Walking back out into the restaurant, I felt like I was in a different universe. I was back in my skintight leather body suit, but it now felt completely different against my skin. My body was still on fire from Tucker’s touch. My hand was in Tucker’s as he led the way back to where our friends stood, and as we walked back to where we stood just moments before, I let my fear creep back in.
I considered myself a pretty strong girl. I knew what I wanted out of life, and I had a plan of how I was going to get it. It was a plan that I had stuck to for a very long time. But my plan was fucked. I didn’t know where I fit in to my plan or where my plan fit into my life anymore. I couldn’t see a plan that didn’t have Tucker in it.
Brooke and Sophie were grinning like a couple of goons when we stepped up beside them, and I had to look away to stop from laughing at the expression on Brooke’s face.
“So did you two fuck and make up?”
Tucker smacked Liam so hard on the back of the head that I was sure he would have a headache for days to come.
“Seriously?” Tucker ran his thumb over my knuckles.
“What?” Liam rubbed the back of his head. “I want to know if I won the bet or not.”
“You all bet on us?” I looked around at our friends.
“Technically, I was the one betting on you.” Chloe made her way through Liam and Tucker, and I smiled when I saw her dark fairy costume. The exact way I imagined her the first time we met. “These other clowns were betting against you.”
“That was before I saw the cat suit,” Liam waved his hand in my direction. “I didn’t know she was going to dress like that.”
“So naive,” Chloe purred before pulling me into a hug. “You look hot,” she lifted on to her tiptoes to whisper in my ear.
“Thanks, Chloe.”
“No worries. I got my girls back. I already told Tucker how big of an idiot he was to let you slip through his fingers.”
Tucker was staring daggers at Chloe, and I couldn’t stop my smile.
“So how much money did you win anyway?”
“Oh, I didn’t win any money.” Chloe grinned wickedly. “But Liam and Jase now have to clean my apartment this weekend in their underwear.”
Everyone laughed except for Liam. I had no clue where Jase had went, but I doubted he minded the underwear part of the bet considering he was parading around in it in public.
“You girls can come over and eat popcorn with me while it happens if you want.”
“I’m in,” Brooke raised her hand, and Sophie nodded her head in agreement.
“Kennedy?”
“Not happening,” Tucker spoke before I could.
“Aww.” Chloe patted his chest. “Jealousy looks so damn cute on you.”
Jealousy really didn’t look that cute on Tucker. Especially when it was happening every five minutes. Tucker, Chloe, and Liam had to get back to work so the rest of us ladies decided to enjoy ourselves and gossip. Naturally.
We had finally managed to score a booth, courtesy of the owners, and the girls were leaning across the table hanging on to my every word about how things had gone down in his office when I felt someone settle into my booth beside me.
“Hey, ladies.”
“Hi,” I said hesitantly.
There was something about a guy who would sit down uninvited and interrupt our conversation that really turned me off, but before I could tell him to get lost, Tucker was there.
He didn’t even give the poor guy a chance to defend himself. He just pulled the guy up by his arm, whispered something in his ear, and pushed him in a direction that was opposite from where we were sitting.
“Really, Tucker. He was cute,” Brooke whined as Tucker sat down beside me.
“Then he should have sat next to you and not her.” He nuzzled his face into my neck and placed a soft, subtle kiss there.
I couldn’t remember for the life of me why I was getting frustrated with him. I couldn’t think at all when his lips were on me.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” His lips moved against the skin of my ear.
I nodded my head but no words came out.
Tucker scooted out of the booth and pulled me out behind him.
“Bye, girls. We’re leaving,” I waved to Brooke and Sophie.
“Really? Just like that?” Brooke called out.
“What happened to chicks before dicks?” Sophie laughed beside her.
“Shut up.” I shook my head at them.
“Keep the boots on,” Chloe’s voice called out, and I had to look around for her because I didn’t even know she was around.
But Tucker didn’t give me time to reply to her. He pulled me out of Rock Bottom like a man on a mission, and I prayed that his mission was me.
We walked home hand in hand. No words were spoken. It was a blissful silence knowing that we were here together. There was no need for words.
When we made it to our floor, Tucker pulled me right past my apartment door and pulled his keys out of his pocket. I didn’t argue. I wanted to be wherever he was and I didn’t care where we ended up. As we made our way into his apartment, I realized that I had never been in his bedroom before. We had spent so much time together, but never in there.
His large bed was covered in a black comforter that was left unmade. His furniture was nice. All black stained wood that screamed masculinity and fit him perfectly. I didn’t get much time to take in the rest of the room because I was quickly thrown onto the bed as soon as we made it through the doorway.
My back bounced against the mattress then Tucker’s strong hands flipped me onto my stomach. He didn’t waste any time. My outfit was gone in a flash. I was laid completely bare in front of him.
He removed his clothes. His fingers stealthily moving over buttons and zippers. I lay in front of him and watched in fascination as his body came into view. I had seen it only hours before, but I would never get used to it.
My breath caught in my throat as he dropped to his knee and crawled over me. He tenderly pushed my hair out of my face and stared down at me. His dark brown eyes were captivating, and I could feel myself getting lost in everything they were saying without saying a word.
He drug his bottom lip against mine. Not a kiss. A barely there touch. But I still felt my body arching off the bed, begging for more.
“I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “No. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“I should have never lied to you about the restaurant.” His voice was so sincere, and I knew that he meant it. But I still didn’t understand.
“Why did you lie?”
Gripping my hands in his, he lifted them near my head and pressed them into the bed. His movements slow and calculated.
“I knew those photos were yours the first day I asked you.”
He nodded his head when I narrowed my eyes.
“And I saw how protective you were of them. I saw the way your eyes lit up just looking at them. You basically hated me at that point, but I knew I had to have you. I needed you to take the photos of Rock Bottom, but I knew you wouldn’t think I was asking because I really wanted you.”
He was right. I probably wouldn’t have.
“You are so fucking talented, Kennedy.”
My gaze avoided his as I ran it down his chest, but he gripped my chin in his hand and forced me to look at him.
“I don’t care what anyone else has ever told you. I don’t care if anyone else believes it.” He shook his head. “You have to know how talented you are. You need to believe in yourself.”
I let his words fill me up. I let them drown out the doubt that always creeped there.
“I believe in you.”
I let out a small moan and his eyes lit with fire.
He pressed a kiss to the center of my chest before moving his mouth along my collarbone. His lips spilled words of beauty against my skin, and I drank them in like I was ravenous.
“You are so damn beautiful.”
“I crave the taste of your skin.”
“I crave all of you.”
His lips finally made their way back to mine. He created a storm inside me. Part of me felt like a whirlwind of madness while the other part of me felt like I was finally letting go of the breath I had been holding. Knowing that I was exactly where I was meant to be.
As his tongue danced with mine, I felt off balanced, but he was always there to catch my fall. He caught my whimpers in his mouth and made my pulse spike with his teeth. Our bodies were pressed together and although our mouths were the only things engaged, I felt him more than I had ever felt him before.
I felt him in a way that I knew would leave a scar.
He worked his way down my body worshiping every inch of skin he touched, and when he finally slid inside me, my body was on fire. He moved slowly in and out of me, taking his time, savoring the moment.
Our skin was slick with sweat and his hands glided over my thighs as he pulled them around him. Standing with me in his arms, he moved us to a wide armchair that I hadn’t even noticed was in the corner of his room. He settled me on top of him, and I immediately began to move. I used his shoulders as leverage as I rocked my body against his.
It didn’t take long before I felt myself falling apart around him, and he knew it too. He wrapped his arms around me, his face buried in my neck, and his whispered words into my ear caused me to completely shatter.
“I love you.”
It was frightening to know that despite myself, in the amount of time that it took to take one breath, I could so easily lose myself in him. I was drowning in his reckless love, and I never wanted to come up for a breath. It was incurable and I would never be able to escape it, but at the end of the day, I needed him far more than I needed my next breath.
And as my body shook around his and I watched pure ecstasy fill his eyes, there was only one thought in my head.
“I love you too.”