Unnatural Affinity (8)

After conducting my first search on Kale, we hadn’t spoken to each other in three days. We hadn’t physically seen each other within that time frame either, and I was grateful. I needed a break from him before I felt like he consumed my entire being down to my cellular structure. The first day he didn’t show himself around I thought for sure he’d be lurking about. I was on edge constantly thinking of him, looking for him. I expected him to be in the elevator or waiting for me down in the lobby. Every hour, I waited for Connor to call me to say the boss man wanted to speak with me.

So, when he showed up on our floor three days later, I was startled.

I managed to work through the mid-morning with Donald not once thinking of Kale. In fact, I hadn’t heard his name again until he rolled through our offices five floors down. His presence down here was daunting as I’ve come to understand he was patrolling. He strolled through the office spaces, speaking cordially to his employees and aiding them with any problems they’d come across. Some of the women nearly fell out of their chairs when he leaned over them to point at the computer screen. Their faces grew flush and every man in the office knew he no longer had a chance with any woman if Kale was parading around.

The men were still in as much awe as the women. Kale was insightful, giving advice where needed and taking a step back when he could see he wasn’t. He chatted with a few of them, asking about their personal lives and what they were doing before working here. Everyone hung on his every word as if it were liquid gold.

Donald and I worked together in his office, going over upcoming projects and more specifically working on the social media accounts for Cambridge. Despite the buzz going around at Kale’s arrival, it was obvious his destination was Donald’s office. Sitting on the side of Donald’s desk, I could see Kale walking this way with those long legs, strides even and smooth.

Donald gazed up, catching Kale too and he brought his attention back to his paperwork when he mumbled, “Hot stuff at two o’clock.”

I kicked him from under the table, glaring. I was earned with a stifled laugh.

Kale approached with his hands in his pockets, trying to signify a casual demeanor. Today he wore another three-piece suit of dark navy blue. It was a slim fit, hugging his body in ways that complimented him greatly. He wore a burgundy and black herringbone tie accompanied by a silk pocket square of the same design. Dark locks were lazily pushed back from his eyes, some of the strands lopping to the side. I tried not to let my eyes linger for so long and reluctantly tore them away. I kept my eyes down, pretending to be so absorbed in my work when his footsteps drew near.

“Hi, Mr. Erickson,” Donald piped, his tone sweet as sugar.

“Hello, Donald,” Kale replied lowly. He nodded in my direction. “Maxine.”

I made eye contact, biting the inside of my cheek as if that would stop the flurry of emotions inside of me. “Hello, Mr. Erickson.”

He smiled, making his eyes brighter. On anyone else, the gesture wouldn’t have fazed me, but he always found a way to make average things so much sexier. “How are you today?”

I did my best to attempt a polite smile. Donald watched the interaction like a fascinated child, his eyes bouncing back and forth between us. “I’m doing well. And you?”

“I’m in a better mood than I was earlier.”

“CEO problems?” Donald asked.

Kale shrugged lightly, slipping his hands into his pocket, the movement too eerily smooth as if he were a serpent. He leaned against the doorjamb, crossing his ankles. “Something like that. I actually came down here to let you two know of an unexpected banquet occurring tomorrow. I need you two to attend with me. You know, be my eyes and ears for me on business deals.”

“What is it for?” I asked. I didn’t outwardly show it, but I was a bit thrilled about this. It was my first week and we were already invited to a fancy party. And, on a Friday evening.

Emerald eyes zeroed in on me. “Aside from wanting to officially welcome me to the company, one of our partnered organizations, Adopt-A-Tot, has invited several of us to attend and donate to the new program they’re adding to build a center right here in Los Angeles for people looking to adopt.”

“That’s nice they’re building here in the city,” I answered. “There are all sorts of kids right here in our hometown that need families and I think this is a great way to give back and bring awareness.”

Donald cut in, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “You didn’t have to come down here to tell us. We could have managed with a phone call.”

“It’s all right,” Kale said easily, his full mouth spreading. “I needed to stretch my legs.”

“Is there anything else we can help you with?”

I was internally appalled by Donald’s suggestive tone, though I kept my professional smile. I knew Donald was only doing this because he was insistent something was going on between Kale and me, but I wasn’t so sure Kale caught on to what Donald was trying to imply. On the off chance he did, he didn’t show it.

Not taking his eyes off of me, Kale said, “Nothing for now. Enjoy the rest of your day.” He moved out of the room without another word, back to his throne at the top of his tower.

I was rattled after Kale left. Donald teased me relentlessly and whenever I tried to make jokes about him he only deflected them by accepting them for what they were. He didn’t bristle at the idea of him and Kale sleeping together or having any kind of relationship because Donald was Donald. Not much about Kale negatively affected him. I couldn’t take the jokes because the truth was hidden in those words. Kale and I would be giving in to our every desire if we didn’t work together.

Earlier this week, I’d mentioned to Donald why my relationship with Kale was so complicated. When he asked what Kale was like outside of work, my only word was intense. He had no bars or chains to hold him back from being his dangerous, flirtatious self. Donald blew a low whistle, saying he felt sorry for me because Kale would be a constant reminder of the sexual tension I would never satisfy. Brutally honest, he was right. We were a reminder to each other of what could have been even if it was only for one night.

When six rolled around, I was hasty to get out of the office. Donald was planning on staying behind to catch up on a few things for tomorrow’s banquet. I offered to stay behind with him, but he said it was something he could do alone in no rush. Judging from the troubling gaze, I thought maybe he was avoiding something at home, but I could be wrong.

I tapped my foot absentmindedly as I waited for the elevator. There was no rush to go anywhere I just felt like doing it. And, part of it could have been because I was excited to raid my closet for a dress to wear tomorrow night. When the elevator dinged open I halted my steps at the sight of Kale standing there. Alone.

I stood in front of the elevator for so long debating if I should catch the next one that the doors started to close and Kale put his hand out to stop it. The doors pushed back with ease, and Kale stood there with a devilish smile, eyes glittering for entry into the small car.

“You getting on?” he inquired in a voice coated in honey. “I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

I didn’t trust his words one bit but I entered the small compartment, feeling the air around us shrink the second my foot stepped inside. I barely looked at him as the elevator descended. There was significant space between us and it was beginning to get awkward.

We successfully made it down two floors before Kale broke the silence. “You seemed passionate about the adoption program.”

I looked in his direction. There was no teasing or amusement only genuine emotion. I grunted before I spoke to get my voice together. I always seem to lose it around him. “Yes, I am.”

Kale shifted to face me. “If you don’t mind me asking, were you adopted?”

I folded my arms over my chest, my purse resting heavily on my stomach. “No, but I knew some people who were.”

I remembered knowing twins in high school who were adopted. They didn’t know until their eighteenth birthday right before we all graduated and it circulated the school so fast no one had time to protect the twins from the backlash. It was as if no one thought of what it would do to them not knowing their true heritage. The school tried to stop the gossip and rumors, but it was too late and soon we were walking across the stage in our caps and gowns. No one made it a priority and the staff thought it’d be easier to overlook it rather than address it after some time.

I remembered feeling a pang in my heart for them. I knew my parents, knew I came from them, and visited the lands of my people from both sides. I’d touched the same ground as my ancestors, swam in those waters, and could feel the pride of it in my blood. My Trinidadian roots sang just as loud as my Italian. The twins didn’t know who they were and their parents should have told them the truth long before they were old enough to emotionally separate from everyone. They went off to college and no one saw them after that even on social media. It was like they’d turned into ghosts. They haunted me for some time after that because I wished I’d been closer to them, been a better friend.

“Would you ever want to adopt?” Kale asked me.

I leveled out the question, never giving the idea much thought. Yet, I leaned more on the basis that motherhood was possibly not something I’d want to pursue. I wasn’t open about it because I knew how my parents and grandmother would react, but having a DNA setup like mine seemed like a setup for disaster. My parents have the utmost respect for raising me. I was not an ordinary child and they still did what they could while risking the chance for two more children. Despite this, I was not keen on raising a child to have the same heartaches as I did.

The horror stories my parents told me from when I was a baby, and the trauma I’d suffered as a child from not understanding what I was born with left me secluded. I would never want my child to suffer the way I had. On the outside, I was one person. The inside was where I kept my biggest secrets where no one was allowed to be. There were times when I stopped myself from staying there long.

The only one who would fully get me is someone who had an upbringing like me and I doubt I’d find that person in this lifetime. Maybe after I die God will let me come back as a normal person who can find regular love.

A light shrug of one shoulder. “I don’t know if motherhood is something I wish to pursue.”

When Kale remained silent I turned my head to him. His expression was thoughtful as if he wanted to probe more into that subject. He didn’t mention anything about it like I expected him to. I thought he’d have the same views as my family like most people when they figure out I’m a young woman who doesn’t flock to the idea of being a mother.

Thankfully, we moved on to another topic. “Are you ready for the banquet tomorrow evening?”

I inhaled heavily, tightening my arms around my body. “I suppose.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have to be so guarded, Maxine. I’m not going to do anything to you.”

I recalled when he’d said those words before. What he didn’t realize was his voice was enough to make me crumble, lose focus, and forget my last name. I had to keep my emotions in check with him because if I didn’t I’d give in to anything he wanted.

I scoffed, turning my attention back to the metal doors. “You could have fooled me.”

I heard him step toward me and my heart jolted. “Do you normally treat your bosses like this?”

I raised a brow, my skin pulled back tight over my bones in a grimace. “Do you regularly hit on your employees after they’ve told you no?”

Kale moved so fast it was blinding—literally. I couldn’t see him at all when he moved like a blur. All I could register was that the elevator had abruptly stopped. Kale had me pinned to the wall with one hand secured around the side of my neck, thumb tracing sluggish circles right over my pulse, and his other securely on my hip, threatening to never let me go. I looked into his eyes with fear and bewilderment. I could feel my body threatening to set aflame, but I somehow managed to push the pressure down to some degree.

“You’re warm,” he whispered against the side of my face, his breath cascading over my exposed skin causing it to prickle and the fine hairs on my neck to rise in awareness.

My body betrayed me, reacting to this stunning creature despite him scaring the living shit out of me. My blood roared like thunder, and my heart pounded like the hooves of a thousand horses. When I finally found my voice, it was barely above a whisper. “What the fuck was that?”

He inhaled deeply, nuzzling his nose against my jaw up to my ear and back. He stopped in front of my parted lips, so close he could have stolen the air right from me. “I can smell it all over you, Maxine.” I was about to answer him when he moved his hand up my throat to cup my chin. “You are something else—something other. What are you?”

Everything fell into place like I was hit by a freight train. My mind shot back to the night we’d first met when he asked me the exact question. Back then, I didn’t know what he meant, thought he had a loose screw. Nothing registered for me even when he asked me again a few days ago. It never occurred to me that Kale could sense my distinction among other humans, that it was so clear to him. When he told me he read auras, I took it at face value, forgetting about it seconds after he said it.

Now I wanted to know even more about him. I wanted to dive deeper into the questions that were piqued during my Google search. I wanted to know how he could distinguish something about me that was so ingrained into my genetics that it’d be impossible for him to know otherwise. I wanted to know how he blocked me from entering his mind when everyone else in the world was an open book.

He moved his mouth to brush soft lips against my forehead, the skin contact so satisfying I closed my eyes on a sigh. “Ever since that first night, I’ve been trying to figure it out. Tell me, aggele mou.”

I swallowed, my throat muscles contracting mechanically. The hand on my hip loosened a bit, though still holding me in place. His other moved back to the side of my neck, his thumb finding its resting spot on my pulse again with tenderness. “What are you?”

For a split second, like a flash, Kale’s eyes changed from the evergreen forest to the darkest shades. Even the sclera was black. Then as quickly as it came, it left as if I’d never seen it like a trick of the mind.

“That’s the darkness I always see,” I murmured, voicing my thoughts out loud.

He breathed me in again, blissfully savoring the moment. Then he opened his eyes look directly into mine, searching as if he were trying to find my soul. They were solid green now, the ring of illuminated light present and so beautiful now that I was close enough to see them. “I’m what goes bump in the night.”

I should have been afraid of those words. Instead, I was fascinated. He was in the other category like me.

“I don’t know what I am,” I confessed. It was the first time I’d been asked to introduce my true nature. I didn’t have a name for it and wasn’t sure if there was one.

Kale pulled away slightly, his tone quiet. “Yet, you are not all human.”

Kale scrutinized me, gaze piercing like a sword trying to piece everything together. I knew nothing of why what happened to my parents in college affected me. They weren’t the only ones involved in the experiment, though they were the only ones from the control group to have a child together. It was the perfect recipe for a child who could manipulate fire and hear the thoughts of her parents from birth.

I was getting uncomfortable. The elevator was too small for all of these secrets and revelations. With Kale so near, it made it incredibly difficult to breathe and my temperature was beginning to get out of control the longer I held off the pressure to use my flames in defense. I touched my hand to his chest, the light fabric of his suit not thick enough to dull the feeling of hard muscle beneath. Gently, I pushed him away and I was able to breathe again.

“I want to go home,” I whispered.

Kale fixated his gaze on my face for a moment with that probing look then walked to the elevator buttons where just beneath I saw his keycard. As soon as he pulled out the tiny piece of plastic, the elevator came to life again and we descended in a smooth drop. We kept to ourselves, going back to our original positions. He let me exit first, the crisp air from the lobby crawling over my entire body in cool waves. My scalp tingled and I could feel my temperature lower with every step.

“Don’t worry about the elevator cameras,” Kale murmured as he came up beside me, “I’ll have it handled.”

As if I needed another reason to feel out of my wits, I forgot about all the security cameras and how unnatural the scene between us must have appeared. In this instance, I trusted Kale to fix it because now we had an irrevocable bond for being separate from the rest of humanity. He would make sure our secrets were safe with us.

Relieved by another pantsuit, I mumbled my thanks to Kale and brushed by to make it to my car.