Love Happens

33. "You're very pretty. Just in case you didn't know."

"Aphrodite really likes you."

An unfamiliar voice sounded and I turned around to see a middle aged woman with dark blonde roots and warm eyes watching me. She couldn't be older than thirty five, and she was incredibly pretty for her age. She was dressed in the most gorgeous dress though, the sort of dress you would wear to a red carpet premier. My eyes widened and I immediately got to my feet. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I-"

"No, no, honey, it's okay," she laughed, shaking her head. "I'm Grace- Cage and Alexa's aunt."

Oh my god. She was his aunt?! She was stunning, and clearly, good looks were a part of his family. I ran a hand nervously through my hair as I looked at her admiringly. Her figure was goals, her face was goals and everything around her screamed class. She had extremely kind eyes though and a warm smile.

"I'm Kirstin Dawson, or Kit," I shook her hand, slightly flustered and very intimidated. She frowned slightly, tilting her head slightly as she looked at me. "Did you say Dawson? Are you in anyway related to Derek and Brooke Dawson?"

"Uh, yes. I'm their daughter," I said, confused and her eyes widened. "Wow, seriously?! That's wonderful! I've met them on several business occasions, and I actually have a dinner meeting with your father next week. They're such lovely people."

I laughed. "I guess, thank you!"

"How do you know Cage, anyway?" Grace asked me, and I could see amusement in her eyes as I faltered for an answer. "I met him at the trip," I finally answered. Her eyes suddenly lit up in realization and her smile widened.

"Oh! Right! It's you!" she laughed, squeezing my arm. "How did I not realize?"

Before I could even respond, she glanced at her watch. "Ah, shoot, I didn't even look at the time," she muttered before looking at me apologetically. "I'd love to keep talking to you, Kirstin, but I've got this dinner meeting to run to. It was absolutely amazing to meet you, and I'm definitely going to tell your father how lucky he is to have such a gorgeous daughter!"

I laughed as she hugged me quickly. I watched her give Aphrodite a couple of kisses before Grace called out, "Cage and Alexa! Darlings, I'm leaving! Love you!"

"Love you too!" came Alexa's response as she rushed back into the room we were in, giving her Aunt a hug. "Bye, Grace," came another voice which sent jolts down my spine and I looked up to see him, standing at the top of the stairs.

And wow, didn't he look gorgeous. His hair was disheveled and he was wearing a white sweatshirt along with a pair of jeans. He looked so indie and hot and I bit my lip, staring at him. His gaze fell on me and his lips curled into a smirk, and I felt butterflies erupt in my chest.

Grace blew him a kiss, before she rushed out of the front door. Alexa turned to us as the door closed, picking Aphrodite into her arms and smirking. "Alrighty then, I'll be in my room if you need me," she gave her brother a look, before disappearing into this mansion of a house.

And then, it was only me and him. He came down the staircase slowly, the smirk still on his lips. "Hey, you."

"Hi," I breathed out, nervously. "Your house is... your family is whoah."

He laughed at my reaction. "You talked to my aunt and sister, didn't you? I bet they loved you."

"No, I love them!" I gushed, suddenly excited as he neared me. "And this house, oh my god. And you never told me that you had a dog! And, can we just talk about how gorgeous that clock is over there? And that staircase, oh my god-"

"Okay, okay," Cage began to laugh, taking my hands into his as I broke off into my excited rambling. "I get it. You're excited."

I just looked around at everything in awe, ignoring the sparks that shot up my wrists when he touched me, not able to look into his eyes. "Everything is just so wow in here. I'm very impressed."

"Good," he smirked. "But you just saw the living room. There is so much house left for you to see."

"Yay, a house tour!" I squealed. He gave me a flat look. "I didn't call you over to my house so I could show off my furniture, Kit. You can explore the place later. Besides, if we get married, our house would look way better than this."

My head flew up at his words and I gave him a disbelieving look, my cheeks flaring and he ignores it, pretending like it's the most casual thing ever. "This house is mine, it's in my parents' will. Alexa gets my parent's beach house in Massachusetts, and I get this," he says, as he leads me up the staircase. He's still holding my hand like I'm a four year old that would probably get lost. I don't mind though. Obviously.

"You never told me you were rich," I shook my head at everything around me. There are gorgeous photographs and paintings hung up on the wall as we ascended the staircase and I paused by a family photo.

Cage was hot even as a thirteen year old, I hated to admit it. It's a picture of his family, standing by the very staircase we just climbed up on and there's a pang in my heart as I looked at it.

The entire family was sitting on the steps of the stairs, laughing. I focused on younger Cage who was holding a younger version of Alexa. Next to them, was a really pretty teenager with long brown hair and the same features that Cage's family shared. She was probably their older sister. Cage's parents along with Grace were all laughing at something and all of them were absolutely gorgeous.

Cage gave me a smile when he realized what I was looking at, and he sighed a little. "That's Flora, my older sister. She's five years older than me. That's mom, dad, Grace and Alexa."

"They're all so beautiful," I murmured, running my finger over the picture, and I felt Cage's hold on my wrist tighten. I turned to look at him and a pang ran through my body when I saw the way he was looking at me. His gaze was so incredibly intense.

"That's not the first thing people say when they look at this picture," he said slowly, looking at me in that same way. "They usually tell me how sorry they are, but... for the first time, you didn't make me feel like shit."

I realized he was standing too close then, and the space between us was barely recognizable. I let a breath out and he sees this, swallowing hard when his gaze fell to my lips. And just as fast the moment was, it's over. We both were equally flustered as he took a step back.

"Anyway, yeah. Thanks," he nodded, before turning. "Let's go to my room. My jersey's in there."

He walks down the hallway and towards a door and I hurry after him. He opened the door, and I nervously followed him. His room was just like I expected it to be- boyyish, messy and blue. Papers scattered his desk along with a silver iMac. There were a few dirty clothes kicked to the side and on there were multiple photographs and fliers stuck up on his walls. His room was pretty spacious though and his bed looked extremely comfy and I was tempted to jump on it. I pinched myself, reminding myself to not act weird and I sat down at the corner of his bed.

Cage reached into his closet and pulled out a blue jersey which had the number sixteen and LOREN printed at the back of it. He handed it to me and it was soft in my hands and smelled like him and I was immediately in love with it.

"It's clean, don't worry," he laughed and I held it close to my cheek. "It smells good."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Cage grinned, that adorable dimple appearing in his cheek. He sat at the chair by his desk, watching me. There was a comfortable silence as we looked at each other.

"So," he said.

"So."

"You're very pretty," he said slowly, tilting his head to the side, wearing the same adorable smile. "Just in case you didn't know."

And there again, my heart went and did the flip flop thing in my chest. I flushed, staring at my feet. "You are too."

"I'm pretty?" Cage laughed. "Is that a good thing?"

"Believe me, there's no higher compliment than a girl telling you that you're pretty," I said, looking around his room. "You should be flattered."

And he just laughed.

-x-