lifeline ⇾ kai parker

40┃in my veins

CHAPTER FORTY

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"THANK GOD IT'S YOU. I THOUGHT it was Ted again and I just got done cleaning. It would have been a shame if blood got splattered everywhere," Kai breathed out upon opening his door. The yellow rubber gloves that went up to elbows are peeled off of him, and his broad smile is enough to have her momentarily glamoured.

Mila swallowed, fiddling with her hands that drooped in front of her. "That's actually why I'm here."

"Hmph, okay." He gestures for her to come inside with a nod of his head. "How did you find me, by the way? I have myself cloaked."

Mila stepped inside and examined the connecting rooms of his apartment. The kitchen was a small, cramped space that she barely glanced at while leading herself into the living room. The living room took up the majority square footage of the place, but only necessities filled the space. The incompleteness and lack of personal touch reminded Mila of her own hotel room.

She turned around after taking everything in, finding Kai directly beside her. It startled her that he had gravitated so close, their chests almost bumping together, but she didn't back away. Her jade eyes were enthralled by something much more fascinating to study.

"I... have my ways," Mila answered carefully. She didn't really want to disclose that her ways were Find My iPhone.

"How mysterious," he murmurs, and she watches the slight movement of his lips as he says the words. He was still proving to be infuriatingly alluring, but Mila tried to not to get too caught up in his consuming presence.

Her body leaned back, away from his warmth and tempting stare, with raised eyebrows. "What's up with the Bachelor Pad?"

"What? You don't like it? Or is this your way of saying you want me to move in with you? Live up to the husband and wife status?"

"I would, but it sounds like cleaning blood off the walls would be the norm."

"No marriage is perfect." Kai shrugged before he settled down on one end of the couch. He patted the spot next to him.

"You can say that again," she mutters, eyeing the cushion he offered for her to sit on.

It was like she was interacting with a stranger and the love of her life at the same time, and that head-spinning mixture invoked hesitation. She knew everything there was to know about Kai, but what did that matter when he didn't know those things about himself? When he refused to know? Mila had no idea what boundaries were safe to cross and which ones would endanger the tiny amount of progress she's made. Well, if you would call progress him tolerating the role she played in his life.

"If you're just going to stand there, you might as well start stripping." Kai's teasing voice brought her gaze back to him.

He's leaned forward in his seat, chin tucked into his palm while he stared at her expectedly. The flutter of his eyelashes with each slow, almost-taunting blink only magnifies the feelings she'd been trying to keep at bay the moment she saw him. Maybe he was right about one thing: there was no version of Kai she couldn't be in love with.

"Stripping?" She cleared her throat. "Is this how you treat all your guests? If so, you could have a sexual harassment lawsuit on your hands."