Easy Reunion

by Jerald, Tracey

  “If I’d have come forward…” I try again, but she cuts me off.

  “You can what-if all you want, my love. You saved two special people by being as brave as you were—you and your sister. And back then, were the right laws in place to have protected you?” I begin to rack my brain, trying to remember when hazing laws went into effect when Kelsey asks me something completely unexpected. “Why did you stay on the swim team, Ry?”

  Surprisingly, a smile crosses my face. I move us both to the sofa and drop down onto it. Pulling her into my lap, I answer simply, “You.”

  A look of confusion crosses her face. “You participated on a team you hated…”

  “Because you made me remember why I loved the sport, Kelsey.” Clarity replaces the confusion and along with it, a rather becoming blush. “That’s right. When you asked me what I felt while I was in the water, you forced me to remember why I loved it.” Lowering my head down to hers again, I admit, “And it didn’t hurt because as you began to mean more to me, it gave me the leverage to protect you.”

  “And who again did you think you didn’t protect? Because right now, I’ve counted three,” she persists.

  I open and close my mouth, unable to say a word, which is a good thing because she proceeds to blow my mind.

  “You do what you need to, Ry, but don’t you dare apologize to me or anyone else about the decisions you made. They’re what make you…you. The man I love.” While I’m falling in love all over again, she causes me to do something I never imagined I’d ever be able to do when I told her about what happened in that dark locker room all those years ago.

  Laugh.

  “All I ask is don’t lose yourself in that godforsaken state.” She gives a mock shudder in my arms, which causes me to roar before her words sober me with the fierceness they’re spoken. “If I have to go back there without you by my side, someone’s going to wish I hadn’t.”

  All humor’s wiped from my face when I lean down toward her upturned one. Kelsey’s jaw is so tight it might break. I smile at her tenderly before I brush my lips gently against hers.

  Leaving her is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, even if it’s for the right reasons. But now that I know I no longer have to fear the truth damaging the love in her eyes, I’ll do everything in my power to get back to her as soon as I can, because now the thought of even one night without holding her is more painful than not knowing where she was for fifteen years.

  “Come on.” I slide Kelsey off my lap before standing. Reaching down, I take her hand and pull her to her feet. “Let’s get some sleep. I want to spend time with you before I have to leave tomorrow night.”

  “That sounds perfect.” We make our way out of the study, turning lights off along the way. On the way to our bedroom—God, I really need to ask her to move in when I get back, I think ruefully—Kelsey stops in her tracks.

  “Ry?”

  “Yes, love?” I lean down and kiss her shoulder just as we’re about to cross the threshold to the master.

  “I learned a long time ago that grief and pain don’t ever let you go.” Turning to face me, she says seriously, “I want you to talk to Morgan about how to cope when you get back. Time only helps if you get the right tools to deal with things like this; otherwise, you’ll be yanked back every time something like this happens.”

  While my stomach lurches at the idea, my mind knows she’s right. My heart, exhausted over the day’s emotional roller coaster I put myself through, merely forces my head to nod.

  “Promise me.” Her head collides with my heart as she leans forward.

  My hand comes up to press her closer if that’s even possible. I’d imprint myself on her soul if I could. “I promise.”

  A shudder runs through her. “I wish I could remain calm enough to be the person who carries all your burden, but I fear that if you give it all to just me that I’m going to go back and kill them all. Painfully.” Her eyes lift to mine, and I see a barely banked fury that oddly sends a wave of tenderness through me and kicks up a lick of fire through my veins when I didn’t think that was possible tonight.

  Then for the second time this evening, she surprises me when she declares, “Besides, despite looking good in red, I don’t want to wear the color for the rest of my life when I’m considered a high-risk inmate. I’m just sayin’.”

  Because on a night when I expected to be desperately trying to forget who I was, I’m grinning as I hold on to the best part of who I am. “So noted.”

  “Ry?” Her soft voice burns through me, scoring my heart in a million ways.

  “Yes, my love?” We approach the bed like two shipwrecked sailors and fall onto it fully clothed. Kicking off my shoes, I pull her practically on top of me. “I don’t want to let go all night,” I murmur when she squawks before settling against my chest.

  There’s a moment of silence before she whispers, “Maybe I should have pushed things between us sooner?”

  What she’s asking is whether or not I forgive her for her accusations earlier.

  Rolling us to our sides, I pull her tightly against me. “Loving is new for both of us. I was afraid of losing you by telling you the truth, and you were afraid to ask for it,” I say.

  “What happened to you will never stop me from loving the person you are.”

  I groan as my lips capture hers briefly. We’re both too drained for more than this simple reaffirmation of our love. “I think we’ve both learned something important,” I conclude.

  Kelsey laughs softly. “Yeah, when you start ignoring me, pick a fight. It seems to get you talking more easily than asking if anything’s wrong. Hey, do you think that’s the lawyer in you?”

  I snicker before turning serious. “I found out losing you would gut me, Kels,” I admit.

  “Me too. I think we also found out that it’s safe to be vulnerable with each other.”

  “And I know you’re my safe place, no matter what. I can talk to you about anything.” The wonderment of that echoes in my voice.

  Her hand squeezes me where it’s worked its way under my dress shirt to rest against my skin. “You would think you would have learned that after the first time we made love, but I get it.” She silences me with a quick kiss when I start to protest. “As you’re much more of a linear thinker, being a lawyer and all, I’ll explain it to you.” Rising on an elbow in the dark, she softly says the words that first fascinated me said by a sad girl with gray eyes. “‘The worst thing that’s happening to you is the best thing that will ever happen to someone else. All you can do is move past it. After all, if life were meant to be easy, I’d have already won the game.’ What you don’t realize is that you already won, Ry. And now, you’re about to coach someone else to win—again.” Brushing my lips once more, she snuggles deep in my arms while I contemplate the darkness for a while.

  Her breathing evens out when I realize something profound I want to share with her. I whisper it into the dark of the night instead. “We both won.”

  Her sleepy “I know” makes me hold her closer against my heart with the knowledge this is forever.

  Kelsey’s going to have me on my knees soon; I damn well know it. I don’t have to kiss my days as a bachelor goodbye; I’m sending them off with a bon voyage party. If it wasn’t for what I’m about to face, I’d already be planning the most expedient way to tie her life to mine.

  And somehow, I’m blessed because I know when I go back tomorrow to face my past, my future will be waiting right here for me.

  Chapter 40

  Kelsey

  The expression on his face is like nothing I’d ever witnessed. The tenderness, gratitude, and love shine brighter than the fatigue I can read beneath his eyes. Running my thumb gently under one, my voice is raspy when I ask, “Did you sleep?”

  The angles and planes of his bared upper chest catch the morning light as it filters through the windows. Ry shakes his head. “I didn’t want to miss a single moment with you.”

  “Ry,” I protest,
but any words are stopped by the graze of his lips against mine.

  “Overnight, I realized you were right. I won. You can’t imagine the pleasure I get from holding you while you sleep, but touching you? Ah, Kels, that makes every moment of pain worth the price.” He glides his hand down over the sleeveless arm of the rumpled dress I slept in, sending goose bumps up and down my skin. Slowly, he begins inching the hem upward.

  “Nothing was worth that kind of price,” I counter even as my body begins to react to his.

  “Your love is,” he corrects me, just before he captures my lips in a kiss so fierce my head is forced back against the pillows, as if he needs to prove to himself I’m still here. As if there’s anywhere else I’d be knowing he hasn’t walked away from me in his heart. I slide my hands up his bare chest and hold on. Tearing apart, he pants out, “I’ll do anything to protect you, Kels. Anything—know that.”

  I barely get the chance to nod before he’s fused his lips back to mine like our kiss is a lifeline because maybe it is. I can feel the wet heat of Ry’s tears mingling with my own against my cheeks. The searing agony he’d held inside for so long, too long, finally open. Exposed.

  Love and pain swirl up and settle over us like the humid summer air, full of weight and heat. How had he been carrying this burden for so long? I wonder before his hands wander down to the curve of my hip, lifting me flush against the hardness of his body and taking away thought by driving pleasure in its place. “Ry,” I moan out his name.

  Warmth pools between my legs as his bare thigh—when did he strip off his clothes?—slips between mine. Tangling my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, I pull his head back just enough to breathe into his mouth the words I need him to understand down to the core of his soul, “I love you, Ry. Always,” before I fuse our lips together. Wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, I open myself up for whatever he needs to take.

  Because that’s what I need to give.

  And even though I wish I could do more, right now, he needs this. Needs me. I might wish I could go back in time and stand for him the way he stood for Lisa. I’d bear the burden of being humiliated a thousand times, a million times if I could have spared him an ounce of the agony he endured. But that’s not what he needs.

  Twisting to free myself from the force that he’s clasping me to him, I growl and push him to his back. He rolls, allowing me to smooth my hands over his shoulders, trying to replace the memories I know are burned into his skin with new ones. Maybe the memories we’ll create will eventually ease the ones that have been festering there for what seem like a lifetime. I know nothing can wipe them from his mind, just like nothing can take away mine.

  My lips tear away, leaving nothing but our harsh breathing in the room. “Kels,” he moans. His hands clench on my ass as I rock against him.

  “Shh,” I whisper. My lips brush his lightly before traveling over his jaw, down his neck, and onto the wide expanse of his chest. I’m making love to every inch of skin I can touch. I’m branding Ry with tenderness instead of terror. My lips and fingers are doing what words will never be able to, attempting to heal wounds I never inflicted but ones that need to be cauterized for us to move on.

  Slowly, my lips trail across his collarbone until I’m just above his heart. There they linger. “This is the part of you that I fell in love with.” My eyes well with tears. “The man who would sacrifice his soul for those he loves is worthy of more eloquent words than that, but there’s a beauty in their simplicity. There’s a beauty in you, Ry.”

  He shakes his head vociferously. I reach up to capture one of his hands to hold it against my heart. He stills, feeling the rapid beat against his palm. “Yes, my love.” As much as I try, I can’t prevent the wetness from falling down my cheeks. “I wish you could understand I would endure anything to take this pain from you.” My voice is cracking. “But it doesn’t make you less of a man; it makes you one of the most courageous ones I know.”

  “I never wanted you to look at me differently,” he chokes out.

  “How could I not?” He turns his head away, but I pull it around. “Ry? You are so much more than the man I fell in love with. Your strength and honor make me humbled. And every day for the rest of my life, I pray you’ll give me more reasons to look at you in a new way,” I whisper as I lean down until my lips press against his bare chest. Leaving a firm kiss there, I sit up so he can read the truth in my eyes.

  I’m hurting for the boy who endured a hazing that was pure physical abuse, but the man doesn’t want my pity. He’ll always have my compassion and understanding.

  And my love.

  Blindly through my tears, I find his lips. They’re wet and salty beneath mine. He presses his to mine hesitantly, still on an emotional roller coaster after what he shared. All these years, he’s been living with his pain, his torment, while trying to save everyone from theirs. Now, it’s my time to show him there are no words to right the wrongs.

  There’s only love.

  For a long time, I brush my lips against Ry’s chin, his cheek, his chest. In comfort. “Let me show you how to love yourself as much as I do.”

  A bittersweet laugh escapes his chiseled lips. “I don’t know if that’s possible.”

  “I do,” I assure him with the utmost confidence.

  A glimmer lightens Ry’s eyes, making them shimmer like the deepest water of the ocean. “How?” he murmurs. His hand, balled in the material of my dress, comes up to brush the matted hair tangled in the wet of my cheek.

  With a tender smile, I lay my lips gently against his when I whisper, “Because you turned my life inside out. You helped me conquer my fears to understand I was always worthy of love—your love.”

  Ry groans as his arms wrap around me. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you,” he whispers into the top of my hair.

  “You were you,” I tell him. Tipping my head back, I give him my whole heart. “Then and now.”

  Beneath the morning sky, I hold on as Ry lowers his head and plucks random kisses from my lips, knowing this won’t solve everything buried in his soul. But maybe, just maybe, he’ll take it with him to remember during the nights when he’s away from me.

  “I love you, Kels.” His voice is hoarse. “But I think it’s time for you to lose this dress.” My breath catches as Ry smooths his hands up my hips, over my ribs, lifting my dress with him. Within seconds, he whips my dress away from my body, leaving me clad in only a gray lace demi-bra and matching thong.

  Pulling back just a bit, Ry moves his hand down my arm and catches the edge of the strap beneath his finger. Dragging the strap down as far as it will go, the cup is barely staying up only by the swirling lace along the edges, catching against my rigid nipple. “Pretty. If you want to keep it that way, take it off,” Ry rasps.

  My nipples tighten even further at the veiled threat. Reaching behind me, I flick the clasp before I slowly let the other strap slide off my shoulder. My lips part as I hear the low growl from the back of his throat.

  “Let me see.”

  I thrust my shoulders back even as I roll them to force the cups from clinging to nipples now aching for Ry’s touch, his lips. Without breaking his gaze, I pull it off one arm before casually tossing it to the side of the bed. “Anything else you want gone?”

  Snap. Stunned, I helplessly glance down at the matching thong Ry’s torn as he pulls it from between my spread thighs. “I don’t want to waste precious time, not when I’ve been doing that for weeks,” he explains.

  I feel my breath escape me as I catch the bold, unapologetic expression on his face. “If there were a way for you to repeat that move on less-expensive underwear, I’d appreciate it. You tend to tear apart the most expensive pairs,” I tell him tartly, not at all upset.

  Judging by the bland tone he uses to reply, he doesn’t give a damn. “So noted,” he says, right before he pulls one of my nipples deep into his mouth. The firm tip is lashed with his tongue, back and forth.

  I hold his head clos
e, but not too close. I don’t ever want him to feel trapped where he can’t break away. Have I ever done that before? I think in a panic.

  Suddenly I’m on my back, and he’s on top of me, pushing his hips against mine. God, the feel of his cock nestling against my pussy just makes it ready. I’m incoherent with pleasure when a hoarse scream is torn from me as Ry sheaths himself fully inside of me. The full, heavy length of his cock enters me in one thrust, triggering all of my inner muscles to clamp down on him. “Oh, God.”

  “Don’t you dare think about anything else when I’m loving you.” He angles his hips back and pushes back into me again. And again. “Only this.” He pushes against me, grinding against my clit.

  I don’t reply. I can’t. I’m too busy thrashing beneath the sexual onslaught. Over and over again, Ry pistons into me, erasing weeks of doubt and replacing it with pleasure. But I don’t go over until Ry’s lips cover mine. We’re fighting to breathe, our eyes firmly locked on each other when the overwhelming pleasure begins to race over my skin. It burns throughout every inch of me that’s connected to Ry. From the hair he’s pulling, to the tips of my toes that are digging into the back of his thighs, everything is on fire.

  Slowly, we begin to sip at each other’s lips as we both come down from the high we flew to. “The only thing I want is you. Nothing will cause that to change, Kelsey.” He swallows before ducking his head and brushing a kiss against my shoulder. “Knowing you’re here with me means I can go do what has to be done and come back whole.”

  “Ry,” I begin, hesitant to bring up the promise I wrung from him from last night but knowing we don’t have much time.

  It turns out I don’t have to. Pushing his lips against the pulse in my neck, he whispers, “I promised, baby. Just…bear with me. There’s going to be days I’m going to come home after laying things out and not be able to see through the exhaustion of doing so.”

  Tears prick my closed lids, but I refuse to let them escape. Turning my head, I stare into the glorious sunlight as it streams into the windows. I’m blind, but at least the rapid blinking has dried my eyes so when I face the man I love beyond a shadow of a doubt, my face is smooth. “As long as you promise me that if you need me for any reason, you’ll ask me to be with you. Anywhere.”