Divided (11 page)

“Whatever you like.” I responded unable to hide the confusion in my voice. I didn’t want to pry but I wished he wouldn’t shut me out; this whole ex thing had really thrown our date off.

The waiter came and Ryan ordered a bottle of cabernet and two waters for the table. I focused my attention on studying the menu and weighed out my options.

“Alani, I need to explain something about what happened earlier with Mike, I don’t want you to think that I still have feelings for her, because I don’t…”

I cut him off before he could explain any further. “It’s really not a big deal, she’s your ex, I mean look a me I’m a mess most of the time and we are... As long as it didn’t ruin our night its fine.” I smiled at him as he took my hand and kissed the back of it. The sweet gesture causing a mild ache in my chest.

“What are you ordering?” I asked. “There are so many things that sound amazing I don’t know what I want.”

“I always get the same thing, penne vodka flat bread as an appetizer and lobster ravioli. I’ll share if those were one of your options.”  

The waiter put down our waters, bread, and opened the bottle of wine. I ordered an arugula salad as an appetizer and penne vodka for dinner. After the waiter left Ryan lifted his glass and I lifted mine to his. “To Vegas.” He said.

I smirked at his toast “To Vegas.” I add. We both clinked our glasses.

Our appetizers came out quickly and Ryan shared a piece of his flat bread while I let him taste my salad. The food was both delicious and fresh. When our entrées came out, I was thankful for the smaller portions. Managing to finish my whole plate, I didn’t even offer Ryan any
.

Ryan only had one glass of wine with dinner because he was driving, so I had the rest of the bottle to myself. I was stuffed when the waiter came and took our plates away.

“Any dessert?”

I looked to Ryan to see if he was going to have any and he nodded for me to order. “We’ll have the French toast bread pudding please.” The waiter nodded and then left our table to place our order.

I took another sip of my wine and look at Ryan. “I know what you are doing, Kraft.” I told him in my most sultry voice.

He leaned in closer to me. “What am I doing?”

“You’re trying to wine and dine me, trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me.” I chided.

He chuckled, so close to me that his breath tickled my neck. The goose bumps rose up my spine as he leaned in even closer, his lips mere centimeters from my ear. He whispered softly. “Is it working? Are you drunk enough that I can take advantage of you?”

I swallowed hard. His words were turning me on. He kissed my cheek and chuckled again, a rich, deep sound. “I’m only kidding, Bug. I would never take advantage of you. I’d want you fully coherent so you could remember everything I do to you.”

“Ryan!” I said slapping his arm, “You can’t say things like that.”

“Hey, you brought it up.” He chuckled before taking a sip of his water. 

The waiter brought out our dessert. The French toast bread pudding was mouthwatering. “Hmmmm, oh my god this is amazing. Here you have to try this.” Without thinking I took a piece with my spoon and fed Ryan, he opened his mouth and I held the spoon there, looking at him and then at his lips. This wine was having a great effect on my hormones.

“My turn.” He said as he took the spoon from me. He took another piece of the pudding and dipped it in the whip cream. He brought it to my mouth and I parted my lips for him. He quickly brought the spoon to my nose and put whip cream on my nose. “Oops, I’m so sorry let me get that.” He brought his face to mine and licked it right off my nose. Frozen in the moment, I wished he had gotten it on my lips instead.

We eventually finished our pudding, taking turns feeding one another. Each time he would feed me he would some how find a new place to have an ‘oops’ moment on my face with the whip cream and then licking it off. Never once was it on my mouth but always very close.

When we arrived at the hotel I was ready for bed. “Can I take you to breakfast tomorrow morning? I know the best place.” He said as he walked me through the lobby and to the elevator door.

“Yes, you can. I would love that.”

“And then I’ll show you all of Grand Forks, you haven’t really seen it until a native shows you all the good spots.”

The door of the elevator opened and I pushed up on my tippy toes to kiss him on his cheek at the same time he was leaning down to kiss mine. We missed each other’s lips by a millimeter instead kissing the corner of each other mouths and pulling away quickly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kraft,” I said walking backwards into the elevator.

“Goodnight, Bug,” he said as the elevator doors closed. 

The second he was no longer in sight, I fell to the ground. I had been so close to kissing him and I wanted so much more than just a kiss. I wanted all of him. This was all going so fast but still not fast enough, and none of it made sense.
 

Chapter 7
Thirty Second Dance Party 

T
he next morning I woke up early so I could go for a jog. Ryan didn’t specify what time he was coming to get me and I didn’t want to keep him waiting. The weather here was getting better as the days progressed. It was the beginning of May and it was still in the forty-degree range. Apparently for Grand Forks that was great though I’m used to eighty, sometimes ninety-degree weather in May back home.

As I made my way back to the hotel, I saw that Ryan was parking his car. “Hi.” He said climbing out. “I forgot you like to run in the morning.”

“It’s ok, just let me get ready, I’ll be quick.” I called, walking through the front doors while he followed me. “Are you coming up or staying down here?” I invited him to be polite but I was a little shocked by his answer. “I’ll come up.” His response stopped my heart; I hadn’t actually expected him to follow.

The elevator doors closed and it was just the two of us. The stupid elevator music came on and we just stood in like two awkward teenagers while the elevator rose to the appropriate floor.

“How was the drive here?” I asked. I could no longer take the tension that was building between us.

“Good, how was your run?”

“Good.” I responded. We didn’t look at each other but I knew he felt it too. He and I were walking a thin line. There was definitely something between us but neither one was willing to make the first move.

Finally the doors opened and we both moved at the same time to get out. We walked to my room and I slid the key in the keypad opening the door. It’s times like these when I was glad that I was such a clean freak.

“Did you make your bed before you went jogging?” he asked as he sat on the chair by the window.

“Yes.” I said a little embarrassed that he had noticed. “I have this thing with leaving a mess for others to clean up.” I pulled open the dresser and picked out my outfit for the day. Taking everything I’d need in the bathroom so I didn’t have to come out half dressed. “Ten minutes, I promise.” I said as I threw him the remote control and walked into the bathroom.

I took the quickest shower possible, scrubbing so hard I was afraid I might have removed some skin. I put on lotion and changed quickly. I brushed my teeth and semi blow-dried my hair before quickly applying some blush and mascara and throwing my hair into a high messy bun.

“All set.” I tell him and I walk out of the bathroom.

“I have never seen or experienced a woman get ready that fast.”

“It’s a Yankee thing I guess, always on the go.”

“Ah, I see, the New York minute.”

I grinned and opened the room door. We walked back to the elevator and stepped inside. As the elevator descended the sexual tension came right back. Ryan cleared his throat, I scratched my nose and tapped my feet on the ground. He turned to me and I looked up at him, my heart was racing. He smiled but didn’t say a word and then just turned back toward the elevator doors.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing, you just smell really good.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat.
I smelled good?
The doors opened and as we walked out I heard him mumble, “I hate elevators.” Smiling to myself, I was now certain he felt the tension too. Once in the car I noticed that he wasn’t driving toward the center of town. “Where are we going?”

“I told you, to the best breakfast place I know.”

That seemed a bit fishy to me but I didn’t question him again and just enjoyed the song on the radio. We pull up to a colonial home with white siding, black shutters and a red door. It reminded me of my forever house, a house that I would love to spend the rest of my life in. I looked over at Ryan. “Where are we?”

“This is my house.”

“Your house?”
Gulp. Oh this couldn’t be good.

He parked his car in the driveway and opened the garage door before he got out. We walked through the double car garage.

“I told you, Bug, the best breakfast food. I make an amazing omelet.”

“You didn’t have to come get me, I could have come here on my own.” I told him. “No, I like picking you up.” We walked together towards the house.

The door from the garage led to the back foyer that had three doors, the one on the left he said, led to a half bathroom, the other straight ahead was the laundry room, and the one to the right that didn’t actually have a door went into the kitchen. His kitchen was a dream, stainless steel appliances with plenty of light oak cabinet space, hunter green granite. The tile floor was a light tan with pieces of green. And the kitchen also had a breakfast nook.

“This is so beautiful.” I said taking in the space. “I would kill for a kitchen like this.”

“Would you like a tour of the house?” He asked.

“Yes. Please.”

We walked through towards the breakfast area that had a sliding door to the outside on the back wall of the house. There were two entries to the kitchen; one that led to the formal dining room and one that led the main foyer. Behind the foyer was the TV room with dark taupe colored wall, and a big leather sectional and giant flat screen TV.

“This is my favorite room.” He said, as I looked at all his sport memorabilia that was hung up on the wall. The rest of the house much the same, three large bedrooms on the second level with a guest bath and a master suite.

“This is where the magic happens.” He joked as he opened the door.  “Now this is the best part.” He opened two doors that were side by side in his bedroom that opened up to his and hers walk-in closet.

“Did you decorate this all yourself?” I asked.

“No, when I bought the place it was a dump, it was right after Trent passed and my father and I used it as a healing project. My sister insisted on the big closets, she did all of the decorating”

We made our way to the kitchen and I sat on the barstool as he began taking things out of the refrigerator and cabinets. “Do you need any help?” I asked.

“Nope, just sit there and look beautiful as always.”

Within 30 minutes it was all ready. He was right; he did make the best breakfast.  After breakfast I insisted on cleaning up. Ryan moved to the TV room and turned on Sports Center as I cleaned and dried all the dishes. I took a deep breath and imagined what my life would have been like if met Ryan in college. Would we still be together? Why did I have to meet him now when everything was so complicated and my life was turned upside down?

I walked into the TV room and stopped at the doorway. Ryan patted the couch cushion next to him and I walked over and sat about a foot away from him. He patted it again and I move a little closer.  Looking over at me, Ryan grinned and grabbed me by my waist, pulling me towards him until my body was flush against his.  I curled up right next to him and watched the sports headlines as he reached his arm around and wrapped it around my waist

My heart was pounding; this was something that we had never done. My head was screaming at me to move and get out of there as fast as possible but I had never felt more at home than I did at this very moment.

We laid down together for most of the morning; Ryan flipped through channels until he reached the Food Network. “Do you like to cook?” I asked curiously, breakfast was delicious but it seemed easy to do.

“Yeah, when I was a kid I would spend the weeknights after hockey watching my mom cook. Do you?”

“Well I used to cook all the time, I loved having dinner parties and having all my friends over but when I moved to Brooklyn it was harder to get everyone together so I only cooked on Sundays, and I never quite mastered how to cook for two so I eventually stopped and started ordering takeout instead.”

Ryan continued to watch the screen. Bobby Flay was showing viewers how to master a grill. When it was on commercial Ryan pulled me even tighter into him, “So what do you want to do today?” He said bringing his mouth to my neck. The goose bumps on my skin causing me to shiver.

“Um... I don’t know what do you want to do?” I responded, my voice weak with his lips so close to my neck.  I really didn’t want to move. His firm erection pressed against my back told me something other than what he said.

“Let’s go sightseeing.”
Not at all what I was expecting.

Ryan jumped off the couch and walked over to the coat closet. Stunned, I sat there as he handed me my jacket, and put on his shoes. Dumbfounded, I followed suit and then followed him to the car. Once on the road, Ryan showed me all the stores that his grandfather started that were all still operated by family members. I was correct to think that all the Kraft stores were somehow related to him.

“If your family has so many family business why do you coach at the College, why not work for the family and coach for fun?” I asked probably over stepping but unable to filter the words that come out of my mouth.

“My parents are very well off. It was just my father and uncle that inherited all those stores; I really don’t have to work if I don’t want too. But I like having my own things. I have a bank account that was created for me the day I was born, that I refuse to touch. I know that one day I’ll inherit the businesses but for right now, I want to do something that I enjoy. I want to feel independent and be able to stand on my own two feet.” He said as he continued to drive towards the park. His sense of independence was inspiring.