by L. A. Casey
I’d never forget it.
I nodded, my breathing turning rapid.
“All of those things I listed back then have multiplied by a thousand now,” he said and smiled down at me. “You’re perfect, Laney Baby. Simply perfect.”
My voice was tight with emotion, but I refused to cry.
“Take me,” I pleaded. “Right now.”
Kale’s eyes flashed with fire as he reached down and pulled me into a sitting position. In the space of a few seconds, he rid me of my jumper, T-shirt and bra, throwing them God knows where. I lay back and fisted the sheets around me as he kissed his way down my stomach and used his teeth to pop the button on my jeans.
“Oh, God,” I breathed when he lowered my zipper and I felt his hot breath on my skin.
My boots, jeans and socks were next to go. Kale gripped the hem of my underwear and slowly inched it down until I almost screamed at him to tear it from my body.
“Please,” I panted.
He flung my underwear over his shoulder and brought his mouth down to my centre and inhaled. His hands gripped my thighs and he groaned.
“Fuck,” he said, his voice strangled. “You smell better than I remember.”
Crimson. That was the colour I was certain my face and neck were.
“Kale,” I pleaded. “Inside me. Now.”
“What if I want to take my time with you?” he asked, his voice low and husky.
I whimpered. “I’ll fucking die, that’s what.”
I screamed when Kale suddenly buried his face between my thighs and flattened his tongue against me, lapping at me like I was his favourite treat. I thrashed about, and like our first time, he hooked his arms around my legs and clasped his hands together atop my mound. He held me in place while he licked and suckled on my slick bundle of nerves.
“So close,” I cried out when I felt the delicious heat of bliss lick at my core, igniting a fire within me that I thought had burnt out long ago.
Right there, my mind screamed. Right. There.
“Kale!” I shrieked.
I sucked in a deep breath and held it as the first pulse of heaven slammed into me, followed by another and another. Each throb of pleasure spread to my every nerve ending, and sensation became me. I greedily sucked air into my lungs when they began to burn, a reminder that I wasn’t breathing.
“I can’t wait,” Kale’s voice growled, breaking through my clouded high.
I blinked my eyes into focus just in time to catch him rid his body of clothing and climb over me, his hardened length thick and purple as it jumped with anticipation.
“Later,” he swore. “Later I’ll take my time with you, later I’ll explore every inch of you, but right now, I need you hard and fast.”
I needed that too.
“Yes,” I pleaded. “Yes, please.”
Kale gripped the base of his length and rubbed the head up my glistening slit, causing my body to jerk at the sensation. He lowered the head to my entrance and slowly, painfully slowly, he pushed inside me. I cried out as I felt my inner walls stretch to accommodate Kale’s thickness.
“Christ,” he shuddered, his face looking almost pained. “You feel . . . it’s impossible. You aren’t a virgin. How are you this tight?”
“I haven’t been with anyone in six years,” I panted. “I wanted you, needed you. Never anyone else.”
Kale lowered himself to his elbows as he buried himself to the hilt. I opened my mouth when he pressed his lips to mine, groaning when he nipped at my lower lip with his teeth.
“What you do to me, Laney Baby,” he growled and began to thrust in and out of me as if the Devil himself were on his heels. “It’s been years . . . so long, I won’t last.”
I cried out into Kale’s mouth, and he took my cry and swallowed it down. He moved his hands until they were buried in my hair, and tugged on it, as he loved my body with his. I felt my insides tighten as Kale picked up his pace and slammed into me, dominating my body and heart with each thrust.
“I’m gonna come,” he moaned. “You feel too good.”
“Let me feel you lose control,” I begged.
I dug my nails into his back, which caused him to hiss before he threw his head back and roared my name as he came, his hips jerking forward as his body sought its much-needed release. When he was spent, he fell forward and pressed his face into the crook of my neck. I panted as Kale lay sprawled out over my chest. His breathing was rapid, matching my own. I mustered up all the energy I had left in my body and tapped him on the back.
He hummed in response.
“If you fall asleep on me again,” I teasingly warned, “I’ll bite your dick off.”
Kale winced, then vibrated with laughter. “I’ll fall asleep next to you, cuddling this sexy little body of yours. How does that sound?”
I shivered as he pulled out of me and rolled onto his side; I snuggled closer to him, using his bicep as a pillow. “That was amazing,” I whispered, smiling.
Kale lazily smiled. “That it was, darling.”
I smiled back, but then quickly cringed. “We didn’t use a condom. Again.”
Kale widened his eyes, then closed them and cursed himself. “I’m sorry, Lane. I didn’t even think. I don’t seem to do that often around you.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s okay. I’m just mad because I didn’t think of using one either, but don’t worry. I’m on the pill, and I’m clean. We’re good.”
Kale nodded. “I’m clean too, and that’s a relief that you’re on the pill. I want you to myself for a long while before you get pregnant.”
I felt my heart drop to my stomach.
“Kale,” I whispered, “don’t play like that.”
He stared at me with happy puppy-dog eyes and said, “Do I look like I’m playing?”
He bloody did not.
I gaped at him. “You want us to have a baby?”
“I want us to have everything,” he instantly replied.
Is this real?
I didn’t trust myself to speak, so the only thing I could do was press myself as close as I could to Kale to show him that some day, I wanted everything with him too. I closed my eyes, promising myself to rest for just a moment and catch my breath. I heard Kale call my name a few times a few minutes later, but he sounded as if he was far off in the distance. When I didn’t respond, I felt him look down at me and heard him laugh.
“Who is falling asleep on who now, kid?” I heard him chuckle as he covered us with a blanket and wrapped his body around mine.
I hummed with contentment, and just before I fell into the most peaceful sleep I’d had in years, my last thought echoed through my mind.
Please, I prayed, don’t let this turn into another nightmare.
I awoke sometime later to find that Kale’s bedroom was still filled with light from the outside, indicating not much of the day had passed, which felt weird to me, because I felt as if I’d slept for a day, that was how rested I was. I was careful not to wake Kale as I adjusted my body against his.
I lay watching him sleep for an hour or more, memorising every inch of him. I could have stayed and watched him forever, but when my stomach rumbled, I silently slipped out of Kale’s bed and pulled on his plain white T-shirt, smiling when it fell to my mid-thigh.
I tiptoed out of his room, down the hall and made a stop into a room I discovered to be the bathroom. I cleaned myself up and went into the kitchen and put the kettle on, helping myself to the contents of his fridge. I set out making us sandwiches. I knew he would be hungry when he woke up, and I wanted to do something nice for him, so feeding him was my chosen deed.
“Lane!”
I jumped at Kale’s roar and dropped the knife I’d used to cut our sandwiches in half. Then I automatically ran for his room when I heard a loud bang. I bolted into the hallway and ran for his bedroom door, reaching for the handle, but the door was pulled open before I got a chance to open it, and I ran straight into Kale’s bare chest.
“What?” I asked, panicked. “What is it?”
Kale sucked in a breath and placed his hands on either side of my face, pressing his forehead to mine. “You were gone,” he said, panicked. “I woke up and you were gone. I thought . . . I thought—”
“Shhh, sweetheart,” I soothed, and wrapped my arms around his body.
I knew exactly what he thought; he thought I’d run away from him again.
“I’m here, Kale,” I breathed, and kissed his chest. “I’m never going to leave you, I promise.”
He hugged me so tightly I thought I might pass out. He released me after a minute, then held me out and his eyes scanned my body, before pulling me back into him, moulding my body against his.
“I feel like there is a monster in me, muttering in my ear that this isn’t real.”
I rubbed my hands up and down his back. “We all have monsters telling us lies that we can’t have what’s right in front of us. Mine told me the same thing about you, but for now, our monsters seem to get along.”
He kissed the crown of my head. “It appears so.”
I hugged him. “I was hungry, and I figured you would be too when you woke up, so I was making us sandwiches.”
He exhaled. “I’m sorry, darling. I just reacted when I didn’t find you next to me.”
My stomach burst with butterflies.
I leaned back and smiled up at him. “I’ll get right back into your bed next to you as soon as we eat.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, lips curved upwards.
He kissed my nose, turned my body away from him, then slapped my behind, forcing me into a walk. I yelped, and Kale laughed.
“My clothes look good on you,” he murmured as I walked in front of him and took the turn into the kitchen.
I chuckled. “You’re just saying that because I’ve nothing underneath it.”
Arms came around my waist as I continued to prepare our sandwiches, and through the material of Kale’s T-shirt, he palmed my breasts, causing me to moan as my nipples hardened.
“You won’t wear anything else when you’re here,” he murmured in my ear. “That’s my condition.”
I snorted. “Does everyone have a condition for me to abide by around here?”
Kale laughed and kissed the back of my head, lowering his hands to my hips. “It looks that way.”
I leaned my head back against his chest and smiled. “Luckily, these conditions are something I can tolerate.”
Kale’s chuckle was a low rumble that caused his chest to vibrate. A comfortable silence fell between us as we ate our sandwiches and leaned against the kitchen counter, Kale holding me with one arm and his sandwich with the other.
“Do you feel like we’ve said everything that needs to be said?” I questioned when we finished eating.
Kale shook his head as he sat at the kitchen table. “You explained to me why you did what you did, and while I’m not happy over it, I understand it. I know you need me to explain my part in all this, but first I want you to hear something that I truly mean from the bottom of my heart.”
I licked my lips. “Okay.”
“Laney Baby,” he whispered as I sat on his lap and put my arms around his neck, “I’ve never said this to you while sober, but I am in love with you. I have been for a very long time, and I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”
The words I had dreamt of him saying for so long suddenly felt too hard to hear.
“Pup,” I murmured, my lower lip trembling.
“Be mine,” he pressed. “Be my girlfriend, my fiancée, my wife. Please, say you’ll be my everything because you already are.”
He’s proposing to me? My head swayed as emotion, and utter disbelief, filled me.
“Isn’t this too soon?” I asked, feeling like I was having an out-of-body experience. “We’ve only been back in each other’s lives for four days—”
“It’s long overdue, darling,” Kale interrupted. “I should have asked you to marry me years ago.”
I swallowed. “I don’t want to rush into anything you’ll regret.”
He placed his hands on either side of my face and said, “I have never and will never regret anything about you. You’re the love of my life, and I’m sorry I didn’t realise it sooner. I’m sorry I let you think I regretted you; it was the only way I could think at the time to scare you away from me.”
I almost fell off of his lap, causing his grip on me to tighten and keep me in place.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my heart pounding.
He brushed my hair out of my face and searched my eyes with his.
“I remember everything about the night you gave yourself to me,” he said, shocking the hell out of me. “You were right: I wasn’t that drunk. The drink just gave me the courage to be with you in the way I wanted to be. I was harsh and blunt with you to make you mad at me, so you wouldn’t want anything to do with me in that way. I wanted you to believe I regretted making love to you.”
I blinked as a veil of confusion fell over me. “I don’t understand?”
Does he really not regret us being together?
“I was afraid of . . . of what your parents, my parents, your uncle and your brothers would think of me.” He angrily shook his head. “I didn’t want to lose your family from my life, and I thought they’d hate me if we got together. You told me you thought you were dirty for having romantic feelings about me because we were so close, and I felt the exact same way. I felt like I was taking advantage of your crush.”
My crush.
“It wasn’t a crush, Kale,” I whispered. “I loved you.”
He swallowed. “Is that still past tense?”
Tell him.
I shook my head. “I’ve never stopped loving you. You’re embedded deep in my bones. I’d never love anyone as much as I love you in the way I love you.”
“What way do you love me?” he asked, nervously biting his lower lip.
My lip twitched. “Not like a brother.”
He glanced at our bodies, relaxed from lovemaking, and laughed. The sound warmed my heart.
“Marry me, Lane,” he almost begged. “I promise to love, cherish and care for you until my last breath. Please, be mine.”
He stared at me as if I had to even think about it.
“Yes,” I nodded, my body trembling. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
We kissed then, and I broke it off with a laugh.
“What’s funny?” Kale asked, amused.
I shook my head. “I’m just wondering what my brothers and everyone else will think about this. Hey, guess what? Kale and I are getting married – surprise!”
Not that I cared what reactions we’d get, but I was still intrigued.
“Lane,” – Kale chuckled – “your brothers have known I have loved you for years.”
My jaw fell open.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling at my expression, “I told them a few months after Kaden died. I told them what happened between us; I told them what I said to you, what I did to hurt you in order to turn you off me.”
“What did they say?” I asked, completely taken back.
Kale snorted. “They told me I was a fucking idiot, which I am, for thinking that they would turn their backs on me. They said they would give their left arms to ensure you ended up with someone like me because they knew I’d never treat you badly, and I’d love you more than life itself. They said they’d be happy for us to be together.”
“They did? Wow.”
Kale nodded. “Even though they knew I loved you, they were sure you wouldn’t come home, so they tried to push me into dating again, but it didn’t interest me.”
I stared at him. “Are you telling me you haven’t been with anyone since you and Drew broke up?”
That would be years if he said yes.
“Why?” I asked when he nodded.
“I decided to wait for you to come home,” he murmured.
“Why?” I pressed.
Kale licked his ver
y tempting lips. “So I could make my play for you and try to win your heart back because I’m its rightful owner.”
He was undoing me. “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”
He took my hands in his. “It’s the truth, darling. I’ve been waiting for you for the last five years. I’d have waited fifty if that’s what it took.”
“I feel like this is a dream,” I said with a shake of my head. “You’re telling me everything I have always wanted to hear.”
He smiled. “We can have everything we’ve always wanted together now.”
I began to tremble.
“We’re really doing this?” I asked as pure joy filled me. “We’re really going to be together?”
“Until my dying breath,” Kale vowed.
My heart didn’t know what to do; it was feeling something other than heartbreak for once and was close to shutting down. I pressed my forehead against his.
“The day you left, it took me all of two seconds to realise I’d die for you,” he murmured.
Oh.
With a shaky breath I said, “I’ve been dying slowly, waiting for you, and I mean this quite literally – I can’t live without you.”
“You won’t,” Kale swore, pressing his forehead against mine. “I’ll be with you until the day my heart thumps its last beat. You’re everything to me. Do you understand that? Every. Fucking. Thing.”
Tears seeped from my eyes and splashed onto my cheeks.
“I love you so much.”
Kale smiled wide. “I love you too, Laney Baby, and to think we have your uncle to thank for bringing us back together,” he said as he nuzzled his nose to mine.
I smiled warmly. “I miss him dearly.”
“I know you do, sweetheart, but we’ll see him again. We’ll see your Aunt Teresa, Lavender and Kaden too.” He nudged his nose into my neck. “We have a lot to look forward to as we grow old, darling.”
I was going to grow old with Kale.
My Kale.
I joyfully smiled. “We do.”
“Things would have been so different if you’d never come home,” he murmured, his arm tightening around me.