Burning Love (Hearts on Fire #2)

by Heather Lyn

  “I’m kinda tired. Do you mind if I go take a nap?” Kennedy’s brown eyes don’t have their usual sparkle and they’re still red from her breakdown.

  “Whatever you want. Why don’t you go ahead and I’ll clean this mess up?”

  She comes to give me a kiss, then walks away down the hallway.

  Grabbing the leftovers, I close up all the containers and put them in my fridge before heading to my bedroom. Kennedy has changed back into another shirt of mine and she’s curled up in the middle of my king-sized bed. She looks so tiny. Undoing my jeans, I toss them onto the chair in the corner of the room and climb into bed behind her. Pulling the covers over us, I grab her waist and pull her back, flush against my chest. She stirs and turns to look up at me.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I didn’t think you’d be asleep yet.” I brush her hair back from her face.

  “Sorry. I wanted to wait to see if you’d come in, but I’m just so tired. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Go back to sleep, baby. I’m right here.”

  She rolls away from me again and I tuck my face into the back of her neck.

  “Mmm, I love when you call me that,” she whispers.

  I can’t help the small laugh I release. “You do, do you?”

  “Yeah. Makes me feel special.”

  “You are special, Kennedy.” I place light kisses to the back of her neck, then tighten my hold on her. I close my eyes and let sleep take over me.

  ***

  When we awaken a little while later, it’s late afternoon and I know we’re gonna have to part company soon; I have a shift tomorrow, and she has work as well. I’m not looking forward to taking her home, but I know that she’s mine. She wants to be with me, so I know it’ll only be a matter of time before she’s with me again.

  Shit. I sound like a fucking girl.

  “Hey, Grayson, can I ask you something?” We’re sitting on the couch watching reruns of The Office. She’s lying with her head in my lap as I run a hand through her hair.

  “Anything, babe.”

  “Would you mind driving me to my apartment?”

  Not gonna lie, my heart sinks a little at her question.

  “Why, you sick of me already?” I joke.

  “No, I wanted to get a change of clothes and my stuff for work tomorrow.”

  “What?”

  Kennedy sits up to look at me and I can tell she’s hesitant to speak her mind. But she does.

  “Well, I know you have a shift tomorrow. And I have work, obviously. Tomorrow is Monday. But I don’t know. I don’t want to go home tonight. Can I stay with you?”

  I reach out and tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, a smile on my face. “Baby, you’re more than welcome to stay here anytime. What time do you usually go to work in the morning?”

  “I like to be at the school by seven forty-five. My kids get there around eight thirty.”

  “Well, I usually leave here by six thirty. Shift starts at seven. Just lock the front door when you leave, no big deal. Want to go by your place now? It’s almost five. We can grab dinner on the way home, if you want?”

  She nods and gets up off the couch, looking around.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Shit. I have no clue where my purse is. My keys were in it.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Brody scooped it up during the scuffle with fuckhead. It’s over in the bag from the hospital.” I point to the white bag on the end of my sectional.

  “Thank you.” Grabbing the plastic bag, she pulls out a small black purse and looks inside, taking her keys out. “Got ’em. Let’s go.”

  I shut the television off and then stuff my feet into the sneakers I left by my front door. I hold the door open for her and we head out to my Camaro. Her apartment is about a ten-minute drive from my house, and we spend the ride in silence, listening to the radio play. When we get there, she tells me to wait down here and that she’ll be right back. As I’m sitting there, it dawns on me that her car is still at Walker’s Taphouse.

  Kennedy comes back down to the car a couple minutes later, a computer bag in one hand and a small duffle in the other. She slings them into the trunk and then climbs back in the car, buckling her seat belt and then turning to me. “So where do you wanna get dinner?”

  “Actually, I was thinking that we should go get your car.”

  “Oh crap! I totally forgot about my car!”

  I chuckle and head to the bar. She makes small talk the whole time, telling me about her plans for the week. She’s really excited about a class project she’s having the kids do, and it’s so good to see. When we get to Walker’s the parking lot is fairly empty, so I pull up next to her car.

  “Follow me back to my place and we can figure out dinner from there, okay?”

  “Sure, sounds good.” Kennedy leans over to kiss my cheek, then grabs her purse and hops out. I watch her unlock and climb into her own car, and I wait for her to back out. But she doesn’t. She just sits there. I don’t think anything of it until I look over at her. She has her head bent over the steering wheel and I can see her shoulders shaking up and down.

  Fuck.

  I hop out and pull her door open. She jumps when I do, her hands coming out to protect herself.

  “Baby, it’s me. It’s Grayson. What’s the matter?” I reach out and cup her face gently. She just stares at me, wide-eyed and frantic.

  “Grayson…. He was…. He was gonna….” She’s gasping and hiccupping. I think she may have just realized the severity of the situation.

  “Fuck.” I pull her out and take the keys from the ignition, locking her car and then walking with her to mine. I help her back into the passenger seat and she folds into herself, crying quietly. Pulling out of the parking lot, I have one hand on the wheel and the other rubbing up and down her back. I hate hearing the sounds of her anguish, but I get the feeling that she had been blocking what happened. I know last night we briefly talked about it, but it must have finally hit her when we went back to the scene.

  I shouldn’t have brought her there. I feel like such a shit now.

  When we pull into my driveway she opens the door and climbs out, heading for the front door. I race after her and unlock the door. She runs inside and I go back out to the car to grab her things. When I get back into the house, Kennedy isn’t in the living room. I drop her stuff onto the couch and head towards my bedroom. The bathroom door is shut and I can hear the shower running.

  Oh Christ, no.

  I push the door open and find Kennedy sitting fully clothed on the closed toilet seat, the shower turned on and steam filling the room. She’s hugging her knees to her chest, still crying.

  “Baby, what are you doing?” I kneel next to her, rubbing my hands up her arms. I want to kill that motherfucker.

  “I remember it all, Grayson. He tried to touch me. I told him not to, and he said that he’d been waiting all night to do it. That I was taunting him. I wasn’t, Gray. I swear to God I wasn’t.” She’s shaking her head back and forth.

  “I know you weren’t, darlin’. He’s a sick piece of shit. He put drugs in your drink. He took advantage of you. This was not your fault, Kennedy.”

  “I know it wasn’t, but it still hurts. Why would he try to take that from me? What kind of person does something like that?”

  I don’t have an answer to that, so I turn the shower off and help her out of the bathroom. Kennedy sits on the edge of the bed and waits while I head out to the living room to grab the bag she packed. Inside is a cotton nightgown, which I hand to her. She thanks me and goes to change, closing the bathroom door behind her.

  I take a seat on my bed and send a quick text to Noah.

  Grayson: Hey, man. Do you think you and Aubs could grab Kennedy’s car from Walker’s? I have the key, just stop by and grab it.

  Noah: Yeah, sure. How’s she doing?

  Grayson: I thought she was okay until we went to get her car. I think the whole thing finally hit her. Broke
down in the parking lot and we came back to my place.

  Noah: Fuck.

  Grayson: I’m not gonna say anything to her. I’ll leave the key under my front mat, so just grab it and bring her car here. She’s staying the night again.

  Noah: You take care of her, Gray. That’s my girl’s best friend. We love her.

  Grayson: Thanks, man.

  I put my phone back in my pocket as she walks straight to me and climbs onto my lap. I wrap my arms around her waist and bury my face in the crook of her neck, stroking her back as I hold her close to me.

  “Thank you, Grayson. I’m not sure why, but I think being back at the bar scared me. I don’t even remember leaving it. My memory of the night is coming back slowly, and I think it all just overwhelmed me. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, Kennedy. I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have taken you there.”

  “How could you have known? I didn’t even know.” Giving me a small smile, she lowers her soft mouth to mine, tightening her hold on me. She pulls away carefully.

  “Make love to me, Grayson. I need you to erase what he did. I need to forget what he tried to steal from me.” She kisses me again, but I break away from it.

  “What do you mean, steal from you? And I want to make love to you, babe, but when you’re not still processing what happened. When I finally sink myself into you, I want you to be ready for it. And to know that I’m the last man who ever does.”

  “The only one,” she mutters.

  I furrow my brow, not understanding.

  “The only what?”

  “Man I’ll ever be with.”

  “I don’t—”

  “I’m a virgin, Grayson.”

  Holy. Shit.

  “You’re a virgin?”

  Her cheeks redden and she looks away from me.

  “Hey, eyes on me, baby. Look at me, Kennedy.”

  She locks eyes with me, biting her bottom lip. I reach out and pull her lip out of her mouth with my thumb.

  “Why?” I ask.

  “I just never found someone to be with. I’ve closed myself off for so long, and it felt like too intimate of a thing to do when I had no interest in being with anybody. I mean, I messed around with a few guys in college, but it was just clumsy hands and tongues, nothing major.”

  “Kennedy...I don’t know what to say. I feel honored that you want that with me.”

  “Grayson, I want everything with you.”

  Framing her face with my hands, I kiss her. And not gentle, either. She’s not ready to make love, but that isn’t gonna stop me from making her mine. I need to claim her. I lie back on the bed and roll, placing myself atop her.

  “I want everything with you too, baby.” Kissing her deeply, I cradle the back of her head with one hand and hold myself up with the other. She wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me down to her completely.

  “Please be my first, Gray. Be my only,” she whispers, tracing my bottom lip with her tongue. Attacking her lips, I break away when she starts panting.

  “Not yet, baby. I don’t want our first time together to be a way to erase something bad that happened. I want it to be beautiful, something you deserve. I just want to hold you tonight. Please understand that I want you, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Kennedy has tears shining in her eyes as she looks up at me. She reaches up and runs a hand down my cheek, tracing her fingers over my mouth.

  “I think I could fall in love with you, Grayson Michaels.”

  Smiling, I gently kiss her one last time before standing. She rolls over and pulls the blanket over her. I take off my socks and shirt and climb back onto the bed, lying on my back. She turns to lay her head on my chest and we take comfort in one another.

  This girl made her way into my heart a year ago and I’m pretty sure even if she tried she could never leave it. She’s left her mark.

  CHAPTER 9

  Kennedy

  It’s been a rough week. I haven’t seen Grayson since that night at his house. When we woke up the next morning, we took separate showers and while he was still in there, I made us some scrambled eggs and toast. He gave me a kiss good-bye when he left, and I locked up when I left for work almost an hour later. We’ve spent our time apart texting and calling each other. He asked me to come over when he got off shift the following day, but I declined. While I was at work last Monday, I decided I needed some time alone. After what happened at the bar and breaking down and telling both him and Aubrey about my family in a twenty-four-hour period, I need some time to myself. But I miss him.

  Since we both have this weekend off, I’m gonna stay at his place. I’m driving home from work, finally understanding why Aubrey was so excited for summer last year. We have the whole summer off, so I’ll be able to spend all my free time with Grayson. And I’m helping with Aubrey’s wedding planning, so we’ll get more time together too.

  When I pull into the parking lot of my building, I grab my stuff off the backseat and head inside, stopping inside the lobby to grab my mail before heading up to my place. Shutting and locking my door behind me, I toss my stuff onto the couch like I always do and drop my mail onto the kitchen island. I’ve just grabbed a bottle of water from my fridge when my cell phone starts ringing. I don’t recognize the number, but I answer it anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, may I please speak to Kennedy Grant?” a male voice asks.

  “This is Kennedy. How can I help you?”

  “Hello, Kennedy. My name is Mark Bryant. I’m calling on behalf of your mother, Elizabeth Grant. Is now a good time to talk?”

  My head is spinning and it feels like I’m going to pass out. I can feel the bile rising in my throat. I have to close my eyes and count to ten before I can answer.

  “Is…? Is she…?” I can’t get the words out.

  “Oh no, I’m so sorry to worry you. Your mother is alive and well. The reason I’m calling is a financial situation that we need you to take care of.”

  And then I remember. Mark Bryant. The man my mother mentioned in the letter I got from her a couple weeks ago. Her boyfriend.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Bryant, but I have no interest in helping my mother. I have not seen or spoken to her in nearly ten years. What she does or needs is of no concern to me.” I hit the end button on my phone and put a stop to this conversation before it sends me over the edge. Grabbing my bottle of water, I chug half of it and slam it down on the counter. My eyes fall on the pile of mail and I notice another envelope without a return address. With shaking hands, I slowly open it.

  Dear Kennedy,

  I know you don’t care about me, but as my daughter it is in your best interest to help me. I have kept tabs on you over the years and I know you’re doing well enough without all that money. I, however, need it. Your father took the easy way out, signing over his rights to you girls and leaving me with nothing. I need money, Kennedy.

  I don’t want to ask again.

  Elizabeth Grant

  Dropping the letter on the counter, I race for my bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet. Tears stream down my cheeks as I try to get ahold of myself. The letter doesn’t bother me; it’s the fact that she’s so cold and callous. I know with certainty that she’s still drinking; no sane, sober person would try and blackmail their daughter for less than a million dollars that she shouldn’t need.

  Standing up, I rinse my mouth and face with cool water and then hear my phone go off again. Walking out to the counter, I see that it’s Gray.

  “Hey, you.” I try to keep my voice controlled so he won’t know anything is wrong.

  “Hey, baby. How was work today?”

  “It was good. The kids were bummed the rain made them stay inside for recess, but it was okay. It was a good day. How was the station?”

  “Not bad. Only had a couple calls. Long-ass night though. I slept like shit. I miss you.”

  His words cause tears to spring to my eyes.

  “I miss you too, Gr
ayson.”

  “Hey, are you all right? You sound sad.” I can hear the concern in his voice, but this whole situation with my mother isn’t something I want to make him deal with. It’ll go away, I’m sure.

  “I’m fine. Just tired, I guess. I’m ready for the weekend. I’m ready to see you.”

  He chuckles. “Baby, you have no idea how much I want to see you too. Why don’t you go relax and take a nap? I’ll talk to you a little later, okay?”

  “Okay. Bye, Grayson.”

  Dropping my phone onto the counter, I grab the letter from my mother and place it in the drawer next to the sink. I just need to put it out of my mind. After finishing my water, I go into the living room and grab the blanket on the back of the couch. I turn the television on and find a station playing The Proposal. Lying down, I get comfortable and while I don’t fall asleep, I do find myself relaxing. I feel a little better by the time the movie is over, my mind a little more at ease. I decide to make dinner an easy affair, making myself an omelet with some of the fruit salad in my fridge. As I’m eating, I sit at my kitchen island, texting back and forth with Grayson.

  Kennedy: So what do you have planned for us this weekend?

  Grayson: Just you wait and see.

  Kennedy: I hate surprises

  Grayson: You’ll love it. Just trust me, babe.

  Kennedy: Okay. But I’m telling you, if I don’t, your ass is watching Pitch Perfect with me. And since I know you hate those kinds of movies, you better remember that.

  Grayson: Acca-scuse me?

  Kennedy: You have NOT seen it! Oh my God, Grayson! You can’t be serious?!

  Grayson: Dixie Chick serious. Carmen made me take her to see it when it came out.

  Kennedy: Fine. The Notebook.

  Grayson: How’d you know I want all of you, forever…

  Kennedy: Stop it! Why have you seen every chick flick? Do you even have a dick?

  Grayson: You know I have one. And after this weekend, you’ll never forget.

  Holy. Crap.

  I put a stop to the conversation before it can go too far, finishing my dinner in a hurry.