I had my client call tomorrow morning, and I needed to bring my A-game, but the only thing that occupied my thoughts was her. This was my last meeting with Tiggins Corp, and it included their CEO. This was it, so I should’ve let her walk out the door and called her tomorrow.
But somehow I knew I’d sleep better in my bed with her in it.
This woman had walked into my life with a simple solution to help her get the other man. Yet, she was the ultimate solution to mine, and I didn’t even know it. My parents had been married for almost thirty years, and when I was ten, my father had told me that when he’d met my mother, he’d known she was the one. I hadn’t understood him before, but now I did.
When they said opposites attract, wasn’t it the truth? I’d never felt an undeniable connection with anyone else, an attraction so strong there was no way I was walking away from her.
I splashed water on my face and stared at my reflection. How the hell did I get myself into these situations? For once, why couldn’t this work in my favor?
But as I asked myself these questions, I knew the answer. The problems weren’t mine. They were hers. Her old pains, her old insecurities, kept this hidden barrier and chains against her heart.
I could see the torment in her eyes. I sensed the internal struggle she was going through in her actions. What she said versus how she acted was a constant battle. One minute, she was sighing into my shoulder, relaxing against my hold, and the next, she was denying me, not wanting to sleep over.
It didn’t matter though, because I knew myself. I’d fight to banish her insecurities, be her safe haven and squash her fears.
Before I could think any further, I rushed out of the bathroom, afraid my girl had left.
My girl.
I was already claiming her, and she didn’t even know it, but I couldn’t help it. My heart belonged to her now. We were forever linked.
When I stepped out, I exhaled a low sigh of relief that Kendy hadn’t left. She was out of bed, though, and dressed in her jean shorts and red, white, and blue tank. She was crazy beautiful, just as she’d been this evening.
My eyes traveled the length of her legs, and I had the strongest urge to drag her back to bed. Her eyes flickered to mine for a second then moved to her purse on the ground, but not before I sensed the hesitation, the fear in them.
Almost as if she had to keep busy, she picked it up and began rummaging through her belongings. “Thanks for taking me to the fireworks.” Her voice sounded shaky. Not a good sign.
“Kendy,” I said gently, approaching her slowly so I wouldn’t spook her.
I reached for her waist, and then brushed her hair away from her face. I peered down at her, our eyes locking. My insides softened as I saw some of that hesitation melt away, and then I bent down to kiss her. Again she didn’t stop me. I told her with my lips how much I wanted her to stay the night. My true feelings and emotions rushed to the surface, and I savored her with such passion that she turned liquid beneath me.
She was the first to pull back. She blinked a couple of times as confusion crossed her face, and something else. It was an emotion I was familiar with, an intense look of longing, and it gave me a tinge of hope that she felt as deeply as I did.
I didn’t give her another chance to deny me. I cupped the side of her face. “Stay,” I whispered urgently. When she didn’t protest, hope bloomed in my chest, and I brought her closer by the nape of her neck. “Stay,” I whispered again.
When I caressed her lips with my tongue, she didn’t open at first, but then I flicked my tongue against her. “I need you,” I told her. I didn’t give her a chance to respond.
Tonight, I would do anything to keep her here. I didn’t want her to walk out that door, not again. We’d played this game long enough. I was done with the game, done with FTFing, or whatever the hell she thought we were still doing. I was over it, and if making love would keep her here, I’d happily oblige . . . all night long.
There was no way I was letting her leave, not without a fight. Tonight, I wasn’t taking no for an answer, not when I knew I had fallen hopelessly in love with this woman.
She moaned into my mouth as her hands moved, urgent and aggressive, over the front of my boxers. We broke contact just enough for her to reach for the waistband of my boxers, but I lifted her hands and brought them to my lips. Kissing her delicate fingers, I stared down at her. I wanted to savor and cherish every inch of her body. Tonight, I’d take things slow, make love to her the way she deserved.
I cupped the back of her shorts and picked her up as she wrapped her legs around my waist. When I pushed her against my hardness, she dropped her head back, and my tongue found the tender spot below her ear that drove her mad. This was her spot, the one that got her panties wet just from one flick of my tongue.
As many times as I’d been inside her, I’d memorized every inch of her. I knew the tender spot on the inner part of her thigh, how to make her moan and, even better, how to make her scream louder.
If her body was a road map, I could trace every birthmark, every freckle, and every part of her body that drove her over the edge.
Her feet touched the ground, her tender eyes locked with mine. Bending down, I lifted her behind her knees, carrying her like we were crossing some sort of threshold, and maybe we were. Maybe this was some monumental shift in our relationship. Either way, I knew there was no way she was leaving tonight because I wasn’t letting her go.
***
I jolted up from my peaceful state of sleep when I heard a scream. It was Kendy. She was lying beside me, thrashing around, blonde hair matted to her face. And then she stopped.
I leaned in, listening to her tiny mumbles to see if I could decipher something . . . anything. There was only one word I could make out.
“No.”
She spoke so softly. It was barely above a whisper, but she repeated that one word over and over. Her face was distorted and her eyebrows pulled together as though she was in pain.
When she started to whimper, I moved up to my knees. It was like taking a punch in the gut over and over again, watching her struggle. But then I noticed that her cheeks were wet from tears, and any indecision on whether or not to wake her up flew out the window.
Her tears were my undoing.
I shook her gently. “Kendy . . . Kendy . . .” I pulled her to my chest, wiping away the wetness on her cheeks.
Finally, her eyes flew open and she reeled back, throwing herself up against the headboard. The action was so abrupt, my eyes widened. Her limbs shook as her face flashed with fear then confusion.
I raised my hands like I was approaching a scared animal. “It’s me. Brian.” Of course she knew it was me, but I’d just woken her from her nightmare, and she seemed disoriented.
The next minute, she rushed toward me and started wailing into my chest.
Listening to her cries was like tiny knives shooting straight through my heart.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, smoothing a hand down her back. “It’s okay, baby; it’s okay. I’ve got you.” I tucked her under my chin and she curled in, unresisting.
I didn’t know what had frightened her. All I knew was that I wanted to fucking jump back into her nightmare and beat the boogie man to a pulp.
I rocked her as she cried in my lap. I’d never felt so helpless, wanting to do something, but not knowing what she had dreamt about.
She wouldn’t talk, so I didn’t know what I could do or say. I just comforted her the best I could and rocked her within the confines of my arms as my insides contracted at her uncontrollable sobs.
When her cries died down, she pushed at my chest, and I loosened my hold. She wiped the tears from her face with the bottom of my oversized T-shirt, that she was wearing.
Pulling her knees under my shirt, she backed up against the headboard again. I knew in my gut what her nightmare had been about. There was no confirmation, but my gut was never wrong. Whatever this was, I was certain it had something to do with her ex-boyfriend.