Contract Marriage with My CEO Boss (Kylan and Katrina)

Kylan was quiet for a while, his hand clenching around hers a bit harder than before. She didn't push him to speak. If he wanted to, he would. If he didn't, she would respect that

"Marseille. It's a port city. She lived there until she was nearly an adult but didn't want to end up there. She always longed for the states, from the tone she was just a girl. She often talked about how she felt like the ocean would look different from here." Kylan spoke softly, timidly, and he kept his eyes on the sand they walked over She willed the surprise to stay off her face, her heart rate increasing senfold. Kylan was talking about his mother, something she never thought he would do like this. She suddenly wanted nothing more than for him to feel both comfortable and safe while talking to her. With the thumb that closed around his hand, she began to draw gentle circles into his palm, recalling how it seemed to subdue him the other times she had done it. She noticed his shoulders seemed to fall slightly, and she continued the motions on his hand. I can imagine how much she loved Rhode Island, then she mused quietly.

The faintest smile graced Kylan's lips, and she watched as he seemed to be called far away again, though his hand remained in hers. "She clad love at 1 didn't. We didn't have much My father, for only the base sake of the word, abandoned my mother when she became pregnant with me. She was young. far too young to be bringing a child into the world, realistically. She was seventeen when she got pregnant with me, and only eighteen when she gave birth." He took a deep breath, seeming to fold in on himself slightly. She only held his hand tighter, continuing to circle her thumb overPlease check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

his skin

"That must have been unbearably difficult for her. I can't imagine the fear and uncertainty she was probably feeling. Her voice was a mere whisper floating over the sounds of the nearby ocean

It was difficult for her, yeah. She tried to hold down several different jobs. She even attempted college a few times. But ultimately, she found what worked. What sold. She was never the same after all of that, not as I grew up watching her lose more bits and pieces of what made her the mother I knew. I'll never forgive myself for not being able to protect her from that world." Kylan's voice became strained the more he spoke, his grip on her hand becoming more or less a vice. Her heart seized in her chest, her face falling as she stared at Kylan. He looked broken, for lack of a better word. She vaguely ever openly talked about his mother like this with anyone.

Kylan

wondered if Kylan had

lan you can't blame yourself for the choices she made. You were a child. A child who didn't understand the ways of the world, or why she chose to do what she did. But I can almost guarantee that she only did what she felt she had to, in order to keep you alive and fed." She stopped walking, instead facing Kylan now. He wouldn't look at her, but he didn't need to. That's not what she was expecting of him.

Instead, she dropped her shoes and held his face in both of her hands, brushing her thumbs along his wind-kissed cheeks. "Rylan, give yourself enough grace to recognize your place in your mother's story." She leaned up on the tips of her toes, placing a chaste kiss in the center of his

Kylan sucked in a breath of air, and she heard it caught in his throat, Suddenly, his arms were around her and he was holding her closer than he ever had. His hands gripped the back of her coat, and his forehead pressed against hers.

The desire to help him feel safe overwhelmed her. Kylan didn't look like he could handle much more of the current conversation, and she recognized that perhaps before he did..

"Thank you for a beautiful day. Kylan. I had a wonderful time with you." She smiled at him, her hands still holding either side of his face.

Rylan looked into her eyes, his grey orbs once again swimming with things she didn't think he knew how to say aloud. But she watched as they softened a fraction while he looked at her. "We should go eat dinner and get to bed," he murmured. She nodded her head against his. "Absolusely, Let's go." She stepped back from Kylan, bending down and picking up her shoes and socks, brushing the sand away from them absently.

The walk back to the car was spent in silence, but it wasn't lost on her the way Rylan's own thumb began to trace circles against her skin.

-0-0-0-

After dinner and a shower, she sat in front of the roaring fire in her suite, nursing a cup of hot chocolate that Kylan had already scoffed at more than once. He sat in the armchair adjacent to hers, a cup of tea in his own hands.

He had showered after she, a fresh pair of black sweatpants resting on his hips, his shirt long forgotten. He was back to wearing his glasses, the lenses coming to life in the light of the fire,

"Kylan, plenty of people drink hot chocolate," she reminded him yet agam

"It's a joke of al

a beverage. Tea is relined and sophisticated. Hot

Hot chocolate is for children. Kylan also said y

She rolled her eyes, just as she had each time she repeated this cycle with him. She stood up from her chair, ensuring her nightgown didn't ride upi Too much as she did. She was also wearing a rube though, which was good because she suddenly felt foolish for parking something so intimate to wear to sleep.

"Are you coming to bed?" she asked Rylan, setting her empty mug on the coffee table near the fire.

11 be in soon," Kylan told her glancing down at his phone, his fringe nearly falling in his eyes.

She sighed, realizing she was staring at him again. Her eyes fell on his tatton and her heart softened, remembering how he spoke of his mother. If the tattoo was indeed a mural for her, it was an elegant one. "Goodnight, Kylan"

She smiled at him and then walked into the bedroom, discarding her robe off to the side of the room, along with several of the useless throw pillows. She crawled under the duvet and then plugged in her phone to charge for the night. She turned off the lamp and then closed her eyes, exhaustion catching up to her and sleep finding her easily.