Billie Bossa Nova

26.

Kai was not a morning person. There was so much that bothered him at such an hour. The first would usually be the alarm that disturbed his slumber, but it didn't have to today because he rose on his own. Then would be the sun shining through his lace curtains and nearly blinding him to death. It was a bother, but usually he didn't mind because it forced his lazy ass to get the hell up and work for his money. Today was quite different, in a way both good and bad.

Both factors came into play today, thank his luck for that. But an addition was the sleeping frustration that lied at his side. The morning sun, fulfilling its agitating duties, shone on the deep slumbered body next to him. Her hair broke loose from the lazy excuse for a bun some time in the night and fell onto her shoulders and upper back. She laid on her side, only the bottom leg being tucked under the covers while the rest of her body was out and on display for him to behold. Additionally, she had her back to him, where her shorts rode up and exposed her entire thigh and flashed that dragon tattoo that he had quite recently kissed with passion.

This morning's frustration, for Kai, was not at all the blinding sun's light. It was not the sound of his alarm or the tiredness or a call from work that would leave him stressed and grouchy all day. It was the long milky legs that stretched out before him and begged for his grasp around them. It was the waves of blonde that were close enough for him to smell the tropical goodness that he was unable to decipher but knew he awfully liked. It was the short shorts, the tight camisole and most of all, the taut ass just centimeters away from his eager morning appendage, threatening to close the distance and deem him absolutely incapacitated by desire.

With the most frustrated of groans he'd ever let out, he shifted away and laid on his back facing the ceiling. The woman was gorgeous. She was absolutely, undeniably breath-taking. It awed him how little she knew of her own beauty. And all of it, all of her was right before him and he was to stay away from her. Right there and he couldn't touch her. After knowing that no other man had felt her, taken her, owned her, he was to stay away from her. He was to tame his virility and keep his desires at bay for the sake of her career.

He cared. Kai Rivera cared about what she held dear. Her priorities became his own. Her concerns about her career became his own. He didn't care what people thought. Didn't care about thier opinions or anything they had to say. Never in his entire lifetime was he put in a position where he was to care what people, let alone strangers, had to say about him. Of course, he wanted her success, for her to do more than just work for him for the rest of her life if she ever wanted more, but she didn't need to.

He wanted to tell her last night that it didn't matter that nobody would hire her again because with him, she wouldn't need anyone to. He would give, give and give to her until she had everything and then he would give it all again so that she had double that. But that would imply that he had something for her that was beyond lust. It could never be. He glanced at her and a swell protruded in his chest.

No, it wasn't just lust. He knew very well it couldn't be. There were feelings of some sort, but none of which were love. He loved Julianna, Juanita, his mother and Cordelia. There was no other woman in his life he was capable of showing love for. Perhaps he was intrigued, infatuated. She was brilliant, mind and body, which is why he was so drawn to her. And that was it.

Kai checked the time again, getting out of bed when it read six thirty AM. He gave one last glance at Billie, an overwhelming protectiveness coming over him when he recalled what Adan had attempted to do last night. When he thought about having to leave her alone in a house that Adan resided in, where he had access to her just by climbing the stairs and opening the door. Unease crashed over him. A type of fear for her came over that made him uncomfortable in his own skin. When he entered the bathroom, he knew that he wouldn't be going to work today.