Two: KAYDEN

Lisa's back is faced to me. I catch the familiar scent of her brown hair, and for a moment, I forget how to breathe. Her hair always smells like fresh spring water with a mix of vanilla. Right now, it is tied up in a messy bun. My eyes follow the free strands of her hair as they cascade down to her neck. The skin of her neck is so fair and smooth. A black dotted birth mark sits pretty on the right side of her neck, tempting me so bad to kiss her there. And to kiss her on every other part of her body.

I want to kiss her on the lips, and tell her that I love her. But I know Lisa. She will walk out of my house, and she will never speak to me in the same way again.

"Kayden?"

Her voice trails into my thoughts like a melody. And also like a warning.

'This is the voice of the woman you can't have. So keep your feelings to yourself Kayden.'

I cough, partly to clear the annoying voice in my head, and partly to tell Lisa that I heard her call my name. I bring out the diamond necklace from the box. Ethan really went through hell to reserve this necklace for me, considering the fact that it is its only kind in the entire world.

Well, if Lisa can't have me, at least I can be comforted with the fact that she is wearing a piece of my heart with her.

My hands wear the necklace around her neck. I gulp when my fingers graze her warm soft skin. The feeling burns like electric fire, but I know better than to linger on it. I quickly hook the necklace into its diamond loop and withdraw my hands from her neck.

"All good." I say, trying to sound as light as I can.

She turns around, and nothing prepares me for the mighty flood of adrenaline that rushes down my body when I see the necklace circled around her neck in the most beautiful way possible. The heart pendant sits perfectly above the cleavage of her breasts, and God knows I am trying so fucking hard not to trail my eyes down further.

"It's. . . . . it's beautiful." I manage to stutter out.

"Thanks Kayden," She says, her blue eyes shining more brighter than ever. "I know you have the bucks more than me, but I will still promise to get you something better than this during your own birthday."

Damn it! If only she knows that she is the perfect gift I want for my birthday.

Our silence flows around us like quiet, peaceful waves. Lisa and I have always been comfortable around each other. Even in throes of never ending silence, but I have never told her, or shown her, for once, how badly I want to break the damn silence every now and then by crashing my lips against hers. Her full pink lips are so tempting, and I always imagine how she will taste if I ever get to kiss her on those perfect lips.

She is wearing one of my burgundy shirts. Two of the upper buttons of the shirt are free, and without looking, I know perfectly well that the space the free buttons created on the middle of her chest is showing more of her breast cleavage. I fight not to trail my eyes down further, so I try to focus them on her covered shoulders.

Lisa is just beautiful. And perfect.

And sometimes, I wonder why the hell I can't seem to tell her how I feel about her.

I have the wealth. I have the properties. I have the power. I have the influence. But whenever it comes to my feelings for Lisa, all those things just seem to vanish away. I become some dumb nine year old puppy boy who just can't fucking tell his crush that he likes her.

Lisa Collins is a very special woman. She is strong, and has a mind as stubborn as a mule. If she tells you she won't do a thing, I can bet on all my million dollar estates in Texas and Miami that she will fucking stand by her word.

And maybe, just maybe, in as much as that is an aspect of her that ultimately intrigues me, it is also that part of her that scares the shit out of me.

It scares me to even think that once I confess my feelings to her, and she rejects. . . . . .

Gosh, I don't want to think about that.

Being friends with her is enough. For now.

"So Kayden," Her voice pulls me out of my head, "My house manager just called. They are done with the repairs, so I will be going home very soon. Thank you for allowing me crash here these past few days."

I know I didn't tell you guys about this earlier, but for the past few days, Lisa's apartment has been under some kind of renovation or something. When she told me about it and also of her interest to stay in a hotel while the construction continued, I knew deep down my guts that there is no way I am allowing her spend a dime in some hotel when I have about eight guest rooms in this house.

"So when are you leaving?" I find myself asking.

Her hand takes the bottle of water sitting on the table. "This afternoon, maybe." She answers, opening the bottle. I watch her as she raises the bottle to her lips. The clear liquid streams right into her mouth, and for a fucking second, I find myself wishing I were either the bottle or the water flowing into her mouth.

She stops drinking, and I snap my eyes away from her lips to avoid her catching me staring at them. I focus my eyes on everything else in the room: The sofa, the TV, the jaguar statue standing by the dining area.

Just at anything that will not give me and my gut wrenching feelings away.

And then, I remember! Oh fuck me! Sandra would have baked me alive if I had forgotten about our plan.

"Uhm, since your birthday is not over yet Lisa, I still have one more surprise for you."

"And that is. . . .?" She asks, rising her eyebrows.

"Come on Lisa. You are not supposed to know. That is why it is called a surprise."

"Well then," she nudges closer to me. "Show me."

I swallow, feeling her scent overpowering my senses once again. Her eyes fall to my lips, and for a moment, I think I am dreaming when they linger a bit longer than they should. It takes everything in me not to grab and kiss her right here and now.

"I can't show you if you keep on staring at me like that."

"Like how exactly?" Her voice comes out low, and so soft, and if I hadn't known Lisa Collins so well and for so long, I would have concluded that she is flirting with me right now. One of her knees is stuck in between my thighs, slightly grazing over my hidden cock, and God knows how much I am fighting not to groan out a moan.

"Just get off me." I manage to breath the words out, poking her ribs with my long fingers. That is the only reflex I know she is highly vulnerable to, and I use it to stop her from tempting me into succumbing to the urge of my most sinful desires about her.

She jerks away from me and falls back onto the sofa, laughing and pleading to me to stop. Of course I don't want to stop, not when she is laughing like that.

"Kayden please stop! I can't. . . . .I can't breathe." She gasps out in between laughs and throaty breaths.

I finally stop. "Serves you right Lisa."

"I heard that." She retorts, still trying to recover from her laughter spasms. "But seriously Kayden, you know surprises make me nervous."

"Trust me on this one Lisa. It is not really a big bang surprise, but I assure you that you will love it."

She nods. "Alright then. So when am I seeing this surprise?"

I stand up and offer my hand to her, which she takes. I help her to her feet. My eyes yearns to look into hers, to see if they can find anything that will give me the damn courage to say something or do something about my feelings, but I force my eyes to turn away from her. I do not want to lose my restraints in the blue glaciers of her eyes.

I do not want to lose my bestfriend over something that may not mean anything to her.

"The surprise is a place," I croak out, clearing my throat for what seems like the hundredth time today. "But I will give you a hint: Ladies wear bikinis there, so I will kindly advise you to tuck in some bikinis into your bag before coming with me."

She snorts. "You are taking me to a beach?"

"Well," I shrug. "We will see about that."