Remi looks outside. “The rain has stopped. Want me to drop you off?”
Candee and I were planning to do our nails, and I promised her I’d come back soon, but right now, I just don’t feel like leaving. I want to talk some more to Remi, get to know more about him, and get to know about Wylla.
“Yeah,” I say instead. “I should probably go.”
Wylla wheels herself to me, bending to throw her hands around my waist. “Thank you so much. I love you,” she says, keeping her arms around my waist. My heart warms at this little girl’s words. She so easily gives her heart away.
“And I love you, sweet girl,” I say, hugging her back. I don’t know what magic this little girl has, but the moment I wrap my arms around her, a calming warmth spreads over my body. I rub my hands on her back and sigh. She’s a hugger.
When she finally unwraps her arms, I take the bag Remi handed me earlier to put my clothes in and my book and tell Wylla it’s time I go.
“But you’ll come back, right?” she asks, holding my hand, and I just couldn’t break her heart.
“Of course. We have so many hairstyles to try.” I wink at her.
She squeals and nods rapidly.
Remi drops Wylla off at their neighbor’s place. She simply opens her door, and Wylla wheels herself inside, waving at Remi and me. And the neighbor, without a twitch in her already furrowed eyebrows, closes the door with a loud bang.
“She’s cheerful,” I comment on the stairs.
Remi chuckles. “She loves Wylla and cannot stand Nicholas and me.”
“I witnessed that.”
“But she’s very helpful. She helps look after Wylla when Nicholas and I aren’t home.”
“It looks like she needs someone to look after her.”
Remi laughs at the face I make. “Mrs. Dunlop has been our neighbor for years. She’s eighty-six years old, but don’t underestimate her. She’s a retired police officer who is stronger than she appears. She has a history of firing on people with her .38 Special revolver if she feels threatened—like the one time she felt her sleep getting threatened by a loud party going on two floors above us. She crashed the party with her revolver and injured two guys with a bullet wound—thankfully, it wasn’t fatal. Not because she deliberately missed, but because she couldn’t see properly in the dark.”
“Oh my God. She’s badass.” I laugh.
“She’s that.”
With my mind on Mrs. Dunlop, I didn’t realize we’ve stopped—in front of a bike—with my death written on its license plate.
Remi hands me the helmet, but I shake my head. “I think I’ll walk.”
He rolls his eyes. “You’re not going to die,” he says, placing the helmet over my head. His fingertips graze my neck at delicate places while securing the helmet—I hold my breath. He’s close—too close—and my gaze falls to his lips.
The kiss. The kiss. The kiss. The kiss.
“It was not a kiss. Stop stressing yourself.”
“Oh!” I look up to see he’s done with the helmet, and his hands are now in his pockets as he stares down at me with smugness playing at his lips.
“Believe me, when we kiss, and we will, you will know we kissed.”
I laugh lightly, trying to break the tension only to find that I’m breathless. “That’s cocky.”
He shrugs.
“We’re not going to kiss.”
He leans down, stopping when our foreheads touch. “Kaci, we will kiss. But not now. We’ll kiss when we’re unable to stop ourselves from kissing each other.” Remi pulls back, puts on his helmet, and gets on the bike. “Now, come on.”
Whaaaaat?
After inhaling a long breath to calm my racing heartbeat, I place a hand on his shoulder but hesitate. “Don’t be scared, darling. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” I blurt. I know he won’t let anything happen to me—I know.
Holding his gaze, I climb on the bike, my eyes zoning on his smirking lips. I wrap my arms around Remi’s waist—okay, I’ll admit it feels rather good up here.
“You good?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I nod, tightening my arms around him as he looks ahead.
The bike roars, and we start to fly across the road. I savor each moment of it.
#FallingforYou
EIGHT
#PhantomKiss
“Noooooo …” Candee throws her head back and looks at the ceiling. “God, life’s so unfair to me? Why?” Her lips wobble, and I roll my eyes so hard they nearly get stuck there.
“Stop being so dramatic,” I scoff, shaking my head at her idiocy.
Candee gets off her bed and walks to mine in two strides. “Dramatic? You were in Remi’s house, and you didn’t even try. I’ve been following Nicholas’s ass for the past few weeks, and he hasn’t even noticed. I’m not sure the guy even knows my name, although I’ve introduced myself to him like fifty times now,” she exclaims, throwing her hands exasperatedly in the air. “He calls me little horror.”
I release a long breath. “I just don’t know what to say.” I shrug.
“I guess I’m going to look on the bright side. He has a nickname for me.” Her goofy grin makes an appearance.
“I’ll say it’s a cute one considering your awesome personality,” I roll my eyes before getting back to my book.
She hums and gets on my bed, putting her face behind my book, which forces me to lower the paperback to look at her. “What,” I ask in annoyance.
“Can I at least have his address?” she asks in a tiny voice, batting her lashes at me.
“Hmm … I don’t think I’m going to do that,” I confess. Candee would stalk Nicholas, and it’s honestly not the safest place to be. On top of that, with the way Candee’s head functions, she has more chances of falling into trouble than falling onto Nicholas.
“Oh, c’mon. Please.”
“Nope. And you need to finish getting ready. We leave in half an hour, and you’re still not dressed,” I say, bringing my paperback up and get back to reading.
Candee whines some more before finally getting off my bed. She finishes getting ready just as our cab arrives. I hesitate at the door, looking back at Remi’s clothes. The right thing would be to give them to him today, but that’ll mean not returning to his place, and I’d like to go back—for Wylla, of course. I leave the clothes and lock the door behind me.
By the time we reach the studio, my ears are blistered from Candee’s whining. We enter the class, and as if he senses us, Remi turns around. Our gaze meets, and like every time we’ve looked at each other, neither of us looks away. Only now, there’s a sort of tension between us. We’ll kiss when we’re unable to stop ourselves from kissing each other.
“Go talk to him,” I hear Candee whisper, still trying to get Remi to be my rebound. A tinge of nervousness makes me hesitate, but then I shake it off and walk to Remi. He leaves the person he’s talking to and joins me midway.
“Hey.” He stops when he’s right in front of me.
“Hey.”
The corners of his eyes crinkle. “You look pretty,” he praises, running a hand over the back of his head, messing the hair there. But, more importantly, showing strong muscles beneath those sleeves—rawr.