94\u00a0<\/p>\n
His hand rested on my thigh, warm and possessive and comforting all at once. I couldn\u2019t focus on anything else when he was this close, couldn\u2019t think about anything except the way his thumb traced small circles on my leg through the fabric of my dress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched Derek and Kiara end up near each other by the food table and I couldn\u2019t help but notice the way they immediately started arguing about something.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThose cookies are too sweet,\u201d Derek said, looking at one critically.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re perfect,\u201d Kiara shot back. \u201cJust because you have no taste buds doesn\u2019t mean the rest of us don\u2019t appreciate good baking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have excellent taste buds,\u201d Derek argued. \u201cWhich is why I can tell you used too much sugar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI used the exact right amount of sugar,\u201d Kiara said, her voice getting louder. \u201cMaybe if you actually knew how to bake instead of just criticizing other people\u2019s work you\u2019d understand that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek opened his mouth to respond but Kiara just raised her eyebrows at him, daring him to continue. He closed his mouth and looked away and I realized with amazement that she\u2019d actually won the argument.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never seen anyone make Derek back down before. It was fascinating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After an hour, Derek announced he needed to go check on something at the racing center. He was halfway to the door when Leah got\u00a0<\/p>\n
an idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere exactly are you heading to?\u201d Leah asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNorth Crest, why?\u201d Derek responded with a questioning look.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKiara,\u201d Leah called out to her friend. \u201cAren\u2019t you heading that direction too?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nearly choked on my food. Tristan\u2019s hand tightened on my thigh and when I looked at him he was giving me a knowing look that\u00a0<\/p>\n
made me smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiara was looking at Leah with suspicion. \u201cMaybe, why?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek could give you a ride,\u201d Leah suggested innocently, though we both knew there was nothing innocent about it. \u201cSave you the\u00a0<\/p>\n
walk.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need a ride,\u201d Kiara said quickly. \u201cI\u2019m fine walking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have time to chauffeur people around,\u201d Derek said at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:02 Wed, Jan 14 d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 231\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Leah smiled at both of them. \u201cCome on Derek, it\u2019s on your way and Kiara it\u2019s like three miles, that\u2019s a long walk.*\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI like walking,\u201d Kiara insisted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u178c\u00a0<\/p>\n
*Suit yourself, Derek said, shrugging. Then he paused at the door and looked back at her. \u201cThough I suppose if you\u2019re too scared to ride with me that\u2019s understandable, some people are intimidated by fast cars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiara\u2019s eyes narrowed. \u201cI\u2019m not scared of anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen prove it,\u201d Derek said and there was a challenge in his voice. \u201cUnless you\u2019re too chicken to handle a little speed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFine,\u201d Kiara snapped, grabbing her bag. \u201cBut only because I don\u2019t want to walk, not because you challenged me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you need to tell yourself,\u201d Derek said, smirking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They left together still bickering and I couldn\u2019t stop smiling. There was definitely something there even if neither of them wanted to\u00a0<\/p>\n
admit it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The party continued for another hour with people eating and talking and celebrating. Tristan\u2019s hand never left my body, moving from my thigh to my waist to my shoulder, like he needed to keep touching me to make sure I was real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every time his fingers brushed my skin I felt electricity shoot through me and I had to resist the urge to turn and kiss him right there\u00a0<\/p>\n
in front of everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eventually people started to leave. Leah and the other women hugged me goodbye and made me promise to come back to training\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally it was just me, Tristan, Orion and Sarah in the apartment. Orion and Sarah started cleaning up while Tristan and I stayed on the couch. I wanted to join but Sarah insisted on doing it herself. Lily and Liam had eventually fallen asleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I said quietly, leaning into Tristan\u2019s side. \u201cFor all of this, for everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to thank me,\u201d he said, and his voice was low and rough in a way that made my stomach flip. \u201cYou deserve to be\u00a0<\/p>\n
celebrated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 231 94\u00a0 His hand rested on my thigh, warm and possessive and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}