A tear slid down my cheek. I swiped it away, annoyed. He frowned and reached out before I could move again. His thumb caught the next one, warm and gentle against my skin.
“Don’t cry over them. If you gon’ cry, cry over us. Over what they took from us. Then we decide what we gon’ do with the time we got left.”
I should’ve pulled back. Told him to leave. Scheduled a time to discuss custody like civilized people. Instead, I leaned into his hand, just a little. Just enough. His gaze dropped to my mouth. Heat rolled through the room like an electrical surge.
“Ky, if I kiss you right now, it’s not gon’ be just because we sad.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“You tell me no, I’ll walk out that door. I mean that. I won’t pressure you. I won’t use all this against you.”
“I’m tired of ‘no.’” My voice shook, but I had never been more certain of anything in my life. “I’ve been living in ‘no’ for ten years.”
That was all it took. He cupped my face with both hands and kissed me. Open and hot and deep andhungry. His mouth slanted over mine, stealing my breath, then giving it back. I grabbed his shirt without thinking, knuckles brushing warm skin where the hem had ridden up.
He groaned against my lips. “Kyleigh.”
I almost laughed into his mouth. Then, I almost cried. I opened for him instead and let the kiss deepen. His hand slid to the back of my neck, thumb brushing the spot under my ear that always made me sigh. My body remembered him even when my brain wanted to pretend we were strangers.
He shifted, moving me gently until I was leaning back against the headboard. He braced a hand beside my hip, keeping his weight off me but close enough that there was no mistaking what this was.
“You good?” he asked. His forehead rested against mine. His breath was warm and a little uneven.
“Yes,” I promised. It was the truest word I’d said in a while.
His gaze dropped to my robe. The neckline had gaped a little, satin camisole peeking through. His fingertips brushed my collarbone.
“I missed this body. I missed this mouth. I missed this attitude. Damn, Ky.”
Heat spread across my skin at the way he said my name. I tugged him down again because I didn’t know what to say, but I knew how to do this part. The next kiss was slower. Deeper. His fingertips traced the line of my jaw, the curve of my shoulder. My hands slid up his back, memorizing the differences, regretting the years I hadn’t had access to them. When his palm finally slidunder the edge of my robe and found bare skin at my waist, my whole body shivered.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured.
I shook my head, shifted my body. “Jay… don’t stop,” I moaned.
He chuckled softly. “Yes, ma’am.”
His mouth moved to my neck, finding spots only he knew. I arched into him, fingers curling against his scalp. The want… it had always been there. Muted. Denied. But there. Not now. I pulled him into me. I didn’t care that we weren’t healed. I didn’t care that the past wasn’t fixed. I didn’t care that there were still conversations to have, apologies to make, lies to untangle.
I let myself stop thinking.
And I let myself fall.
He was smooth, much smoother than he had been as a teenager. Somehow, my robe and cami were gone. And then, the heat of his gaze was on my breasts.
“Still so pretty,” he murmured.
“Still so big,” I lamented.
He smiled. “I ain’t complaining.”
And he wasn’t. No, what he was doing was touching and pulling and rubbing and finally, finally sucking. Jabali fit his mouth around my areola and let the heat of his tongue bathe my already hard nipple, his teeth grazing just the slightest bit. My back bowed at the sweet, insistent pressure of his suction. His hand played with my other nipple, keeping it hard, keeping it ready for the delicious pull that I could feel all the way between my thighs.
“Jabali,” I whispered.
“Hmm?”
The sound against my wet flesh had my hands rising, cupping the smoothness of his head and scratching lightly. I held him as he loved and laved first one breast then the other, until Ithought I might cum just from the sensation. He pulled back just in time, gave me a look full of desire and things I didn’t even dare dream about. His tongue flicked over my nipples again, then swirled around them.
