My anger is slowly fading away. “You still should’ve told me. I would rather the worry than the hurt.” I look away. “You told me you loved her more than me.” My anguished eyes lift, meeting his gaze dead-on. “That about killed me. Up until then I’d thought she was playing a game, but when you told me that, that was the moment I stopped believing it was blackmail.”
He links our hands. “Babe. I never said I loved her more than you. I would never say that because it isn’t true. I remember exactly what I said because I chose my words carefully.” I’m wracking my brain, but I can’t summon the exact words he used, although my heart pounds with renewed hurt at the memory.
He caresses my cheek. “I said ‘My feelings for you don’t compare to how I feel about Addison and I meant it.” He scoots in closer and his warm breath fans over my face. “I love you, Faye, and believe me when I say there is no love in my heart for her. There is no comparison.” He palms my face in his two hands. “I love you. Only you. That hasn’t changed.”
My heart is pounding wildly in anticipation, and an electric undercurrent charges the tiny gap between us. His eyes pierce mine, seeking permission, and I’m damned if I can refuse him any longer.
My hands slide up his firm chest. “I love you, too. So much, Ky.”
He gazes at me with a combination of want and need, lust and adoration, and I bridge that final gap, pressing my chest into his, as my hands reach around his neck, and I pull his head down to mine. We both gasp as our lips meet in a frenzied bout of kissing. I’d probably climb into his mouth if I could. I’m devouring him like some sex-crazed floozy, and I’m loving it. His tongue invades my mouth, and he angles my head, strengthening the connection, searing my mouth with passionate kisses. Desire—hot, thick, and heavy—consumes me, and I tingle all over from his taste and his touch. I push him down on the couch with force, straddling him and pressing my hips into his as he rocks up to meet me. We both groan, and I couldn’t care less if we woke the whole darn house up. I need him as much as I need oxygen. More, probably.
His hands creep under my top, sending waves of delicious tremors shooting all over my skin. I jump at his touch, rolling my hips into his, while he fluidly lifts my top off. He continues worshipping my mouth with hot, addictive kisses as his hands roughly cup my breasts. I thrust into him, needy and whimpering as I suck on his lower lip. He grabs my hips, pressing me firmly down on his arousal, and we both moan again. “Fuck!” he whispers. “You’re so hot like this. If you could only see yourself.”
I sit up straighter, tossing my hair over my shoulders as I grind into him, emitting little moans of satisfaction as he pushes against me. His fingers creep up my thighs, moving in a teasing fashion under the flimsy material of my shorts until they hover right where I need them. “Please,” I rasp, taken aback at how breathy and needy I sound.
Super-quick, he flips us around so I’m on my back with his powerful body looming over me. “You don’t have to beg me, baby. I’m gonna make you feel so good.”
Oh, how I’ve longed to hear those words coming from his mouth again.
His lips collide with mine while he carefully lowers his body on top of me. My legs go around his waist on auto-pilot, and we grind against each other as his mouth moves in a trail down my neck and over my breasts, before stalling at my stomach. His gaze darkens as his fingers play with the band of my shorts. Slowly, he peels them down my legs until I’m bare in front of him. Although it’s unlikely anyone will walk in on us at this hour, the chance that we could get caught only adds to the adrenaline rush. Every part of me is coiled tight, and anticipation has me writhing like a snake underneath him.
“You’re so beautiful like this.” He brushes a feather-soft kiss against one hip, and I moan so loudly it’s a wonder the entire neighborhood hasn’t heard. He laughs quietly as his fingers caress my other hip, and I’m about ready to scream with frustration when he finally lowers his head. When his mouth brushes against me there, I almost buck off the couch. Keeping a firm hand on my stomach, he nudges my thighs apart and gets to work. I bury my head in a cushion, whimpering into the material as he tastes me, every sweep of his tongue more insistent than the last. When I shatter, he continues to worship me as blissful tremors rock my world, only stopping when he’s exhausted every last gasp.
My hair is a mass of knotty strands as I release my face from the cushion and attempt to get my breathing in check. Ky crawls up to me, draping himself around my back as his arms encircle my waist. “Happy, baby?”
I scoot around to face him, slipping my hand between us as I kiss him sweetly. I palm my hand over the bulge in his jeans and he curses. “Lie back, sexy,” I demand, shoving his shoulders down. I yank my clothes back on quickly, smirking when I spot his unhappy scowl. “Take your shirt off,” I demand, because I’m dying to feast on his chiseled torso. “I want you naked.”
“I like you bossing me around,” he purrs, tugging the shirt up over his head.
I dip my head and press a firm kiss to his lips. “Good,” I whisper. “’Cause you can expect plenty more of that in your future.”
He complains briefly when my mouth leaves his, and I start nibbling along his jaw. I pepper his neck and chest with kisses as I travel down his body, marveling at all the defined ridges and curves of his body and the way he jumps under my touch. I flick the button on his jeans and pull them down his legs with force. Propping up on his elbows, he chuckles. “Damn, Faye. You’re eager.”
Removing his boxers, I lick my lips as I kneel up, surveying the arousal that is all for me. “Oh, baby, you’ve no idea.” I pin him with a sultry look, and I’m rewarded with a lusty growl. “Now lie back down and be a good boy,” I tease, wrapping my hand around him as I lower my head.
I return the favor and then some, relishing the way he moans and moves underneath me. I latch on when it’s clear he’s at the point of no return, staying with him as each powerful wave rockets through him.
After, I pull his boxers and jeans back up and curl into his side, resting my head on his bare chest.
“I can’t get enough of you.” His fingers wind through my hair. “And I’ve missed you so much.”
“Me, too.”
Silence settles in the room, and though there is other stuff to discuss, neither one of us seems eager to go there. I snuggle in closer to him, swinging my leg over his as he rains kisses on my head.
After a little while, he shifts, and I lift my head up, peering directly into his eyes.
He stares at me. “You feel so perfect wrapped up in my arms. I could stay here with you all day long and never grow tired of it.” He kisses my nose.
I beam up at him. “That’s sweet.”
“It’s the truth.” He gulps, and I brace myself. “I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have feelings for Brad?”
I prop up on an elbow, leaning my hand delicately on his chest. “Do I care about Brad? Yes. He’s a great guy, and a great friend, but that’s all it is. There’s no spark. Not like there is with you.”
Air leaks out of his mouth in grateful relief. “Good. At least I won’t have to beat his ass again.”
I slap his chest. “No more fighting! Especially not with Brad.”
He grins, pulling me down for another soul-sucking kiss. We’re both panting when we break apart. “Shit, Faye. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”
“Me either. I want the whole shebang with you, Ky. I want you to be my everything, but I can’t do that with the threat of Addison constantly looming over us. I want you to end it with her. For good this time. Let her expose our relationship and my past. I don’t care.” I press a light kiss to his mouth. “I just want to be with you.”
His arms encircle my waist, and he pulls us up into a seated position. I’m sitting in his lap with my legs off to one side. “I
want that, too, but it’s not that simple.”
Yep, figured he might say that. Nothing about Addison is simple. Aggravation starts to well inside me. “What haven’t you said?”
“That wasn’t her only form of blackmail.” His face contorts sourly.
“Out with it.”
“She recorded her and Kal having sex that time. If I don’t stay with her, she’ll release it to Lana and her legal team, and they’ll use it to destroy him.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Oh my God, she’s a real piece of work,” I exclaim, shaking my head in disbelief. “You know what this means, too?” All the dots are joining in my head. “She has to be behind the recording you were sent.” It’s the only logical explanation.
“I’ve come to that same conclusion, and I think Jeremy was in on it too. Those two are thick as thieves and hell-bent on destroying me.” He sighs, trailing his fingers up and down my arms.
“I don’t get it though.” My brow puckers. “Why break you up only to get back together again? It makes no sense.”
“Don’t even attempt to pick apart her thought process. It’s a waste of time. I’ve never been able to figure out what’s going on in her head.”
“That reminds me.” I turn in his lap. “I need to tell you something.” I proceed to tell him about spying on Addison at her house, what Rose and I overheard, and how I asked Keven to dig into her background. Ky throws back his head and laughs. “What’s so funny?”
“I asked him the very same thing.”
“Huh.” I rub my temple. “I’m beginning to doubt your brother’s expertise. He’s only come up empty-handed so far.”
Ky grins. “That’s a bit harsh. He’s swamped with course work, and we have him searching for Lana too, and he has other stuff he does on the side.”
His grin disappears, but I don’t go there. I haven’t forgotten those dodgy-looking dudes Keven was in the alley with outside the restaurant, and I’ve a fair idea that whatever he’s mixed up in isn’t good or legal. “Well, we need to talk to him. To get him to prioritize his Addison investigation because you can’t break it off with her otherwise.” It kills me to say that, but I don’t doubt Addison will follow through on her threat.
“I know. I’m sorry, but I can’t risk her releasing that tape of Kal before the trial.”
“That’s almost a month away.” I can’t disguise my unhappiness.
He holds me even closer. “I hate it too, but I have to keep pretending until I can kick her to the curb.”
A repugnant thought enters my mind, settling in my stomach like rancid milk. I can’t ask him this to his face so I bury myself in his neck before opening my mouth. “Are you sleeping with her?” I whisper.
He grips my shoulders and forces me to look at him. “No, and I won’t be going there. You have my word.” His body shakes with silent laughter. “I told her I’m being treated for herpes and that the doc has said no sex for a few months. Plus, I lied and said Mom had banned her from the house, and now I’m banned from hers, so there’s less opportunity for her to pester me for sex.”
Even the thought of her pestering him for sex makes me want to gouge her eyeballs out and rip every hair from her head. At least I won’t have to stomach them pawing at one another in the house. I slide off his lap, clamping a hand over his mouth to quell his protest. “You need to tell me where you’re going with her so I can avoid the same place. I don’t want a repeat of the party.”
“Why do you think I didn’t want you there?” He tucks my hair behind my ears. “I’m hella sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s okay.” And it is. I know now that he was trying to protect me and Kal in the best way he knew how. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t an idiot for trying to handle it on his own. “But in future, you tell me everything. You have to stop trying to protect me. Either we’re a team or we’re not. There’s no middle ground.”
He drapes his arm around my shoulder. “We’re a team, and I won’t shut you out in future. I promise.”
I lean into him, kissing him briefly and pulling back before he can take it any further. “I can’t be with you while you’re with her.” I hold up a finger when he opens his mouth to argue. “I know you’re only faking it, but I can’t have you kissing and touching me when you’ve come straight from her. I just … I can’t deal with that.”
“Babe.” He leans in to kiss me, but I pull back, shaking my head. “I’m hardly with her at all. I’ve been keeping myself occupied so I have minimal spare time to spend with her. Please.” He laces his hands in my hair, pressing his forehead to mine. “I can’t bear more separation.”
I want to say to hell with it all, but I have some self-respect. I meant what I said before. It’s all or nothing. I won’t share him. Even if it is a lie. I pull back and stand up. “I can’t do it, Ky. I love you, and I want you, but you can’t touch me when you’re still with her. Let’s exert pressure on Keven to dig up some dirt, and when we’re ready, we’ll get rid of her for good. On our terms.”
“Okay.” He stands up, pressing his lips fleetingly to mine. “I’ll talk to Keven, and I’ll stay away, but only because I love you, and you need this. Don’t think for one second that I won’t be missing you like crazy, because I will.”
The next two weeks crawl by in maddening slow motion. Ky has stayed true to his word, and our paths have barely crossed. I miss him so much, and some days the temptation to say feck it, storm his room, and throw myself at him is so intense that I have to leave the house before I act on it.
There’s no denying things have settled down now that James is back. The tension between him and Alex is still unbearable, but at least he’s hired a new housekeeper and gardener, and he’s involving himself more with his boys. I regularly catch him playing Xbox with Kal and Keaton, and he’s insisted that Kaden and Keven show their faces the last two Sundays for dinner.
Alex still hasn’t returned to the office, but she’s up bright and early every morning, dressed in a business suit, as she heads to her home office. She hides in her room most nights, blatantly avoiding James, and I’m sure there’s a glass or two of wine involved, but it’s hardly my place to criticize.
Brad has also been keeping his distance. We still travel to and from school together, and we always meet for lunch, but outside of that, he keeps largely to himself, and I hate that there’s this blatant tension between us, but I don’t know how to fix it. I’ve noticed him and Ky disappearing together a few times, and I’m happy they are trying to put their differences behind them.
Brad and I are driving home from school on Tuesday when I notice the same black SUV in the line of traffic behind us. “I think we’re being followed again.”
Brad peers through the mirror and frowns. “You could be right, and I think I know why.”
That captures my interest. He veers off the road, pulling into a layby and killing the engine. We both stare at the blacked-out SUV as it glides by. He rummages in the glove box, extracting a wrinkled paper. “Rose gave me this at lunch. I was going to show you back at the house.”
I unfold the paper, and my jaw slackens as the front page is revealed. I read the article quickly, my blood boiling at every salacious word. Courtney has been exposed as the woman James was having an affair with, and there are several candid shots of the two of them together in rather compromising poses. But it’s the copy of the official Kennedy Apparel memo on page two that incenses me. “I don’t believe this.” I shake my head.
“It’s totally suspect,” Brad agrees.
“It’s a load of crap.” My eyes bounce between Brad and the paper. “There’s no way Alex would willingly promote Courtney after what happened. How does someone go from PA to VP literally overnight?” My tone is incredulous. “Ky is going to freak out over this.”
“He already is.”
“He knows?”
Brad leans bac
k, sighing. “I spoke to him earlier. He’s been getting hell at O.C. all day over it.” I chew on the inside of my cheek. “I know you asked him to give you space while he’s faking it with Addison, but he could probably use your support today. Especially if the newspaper report is correct and a date has been set for the divorce hearing.”
I retrieve my phone and tap out a quick message. Ky replies instantly. He’s at the house with Keven, and adrenaline courses through my veins. If Keven is over mid-week, then maybe it’s because he has some news for us at last. I try to temper my expectation, but I’m as giddy as a goat the rest of the drive.
The lobby is thronged with men and women in crisp suits when we arrive back home. Alex is shaking hands with a tall, gray-haired lady in an elegant red suit as I attempt to sneak past undetected. She latches on to my elbow, smiling as she waves her associates off. Brad shoots me a knowing wink as he slips into the corridor unnoticed. “I need a favor,” she murmurs under her breath as she closes the front door.
“Okay,” I reply, intrigued and confused as I follow her up the steps to her private suite.
She pulls me into her bathroom, looking circumspectly over her shoulder before shutting the door behind us. She talks in quiet whispers. “I need you to orchestrate a meeting with Courtney, and I’d like you to plant this listening device in her watch.” She removes a small brown envelope from her pocket and offers it to me.
Keeping my hands at my sides, I stare at her as if she’s gone mad.
Nervously, she smooths one hand down the front of her black skirt. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I can’t think of anyone else who can get access to Courtney to do this.”
“And you think I can?” I sit down on the lid of the toilet seat, while she perches on the side of the tub.
“James is going to tell the boys tonight that he’s officially dating Courtney and that we’re going ahead with our divorce. You need to bide your time, and then tell him that you’d like to meet her, to get to know her better. He’ll set up something, and then you just need to find a way of installing the chip.”
Losing Kyler (The Kennedy Boys Book 2) Page 24