Ever After Drake (5 page)

“
Great idea,” he growls
and I swear I feel the tip of his tongue tracing the line of my
jaw.

“
You’ll come over to my
place tomorrow at nine for breakfast?”

He backs away from me slightly,
looking in my eyes. His eyebrows draw together, his expression
unsure, or disbelieving, or something. “Really?”

“
Yeah,” I say, uncertain
at his reaction. “Why is that so surprising?”

His hands come up to my face and he
gently presses his lips to mine once again, the heat of the
previous moments passed. “That’s just the damn sweetest thing any
girl I’ve just met has ever done for me.”

“
I better not just
be
any
girl,” I
say gathering the front of his shirt and pulling him against my
chest.

The lunch bell rings and the noise
from the halls spill into the library. We hear the doors burst open
and with regret in his eyes, Drake backs away. “No,” he says.
“You’re not just any girl.”

“
Let me see your phone,” I
say, unsure of how to handle his sudden intensity and holding my
hand out. He simply gives me that lopsided smile and reaches into
his pocket for it. His hair is an insane mess, but I have no
intention of informing him that he needs to fix it. I want to see
how long it stays that way today. It’ll be our secret that it was
me who styled it for him.

I take his phone and store my number
into it with my name.

I hop down from the window as I hand
it back. I give him what I hope is a tempting smile as I start to
walk away.

It must work. Drake hooks a finger
into the waistband of my pants and yanks me back. He once again
pins my body to the bookcase and crushes his lips to
mine.

A little moan works its way out of my
throat.

“
You know we’re likely to
be walked in on any moment,” I say against his lips.

Suddenly Drake pulls away and wipes at
his bottom lip with a thumb. “Get out of here woman,” he says,
trying to be serious and failing miserably. “Stop putting your
tongue down my throat.”

I give a quick
ha
before turning and
walking toward the doors.

I manage to only glance over my
shoulder three times before walking out into the hall.

For just a moment, I wonder how we got
here: Drake and me making out in the dusty stacks of the library
like a couple of teenagers.

But I don’t care.

Because maybe princes exist after all.
Maybe that was a true-love’s first kiss, after just three days of
knowing each other. Maybe, just maybe, this is the start of my very
own ever after.

CHAPTER
FOUR

“
Tell me, were his hands
and feet big?”

“
Gross!” I squeal,
scrunching my nose. “Armando! Let’s please not go
there.”

“
Well, have you at least
gotten a picture of him?” he pleads. He leans across the bar and
bats his eyes at me. “I need to evaluate him and make sure he’s up
to par for my Ray of Kaylee.”

“
No,” I say as I take his
plate and turn for the sink. I rinse it off, set it on the drying
rack, and turn back to the itty bitty bar of mine we are eating at.
“I don’t have a picture. But he’s coming over for breakfast
tomorrow so I’ll be sure to snap one then.”

“
And you’ll text it to me
straight away, right?” he asks, his expression hopeful.

“
Of course,” I
say.

“
So, on a scale of one to
ten, one being the worst, ten being mind-blowing, how was this make
out session?”

I let my face fall into my hand and
shake my head. It’s been like this every time there is a man in my
life for the past seven years. Armando grills me about my men, I
grill him about his. “Does a twelve exist?”

“
Oo,” Armando coos. “Then
I hope you have plans for more than just breakfast
tomorrow.”

“
Armie!” I screech at him,
batting at his arm harmlessly. “I’ve only known him for three days!
Slow your horses down there.”

“
What’s taking you so
long?” he asks with a wink. I just shake my head. Armando’s known
for moving things on a little fast. I often times worry for him. He
could have so much more than what he’s settling for. “But
seriously, I’m just happy to see you’re not obsessing about that
horrendous stooge you previously called a boyfriend.”

“
Alan?” I
clarify.

“
That’s the bastard. Never
liked him anyway.”

“
You tried hitting on him
at that party,” I say through a laugh. “Don’t forget, you’re how we
met.”

Armando cringes. “Don’t remind me.
I’ll never forgive myself for my match-making failure.”

“
Don’t beat yourself up
over it,” I say as I move the rest of the dishes to the sink.
Armando came over for dinner and I made fettuccini alfredo and a
green salad. My kitchen is tiny and extremely difficult to do much
of anything in, but I manage. “I’m well over Alan,
remember?”

“
Right. Drake McCain. Your
newest prince on a white horse.”

“
Prince Charming was
boring,” I say. “I mean, he doesn’t even really have a name. Give
me a prince that sails the high seas and loves dogs.”

“
Ugh, are we talking about
Prince Eric again?” Armando groans.

“
Have you seen his hair
and smile?” I swoon as I lean on the bar again and prop my chin up
on my hands.

“
Such a nice boy, and no
less boring than Prince Charming,” Armando argues. “Give me a bad
boy who rises from nothing to take over the throne. Now that’s a
story.”

“
Aladdin, while good
looking, had a problem with lying, and Flynn was full of himself,”
I counter.

“
You do realize we are
arguing about cartoon men, right?” Armando says with a smile and
his brows drawn together. “They aren’t real.”

“
Before they were cartoons
they were literary characters,” I say as I nod my head toward my
one solitary bookcase next to my bed. Its shelves are lined with
fairytale books, history textbooks, a few romance novels. “Though I
have to admit, half the original stories are pretty awful. Did you
know that in Cinderella, at the end when she marries the prince,
her stepsister’s eyes get pecked out by crows? They even cut off
their big toes to try and get the shoe to fit.”

“
And with that lovely
note, I think I’m going to go home,” Armando says as he stands and
grabs his jacket from his chair.

Just then there is a knock at the
door.

“
It’s true,” I say as I
head for the door. “Most fairytales are pretty grim. Which is
pretty fitting I suppose since the
Grimm
brothers wrote most of
them.”

I open the door and find Dick and
Skyler waiting in the hall.

“
Hi,” I say with a bright
smile.

“
Hey, Kaylee,” Dick says
as he steps forward and gives me a hug. “I’m really sorry to barge
in like this, but there’s some line that got cut in Bothell and it
needs attention right now. Could you watch Skyler for a few
hours?”

“
Of course,” I say as I
reach out and ruffle his hair. “I’ve got to go do some grocery
shopping but we’ll go out for some ice cream or something after,
okay?”

“
But only if it’s
bubblegum ice cream,” Skyler says solemnly. He stares at me
intently through his glasses.

I glance up at Dick, looking for
permission.

“
We’ve been trying to cut
back on the sugar, but just for tonight, I guess it’s okay,” Dick
says with a shake of his head and a smile.

“
Oh, Mr. Campbell,”
Armando says as he appears behind me. “Always a
pleasure.”

“
And you as well,
Armando,” Dick says with a smile as he shakes his hand. “Thanks
again, Kaylee. I’ll text you when we’re done and when I can pick
him up. You’re a lifesaver.”

“
Anytime,” I say as Dick
darts down the hall.

This happens every so often. Dick
works for a utility company as one of their lead guys. Stuff goes
wrong. Mom isn’t around all that often when it’s not a weekend,
which is when she’s supposed to have Skyler, so Dick calls me. Or
shows up at my door.

“
I expect that picture
before ten o’clock,” Armando says as he presses a kiss to the top
of my head and heads out the door. Just then, his phone rings. It
must be his boss, because suddenly his expression is serious and he
disappears around the corner and out of sight.

“
I’ll do my best,” I say,
even though he’s gone already. I close the door and turn to
Skyler.

“
So, how’s school little
man?” I ask, placing my hands on my hips. “Your first few days go
okay?”

My half-brother shrugs and turns to
wander about my apartment. “It’s okay. So far second grade isn’t
much harder than first.”

“
You like your teacher?” I
ask as I set to washing the dishes. What I wouldn’t do for a
dishwasher.

“
He’s nice, I guess.” I
look over to see Skyler flop onto his back on my bed. He kicks his
shoes off.

“
Did you hear I’m a
teacher now?” I ask.

“
Oh yeah,” Skyler says
excitedly and sits up in the bed. “Why didn’t you come teach at my
school? Having my sister work at my school would be so
cool!”

I laugh and rinse a plate off. “Maybe
I’ll be your teacher someday. When you get to high
school?”

“
Ugh,” he says
dramatically and crashes back to the bed again. “That’ll take
forever.”

I smile and look back at the
dishes.

But the truth is that I really hope I
won’t ever be Skyler’s teacher when he gets to high
school.

Teaching is the plan for now. But my
real dream is pretty similar to what I’m doing right now. I want my
own kids someday. I want a husband who comes home from work and
gives me a kiss on the cheek and wraps his arms around me from
behind.

For some women these days, that would
never be enough. The world tells us we have to gain prestigious
careers and balance everything while wearing high heels and having
no body fat.

But what could be more prestigious
than raising other people? Then making someone else feel that they
are loved beyond anything else? Because for me, it’s what I never
had as a kid growing up, and always wanted.

CHAPTER
FIVE

“
Eggs, bacon, pancakes,
toast,” I say, rattling it all off as I look around my tiny kitchen
trying to remember to breathe and function and not to have a mind
explosion.

My hands shake as I scoop the last of
the pancakes out of the pan and put them onto a plate. I’m a
nervous wreck. Nerves, excitement, anticipation, it’s all making me
freak out.

What’s going to happen today? We had
an incredible make out session yesterday, but what does that mean
now? I can’t help but overanalyze everything.

My stomach jumps up into my throat
when the knock sounds through the studio apartment and my ears
start ringing.

“
Calm down,” I breathe to
myself. “It’s just a…date, I guess. With a guy you made out with.
In the library.”

I wipe my hands on the towel hanging
from the stove and shuffle in slippered feet to the
door.

My heart is hammering and my fingers
shake as I grip the door knob.

But that smile breaks out on my face
the second I open it.

Drake stands there, holding a bouquet
of multi-colored daisies. He bears his own smile, though he’s
pressing his lips together tightly to contain it.

“
Hi,” I say, my voice
higher than I mean it to be.

“
Hi,” he says
quietly.

“
Come on in,” I say. My
pulse is racing and I already feel ready to float up to the ceiling
like I’m filled with love-struck helium.

“
These are for you,” he
says, extending the flower out to me.

“
Aw, thank you,” I say,
taking them and turning to look for something and somewhere to put
them. “They’re very…colorful.”

Seriously, they are. They’re neon
pink, blue, green, and yellow. Incredibly unnaturally
colored.

“
Okay, I’m a little broke
and flowers are really expensive,” he laughs in mock defense. “For
some reason, really colorful ones are really cheap.”

I’m tempted to tease him more about
them, but I can’t do that. Not after he made the effort to at least
look for some nice flowers for me. “I appreciate it.”

Drake does a little circle, taking in
the entire apartment. It doesn’t take long.

“
So, this is where you
live?” he says, giving me a smile.

“
Yep,” I reply. “It’s not
much, but you know how being a first year teacher goes. Couldn’t
afford much more.”

“
I do indeed. My place is
maybe fifteen square feet bigger than this,” he chuckles. “I live
about a mile east of here.”