Dedicated to mghtyRoar for adding this story to their reading list. Thank you!

Song: Jessie J + Arianna Grande + Nicki Minaj- Bang Bang

I was convinced my heart would never recover a normal, steady heartbeat as long as I kept sharing a bed with Kyle. That and I would never be early for anything. I woke up late Monday morning and hurriedly got ready for work. Kyle was in the kitchen flipping pancakes when I finally made it out of my room.

"Morning Beautiful," he said with a big smile as he piled pancakes onto a plate and handed it to me.

"What's all this?" I asked as I scrutinized the pancakes. They were actually pretty well done, surprisingly.

"Never heard of breakfast before?" he cocked an eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes at him and forked a piece of a pancake into my mouth. The pancake melted on my mouth leaving me feeling like I had just tasted a piece of heaven.

"Oh my wow!" I moaned with my eyes closed, "This is so fluffy and so good!" Kyle remained silent and I found him staring at me when I opened my eyes.

"What?" I asked him.

"I'm just making a mental note to make pancakes for you all the time so I can get a bit of that foodgasm you've got going on there," he wiggled his eyebrows at me. I tossed a serviette at him and he dodged it and poured me a glass of juice.

"I'm late enough as it is and now you're feeding me. I'm gonna get in trouble with my boss," I complained but I accepted the juice and dug into the pancakes.

"You can just tell him you had an early meeting with a client. It wouldn't be a complete lie," he said leaning back on the counter with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Mmhh," I mumbled. Kyle fixed me with a burning look that made me cross my legs involuntarily. I licked away a bit of whipped cream that was stuck on my lips from the pancakes and his look turned predatory, lust emanating from his eyes.

I gulped and stood up hastily. "I should probably get going. Thanks for breakfast," I bolted for the door and was almost halfway out when Kyle called out to me.

"You forgot your keys," he said dangling them on his finger, which meant I would have to go near him to get them back. The thought of it made me want to sink into the ground. I stood hesitantly by the door, seriously considering how hard it would be to hot wire my car.

"I promise I won't bite," Kyle teased, cutting into my deranged thoughts. I walked over to him, feigning bravery and reached out for the keys only for Kyle to lift them way above my reach.

"Really?" I asked, acting annoyed and Kyle smiled mischievously at me in response. "You're going to make me late, give me my keys." I held my hand out for the keys and he placed them in my palm, all the while looking directly into my eyes. His fingers lightly grazed the base of my hand and a thousand volts of electricity ran up my arm, coursing through every nerve. Kyle took a step closer to me and planted a kiss on the corner of my mouth bringing back all the images and feelings from last night when he did the same gesture. My eyes shut of their own accord and my heartbeat sped up.

"I'll see you later?" he asked and my eyes sprang open. He had stepped back and now stood holding my hands. I nodded and we left the apartment together then he waited for me to drive off before he headed to his own car.

***

"I feel like I've been replaced. I never see you anymore."

"I'm sorry Laura. It's been hectic lately but I promise you haven't been replaced," I reassured her over the phone as I went through some paperwork in my office.

"Hectic huh? You and Kyle been doing the dirty so much that you forgot you have a best friend?" she snickered.

"No!" I exclaimed, embarrassed.

"There's nothing wrong with it. You're two consenting adults doing a natural act of..."

"Please stop talking," I begged interrupting her mid-sentence.

She laughed and I couldn't help but smile. "On a serious note, I miss you."

"I miss you too," I replied.

"It's almost lunch time. How about you swing by the boutique and we'll grab lunch together?"

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

"And feel free to bring Kyle with you," she said.

"Hanging up now," I rolled my eyes.

"Party pooper! Bye, love you!"

"Love you," I said and hung up.

"I knew you would fall in love with me but I thought it would take more than 3 days," a voice said from my door. I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard it.

"Don't be getting excited. That was meant for Laura," I said. Kyle leaned against the doorframe looking devilishly handsome in a tight white golf-tshirt and army green pants.

"Ready for lunch?" he asked perching on a corner of my desk.

"There's this thing called a telephone. You use it to call ahead and inform people if you want to spend some time with them," I said.

"I prefer to just show up. People lie and say they have plans just to avoid you so the telephone is a waste of time."

"It's common courtesy," I argued, "Not that you'd know anything about it."

He placed a hand over his heart, dramatically. "Ouch."

"I'm going out with Laura for lunch and until you learn basic human traditions I won't be..."

'Let's talk about sex baby. Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be...'

"I really need to get rid of this ringtone," I grumbled, fishing my phone out of my bag. Kyle's name flashed at me from the screen. I looked at him bewildered.

"Basic human tradition number one, call ahead. Lesson learnt," he explained smiling cockily.

"Basic human tradition number two, learn to call early. Lesson still to be learnt." I disconnected his call and returned my phone to my bag then stood up to leave.

"Can I at least join you?" Kyle asked as I shooed him off my desk and out of the door.

"No. Strictly girl's day out today." I locked up the office and led the way downstairs.

"Okay then. May I see you later? We could have dinner or watch a movie or something," he asked hopefully.

We reached the parking lot and I got into the car and rolled down the window. Kyle leaned in, flashing me a charming smile.

"I'll think about it," I replied.

"But I asked ahead. Don't I get a reward for that?" he complained, standing back when I started the car.

"Basic human tradition number three, don't rush a lady." I winked and swung out of the parking lot, leaving him to process what had just happened.

***

Laura owned a clothing and jewellery boutique, located right in the middle of town. She enjoyed helping people find a new look or enhance their old look so that they could look their very best and be confident about it. She was very persuasive, so much that she could talk you into buying her whole store if she put her mind to it.

"Trust me Mrs Oyden, your husband won't be able to stop drooling when he sees you in this dress," Laura said to the young woman she was leading out the door.

"Oh he's 65 now, drooling is something he does on a regular," Mrs Oyden laughed. Laura gagged, obviously having imagined an old drooling man, but managed to cover it up with a cough. I stifled a laugh and waved at Mrs Oyden as she climbed into her Audi A8 sedan and drove away.

"It's been five years but I still can't get over the fact that she married a man 37 years her senior," Laura said to me as we went into C'est magnifique boutique.

"When you love someone, age really doesn't matter," I shrugged.

"But he drools Emily. Drools," she emphasised the word.

"If you keep talking about drooling, you won't be able to eat your lunch," I warned her.

"You have a point. Okay drool aside, where do you want to eat?"

"Our usual?"

"Great," Laura said and grabbed her bag. "I thought you'd show up with the mysterious Kyle."

"Why would you think that?" I asked as she gave instructions to the two girls who worked in the boutique.

"You've been spending so much time with him, I just figured you'd be together," she explained.

"Well he did show up at work to take me to lunch but I told him I had plans with you," I replied.

"Why didn't you bring him along? I wouldn't have minded getting to meet Mr Hotty," she winked at me.

I rolled my eyes at her. "We haven't seen each other in a while. I wanted us to catch up."

She eyed me suspiciously as we walked up to our favourite foodtruck. "Sure Em."

I ignored her and walked up to the friendly woman taking orders. I ordered double servings of burgers and fries and when our food was ready we sat on a bench in the park and spread the food out between us. The bench faced the city centre and gave a simple but fascinating view of people going about their business; a man walking swiftly down the street with a briefcase in hand and his red tie swinging wildly with every brisk step he took, a couple dressed up like gypsies dancing to music coming from a jukebox while a ring of spectators cheered them on and a little girl, about six years old, clutching her mother's skirt as the woman picked out some tomatoes from a stall. It was all calming in a way and I smiled happily.

"Thought's of loverboy making you grin so widely?" Laura nudged me.

"Just enjoying the view," I said, fishing out some fries from the bag and dipping them into the chilli sauce.

"How's the seven day deal going anyway?"

"Fine."

"Fine?" Laura quirked an eyebrow. "You want to play this the hard way then?" I continued eating and ignored her.

She whipped out my phone and started typing rapidly. Wait, my phone?

"How'd you get that?" I asked astonished.

"I have my ways. So are you going to tell me what I want to know or should I hit send?" She lifted the phone to my face, showing me the text she had written to Kyle.

I think I'm falling in love with you Kyle...

I snatched the phone out of her hand, switched it off and threw it in my bag. "Fine. I'll tell you everything."

"Atta girl," Laura said leaning back with a burger in her hand.

"There isn't much really. We went on a couple of dates and we've kissed once," I said trying to sound non-chalant.

"Oooh, how was it?" she asked excitedly scooting closer to me.

I couldn't help the smile on my face.

"Wow. That good huh?" Laura said.

"It felt like every touch, every kiss sparked a fire inside me and the flames grew till they consumed my whole body and I felt like I was on the verge of exploding half the time," I said.

"Oh my God, you're falling for him," Laura gaped.

"What? No. I'm just saying he's a really good kisser. Not only that, he makes me feel good about myself. I'm more confident and brave since we met and I'm actually happy," I said.

Laura shook her head. "I can tell from the way you're talking about him that he's becoming more than just a fling to you."

"Well, you're wrong," I said stubbornly.

"Em," she sighed. "I really hope for your sake that I am. I'm all for you two going bang bang all over each other and I want you to be happy but I don't want you to get heartbroken or rush into anything with Kyle if you're not ready."

"I told you before Laura, this is just an arrangement for fun. I like Kyle but I'm not in love with him and I'm not going to fall in love with him," I argued firmly.

"So just friends with benefits huh?" Laura asked.

"Something like that," I shrugged stealing some fries from her.

"Are you sure you can handle it. After everything with Craig?"

I sighed and chewed slowly on the fries. "All the horrible things Craig said to me still haunt me but Kyle makes me forget all that and just have a good time, even if it's only for a while."

"Only a while?"

I nodded. "Last night when he kissed me I wasn't thinking of anything else except how it felt to be touched by him and I'm pretty sure I would have gone so far as to sleep with him but my memory chose that moment to serve up Craig's horrid words about my bedroom prowess."

"Craig was a toad. Any guy would be lucky to be with you," Laura said balling her fists.

"Thanks love," I squeezed her hand gently and she linked her fingers with mine.

"If Kyle helps you forget then I'm glad. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise," I gave her my word.

"How's Tyler?" I asked her.

"Sweet as always," she replied beaming like she always does when she talks about her boyfriend of 7 years.

"You guys should get married already. It's long overdue," I nudged her lightly with my shoulder.

"You know how I feel about marriage."

"And I know you love Tyler enough to change your mind about it."

"Don't hold your breath," Laura snorted.

"But Laura you..." I began.

"I liked this conversation better when we were talking about you," she cut in. "So you're going to go all the way with Kyle then?"

***

I went straight to another listing that I was showing to a client, a middle-aged woman who was very friendly. We talked and laughed like old friends as I took her through three different homes I had lined up for her. By the time we were done, there were only 30 minutes left till knock off time at the office. I decided to just go straight home instead of to the office. Before I drove off from the last listing I called Tessa to check if I had any messages. When I switched on my phone I was surprised to find that there were five a bunch of texts from Kyle and a couple of voicemails.

"Cornerstone Realtors, good day," Tessa answered in her cheerful voice.

"Hie Tess, it's Emily. I won't be coming back to the office, I just wanted to check if you have any messages for me before I head home," I said.

"Emily! You're okay!" she exclaimed.

"Uhh yeah, any reason why I wouldn't be?" I asked puzzled.

"Kyle came here looking for you and yelling about your phone not going through and he kept saying you were in danger and he had to find you. He was mighty pissed when I told him I didn't know where you had gone for lunch and since your schedule changed around so much, I don't have proper records on which clients you were seeing today. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Tess. I'll call Kyle and find out what he was going on about," I said getting into my car.

"Sure thing Em. See you tomorrow!"

I dialled Kyle's number and put my phone on speaker. He answered the minute it started ringing.

"Emily?" he asked, a tone of urgency filling his voice.

"Hie," I said as I swung onto the main road leading home.

"Thank God you're okay. I've been trying to reach you all day," Kyle said breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'm okay Kyle. I heard you went by my office and pulled a major hissy fit," I joked.

He laughed weakly. "I was worried when I couldn't reach you or find you. I thought maybe Michael..." He trailed off.

I felt like a bucket of ice water was poured over me at the mention of that name. "Oh."

"Are you at home now?"

"Not yet but I'm on my way there," I replied.

"I'm driving there now. See you in a bit," he said then hung up before I could argue.

I arrived home a few minutes later and found Kyle leaning against the wall by the door of the building. He pushed off the wall when he spotted me and met me halfway, a huge smile on his face.

"Hie Beautiful," he said.

I couldn't help smiling back at him. His smile was contagious. "Hie Kyle." He took my bag and carried it as we went upstairs to my apartment despite my protests that he looked ridiculous carrying a purse.

"You know I shouldn't have let you in here. You forgot all about the basic human traditions we talked about earlier and just came here before checking if I was okay with it," I remarked when we entered my apartment.

"Who cares about tradition? I was worried about you. Wild Chihuahuas wouldn't have stopped me from coming to see if you were okay."

I laughed. "Chihuahuas don't go wild. That's impossible, they are way too cute."

"I love hearing you laugh," Kyle said quietly gazing intensely into my eyes, "It's the most beautiful sound in the world."

Butterflies ran rampant in my stomach. The intensity of his gaze and the sincerity I could hear in his voice shocked me into silence. He stepped closer to me and caressed my cheek. My eyes closed already anticipating his kiss but it never came. When I opened my eyes he was standing a few feet away from me. I ignored the pang I felt and busied myself on my phone so he wouldn't see my disappointment.

"Are you staying for supper?" I asked him

"I would love too. Maybe we can watch PLL some more."

My mind immediately served up the memory of us kissing on my bed and I had to sit down and cross my legs to keep myself from doing something drastic like jumping him.

"Em?" Kyle waved his hands in front of me. I had spaced out and not replied him.

"Sorry. I'll go setup the DVD in my room," I said standing up.

"I was thinking maybe we should watch it in the lounge instead of in there," Kyle said shifting from one foot to another and rubbing the back of his neck.

For the second time today, I felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over my head. He didn't kiss me and now he didn't even want to be in bed with me. Craig must have been right about me. Nothing I do in bed, even just making out, entices a man. And now Kyle was avoiding having to touch me.

"Maybe you should just go instead," I said a tad bit angrily.

Kyle's eyes widened in surprise. "What, why?"

"I know you are trying to be polite that I'm terrible at making out and you're trying to avoid being in a position where we do it again and I get that but maybe..."

"Em," he interrupted me. "What are you talking about? Where is this coming from?"

"You pulled away from kissing me and now you don't even want to share a bed with me. Afraid that there'll be a repeat of last night's terrible make-out session?"

He shook his head and came close to me again, taking my hands in his. I was tempted to wrench them out of his hold but I stayed put.

"You're letting your ex inside your head again and his messing with you Em. The only reason I pulled away from kissing you and asked that we avoid sharing a bed is because I'm trying really hard to control myself because if I kiss you again, I won't be able to stop and I don't want to rush you into anything you're not ready for."

My heart fluttered at his words. I pushed all the negative thoughts away and decided to be brave and forget all the negativity.

"Maybe I don't want you to stop," I said in the most seductive voice I could manage. I pulled his head down, crashing his lips to mine before I could lose the little bravery I had gained.

***

Bang bang into the room,

I know you want it.

Bang bang all over you,

I let you have it.

Haha, sorry I couldn't help it. That song just got into my head when I wrote the last scene (I think I'll add it to the media box haha).

It's been so long, I'm so sorry I've been AWOL, it's been crazy hectic and it took me forever to write this chapter (mostly because I could only get like a word or two in a day. School is brutal I kid you not!) But its three times longer than my usual so maybe you'll forgive me :D

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Till next time!