Chapter 14 - One Long Night (Part 1)

The feel of the water cascading down from the shower on to her skin felt heavenly. All her tension washed away with the soap on her body when she rinsed herself off. All that remained was the heat from her kiss with Kaiden. She could still feel his hand on her skin. She closed her eyes and traced around her hips where his hand last rested. "This 'mate bond thing' is pretty powerful stuff" she uttered to herself.

No matter how strange it was, she was his mate. Mated to a prince, a gorgeous prince who just declared his feelings for her. It read like one of those romance novels that she had.

Adalyn stepped out of the shower and wrapped a clean towel around her. She could still hear the rain thundering down outside. Kai had mentioned that it would be best for them to just stay in the guest house tonight instead of walking back, especially as she was now without one of her shoes. She knew she was trapped there with him, for the night. One whole long night. How was she going to cope?

She continued her inner monologue while pacing lightly up and down the bathroom, stopping occasionally in front of the mirror to try and give herself a pep talk. Things were gonna be different now, they both admitted that they had like each other, in their own way, but they hadn't really talked about it. Well, other than the steamy make-out session that they had just a minute ago. Heat crept up her skin as she remembered him pushing her up against the wall. She slapped her face with both hands as she looked in the mirror. "Come on girl, get it together!" she said to herself.

Adalyn quickly dried herself off then she threw on the large t-shirt that Kai had found and left for her.

"Okay, I'm just going to walk out there and we're gonna sit down and talk, like grown adults"

Just then, there was a quiet knock on the door. "Everything okay in there?" Kai asked softly through the door. He had heard the shower stop about 20 minutes ago, but with no sign of her emerging he wondered if she was trying to avoid him.

"Err...yeah" she replied back through the door.

"Good…" Kai answered back.

Adalyn could feel the smile in his reply.

"Did you see the t-shirt that I left in the room? I thought that might be more comfortable for you to sleep in"

"Yes, I did… thanks," she replied back.

There was a bit of a pause as Kai just stood outside the door. Things had turned a bit awkward between them again, which is not what Kai had wanted. It seemed as though every time they took a step forward, they ended up taking two steps back.

Adalyn could feel him hovering outside the door as though he wanted to say something else. She felt bad for everything that she had said to him earlier. She took a deep breath. *'Okay I am a strong, sexy and confident woman, I am a strong, sexy and confident woman'* she repeated in her head like a mantra.

After a few more moments of silence, Adalyn undid the lock on the bathroom door and opened it. Standing in front of her Kai stood there like he was waiting for her. He'd showered already in another room and had found and thrown on some loose white trousers and a baggy t-shirt. Adalyn just looked at him for a moment. It was the first time that she had fully taken him in. Standing there in his casual clothes, he just looked like an ordinary guy. An extraordinarily hot guy, but if it weren't for his black hair, he wouldn't have looked like a prince at all. She cut him a tight smile.

Kai felt like a teenager again. She had her long hair wrapped up in a messy bun and had legs for days in that long t-shirt. His cock twitched again.

Without saying anything she walked up to him and cupped both hands on his face. She then stood up on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips. Kai hadn't seen that coming. He didn't have a clue what was going on and just stood there with his eyes wide open. Was she coming on to him now? As she released the chaste kiss, she left a trace of her sweet lavender scent on his cheek, then began to walk down the hall. "Thanks for the clothes Kaiden"

As soon as she turned to walk away and her face was out of his view, she went beetroot red. Feeling slightly embarrassed about him finding out that he was her first kiss a few moments ago, she was worried now that he might think she was completely inexperienced. And he'd be right, but she didn't want him to know that. In her attempts to feel better about the situation she had overcompensated and kissed him like she was some sex-kitten from one of her romance books. She was trying to be sexy and alluring but was now dying with embarrassment as she walked away.

"Oh my god, I kissed him. Okay, now walk away like it was nothing, walk faster, walk faster Adalyn," she whispered to herself.

Kai stood there for a moment completely confused as to what had just happened. Was she trying to seduce him now? She said his name again too. She had abruptly stopped his attempt to kiss her earlier and now here she was pro-actively making a move on him. The mixed signals he was getting was sending him through a loop.

"Errr... Adalyn?" he called after her down the hallway. His voice was low and breathy.

"Crap, walk faster Ady! Walk faster!" she said to herself. She hadn't planned what she was going to do next.

"Adalyn! I know you can hear me," he called again. He started walking after her.

Adalyn was now speed walking down the hallway pretending she couldn't hear him. She didn’t even know where she was going, she just had to hide herself until she calmed down.

By this point Kai was now starting to find this hilarious. He knew that she could hear him but she was desperately trying to play dumb. His wolf was getting really excited at the chase thinking this was her attempt at trying to seduce him.

By the time Adalyn had reached the end of the hallway, she was damn near running. As she reached the end of the hallway, she put her hand out to stop herself from crashing in to the wall. At that moment Kai, who was now running behind her suddenly accelerated and grabbed her by the arm.

"Gotcha!” Kai smirked then looped his arm around her waist. He pulled her towards him to stop her from running. “Now where do you think you’re going? I know you heard me calling you. You can't just kiss me like that and then walk away like nothing happened."

As he turned her around to try and see her face, she clasped both her hands in front of her face to hide her embarrassment.

"Why are you hiding?" he questioned. He was now really amused. Adalyn mumbled something from behind her hands but Kai couldn't make it out. "Move your hands, I can't hear you or see your beautiful face"

Kai slowly prized her hands apart. She had screwed her eyes and face up so tight in a vain attempt to stop him from looking at her that she started to turn purple. Kai stilled as he tried to hold back a laugh.

“Okay, so maybe I take back the ‘beautiful face’ comment” he smirked.

In Adalyn’s annoyance at his comment, she relaxed her face and went to snap at him. “What was that?! How dare y..mmh”

Adalyn was cut off mid-sentence as Kai quickly returned the kiss that she had given him earlier.

“Now there’s the passionate and fiery woman I’ve come to know.” Kai smiled as she started to relax in his arms. Adalyn’s face went from embarrassed, to angry and had now settled on humble. Kai noticed her quick-fire change in mood again.

“What is it?” he queried.

“I’m sorry for what I said before, back on the roof,” Adalyn spoke sheepishly.

“Is that what that kiss was for?”

“Maybe… yeah”

“Well, I’ll accept a kiss from you any day of the week. You don’t need to apologize though. I should have been more forthcoming with you about how I felt, then perhaps we wouldn’t have caused each other so much anxiety. If you’re worried about something from now on just tell me.”

Kai grabbed her hand and led her down the hall and in to a bedroom. “Come, let’s go sit down and talk. I want to make you clear of my intentions so we don’t keep getting crossed wires like this. I think this is the fourth time that my mate has run away from me and as much my wolf seems to enjoy hunting you down, I can’t help but start to take it a little personally.” Kai laughed after his last statement.

Realizing that Kai had led her in to a bedroom Adalyn wondered if by ‘talk’ he actually meant something else entirely.