand. I did that. It’s kind of a rush.

“Tony has a type?” I thought he slept with everyone.

“For his dick? No.” She steals my Coke from my hand. “Now for dating, yes. His type is bitch that I want to punch.” She shrugs.

“So you didn’t want to punch me when I didn’t answer my phone today?” I tease her.

“I can’t believe he stole your number from my phone.” She grits her teeth.

I’m sure Tony took a punch for that. Gia doesn’t mind throwing hands when necessary.

“I got all my orders done.” I point to the boxes by the door, doing my best to steer her away from asking me any more questions for the moment.

She stares at me. Hard. For way too long.

I crack. “He went to the fabric store with me and then to the pet store.” Gia never lets anything go.

“What else?” She takes a sip of her Coke knowing there’s more. Am I that easy to read?

“We might have made out some.”

A wicked smile pulls at her lips. “Tony said he was ugly.”

“Is not!” I say way too quickly.

“I know. He was pissed. So pissed he ratted on himself to me so I’d come over here and find out who the guy was.”

Not just a guy. Kent. “Can someone be too handsome?” I still don’t even know where he came from. I would have noticed him if he lived around here. He isn’t only handsome, but he’s massive in size. There’s no way I could’ve missed him before.

“Too handsome? No.” She drops into one of my chairs. I use the scratched and dented table to work most of the time. One day I’ll have a giant workspace to create in. At least, I hope so.

“Well, he is.” I grab my phone and drink to sit down with her. “But he says weird stuff.”

“What kind of weird stuff? Like he wants to tie you to the bed?”

“No,” I hiss. My face heats. Not because I’m embarrassed, but because my body is liking her idea. I’ve never thought about being tied down. Lovely, now another thing my mind won’t be able to stop thinking about. I’ll likely blurt it out the next time I see Kent, because that seems to be a problem of mine when I’m around him.

“Nothing wrong with being tied down.” She takes the words right out of my head.

I keep my mouth shut this time. I might have thought about it but I didn’t say it. This time at least.

“So. Give me the details.”

“I don’t know. He helped me with my car and then sort of muscled his way into tagging along with me. But the way he words stuff is just weird. Him going with me to the store and then paying for all of my stuff was strange, too. He even bought Paisley’s treats and toys.”

Her nose wrinkles. “You should tell him bribery doesn’t work on Paisley.” I look anywhere but at Gia. She gasps. “Oh my God. Paisley likes him, doesn’t he?”

“Maybe.” I wince.

“I don’t know if I like this guy or not.” She shakes her head.

“It was cute. Watching them together.”

“You’re so smitten already. Fine. I guess I like him.” She reaches for my phone, but I beat her to it. “What? Is he texting you dick pics or something?”

“I don’t know, because you got here before I could check my messages.”

She leans back, a self-satisfied look on her face. “I notice you didn’t seem turned off by the idea of him sending you dick pics.”

“No comment.” I look down at my phone and open my texts. I see I have one other missed message. It’s from Kent! But just one. He could be waiting for a reply from me before texting more. Not everyone is as impatient as Gia, but for some reason I find I want him to be that way with me.

“Did he ask you out? What did he say?” Gia fires off the questions faster than I can read.

Kent: Be back later with dinner.

“He’s coming over!” I pop up from my chair. I am a mess right now. He hasn’t given me a solid time of when he’ll arrive and since I hadn’t checked my messages sooner, it could mean that he’ll be here any second. Crap.

“Right now?” Gia pops up with me. She grabs the phone out of my hand and looks at the text.

“This man doesn’t mess around. He didn’t even ask. Look at the period at the end of that sentence.” She hands the phone back to me.

I stupidly look at the period. “Is that bad?” I was enjoying how forward he was.

“Nah. He knows what he wants. I can respect that.”

I smile down at the phone. Me. He wants me.