“MIND LOCKING UP?” I ask Nash as he finishes up on the books he continues to bitch about until we find that receptionist he’s hellbent on hiring.
“Nah, bro. Go get your girl,” he answers with that smart-ass smirk stretching his bearded face.
“Plan on it, my man,” I reply. A smirk of my own on my lips. Thinking about getting Kennedy alone, wrapped up in my arms, dancing along the bar floor.
I walk across the street, finding the door to the bar is already locked. I use my key to gain entry and then lock it back up behind me.
Taking in the expanse of the room, I find Kennedy behind the bar. She’s leaning with her arms braced against the top facing me like she was waiting for me, smile on her stunning face.
I can’t help but smile in return. This night so much like the very first I surprised her here for our first dance, yet different in so many ways. With the most important being that she’s finally all mine. In all ways.
Goddamn, I can’t help but think of our first night together a few days ago, and every time since that I haven’t been able to keep my hands off of her. Nothing being enough now that I’ve had a taste of all she has to give.
Before I can say a word and barely walk into the room, a soft beat starts playing from the surround sound—sultry and low. Guiding Kennedy’s steps as she rounds the end of the bar, the music causing a little extra swing in her step.
When she reaches me, I don’t waste a second pulling her in. “Angel.”
“I’ve been waiting on you.”
“I see that,” I reply before leaning down and kissing the smile on her lips. I swear, kissing her has become my favorite thing to do. Can’t keep my lips to myself when it comes to her.
We keep kissing for another minute or so before both pulling away to start dancing.
I wrap her up tight. Slender curves to hard ridges. No space between us.
Not letting anything keep us apart.
Not even the air around us.
I band my arms low around her waist, my hands skimming the top of her perfect ass. Her small hands clutch my arms before sliding up my shoulders to settle against the sides of my neck.
She hums low in her throat. Small, serene smile stretching her lips before she turns and lays her cheek against my chest.
Hearing my heart beat for her.
Then we start to move. Swaying in slow circles. Soaking it all in. The low beat of the song, the warm feel of our bodies pressed just right.
This is us. Every night she’s working, I come after closing to take this moment with her. And give it all the same.
Move her around the floor, hold her tight. Let the soft sounds of the music and the low beats of our hearts lead us.
We dance through two songs. Just us.
Fucking perfect.
After dancing led to more kissing which led to touching that had us rushing out of there to rush back to my condo so we could tear at each other and make the kind of love only we can, Kennedy lies there on her stomach amongst the sheets of my bed. All tousled hair and flawless skin. Legs bent at the knee with her feet in the air and crossed at her ankles.
Her face is turned toward me with her cheek against her forearms as I take her in. I’m lying on my side, one hand propping up my head while the other skims along the bare skin of her back.
She moans softly as goosebumps skitter across her skin. A small, satisfied, and content smile crossing her unbelievably beautiful face.
Not for the first time I take in her unmarked body. A contrast to my heavily inked hand trailing across her skin.
“Ever think of getting some ink?” My rough voice breaks the silence. Her eyes open and look right into my soul.
Shrugging, she says, “Not really.”
“You’re stunning, angel. Perfect just the way you are. But I can’t help but imagine ink by my hand scrolled along your gorgeous golden skin.”
She blushes at the lust coating my tone and the heat flaring in my eyes.
The image making me harder than stone beneath the bed sheet.
“What do you see?”
“A dreamcatcher.”
“A dreamcatcher?” she questions. “What’s that?”
Tracing a lone finger across her goosebumped flesh, I get lost in the feel of her skin as I start to explain. “The dreamcatcher is a wooden circle full of string webbing that has feathers hanging from the bottom. They’re simple, but their meaning is very powerful and they can be quite beautiful. They’re popular in the Naive American culture and became known as magical webs that caught bad dreams and kept any harm from reaching you.”
Sitting up with the sheet pooled at my waist, I grab Kennedy’s hand to gently pull her up to match my position. Facing me with her bare torso exposed, her long, wavy hair parted to fall over each of her tits with just the underside exposed.
Takes everything I have not to reach out and palm each breast before dragging each rosy tip into my mouth.
Refocusing my attention from her almost bare breasts to her completely bare torso, I place one tattooed hand to her rib cage. Seeing the design come to life in my mind and just dying to sketch it out and ink it on her skin. “I can see it starting here.” I point to her right side, at the bend that just starts toward her back. “The hoop would be shaded in black, with the webbing and strings in gray. I’d finish the feathers with a watercolor effect of different hues of green…to match your eyes.”
“Wow,” she says breathlessly. “That sounds beautiful.” Her soft voice full of awe and wonder.
“I wanna catch all your dreams, angel. Sift through them to weed out the bad so only the good remains.” My hand now cupping her cheek, my fingers sliding into her hair.
Tears well immediately in her eyes as the most tender and beautiful smile stretches her lips. “You already do that, honey. You are my dreamcatcher.”
I can’t not kiss her. Leaning in, I kiss her sweet lips softly. Trying to convey how much those words mean to me.
Pulling away, Kennedy whispers, “Give me a truth.”
I don’t hesitate. “I love you more than I ever thought possible.”
She melts. I see it. Right there in front of me with a small smile on her lips. Her eyes turn soft, and I know my words had the impact I hoped they would.
“Your turn, angel. Truth for a truth.”
It’s her turn not to hesitate. “I’ve never been happier in my life than I am with you.”
Not able to stay away a second longer, I lean forward and take her mouth in a kiss so powerful, I swear I feel the earth shake, my bones rattle, my soul ignite.
We fall to the bed in a heap of heated moans and needy gasps. Our tongues dueling and tangling and seeking. Fucking consuming.
Our mouths don’t stop, our hands joining in. Touching, caressing.
I’m on my side leaning over Kennedy on her back beneath me. She’s writhing and rubbing up against me, driving me fucking wild.
Ripping her mouth from mine on a gasp, she starts panting into the otherwise quiet room. Trying to catch the breath I stole from her. While I trail my lips over her chin, down her throat, where I nibble and suck on her pulse point. Dying to mark her.
Moaning, small hands dive into my hair, lifting my head so our lips touch again.
Our once frantic kisses turn soft and languid. Gentle and coaxing and just right.
Pecking her swollen lips twice more, I pull away slowly and settle onto my back. Pulling my girl up on my chest.
The both of us settling in and catching our breath.
“I could stay right here, like this with you, forever,” she says after a few minutes.
I look down to see a sweet, serene smile on her face.
“If only you’d put me out of my misery and stay with me…”
“Rhett,” she breathes out as she climbs from the bed. Quickly tossing on one of my t-shirts that’s scattered along the floor. Exasperated because this isn’t the first time I’ve brought it up.
I don’t give a shit that we’ve only known each other for barely two months and have only been together one. I want this woman in every aspect of my life. And that means in my home and in my bed.
“We’ve talked about this,” she says softly. “I would love to be with you all the time. But the reason I moved here—”
“Was for me,” I state loudly. Confidently.
“What?” Her voice shocked.
“The reason you ended up here is because we were meant to find each other, angel.”
Her face softens at that. It may sound like a line, but it’s not. It’s the truth. From the moment I saw her I knew she was mine, knew she was meant for me, knew we were meant for each other. So to me, taking that step, moving in and sharing the same space, doesn’t seem illogical or too fast at all.
It seems so goddamn right.
“I believe that, too.” Her tone gentles yet again. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that even though I found you, I’m still trying to find all of me.”
Fuck.
“Don’t get me wrong, Rhett. You’re a surprise I couldn’t even dream of finding. And you make me feel more like me than I ever have, make me feel as though I finally found my home. But as much as I believe what you believe—that we were meant to find each other—I left my old life behind and moved here because I needed a fresh start—I needed a new me. One that doesn’t chase and cling. One who can stand on her own two feet, who doesn’t need validation from a man to feel complete. A me that I can be proud of.”
How could I ever dispute that? Try to fight it?
I can’t and I don’t because my girl needs her time, her space, to find herself as an individual. Though I won’t be giving her much time or space from me, that’s for damn sure.
“So even though practically every fiber of my being screams to jump head first into this with you now that we’ve gone all the way…I can’t yet. And I hope you understand that because I love you, honey. In a way I never knew existed.”
Goddamn this girl and her heart.
I’m so fucking twisted and tangled and all fucking in.