Fuck, when she rode me. When she took control like that, it was like I was in some kind of a dream. All I could think about was how confident she was becoming, growing into the perfection of our relationship.
But now it might implode.
“They’re talking about us,” I say quietly, my voice gruff. “It’s smart.”
“Smart?”
“If they want to try and talk us out of this, they can present a united front.”
She strokes her fingers through her hair, making me want to do the same, but to apply a bit more carnal pressure to make her feel how badly I need to take her, hard and fast and deep, the way she was made to be taken.
“That’s the thing.” She laughs hollowly, glancing at me with a softness in her eyes. “I don’t think it’s possible to talk me out of this.”
“Me neither,” I growl. “Nothing could make me stop wanting you.”
“So what happens if they say we have to stop?”
I turn to the city, studying the horizon. “I don’t know.”
She spins on me, raising her hands like she’s going to grab onto my arm. I feel the need burning through her, coming off of her in shimmering waves, calling out to the primal parts inside of me.
“Do you have any idea how badly I want you right now?” she whispers.
I smirk down at her, a chord of belonging moving through me. She never would have said something so forward even this time yesterday, but her sassiness has flowered into her personality – at least when she’s being all sexy and hot for me – with primal speed.
The same way the animal thundered into me when I needed it.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No,” I growl. “I know exactly how you feel. We haven’t had a chance to hold each other since it happened.”
“You went crazy,” she murmurs. “I never knew you could move so fast.”
“I had to protect you.” I squeeze down on the railing. “I had to protect Natalie, your mom… but most of all you. The way he spoke to you, degraded you, I had to make him pay. It wasn’t a choice. It was instinct, the same instinct that’s going to drive me every day for the rest of our lives because I…”
“Dad.”
I love you, Kelly.
The words fade on my lips – but never in my heart – as I turn to find Natalie and Angela standing at the door. Natalia has tied her hair up, her eyes narrowed perceptively. Pride whelms in me as it always does when she looks so capable, so ready to face the world.
“Shall we sit down?” she says.
“Sure.”
The four of us sit around my oak table, sitting on the correct sides this time. I remember the look I shared with my sweet Kelly when we realized our mistake at the diner, back before everything turned to mayhem.
Angela and Natalie look at each other like comrades, and I realize they must be far closer than I realized. But then, that makes sense. Natalie spent a lot of time over at Kelly’s when she was a kid. I never paid much attention to it, always focused on my career, my fighting… as long as Natalie was happy, healthy, and doing well, I never bothered with the minutia.
But my woman has shown me that personal connections aren’t the minutia.
They’re the whole thing.
I just hope that isn’t taken away before I get the chance to fully explore these passages my woman has opened up inside of me.
“We need to know how long this has been going on,” Natalie says, gripping her hands together. Emotion tries to take hold of her voice, but she powers through. “How long have you been sneaking around behind our backs…”
“Nat, this started at that photoshoot thing you got me,” Kelly responds.
“What?” Natalie gasps. “That was yesterday.”
“Yes.” I nod. “We’re still coming to terms with that too.”
“Wait a second.” Angela grips the table as though she thinks she’s going to go flying away, looking at her daughter and then me. “This – the way you two are looking at each other – started yesterday.”
I thought I was doing a good job at hiding the irrepressible love that moves through me every time I so much as glance at my woman, and I thought she was doing a good job at masking hers too. But clearly not.
We’re sending unmistakable signals with our smallest glances.
“Yes,” I growl, and my woman exclaims at the same time.
Our eyes meet. She grins and I smirk.
Then we remember where we are and let our expressions fade.
“Don’t you see?” I say, my voice getting fast with excitement. “This is fate. I didn’t want to say it before, but what are the chances Russ would get me tickets to that photography dating thing at the same time you got them for Kelly? What are the chances we’d be matched together?”
“Swear,” Natalie says, looking at Kelly, eyes firm.
“I swear, Nat,” Kelly says passionately. “It was a coincidence, a beautiful, happy coincidence.”
“But look at you both,” Angela says, shaking her head slowly. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to recreate emotion in my work. I’ve learned to read people. At least, I like to think I have. I suppose what happened with Lennie isn’t the best example…”
“It’s okay, Mom.” Kelly reaches across and touches her mother’s hand. “What were you going to say?”
My chest warms at the kindness in her voice, the way she’s so willing to put herself forward and make her mom feel better like that. I can imagine her using the same sweet consoling encouraging tone of voice with our children… with the child, I already know is growing inside her womb right now.
“You both look close, very close. And I know you, Kelly. I can read you, at the very least. I’ve never seen you so happy,” Angela says.
“Yeah,” Natalie murmurs, narrowing her eyes at me. “This seems real to me too. But that’s why it’s so difficult to believe it’s only been a day.”
“When you know,” I growl, “you know.”
“I’ve heard you mention a lady before,” Natalie murmurs. “You used to say she was the woman of your dreams. She was out there waiting for you. You’d know her when you saw her, you used to say.”
“Where did you hear that?” I ask confused.
I was always careful to keep that talk away from Natalie. I didn’t want her to think poorly of her mother, even if her mom ran out on her and fell into drug addiction.
“When you were on the phone with Russ when I was a kid. I heard it a couple of times. I’m sorry, Dad, for eavesdropping. But right now we’ve got bigger stuff to worry about.”
I smirk at her tone, so glad she’s able to put herself forward with so much confidence. I know it’s going to help her in the future when she needs to assert herself to get ahead in life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Yes, I think we do,” I respond.
“So?” she says. “Is that what happened?”
“Yes,” I say firmly. “I didn’t even recognize her at first. She even…”
I turn to her, chuckling. “Go on, tell them what you do.”
She blushes, but the corners of her lips twitch adorably into a half-smile. “I was so freaking nervous, and it happened so fast… the connection was instant. So I gave him a fake name. I didn’t want to ruin it. It was selfish, I know. But I was so happy.”
“When I found out who she was, I left. I tried to push her from my mind. But it was impossible. I had to see her again. That was it, walking into the photography studio, the moment I’d always dreamed about. But I’d accepted a long time ago it wasn’t going to happen. I’d made my peace with it.”
“So when you fell for her, you didn’t even know she was my best friend?” Natalia asks.
“No,” I say. “But I did after I was a picture of you two together. Afterward, I went looking for her at her apartment. We went behind your back, Natalie. And I’m so for that, so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Kelly says, a sob trying to enter her
voice. “We never should’ve lied to you, Nat. It was wrong. We should’ve told you the truth the moment we left that studio.”
“So what is this?” Natalia asks. “A fling, something casual, what?”
Angela shakes her head. “No, look at them. This is more.”
“I want to be with Kelly for the rest of our lives,” I growl without a hint of doubt in my voice. “I can’t imagine being with anybody else. And I can’t stand the idea of anybody else being with her. We’re going to—”
“Start a family together,” Kelly picks up, her voice shivering with excitement. “If you will both give us your blessing, say you’re okay with this, we’re going to be together, really be together, as—”
“As life partners,” I pick up.
And then we whisper, as one voice, “Together.”
She glances at me with a quirk of a warm smile, her lips shifting for a moment before settling into a flat line as she turns back to Natalie and Angela.
“Unless you hate us?” she whispers. “In which case… I don’t know.”
“What would you say if I told you no?” Natalie says, staring at one of us and then the other. She focuses on me. “Dad? What would you do?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, voice gruff. “I guess I haven’t let myself think about that. I can’t let those sorts of negative thoughts in.”
“I don’t think you’d be able to break things off,” Natalie murmurs. “I don’t think either of you would be able to.”
I want to roar out that she’s wrong, I’d always put my daughter first before everything. But when I enter this new landscape of my mind – the new land my woman has built since we first laid eyes on each other in the studio – I know I wouldn’t be able to live without my Sassy.
“Little gnat…”
She holds up her hand. “I need to say something.”
I feel my woman tense beside me, as she gets ready to hear the news that is going to shatter our world.
I imagine the scene erupting, Natalie storming from the table, Kelly with tears in her eyes gazing at me miserably when I ask her if she still wants to make this work.
How can we? I imagine her saying. Natalie hates us. Oh, God, why did we give in to this desire?
I let my words die on my lips, as terror rises through me and tries to grip me, compressing my chest and making me wish there was somebody to fight, somewhere to aim all this emotion inside me towards.
“Obviously this is very strange and surprising for me,” she says. “But the thing is, neither of you has ever lied to me before. And all of this happened so quickly, I don’t think you even had a chance to lie to me about it. You could’ve told me straight away, the moment you knew there was something here, but it was so fast. If you’re not lying to me about how quickly this happened…”
“I swear we’re not,” I snarl.
“No way, Nat,” Kelly says passionately. “I promise. Everything we’ve told you is the truth.”
I want to reach over and lay my hand atop hers, squeeze supportively so she can feel how thankful I am to her for backing me up in this, the way I’m going to back her up every day for the rest of our lives, supporting and protecting our family.
Forever.
“Then it’s difficult for me to be angry,” Natalie goes on, a smile touching her lips. “Like I said, it’ll take some getting used to. But I can see how happy you two are together. It’s difficult not to see.”
“You’ve got that right.” Angela smiles and laughs. “As for me, I’m a writer. As long as you’re both happy and committed, I see no problem with it. Writers are unconventional by nature.”
“So what’re you saying?” Kelly murmurs, voicing the question that burns within both of our chests.
“I’m saying I’m happy for you.” Natalie lets her smile go now, spreading joyfully across her face. I can see that she means what she’s saying, the assuredness I’ve been able to read in her since she was a little kid. “If this is what it looks like—”
“It is,” I growl.
“It really is,” Kelly murmurs.
“Then I think you’ve both found the perfect person for you. I’ve never seen either of you like this before.”
“Oh, Nat…”
Kelly bursts into tears and moves around the edge of the table. Natalie stands up and the two friends hug each other tightly. I smile over the scene, nodding in respect to Kelly’s mother.
“I promise to always take care of your daughter,” I say. “And, actually, I’d like to have a little talk in private if that’s okay…”
Angela narrows her eyes at me and then smiles when she catches my meaning. She really is smart, and happiness moves through me when I think about our children having such a perceptive grandmother… Lennie wasn’t her fault.
Lennie was Lennie’s fault.
“I think that should be fine,” she says, standing.
Kelly turns to me, smiling through her tears of joy. “What are you up to?”
I smirk, taking in the sight of Natalie’s smile, feeling the flow of her love and support. “You wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would you?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kelly
I wake in silk sheets, still sore from the way Kaleb and I unleashed on each other last night. But it’s a good soreness, moving through me in a way that tells me I’m right where I belong.
After the emotion-heavy scene on the balcony, Natalie and Mom went home – with lots of tears and hugs and assurances they mean it, they really support us – and Kaleb and I fell into bed.
The passion of last night’s events – the fear and pride of seeing him become Animal to defend us – pushes us into a carnal whirlwind. We tore into each other as though we were both animals, writhing nakedly together to a shared climax.
I roll over and claw across the sheets, eyes still closed, early-morning sunlight glowing red against my eyelids. But Kaleb isn’t there.
I open my eyes.
He stands at the edge of the bed, already in a silver suit. His bright blue eyes gaze down at me, holding me in place as he casually adjusts his cufflink. He expands in his suit, all of his muscles honed, his cheeks firm as he smirks over at me, freshly shaven.
“Are you going somewhere?” I ask sleepily.
“No,” he growls. “We’re going somewhere. Get dressed.”
“Where are we going?”
I sit up, yawning and stretching.
Kaleb’s eyes move over my bare breasts, his jaw tightening as he bites down. I’ll admit, part of me is moving like this on purpose, drawing his attention to my features, because I freaking love it when he gets that look in his eye.
“Fuck, Sassy. Don’t distract me.”
“What?” I giggle, knowing the laughter will make my breasts bounce in the way he likes. “What am I doing?”
He grins wolfishly. “You know what the fuck you’re doing. But I mean it. We’re going someplace. Get dressed.”
“You’re being very mysterious.”
My mind goes to the moment last night when Kaleb asked Mom if they could talk alone.
My heart burns like an undying inferno, with all the potential of what that conversation could’ve held, but I can’t allow myself to fall so easily into the flames. It will only lead to disappointment if I collapse freely into what I wish was true, instead of enjoying things for how they are right now.
That’s what Kaleb does to me, the same thing I do to him.
He allows me to live in the moment.
But we both want more than a series of moments.
We want a future, a family…
I want to tell him I love him.
“Well?” he says, with a shrug. “It’s a mysterious sort of day. Get dressed, Sassy.”
I sit next to him in the car as he glides through the city. We’re in one of his sports models with the low seats, cars moving past the windshield as he casually weaves in and out of traffic.
“I want you to know I support you,” h
e growls, changing gears.
He looks so damn manly as he drives, complete confidence in his movements, fluid and composed the same way he was when he defended us in the diner.
“I know that.” I touch his arm softly. “Of course I know that.”
“I always will.” He glances at me, eyes glimmering. “For the rest of our lives. Whatever you want to do, as long as it doesn’t involve anybody else—”
“Never,” I cry, cringing at the mere thought of being with another man.
I can’t stand to even entertain the idea.
It’s always been Kaleb Keller.
“Then you’ve got my support. Always.”
“And you’ve got mine,” I murmur passionately. “You know that. Always.”
“I know.” He shifts gears, slowing down as we come to an intersection. “I want to show you something.”
“Okay, mystery man…”
He turns down a quieter street and then comes to a stop outside a small redbrick office block. He pulls into the side alleyway and a garage opens at the end of it, closing behind us when he pulls in. Lights flicker on, and I look around the garage, but it’s all just sleek metal.
“I don’t want to show you a garage.” He reaches over and prods me playfully. “Come on.”
He climbs from the car. The wing-like doors flip up automatically and I follow him, walking out of the garage and down a small hallway.
“This is what I wanted to show you.”
He opens a door and I gaze in wonder.
It’s a cozy office, with big windows at the end of it which look upon the most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen, enclosed from the street by high redbrick walls, which are covered in ivy and sprawling nature, creating a beautiful tapestry.
I walk into the office, eyes stinging as my gaze moves over the walls.
He’s had my artwork printed as canvases and hung from the walls. There’s a big desk in the middle, facing the window, with a sketching pad and a pencil.
“Is this…”
“Yours? Of course, it is.” He shifts behind me. “Turn around, Kelly.”
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