Beautiful Dreams (The Beautiful Series) (25 page)

“Well, the expense was your clean kitchen,” I said.

He chuckled, and his throaty laugh sent a shiver down my spine. He had the sexiest voice.

“What are you doing home early?”

“I wanted to surprise you,” he answered. “And it looks like I saved you from that ham sandwich over there.” He pointed with his finger. “The one you were nearly beating to death a few minutes ago.”

I rolled my eyes at him. He was far too observant for his own good.

“I was not beating it,” I retorted. Then, I made a hand gesture. “I was just slapping it on there.”

Kyle’s lip curved up in the corner. “So, you were beating it?”

I sighed, exasperated. “Fine…maybe a little,” I admitted.

“Well, good thing I came to rescue you then. I am taking you out…on a date,” he said.

“A date?” I screeched, knowing that I looked like a bum. I was still dressed in my pajamas, fully accepting that I was a hermit with issues, and now, I was one covered in mayo.

Kyle gathered me in his arms.

“Careful!” I objected, leaning back. “I don’t want to ruin your suit any more than I already did!”

He drew me closer, ignoring my protest. “Lily, suit or not, nothing will ever keep me from touching you,” he said warmly against my mouth. “Now, kiss me.”

Happily, I obliged. I dug my hands into his hair and drew his luscious mouth over mine. His hands snaked around my lower back, pulling me flush against him, while his tongue ravished mine. He pulled back way too soon for my liking.

“Shower,” he said while bringing his hand down on my ass playfully. Then, he glanced at his watch. “You have exactly forty minutes to be dressed and ready to walk out the door.”

I reached up and gave him one last hurried kiss. “If I’m on time, will you tell me where we are going?” I asked hopefully.

“Nope,” Kyle said while unleashing an impish grin. “It’s a surprise.” He ran his fingers across his lower lip in a zipper motion. “My lips are sealed. Now, hurry.”

I turned and ran for the bedroom. My curiosity ran wild with different ideas of where he could possibly be taking me, but Kyle was unpredictable, and I just never knew.

As soon as I reached the bathroom, I stripped down and dropped my clothes into a pile on the floor. I turned on the warm water in the shower stall, stepped inside, and started washing myself.

As I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, the stall door opened. I looked over my shoulder to see Kyle’s naked body climbing in behind me.

“You’re already down to thirty-six minutes,” he teased before gently nudging me out of the way.

“Hey!” I protested lightheartedly while trying to shove him back. “I’m on a timer here!”

“Well, you wouldn’t have to share if you didn’t make me smell like mayonnaise.” He smirked at me while rubbing shampoo in his hair. “So, it’s your fault.”

I couldn’t argue with that one. I did not want him to smell like mayo on our date. “What about the cabinets?” I asked.

“I let Harley in from the backyard, and he’s already in there, licking it all up.”

I scrunched up my nose. However, I was excited Harley was back home. I couldn’t wait to see him.

“Since I don’t have time to clean it now, I’ll have to sanitize the hell out of it when I get home.” He laughed. “Then, I’ll let Diane do it again tomorrow when she comes to clean.”

After washing up in record speed, we exited the shower and dried off quickly.

“What should I wear?” I asked him. I disliked that I had no idea where we were going, so I didn’t know what to wear. At the same time, the suspense of not knowing was thrilling.

“It’s going to be a jeans-and-hoodie kind of date.” He winked.

Anticipation built within me with every turn Kyle made through the curvy roads. I had not been sightseeing in California yet, so this was a wonderful way to spend our late afternoon together. We came up to a small diner on the left, and Kyle pulled into the parking lot.

“First stop is food,” Kyle said, quickly turning to give me a brief smile before parking his car. “This place has been here for as long as I can remember, and they have everything from seafood to a good traditional steak.” He got out and walked to my side to open the door.

“Sounds great.” I was still feeling hungry since I had passed on my sandwich at the house. Real food sounded way better.

We strolled up to the door, hand in hand.

Once inside, Kyle addressed the attendant. “Seating for two, please.”

The man offered a friendly smile and gestured for us to follow him. Through the dim lighting, my gaze wandered across the cozy atmosphere as I listened to the soft jazz music playing in the background. He walked us to the first booth, but Kyle shook his head slightly.

“Do you have something more private?” he asked the tall man.

“Sure, right this way,” he said in a welcoming manner.

He led us to the back of the small restaurant, and I took my seat as Kyle sat on the opposite side of the table.

The waiter approached us right away. “My name is John, and I’ll be your waiter tonight. Can I start you out with some drinks?” he asked kindly.

“I’ll take a water,” Kyle said before glancing at me.

“I’ll have some water as well,” I said.

“We’d like to order right away, too,” Kyle added before the gentleman left.

I quickly opened my menu, so I could look it over.

“Of course, sir. What can I get you?” John asked while pulling out his notebook.

“I’ll take the seafood special with a side of calamari,” Kyle responded.

“Hmm, I’ll have the chicken alfredo with extra sauce, please,” I said politely.

Once the man left, Kyle gazed at me over the candle glowing from the center of the small table. It was quite an intimate, romantic setting.

“Chicken alfredo? Not too keen on experimenting with new foods, are you?” he teased lightly, humor dancing in his eyes.

“Nope,” I answered. “Why try something new and take a chance of not liking it when you already have something you love?” I countered playfully while opening my napkin and placing it on my lap.

“Very true,” he drawled out while pondering. “But if you never try something new, you might miss out on something even better,” he retorted.

I laughed at his reasoning, knowing he was right, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. In the past, whenever I’d tried new foods, they had never worked out in my favor.

“I guess I’ll have to take my chances.” I grinned.

“I’ll never understand your odd ways,” Kyle chortled.

He stretched back in his chair and grabbed his abdomen. My eyes locked on to his Army hoodie, knowing full well his ripped abs were beneath it.

“I, for one, love all food, so I guess that just means more for me.”

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. He was always about the food.

“Someday, your metabolism will tank, like the rest of ours, and you’ll have to work harder to maintain that sexy body of yours,” I huffed.

Kyle’s gorgeous grin made my heart clench in my chest.

“That’s what I have you for, beautiful. You’re my workout.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but his expression left me near breathless. He was truly the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on…and he was all mine.

“Speechless?” He smirked wickedly as the waiter arrived with our food.

“You just wait,” I challenged while the gentleman set my plate in front of me. “It’ll happen.”

I started to dig in. My chicken alfredo had been cooked to perfection. In fact, it might have been the best sauce I had ever had. “Wow, this is so good,” I said in between bites.

“This is my favorite restaurant in the area,” Kyle replied while breaking apart a piece of his lobster.

“Do you know the owner?” I asked since he seemed to know so many people in his line of business.

“Yes,” Kyle said quietly while his fork paused midair. “His son, Colton, and I met during our sharpshooter training. We were paired up from the start.”

He continued while I was processing this new information.

“At first, Colton and I did not see eye-to-eye on anything,” he said fondly, letting out a soft laugh. “We argued over the tiniest shit—from the settings of our equipment to where to take the shot to who went first.”

He paused, and I could tell memories were flooding his mind.

“After we finished our first round of training, we got to go on leave for three weeks before we shipped out for our first tour overseas. It was then when I learned that Colton had grown up in the next town over, and his dad owned this restaurant here in Lake Tahoe.”

I listened intently as Kyle kept talking.

“The two of us were both very competitive, so on our last day of leave, Colton challenged me to go paintballing to see who could leave with the most marks,” he said in a warmhearted tone. “We must have spent hours there that day. Neither of us wanted to leave because we’d have to admit who won. Needless to say, by the time we left, we were both covered from head to toe in paint.” He laughed.

“I bet that was a lot of fun,” I said softly.

“It was good times. He quickly became one of my best friends.” Kyle smiled, and then he let out a deep sigh before abruptly changing the subject. “So, are you ready for the next stop on our date?” he asked since we were only picking at our plates now.

I could not help but feel knocked off-kilter by the way he’d steered the conversation to a new topic. In the gut of my stomach, I had a feeling that there was more to that story…that it hadn’t had a happy ending. Not wanting to push him past his boundaries, I let it go. I knew we had all the time in the world for him to tell me when he was ready.

“Yes.” I smiled, wanting to lighten his mood. “I’m anxiously awaiting to see what you have planned for us.”

Kyle let out a dazzling smile. “My lips are still sealed, beautiful. You’ll have to wait until we get there.”

After paying the bill, we walked back out to the car. Kyle wasted no time in maneuvering us through the roads that he seemed to know so well. Just as I was about to ask how much farther, he pulled off to the side of the road that was marked with only three parking spaces.

Intrigued, I opened the door to step out into the fresh air, which smelled of pine trees and water. Kyle strode to the trunk of his car, opened it, and then pulled out a black Nike duffel bag.

I raised my brows at him curiously.

“Not yet,” he said, reading my thoughts. “I can’t wait to see you at Christmas.” He laughed. “I’m going to love teasing you and driving you wild with anticipation.”

I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. “That’s not nice,” I chided lightheartedly. “But just remember, two can play at that game.”

Kyle shut the trunk and then strode to me. His demeanor was full of challenge. “I look forward to it.” He took my hand in his and led me toward our unknown destination.

As we made our way through small brush and weaved around fallen tree limbs, I thought about what to get him for Christmas. It was still far away, but now that we had raised the bar, I knew it would need to be something good. However, I was completely clueless as to what to buy him.

We came to a clearing, revealing a large body of water that I assumed was, in fact, Lake Tahoe. I took a moment to appreciate the stunning wide-open view as we neared.

Kyle paused and turned to face me. “You might want to take off your shoes, so you don’t get sand in them,” he said while unlacing his own tennis shoes.

I hurriedly untied my shoes and held them in one hand as he did the same. Afterward, he entwined our free hands together as we started to make our way closer to the beach. The slight wind made my hair blow gently. I glanced onward to see the sun beaming after the cloud had passed out of its path, and the light was reflecting off the water.

“This is beautiful out here,” I said while tilting my head at Kyle.

He lowered the bag, sat, and tugged on my hand to sit down next to him. I dug my toes into the sand, reveling in the feeling.

“Do you come here often?”

“No, not really much anymore,” Kyle said while looking out at the water in front of us. “But I used to all the time as a kid.”

He lifted his finger to point in the direction of a long, narrow wooden dock that I had not noticed before.

“As kids, my brother, sister, and I used to jump off that dock.”

“That looks like a lot of fun.” I grinned at him. “Too bad we don’t have our suits.”

Kyle motioned to the bag on his other side. “Oh, but we do.” He smirked with amusement.

I looked out at the water and then back at him. “Will it be warm?”

“Of course,” he replied, placing the bag between his legs. “It won’t be quite as warm as the Florida water you’re used to, but you’ll adjust.”

I nodded, feeling confident I could brave cooler water. He unzipped the top of the Nike duffel bag, and he pulled out my white bikini from our road trip to Colorado last month.

“I even found my favorite bikini while snooping through your undies drawer,” he teased with a mischievous grin.

Laughing, I grabbed my bathing suit out of his hand and then glanced around. “Where do I change?” I asked. There was not a building in sight.

“That’s the fun part,” Kyle chortled. He paused as if to add effect. “Right here, beautiful,” he said, leaning back and digging his palms into the sand as if he was planning on enjoying the view.