20

Kamryn

August 4, 2015

“SO, NO MORE notes, no more nothing?”

I shook my head and shrugged at Kinlee. “There hasn’t been anything since the morning he went into the meeting with them. And Brody made up something about being able to arrest Charles for coming back to my bakery on Friday, and Charles bought it and told him that Olivia’s dad was the one who called my parents. But that had been before the meeting on Tuesday, so . . . oh, well. Now we’re just waiting to see when the court date will be, and then we’ll deal with that mess.”

“And then we’ll all be done with Olivia Reynolds for—hopefully—ever.”

I grinned and relaxed into the cushions of my couch. “Yes, ma’am!”

“I like that you aren’t hiding your accent anymore,” Kinlee said with the worst drawl I’ve ever heard.

“I don’t have an accent,” I grumbled.

“Whatever, Miss Kentucky!”

I rolled my eyes and kicked at her leg.

“Has Brody mentioned getting married or anything?”

My eyes went wide, and I sat up quickly. “Kinlee! No!” I shouted and laughed.

“What? Why is that such a definite no?”

“Really? Think about it. It has technically only been three months.”

Kinlee’s face fell, and her eyes looked up and to the side as she thought about that. “For reals?”

“Yeah. Just three months. It may have felt like it took years to get here, but . . . not so much.” I sat back against the cushions and watched as she thought some more, knowing she was nowhere near done with this conversation yet.

“But you’re different. From listening to you both tell the story, you met and the world stopped turning, and no one else mattered except for the two of you because you were made for each other!”

I glared at her.

“Whatever, you know what I mean,” she said with a laugh. “But you had that instant connection. And it wasn’t something you read about in fairy tales. Where they meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. You met, you knew you couldn’t be together, and still you knew you couldn’t live without each other. Now you’ve both been to hell and back in the last three months, and you can finally live your happily ever after. Why would you wait?” She looked at me expectantly for a few seconds before sitting up and scooting closer to me. “It has been three months. When you put it that way, I totally get it. Any other couple and I would think it would be insane. But then again, any other couple and I would probably hate the fact that they were together. I would think you stole him from his wife and he was an asshole. With you? I couldn’t be happier that the two of you are together, and I want this for you.”

“Kinlee,” I said softly when her eyes filled with tears.

“I didn’t even know about the bad shit when it was happening. But knowing the story, knowing both of you, I just—I just want you both to be happy. You deserve this.”

Leaning forward, I pulled her close and hugged her hard. “Thank you, Lee. Thank you for understanding us. And we will,” I continued when we both sat back. “We will get married someday. But I think once the divorce is final, we both just want to be together for a while.” I shrugged and smirked. “Or who knows, we might get married the day after it’s finalized if she drags it out long enough.”

Kinlee laughed and rolled her eyes. We both knew that was a possibility.

“Brody and I are both just happy that we can be together finally. So for now, this is enough.”

“Okay.” She nodded and looked away thoughtfully. “That makes sense. But promise me you’ll try to have babies someday!”

I laughed and covered my face. “Kinlee, oh, my God! What? Yeah, someday. Like, way far away someday.”

“As long as there’s a someday, I can live with that! Because I want to be Aunt Kinlee, and I really want us to be moms together.”

My head snapped up, and my eyes widened at her. “What?” I asked breathily.

“Jace and I have been talking ever since that Sunday at my house, and, uh . . . well, on Friday we started the really ridiculously stupid-long process of adoption.”

“Really, Lee?”

She nodded and tried to bite back a smile, but soon it was covering most of her face. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m just really freaking excited that we finally started it!”

“I’m so happy for y’all! It will happen, I know it will. And you’ll be the best parents!”

“You think so?” she asked, her expression hopeful.

“I know so. Come on!” I jumped up, pulling her with me. “We need to go out and celebrate.”


Brody

August 4, 2015

SHUTTING THE GARAGE, I closed the door and locked it behind me and made my way through the condo, turning off lights as I went. The house was unusually quiet, so instead of calling out for Kamryn, I walked silently toward the bedroom and smiled when I found her.

Leaning up against the doorjamb, I studied her for a few seconds before pushing off and walking the few steps to where she lay asleep, her Kindle on the bed beside her, her glasses still on. Taking the frames gently in my fingers, I slid the glasses off her face and placed them—along with the Kindle—on the nightstand before brushing her bangs back and kissing her forehead.

“Night, sweetheart,” I whispered and stood to walk into the closet.

After ridding myself of my boots, radios, duty belt, uniform, and vest, I stripped out of my undershirt and boxer-briefs and went to take a quick shower. When I came back out with a towel around my waist, Kamryn was sitting up on her knees at the end of the bed with a soft smile on her face.

I smiled back at her curiously and opened my mouth to apologize for waking her, but she placed an index finger over her pouted lips, her blue eyes conveying her want. My body instantly warmed more than it had in the shower, and my need for her coursed through my body.

Kamryn sat up higher on her knees and, with the hand that had been pressed against her lips, reached out toward me. I took the last few steps between us, and a short, hard breath blew past my lips when her fingers pressed low on my bare stomach. The muscles there contracted involuntarily, and she bit back a smile as she shamelessly let her eyes move over every part of my body.

When I brought my hands up to her shoulders, her blue eyes flashed up to meet mine for a brief moment before she slowly reached out for the towel resting on my hips. A needy groan sounded deep in my chest when the towel dropped to the floor, she moved her hands up my length, and I bent forward to alternate placing openmouthed kisses and gentle bites up the side of her neck. Her head rolled to the side to give me more access, and I let my hands slowly fall down her waist until I hit the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off her body.

Wrapping her hands around the back of my neck, she leaned back onto the bed so her bottom rested on her feet, taking me with her. I ran my hands slowly up her legs, starting at her bent knees and moving to her thighs, and pressed my mouth firmly to hers as her fingers dug into my back, trying to fuse our bodies together.

Moving my lips down her body, I gripped her underwear in my hands and hoped she didn’t like this pair as I quickly tore them, then pulled the scraps off her and threw them to the floor. Her breathing hitched when I blew cool air on her wet lips seconds before I sucked her clit into my mouth. I smiled against her when I heard her hands hit the bed and a breathy exhale fill the room, then gave one slow lick before climbing back up her and kissing her before she could make any form of protest.

Placing one hand behind her back, I pulled her with me as I lay back on the bed so she was now lying on my chest, and I growled when she lifted up on her knees enough to bring herself back down on top of me. She whimpered as I slowly filled her, and once she was fully seated on me, I grabbed her hips and pressed her down even more. Kamryn exhaled hard against my chest as she rocked against me, and with a lingering kiss, she sat up as she continued to move on top of me.

Keeping one hand firmly on her hip, I brought my other to her clit and rolled my fingers around the sensitive bud I’d only teased earlier. Kamryn arched her back, and I felt her tightening around me as her movements got quicker and her breaths came harder. Her body trembled above me, and she tightened against me for long moments as I continued her through her orgasm, before she leaned forward to curl her body on top of mine.

Gently rolling us over, I cupped one of her cheeks in my hand, and pressed my other hand against the bed as I moved inside her. Her eyelids were heavy, but her blue eyes were locked with mine as I told her a hundred things:

That I loved her, and would love her even after I died.

That there was no one else like her.

That I would do anything for her.

That I wanted to make her my wife.

That I wanted to spend the rest of our lives making up for the years we’d lost.

But through this, the only sound in the room was our ragged breaths as our bodies moved against each other.

I quickened my pace before stilling above her, and I realized that somehow, with no words, Kamryn and I had said more in that time than ever before. There had been trust, passion, love, and promises. And as I lowered my body and rolled us to our sides, we continued to not say anything as we stared at each other. There was no need. That soft smile that crossed her face just before her eyes closed and she fell asleep said it all.