9781631052347OnCallKenyan (10 page)

Chapter
Eight

“I
don’t know what I’m doing Reno.” AJ’s shoulders slumped uncharacteristically as
he cried over his Irish Brew.

“You
are roommates with benefits. That’s what she wanted.” Reno slapped his wide
hand on AJ’s back, making AJ cough.

“Would
you take that offer from Lisette?”

“Hell
no, I’m in—” Reno paused. AJ watched as his brother stared at him as if he’d
grown a second head. “I don’t believe it. Adrian Jackson Ross Junior—you, my
brother, are in love.”

“Don’t
say that out loud.” AJ looked around, checking if someone in the little bar had
heard what Reno had said. He didn’t need anyone to know, he wasn’t sure if he
wanted to know himself. “I’m fond of her. It might be because I was her first.
There is a whole lot of emotional baggage with that sort of responsibility.”

“For
the girl. The guy only feels that sort of ‘responsibility’ and ‘emotional
baggage’…” AJ sneered each time Reno used his fingers to draw quotes in the
air. “…if he’s in—”

“Don’t
say it, Reno Kanaloa Kent.” AJ brought his fist down on the table with a loud
thud which made his drink fly off the table. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I
could give you a clue.”

AJ
turned toward the seductress. The rumor of a dress she wore barely covered her
breast and stopped just under the curve of her ass. She was pretty enough and
her red hair was a plus. It wasn’t blonde like Katherine. AJ was done with
blondes.

AJ
immediately felt the charm coming on. So many years of being a Lothario had
made this sort of response to the opposite sex automatic. AJ moved his legs
from under the table and with a gentle tug, he settled the woman between his
thighs.

“What
clue is that?” The sexy, hypnotic drawl in his voice was back, no longer
anything like the man whining a few seconds ago.

“Meet
me in the ladies’ in ten seconds.” She blew him a kiss, walked away and
disappeared into the back.

AJ
reached for his wallet. He needed protection, but he came up empty. He groaned
and looked up at Reno for assistance. “I need this. I need to make Katherine as
unimportant as every other woman I have slept with.”

“I
don’t have any protection.”

“Reno,
if you get my little sister pregnant—” he snarled his warning.

“Relax,
she’s on birth control. Besides if she finds me with a box of condoms, she’ll
think I’m cheating.” He scoffed. “Look at it this way AJ—it wasn’t meant to be.
Now let’s get out of here before that horny harpy comes back.”

* * *
*

Katherine
decided to go back to her own bed when AJ hadn’t come back after an hour. She
concluded he was probably with someone else. It infuriated her how he could go
looking for another woman seconds after he had made love to her. She looked at
the clock. It was three am, and she had to wake up in three hours. Katherine
stared at the ceiling, tracing the tiny dots she saw there, counting the number
of panels used to cover the ceiling.

She sat
up with a start when she heard the front door open. Fear gripped her. What if
someone had broken in, and AJ wasn’t there to keep her safe. Katherine stayed
frozen on the bed as she listened to the heavy footstep coming toward her room.
If the thief was heading her way, it meant he wasn’t interested in anything
else in the apartment.

It was
her thief, the one who had stolen her innocence, and robbed her of her heart
and her love. She sank back into bed and thought about pretending to be asleep.
The door opened and didn’t close for a few seconds. AJ was watching her, and
even under the cover of her duvet, his gaze touched each and every part of her.

“I’m
awake.” She confessed.

Katherine
didn’t lift her head to watch what he was doing. Instead she listened. She
listened to his heavy breathing, to the sound of shoes being thrown off, to the
sound of his jacket and T-shirt dropping to the floor, the slide of his zipper
and the rustle of his jeans as they slid down his thick thighs.

Then
she felt him. The bed dipped as he climbed and hovered over her. The intense
passion flowed from his body and into hers.

Then
she smelled him—he was drunk.

AJ lay
on top of her on the covers. His hands sprawled at his sides, as his head
rested on her chest. Katherine could feel his weight begin to crush her, but
she didn’t dare move him.

“My
Kat, my beautiful kitty
kat
,” he mumbled.

“Hush,
it’s okay I’m here.”

“You
can’t love me, can you?”

“What?”
Katherine tapped him over and over again, trying to get him to repeat what he
said. Trying to ascertain her ears weren’t lying to her and her mind and heart
weren’t playing tricks on her. Finally she found her upper body strength and
pushed AJ off. Straddling him, she tried to wake him, but it was of no use.

Katherine
lay on his chest and said. “I can love you. I do love you.”

* * *
*

Standing
at the kitchen counter, AJ swallowed the bile that was burning at the back of
his throat and tried to ignore the pain in his temple. But his head pounded
with a vengeance from the previous night’s excesses. He didn’t remember a large
chunk of what he’d done last night. The last thing he recalled was the vixen
who invited him for a quickie in the women’s bathroom. AJ had almost done it.
He almost screwed a complete stranger a few hours after he had made love to
Katherine, just to get her out of his system.

His
hands began to tremble at the sound of Katherine’s door opening then clicking
shut. A splash of hot coffee burnt his hand, and AJ thought it would be safer
for his body, and his ego, if he put the mug down. He stared at the corner she
was just about to come around, terrified. As he didn’t know what he’d done last
night, he didn’t know what sort of mood he should expect from her.

The
second her face appeared and their eyes locked, it all halted. The moment
froze, time stopped—and the only thing with life was his heart as it thunderously
beat as if it were going to burst out of his chest.

“Morning.”
Katherine mumbled, a crimson blush filled her cheeks as she looked away.

AJ
didn’t expect her to blush. Her smile gave him enough courage to pick his
coffee back up. “Morning, how did you sleep?”

AJ knew
how she slept. He woke up with her tiny body on top of his. He wasn’t sure
whether he had put her there, or she had crawled there on her own. But in the
few seconds before his previous night’s activities came back to haunt him, AJ
wrapped his arms around her, taking in her morning scent, and how her
barely-there weight brought comfort to his heart.

“Great.”
Katherine gazed at him and AJ could tell she was studying him. Probably waiting
for him to remember or bring up what might have happened before they slept.
“Did you have a good time last night, when you went out?”

“It was
cool. I like spending time with Reno.”

“Reno?”

“My
little sister’s boyfriend.” AJ thought it was time to change the topic before
she asked about anything else. “We should probably get going.”

“I wanted to speak to you about Lyle—”

“Kitty!”
The look of surprise on Katherine’s face made AJ regret calling her that aloud.
Something must have happened the previous night that had to do with that pet
name. He tried his best to push aside the emotions stirring inside him, as her
ivory skin burned pink. He wanted to reach out and stroke her flushed cheeks,
press a kiss at the base of her neck and gather her in his arms. But he used
the kitchen island between them as an obstacle he wasn’t meant to cross.
Katherine had made it clear—the bedroom was the only place their relationship
was meant to thrive.

“About Lyle—”

“We
already talked about that. You are to stay away from him.” AJ stared down at
his now cold coffee and dumped it in the sink.

“We
didn’t talk about it. You ordered me to stay away.”

AJ
walked around her. He wasn’t going to compromise on this.

“AJ,
listen to me, please!”

“What!”
He turned around and bumped into her. His arms shot out and caught her just as
she lost her balance. The storm brewing in her eyes, turning her calm baby
blues to lightning silver tickled his groin. How he wished he could have this
fire, anger or frustration in bed with him. That would be a lovemaking for the
books.

“I came
to live here to escape my father’s authoritarian rule. I will not trade one
dictatorship for another.” Her tone was low but filled with earnestness.

“Fine,
just don’t be alone with him. He’s not a good guy.”

“What
about you?”

AJ’s
palms began to heat up as they rubbed up and down Katherine’s arms. Bravely and
lustfully moving up her back, AJ dug his fingers into the thickness of her
hair. He enjoyed the silken dance between his fingers as he combed through it.
AJ had the urge to twirl her locks around his wrist, pull her head back and
devour her throat. But the buzzing in his pants, caused by his phone, cut into
his fantasy.

Katherine
took a step back, making AJ release her from his hold. Her eyes seemed glazed,
her breathing short and quick. “I’ll just wait for you in the car.”

AJ
looked down at his phone and frowned. “It’s Lisette.”

“Of
course it is.” He didn’t miss the steel in her tone. AJ watched as she grabbed
her things in fury and banged the door on her way out.

“What
did I say?”

* * *
*

“It’s
Lisette!” Katherine mimicked. “He says her name as if she’s the best thing
since…since…oh what the hell!”

“Katherine.”

Katherine
turned at the sound of her name being called. And as if the fates had it in for
her, she came face to face with AJ’s red-head Rose. “Dr. Henry, please.”

“Forgive
me, oh high and mighty one.” Rose mocked. “I heard you forced your way into
AJ’s home. Don’t you have any respect?”

“I
should be asking you that.” Katherine stared her down, anger sizzling beneath
her skin. She had no doubt the evidence of her rage smoked out of her ears like
an enraged bull. “I didn’t go sniffing around him. He came to me. He asked me
to be with him.” That wasn’t entirely true but there was no reason for her to
know that. “He wants me, and yet you still press your hundred-dollar silicon
disasters against him. He is never going to want you, not when he has me.”

“We’ll
see about that.”

“If I
find you near him, I will cut you from nose to navel.” Katherine used her ball
point pen to illustrate. She had the pleasure of seeing Rose’s eyes go wide and
her lower lip tremble as if she was going to cry. She felt a pinch of guilt
that was quickly forgotten when she spotted Lisette come through the hospital
doors.

Katherine
was on a roll, and she wasn’t about to let the steam setting her momentum die
out. With her trusty ballpoint pen she barreled toward Lisette, trying not to
count how many different ways the brunette bombshell was better than her.
Somehow she would have to put a cap on her insecurities.

“What
are you doing here?”

“Huh!
You really are a doctor! Who would have thought?” Lisette smirked.

“Well
yes, and this is a hospital, and unless you work here or are sick, you should
leave.”

“I came
to see AJ.”

“I
don’t think you will be able to. He doesn’t have time for the likes of you.”
Katherine looked Lisette over and for the first time noticed what she was
wearing.

Lisette
was in a power suit, the kind you only find in powerful boardrooms. If she
didn’t know any better, if she wasn’t sure Harry Henry had an exclusive tailor,
she would have sworn Lisette’s trouser suit were sewn by the same hands. Her
hair was held back, her makeup minimal—but that didn’t take away from her
beauty. She had practical but no doubt a pair of Prada shoes on. She looked
like a lawyer, a respectable one in fact.

“What
are ‘the likes of’ me?” Lisette asked with a mocking grin.

“Uh-mmm?”

“Don’t
back down now. I think AJ needs a girl who’s such a spitfire. It will
definitely keep the flies away from the honey.” Katherine was taken aback by
the brusqueness in her voice, especially when Lisette stared down Rose.

What
the hell was going on exactly?

“I
practically have to use a broom to sweep all the trash out, when he’s done with
them.” Lisette spoke loudly and Katherine realized it was for Rose’s benefit.
She watched as the burned nurse shuffled away in anger. Well, she had to thank
Lisette for chasing—what did she call them? ‘flies’—Rose away. But she needed
to get Lisette away too. By the time she was ready to trust AJ completely, she
didn’t need the fly buzzing around her honey.