She wrapped her legs around me as I placed both hands on the floor. I made sure I could still kiss her, but we didn’t kiss. Our lips were parted and randomly touched, but I just kept moving. Taking her. Faster. Harder. Her heels digging at my ass, wanting more.
Oh, fuck, Kinsley, we have the rest of our lives for more…
Her hips quivered as she reached climax, biting at my lip as she shut her eyes and let out a breathless cry. I stole another kiss from her, because I fucking wanted to and I could, and I felt my body demanding its own release.
I grunted as I came forward with one more move before stopping as our bodies came together.
We then stared into each other’s eyes. The fire burning on one side, but a bigger fire burning in our hearts. Everything that had been perfect had been shattered. And whatever pieces were left, we would find together and make them a new version of being whole.
All I could do then was stare at her, kiss her, feel her heart racing against my chest. Feel the swell of her breasts against me. The way her legs pulled at me. The way everything about her felt. In my mind I couldn’t stop picturing her wearing a ring from me. A real ring; with a real promise; with a real outcome. I saw her wearing a simple white dress, me dressed up like a fool, both of us laughing at each other for looking so weird, all just to get married.
We held each other just like that… thinking the same thoughts…
“Brice,” she finally whispered. “I…”
“I love you too,” I said.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” she whispered.
“Right now, that’s the only thing that matters. Everything else can wait.”
Kinsley opened her mouth to say something, but a bark echoed through the cabin. Followed by a second, third, fourth…
“Not everything can wait,” she said with a grin.
“Fucking puppy,” I growled.
“She wants to cuddle with us.”
“Like hell,” I said. “I’m taking her out and then you’re all mine again.”
“I might fall asleep,” Kinsley said.
I kissed her and said, “Then I’ll just have to find a way to wake you up.”
We fell asleep and woke sometime in the middle of the night. The fire was completely out, which was fine, it wasn’t exactly needed at the moment. Just waking to find her next to me was enough to make me want her again. I traced one line from her shoulder to her hand and she gently placed my hand somewhere special, and before I knew it we were pushing and pulling against each other in the stillness of the night. Our breaths the only noise in the entire place, my hand firmly holding her hip from behind as she stretched her neck to turn her head enough so we could kiss. We didn’t speak a word. We didn’t need to speak any words. It was our moment. Our stolen time in the middle of the night.
I held her again after we were done and listened to her fall asleep before I did the same.
The next time I opened my eyes, it was morning.
The sun blasted through the big window in the cabin. I slowly sat up and turned my head, smiling at the sight of Kinsley next to me. It reminded me of the first time we had a real sleepover. We were probably far too young at the time, but the thing was, it wasn’t just some crazy, wild night. We basically played house. Things had lined up perfectly where her house was empty, and I spent the night. Of course we explored each other’s desires, but that night, I held her while she slept, and I made the promise to the deepest part of my soul that I would be the man she needed in life.
I kept that promise alive until Lindsay. I couldn’t save our daughter and I couldn’t save Kinsley afterwards. I tried too hard and did too much, leaving her resenting me as though I were just able to push forward, when in reality, I wanted to collapse into a corner and cry until the pain went away.
I took my jeans into the kitchen where Honey greeted me with puppy barks and cries. I hurried to open the door from the kitchen to get her outside. There I was, standing butt naked on the back steps. Not that there was a person in sight.
Honey circled around a few times before doing her business while I stepped into my jeans. I called her back inside and made some coffee for myself and Kinsley. I told myself I would never take this for granted. Ever. I would cherish each morning and each chance to make her coffee. But I knew how reality went. And that was maybe the greatest part of it all. If a time would come when this was just so normal and routine, it wouldn’t matter to me. That meant I had her for life.
I poured Honey a bowl of puppy food and carried the coffee to the living room.
Kinsley was sitting up, holding a blanket to her chest. Her hair was a mess of sleepy sex, which turned me on. Her toes stuck out of the blanket. That turned me on too. Everything about her turned me on.
I handed her the coffee and kissed the top of her head. “Morning, love.”
“Morning, Brice,” she said.
I sat on the edge of the coffee table and stared at her. I was almost drooling, but I didn’t care.
“Can we talk?” she asked.
“We can do anything you want.”
“I need you to know the entire situation.”
“Okay.”
“It should have never gotten the way it did,” she said. “Ben went through a lot of stuff himself, and when we started talking about the past, it was… it was like starting over. If that makes sense.”
I nodded. “Okay…”
“What I mean is that we were convenient for each other. That’s why it worked. It was comfortably planned out. But talking about the past made us vulnerable. And I just needed to know. I didn’t want to run back to you because of our past. I wanted to come to you for our future.”
“That’s why you’re here now?”
“Yes,” she said. “We can always talk about Lindsay. Or look at pictures. But I want tomorrow. And everything after that.”
I grinned. “That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You sure?”
“That’s all I want too, Kins.”
“Good. Because I’m giving up my veterinarian practice. I’m getting rid of everything. I’m starting over from scratch.”
“And me?” I asked.
“What about you?”
“Am I part of the starting over from scratch?”
“Possibly.”
“So, does that mean you put out on the first date?” I asked with a smile.
“Wouldn’t have been the first time with you,” Kinsley shot back.
I laughed. “Well then…” I put my coffee down and slid down to the floor. I crawled to her and got on one knee. I took her hand. “Kinsley… my name is Brice. It’s nice to meet you. I have to warn you of a few things though.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“First, I’m going to steal your heart. Second, you’re going to destroy my heart. Third, I’m going to fall in love with you so fucking hard, every breath I take is only to make you happy. Oh, we’re also going to fight over the dumbest stuff. Like how to do laundry. Because everyone knows separating the whites doesn’t matter. And we’re going to fight over who gets the last little bit of the blanket. Although, I’ll let you win because you’re too pretty to fight with. I’m going to make you cry. I hope not a lot though. You’re going to piss me off… a lot. I’m probably going to slam the door a bunch of times. But when I do, it’s only because I love you so much that I like it when you challenge me. Are you okay with that?”
Kinsley blinked fast and smiled. “Most of it.”
“Most of it?” I asked.
I leaned in to kiss her and she touched my face. “I’m right about the laundry, Brice. Admit it.”
I sucked in a breath, smelling coffee, morning breath, and the sweetness of her skin. “You’re right about everything, Kinsley.”
“Good. Now kiss me and mess up all my plans… because that’s all I’ve ever wanted you to do.”
Epilogue
8 months later
Kinsley
I walked down the hallway and stretched my neck.
It had been a long day.
From being in a barn before the sun was up to care for a horse that had hurt its leg to now checking up on a thirteen-year-old Rottweiler that had the personality of a puppy, my day had been more than full.
But it was the exact kind of day I had dreamed of. The best of both worlds.
Oh, and I didn’t have to worry about a thing when it came to the business side of it all. No worries about the rent. Electricity. Supplies. Nothing. I was just a name on the schedule. And speaking of schedule, mine was super flexible. I could basically come and go as I pleased.
I enjoyed working with the other doctors. The staff was ninety-five percent good. The other five percent were the cliché, catty, backstabbing kind of thing you’d see in any office, but oh well.
All I knew was that no matter what happened during the day, I would get to go home to Brice. We bought a house on a big piece of land with the hopes of fixing it up, and maybe getting horses. He still worked at the bar occasionally, mostly to see everyone he used to work with. The drive was thirty minutes without traffic, which made it sort of a waste of time. But it made him happy. He told me the guy that owned the place - Lucky - had proposed to some woman he’d been seeing, and Lucky was thinking about selling that bar. The subtle hint hint of wanting to buy it lingered out there. I would never stand in Brice’s way if that’s what he wanted to do.
Our life was busy, the kitchen usually messy, but there wasn’t a second that we didn’t take care of each other.
I had the pleasure of meeting April and June more than once. They were an interesting pair. As opposite as two people could get, but they shared the same love for little Milo. He was an amazing young kid and the bond he and Honey had was fun to watch. I wished Honey could stay with Milo all the time, but rules were rules. Milo had come to our house plenty of times, which gave me a chance to help teach him how to teach Honey to do cool tricks and to listen. Milo had been at our house enough times that he even had his own corner in the living room where he kept toys. Or left toys by accident.
From what I gathered about June, she was wrestling with demons and would forever wrestle with them all her life. But she had a steady job, a steady boyfriend and she and Milo were figuring out what their mother and son connection was. I knew that hurt April because of what April did for him, but she was a strong woman. Brice told me she had fallen into some money troubles after taking in Milo, but things were a lot better now. I guess April had a boyfriend on the side but didn’t want anyone to know about him or meet him.
As for Linda and Paige, sometimes things were just never meant to truly change. Dave proved himself time and time again to be nothing more than a deadbeat dad to Paige. A few months ago, Paige talked to Linda about never wanting to see him again. Before Linda could find a way to talk to Dave about it, he took a job in South Carolina and moved. There were still issues through the courts and money and all that, but Linda was tough enough to endure it all. I usually met up with her at the bar when Brice was working, in case we decided to enjoy ourselves a little. Or she would come to our place to get away from it all. Funny as it seems, Linda never offered for me to come over to her place. Maybe because it was too close to everything that had been in my life. I wasn’t sure what I would do with the invite if it came, but I respected the hell out of Linda for never bringing it up.
It was funny because some days I never thought about anything in the past. And other days it would play through my mind like a slow-moving movie. And I’d just stand there, amazed by it all.
I turned from the hallway and froze in place when I saw someone standing at the counter. The voice was recognizable.
“Ben?” I asked before realizing what I was doing.
His head turned and his eyes went wide. “Kinsley?”
“What are you doing here?”
Ben held up a leash. My eyes followed the brown leather leash and there was a little, black puppy sitting at his feet.
“You got a dog?” I asked.
I blinked to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
I hadn’t seen Ben in… almost six months.
I got the rest of the stuff out of the house and that was that. He was leaving when I arrived, and we had a short and pointless conversation before he sped away.
“Who are you seeing?” I asked.
“Dr. Wattler,” he said.
“You’ll love her,” I said.
“You’re all checked in,” Maria said from behind the counter.
I stepped out to the waiting room. “When did you get a puppy?”
“Kinsley,” Ben said. “I didn’t know you worked here. Your name’s not on the sign.”
“I’m a floater,” I said. “I come and go.”
“Right. Wow. This is… wow.”
“You look good.”
“So do you.”
“How’s… the house?”
“Ah, I sold that.”
“That’s right,” I said, blushing. “Linda told me. Sorry. This is…”
“Weird,” he said.
“Really weird.”
He laughed. “I’m going to go sit down.” Ben turned but stopped. “No. Wait a second. Kinsley. I need you to know something.”
“Okay,” I said.
“I’m not angry. I don’t hold it against you. Or us. Everything that happened. I really don’t think about it that much, for good reason. But if I do, I just find myself nodding. As though it were all meant to happen, even if things were a little hectic at the end.”
I smiled. “I understand, Ben. What I did… what I let happen…”
The main door opened with a metal squeak and resistance. I hated that door so much, but it needed to be heavy to keep any animals from escaping. Without hesitation, Ben went charging for the door to help open it. A woman stepped through and put her hand to Ben’s arm. The way he looked down at her, I realized what I was seeing. Ben wasn’t just with a dog, he was with a woman. He leaned down and kissed the woman’s forehead. She looked ready to melt into him. The way her lips curled up, her eyes shut, her nostrils opening a little more as she took a deep breath.
I expected to maybe feel a little jealousy, all things considered, but I didn’t feel that at all.
Ben quickly turned his head and looked at me. Then he stepped back and away from the woman.
That’s when I saw her visible belly.
Not huge, but obviously pregnant.
That made me gasp.
I reminded myself who I was and where I was, telling myself to pick my jaw up off the floor.
I casually pointed at Ben, but hurried to stick my hand into my pocket.
Ben started to walk toward the chairs but stopped. He turned with the pregnant woman and moved toward me.
“Oh, are we going back already?” she asked.
“No,” Ben said. “I want you to meet someone. This is Kinsley.”
The woman looked right at me. “Kinsley?”
Ben cleared his throat. “Kinsley, this is Rebecca. My, uh, my…”
“Girlfriend,” she said, offering her hand.
We shook hands. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Don’t mind him,” she said. “He’s all bent out of shape that we’re going out of order.” She touched her stomach. “Mr. Big Planner, right?”
I laughed. “Yeah. That’s Ben.”
I looked at him. I swore for a second he was blushing.
“He had it all figured out,” Rebecca said. “Work hard. Save money. Buy a house. Have a kid. Get a dog. Yeah right. That’s not how life works.”
I laughed again. “I think I like her,” I said to Ben.
“You’ll have to get through me first,” he said, sliding an arm around her shoulder.
I couldn’t stop smiling.
Ben met someone who could and would stand up to him and win. Someone who could take his plans and step on them with a smile and keep him sane.
Rebecca was beautiful to
o. Long, black, curly hair with dark eyes and a slight tan to her clear skin. She was shorter than Ben, shorter than me, but just the look on her face, she seemed to be a force to be reckoned with.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” I said. “Both of you. All three… four… of you.” I pointed to the puppy.
“Oh, that one,” Rebecca said. “That was a hormonal decision. But I love her so much.”
“That’s okay,” I said.
“I would have preferred normal cravings like pickles and ice cream,” Ben said.
“Pickles and ice cream?” Rebecca asked. “You watch too much TV. That’s not how it works, right, Kinsley?”
Rebecca was bold asking me that question. I looked at Ben, realizing that not only had he met someone who stands up to him, but he’d met someone he trusted and could tell them everything.
“Yeah,” I said. “I never had those kinds of cravings. Just different foods at different times of the day. Or night.”
“Exactly,” she said. “Well, I think I need to find a chair. I’ve been going all day. This mama needs to sit.”
“It was nice to meet you,” I said. “And good luck with everything.”
“Thank you,” Rebecca said.
“I’ll be right there,” Ben said. He kissed her forehead.
Rebecca made the same face as at the door. They were really in love. With a life. A baby on the way. A puppy. A really busy and exciting life where plans were always going to get messed up.
Nobody Else Page 28
