Kyla.
She had sent a second message, but I opted to not reply, choosing to clean myself up and head over here. The woman who greeted me inside wore a volunteer name badge and directed me out here, a knowing grin on her older face. As I peeked through the window on the door, my heart kicked up a few thousand beats per second.
There she was.
Sitting in the yard, a small dog beside her.
She was breathtaking, and all I could think about was figuring out how I can keep her.
The woman, not the dog, though the pooch is pretty fucking cool too.
Seeing her sitting here made me realize one thing: she’s worth the risk.
I’m going to tell her who I am and hope for the best. Oh, I know it won’t be easy. I’m sure there will be a lot of groveling involved, but after I explain everything, I’m sure she’ll be able to see I wasn’t out to betray her. In fact, that’s the reason I’ve got to tell her the truth. I don’t want to hurt her at all. It’s the exact opposite.
I’m falling in love with her.
I clear my throat and scratch behind Hattie’s ears. “So, Hattie, huh?”
“Yeah,” she says, softly, reaching over and stroking under her chin. “She’s only been here a handful of days. I have high hopes on her being adopted very soon.”
“She’s a cutie,” I say, just as Hattie stands on my legs, extends her face toward mine, and gives me a kiss on the chin.
Kyla laughs the sweetest sound. “She is. And apparently, she loves you.”
“Don’t all women?” I ask goodheartedly, looking at her with mischief dancing in my eyes and a smile on my lips. She doesn’t reply, but I can tell she’s thinking about something.
“Someone sounds awfully sure of himself,” she teases back, reaching over to pet Hattie, even though she’s giving her full attention to me at the moment.
After a few long seconds of silence, I finally break into the apology that needs to happen, “So, I got your text messages. I’m sorry I didn’t reply back last night. I was working on a few things, and it was late by the time I saw it.” Mostly true. I leave out the fact I turned my phone off, because that won’t help my case at all. Instead, I give her a piece of the truth. The part where I was home, trying to figure out whether or not to tell her the truth or just cut my losses, like my brother suggested.
The truth is, I can’t.
I can’t walk away from her.
Not yet.
Not until I’ve laid all the cards out on the table.
Then, we’ll see how they fall.
I’m just praying they don’t fall, if you know what I mean.
Kyla shrugs and averts her eyes. “It’s okay.”
I reach over, the dog in my lap thinking it’s time to play. She’s sadly disappointed when my hand gently grips Kyla’s chin, and not hers. “Hey, it’s not okay. I’m truly sorry.”
She meets my gaze, her eyes relaxing and somewhat smiling. “I understand being busy. Are you still able to go tomorrow night?” she asks, referring to the charity gala.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I reply honestly, reaching for her hand and bringing it to my lips.
We sit there for another fifteen minutes, playing with the dog. Kyla fills me in on her dinner with Amalee, and I realize I’m excited to meet her friend. She’s attending the event tomorrow night, as is Kyla’s father and a few of his employees. Now that one, I’m slightly nervous about. I haven’t met the family of someone I’ve been dating since I was twenty-two and that dad hated me on sight.
Probably because he knew I was planning on sleeping with his daughter later that night.
“So, do you have plans for tonight?” I ask, tossing the ball for Hattie to retrieve.
“No.”
“How about dinner at my place? We can order something from that bistro down the block.”
“Sounds good. No, Hattie, bring me the ball. Bring it back.”
I’m grinning, watching as Kyla tries to persuade the ball from the dog. After a few more tosses, we start to gather up the toys strewn across the penned yard. “I need to put her back in her kennel,” Kyla says, scooping up the dog.
“Do you have to?” I ask, realizing how much I like the small terrier dog.
She laughs. “Yeah, I do. We can’t leave the dogs out in the yard unattended, especially overnight.”
A weird sadness seep into my bones.