Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
In such a small voice, she says, “I’m newly separated.”
“Thank God,” I admit, and her eyes widen, but the blue is glassy, like she’s about to cry.
“I don’t know, Dean,” she says, glancing away, her fingers fidgeting around her mug.
“Know what?”
“What to even think.”
I swallow, but I don’t allow myself to move toward her. I stay where I am, unable to look away from her beautiful face. “Tell me what that pretty head is thinking, Kenni. Let me help.”
“That this conversation is not one roommates should be having,” she says with a laugh that has no humor in it. “That I don’t want to be another notch on your belt alongside my sister.” My eyes widen at her accusation, and she grimaces quickly, “Sorry, that was shitty.”
“I understand why you’d say that after what Missy said.” She sighs, and I continue, “But just so you know, I never loved Missy. Ask her—she’ll tell you.” My claim is loaded as fuck, but I don’t know if she’s catching what I’m trying to throw to her. I step around the island, taking her hip in my hand, gripping the flesh as she rewards me with a little whimper that makes me hard everywhere. “Also, I haven’t been with anyone in over a year, and I threw away any belt with notches a long time ago.”
Confusion, but also excitement, shines in her blue eyes, and I can’t take it. I lean in, pressing my lips to her jaw. She’s soft and smells so damn good that I have to hold in a moan. She leans into my lips, and I close my eyes, my body begging for hers. I kiss her softly before I whisper against her lips, “I can’t wait to twirl you around the dance floor tonight, darlin’.” Kenni sucks in a breath, and I smile against her jaw. “But if I don’t go to bed right now, I’ll drag you in there with me to show you a lot of things besides how good of a cuddler I am.”
I kiss her jaw once more, just a chaste one, before I pull back and turn toward my room. I need her to think. I need her to want me like I want her.
Because I know if I look in her eyes, I’ll tell her that I’m so fucking in love with her it hurts, all I want is for her to give me a chance—and that there is no way in hell she’s just my roommate.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
Kenni
Me
You were right.
Sadie
As I tell Matt, I usually am.
Sadie
But tell me how I’m right today. I like the ego boost.
Me
Dean has been flirting with me.
She calls, and I decline it. She does it again, and then she’s rage-texting.
Sadie
KENNI!
Sadie
Why are you declining my call!
Sadie
Answer before I show up!
Me
I’m not home, or at Dean’s. Fuck. I can’t say this because then it’ll be real.
Sadie
Kenleigh, what the hell?
Me
Fuck.
She calls again, and I answer with my head on the steering wheel of my car while my heart slams into my ribs. I just got a coffee from Noelle’s and she was wanting to chitchat, but I couldn’t. I’m a fucking hot mess express of confusing thoughts and what-ifs. This morning with Dean is all I can think about. I can’t make heads or tails of it; all I know is what I feel.
I want Dean Moore.
“Kenni?”
“I’ve always liked him,” I admit after a moment, and I feel like I just jumped out of a plane without a parachute. I love Sadie. I know she’ll talk me through this. Though, I feel like I’m betraying Missy, and that’s the last thing I want to do. But the words just spill from my lips like they’re seeping out of cracks I didn’t know I had. “He was my first kiss, and no matter how many times I kissed someone else, it was his lips I thought about. Oh, and I did cry because he got Missy pregnant. I love Skyye and I’d never wish she weren’t here, but I wish it had been me.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” she says quickly, and I’m thankful she didn’t let silence fill the line.
“I thought he was just picking on me like he did when we were kids, but he admitted to flirting with me, and there was no joke in his voice. He was serious.” I draw in a deep breath through my nose. “He said he is glad I’m divorced, and that he wanted to kiss me that night at the Pine.” She sucks in a breath, and I press my forehead harder into the steering wheel. “But what if I give in to what I’m feeling? And really, what am I feeling? Do I want to jump into another relationship? Or is this about sex?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“He’s your brother. I don’t even know how you made it through Missy getting knocked up by him.”