stay the night
"Chocolate or vanilla?"
"I don't do well with vanilla. My tastes are a little deranged," answered Ryle with a cocky smile, the intentions of which weren't a stranger to Cate.
She shook her head, observing the flavors in the cart. There were a total of four and Ryle wasn't craving any of them like the way he was craving a taste of Cate as her hair blew softly against the breeze under the ominous night.
"I meant the ice cream," Cate said.
"Huh...cream...Don't even remind me of cream," Ryle continued to tease as he placed a hand to rest on the cart, his arm brushing Cate's who sneaked a glance at the distance between them which was paper thin.
"There's something seriously wrong with you."
"Can't help it when you're near."
This time he managed to make her smile too, breaking her strict facade. She ordered a butterscotch for herself and then turned to Ryle.
"Which one do you want?" she asked.
'You' — that's what he stopped himself from saying, choosing more acceptable words instead. "Mint chip chocolate."
"You're lucky this one has that. All the others mostly replaced that with strawberry," Cate remarked.
The vendor worked on their orders and soon, both were holding a cone for each of their favorite flavors. The night was buzzing with the people of New York bustling along the streets but through them, Ryle found a spot upon a pavement where they both sat side by side.
Cate moaned when she licked her butterscotch, catching Ryle's attention as he watched her pink tongue lick the cream with devotion. His eyes stared, his brain forgetting the ice cream in his hand which was already starting to melt. Cate's eyes were closed like she was enjoying pure bliss. He felt his cock rising with every swipe of her tongue around the cone, the sounds of the city losing their meaning in a mix of background noises that couldn't cut off the sounds Cate made.
As if she was suddenly aware of his attention, Cate opened her eyes, snapping the brown orbs toward him.
"What?" she demanded, lips shaping into a frown.
Ryle snapped out of his mesmerized moment, blinking as he looked at his ice cream where some of the cream had melted to fall on his hand.
"Never did watching someone lick their ice cream turn me on like that," he confessed, not bothering to lie.
Cate's blush was so abrupt that she turned her head away quickly as if she didn't want him to notice it but Ryle already did. When it came to her, he never failed to notice anything. If she were a book character, she would be his favorite fantasy to imagine himself with.
"What else is there about me that turns you on?" Cate asked with a sly tone, catching a layer of dribbling cream on her tongue before it dropped.
Ryle took a lick off his minty one, the freezing sensation adding a chill to his body. Ice creams definitely tasted better in cool weather than they did during summer. Summers made it quicker for these things to melt and one had to eat them quicker. Winters allowed for proper enjoyment of the flavor.
"Hmm...hard to pick one..." Ryle hummed. "I get turned on when we're doing nothing but quarreling over a piece of paper."
"Is it some kink of yours or am I special?"
How could he tell the truth to her that she was nothing but special? If she weren't then he wouldn't be having fuzzy feelings in his chest every time she was near.
"I'd go with the latter," he chose to speak the truth again.
Cate's lips spread her smile wider which she tried to hide with the words that left her mouth. "You're weird."
"That's a compliment where I come from, babe."
"And where do you come from?"
"You really want me to answer that?"
The whites of Cate's eyes widened when she understood the innuendo. "Oh no."
"I can show you too if you want." Ryle winked at her while galloping the rest of the ice cream in the cone, allowing a brain freeze to squeeze his eyes shut for seconds while his ears blocked every tune in the universe.
Cate giggled seeing his antics. "Stop! Why are you like this?"
"You like me like this," he said when the brain freeze left and he could look at her again.
"I don't like you," Cate commented with a shrug as she licked the last of her ice cream too, taking a small bite of the crispy cone coated with chocolate syrup.
"Keep saying that to yourself. We both know you go to bed imagining me," Ryle fired back, snapping his teeth over the hard cone and making it disappear from his hand with just a few bites.
"No, I don't."
Cate continued to chew slowly while Ryle leaned back, resting an elbow on the pavement, his eyes fixed on the side of her face. The street lights made her glow with an unnatural light. Looking at her, Ryle felt like he could do anything in the world to have her love him. An admiration of this woman, who was so strong, so sure of herself, was all he needed. She was his idol in a way.
An idol he would also like to fuck, that was if given a chance.
"You don't? I should stop imagining you then," he broke the silence without letting it grow thicker.
"What do you imagine about me?" Cate questioned as she straightened and looked down at him.
"In my dreams, you're usually not speaking much. Just moaning my name."
She did moan his name. He had imagined her moaning it a thousand times before. Every time they had a fight, Ryle would go to bed fantasizing a different ending to their quarrel — one in which they ended with their limbs tangled and mouths locked with each other as their bodies rolled on the floor of the office. One in which Cate's body was soft and she didn't shy away from trailing her hands down his torso, admiring his biceps and fueling his ego which was fragile when it came to her.
She would ruin him by just denying a touch. Her kiss tonight was the rarest and most exquisite kiss of his life. Even if they ended up on different paths ahead, that kiss would be branded in his mind forever.
"Shameless," Cate taunted, throwing the tiniest leftover bit of her cone toward his face.
It went past his head and Ryle gave her a disappointed look for having missed a good shot. Cate pouted at the silent communication.
"And sometimes, you're there and we're just talking together..." he began, narrating a dream he was certain undid him the most, the one that caused an earthquake-like effect to crack the shell he lived in, secluding his ambitions. "You tell me what good stories are, I tell you why your imagination is flawed, you fight with me, mock me for being arrogant, tell me I'm a coward and then you leave...and when I wake up, I always have the inspiration to write something new. You leave hope behind."
"So you're saying I'm your muse?" Cate entwined her fingers together around her knees as she drew them to her chest, resting her cheek over them while she looked at him.
Ryle noticed the white cream that was stuck to her bottom lip.
"Babe, muses are outdated," he said. "You're who I write for. Every time I sit at my desk, I tell myself that whatever I'm writing, the only one whose opinion I would allow to indulge me is you."
"I don't believe you," Cate murmured.
"You don't have to. It's not important."
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Think that what you do isn't important," she voiced. "You know how many authors have had to climb their way up from the lowest level? It's not like everyone has the kismet where they publish one book and skyrocket. That's for the ones with their lucky stars aligned but for ordinary people like us, we have to start somewhere. If you don't take the first step, how can you cover the rest?"
Her words carried a fire that reached her eyes. That fire was what Ryle saw in her every day even when she felt drowned. That fire blazed a path to his heart, making the very presence of her something he cherished.
"Sneaky thing." He grinned. "You did read my manuscript, didn't you?"
Cate's mouth opened at that but she shut it back quickly. "You're not the only one who sneaks into my cabin."
He tilted his head, letting himself aim to sort out the pieces of the puzzle that made Cate so fascinating. If he had even the tiniest bit of courage that she did, he would have the strength of the entire world to overcome his fears.
The wind picked up the pace, slapping a few strands of her hair across her eyes which made her let out an irritated grumble. She collected her thick hair into a makeshift ponytail, her fine neck a delightful vision getting revealed when she rubbed the nape absently. When she spotted him staring, her breath seemed to catch.
His eyes met hers and he wished she could read what was in his heart without him having to speak it.
"I could kiss you right now," he blurted.
Cate's mouth formed an O. She dropped her hair back, the length of it touching the pavement with the tips.
"You shouldn't say such things," she uttered with a faint voice.
"Why not?"
"Because we're colleagues and we're competing for the same position. Your words make it sound like you're trying to sabotage me."
"Is this position that important to you that you'd doubt a friend?"
Friend. Even Ryle didn't know why he chose that word but at that moment, it felt right. They were truly becoming friends in a way. Although she was a friend who gave him a boner just by throwing a glare his way.
"You're not my friend."
"What am I then?" he retorted, pulling himself back to sit straight.
"You're my rival."
"We can change that. Let's get naked and fuck."
"Stop..." A low laugh left Cate's mouth at his offer. "You're such an ass."
Her laugh made him feel even lighter. Cate Miller laughing was a rare sight. He wished he could make it a common one.
"You've got something on your face," he informed her, leaning a little closer.
Cate dabbed a hand over her cheeks. "Where?"
"Right...here..."
Ryle lifted a thumb to the side of her lips, rubbing the cream off. He couldn't feel Cate's breath on his fingers which made him know that she had stilled. He found her gulping while his thumb remained on her lips.
The air between them turned a hundred degrees hotter. Ryle's thumb burned as Cate's skin turned hot. She was burning under his touch and he wanted to never pull his hand away. He wanted to sneak that thumb between her lips, part the bottom one before swooping his mouth down to taste her once more.
He hadn't even been able to forget her flavor. Not even ice creams would erase the mark she left on his tongue.
"We should head home," Cate spoke after brief seconds of them remaining frozen in place.
Ryle drew his hand away, regretting every second of it.
"Yeah..." He nodded. "Let me drop you."
He stood up from the pavement, forwarding a hand to her. This time she took it, her warm fingers finding shelter within his. Paloma Greens was nearby and it didn't take them long to reach it as they strode hand in hand.
The weather had kicked down a few degrees, turning colder when Ryle and Cate reached the gates of the apartment building.
"It's chilly. How are you heading home? I don't see your car," Cate asked Ryle while hugging herself from the blowing wind.
"It's gone for servicing. Will take the bus from here," he answered. "Go on. I won't leave until you're safe inside."
"You'd be safe, right? It seems like it's gonna rain," she observed, tilting her head up at the sky, and just then, the first drops of rain landed on their faces. "See?"
"Caring for your rival isn't in the Rivals 101 book, kitty Cate," Ryle chuckled.
"I'm serious, Ryle."
"I'm always serious and yet you don't believe me."
Cate appeared hesitant as she turned for the gates but she halted before opening them. She looked over her shoulder at him.
"Take care."
Concern filled her tone as a storm picked its pace slowly.
"I will."
Cate's fingers fumbled as they touched the gates. Her back stiffened when a sudden thunder cracked in the clouds. She immediately spun to face him.
"Wait...um...would you..." she sputtered while the storm made her hair fly in all directions. "Would you like to..."
"Yeah, Cate?"
"Would you like to stay the night?"
—
word count: 2177
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• author's note •
hi!
so I kind of got busy with exams and finals so I am late again
I am trying my best to commit to this now as we only have a few more chapters to go. I have reduced it to 10 chapters now so there are only four left.
hope this chapter was worth the wait
comment your thoughts please and leave a ❤ if you are excited for the next