“I’m not happy you’re in danger or that you’re scared,” he says, pressing wet kisses along the column of my neck. “But I’m thankful you came back to me. That we have this second chance. I understand now why you did what you did.” With gentle hands, he turns my head so we’re staring deep into one another’s eyes. “You said earlier you wanted to be my equal, and I want you to know you already are. Your illness does not make you any less in my eyes. We were a team, Selena. Wearea team. In any relationship, there are times when one partner needs the other more. And that’s what a relationship is. Being there for one another. I see that with my brothers and their girls. Supporting one another at times of need is not a weakness. It’s what you do when you love someone as much as we love one another. Right now, you may need me more, but trust me, there will come a time when I’ll need to lean on you in the same way, and you will be there for me. Because youaremy equal. In all the ways that count.”
“I truly don’t deserve you,” I say through my tears. “You are the most amazing man, and I feel blessed that you are giving me,us,another chance.”
“I’m not going to lie, Sel,” he says, tucking my hair back behind my ears. “I’ve gone through stages where I was so angry with you I believed I hated you. And I can’t say the hurt and anger have disappeared overnight because that kind of pain doesn’t just evaporate, but I want this with you. I want to share my life with you. And I accept that comes with good and bad times, but I’m ready to weather that storm with you.”
“I want that too, and I promise I will never push you away again or lie to you. I will always be honest and truthful.”
“You can’t make those kinds of decisions for me again, Sel. I need to be a part of it. I need to have a say. It’s the only way it will work, and I want this to work.” He kisses my cheek. “I want this to work so very much.” He kisses my other cheek, and a trail of fiery tingles whip up and down my body, igniting a fuse deep inside me.
Instinctively, I press in closer to him, and butterflies flood my chest when I feel his hardness pushing against me.
He freezes, looking up at me with worry etched across his handsome face. “You turn me on so much, Sel, but I don’t ever want you to feel pressured into anything. I want to make love to you, one day, but I’ll wait as long as you need me to. That hasn’t changed.”
“I want that too. And I’m almost there.”
“There is no rush and no need to set a timeline.”
I smile at this sweet, sweet man. “I agree, and I want it to be natural and for it to happen when we are both in the same place.” I tighten my arms around his neck, leaning down close to his face. “But right now, I badly need something else from you.”
“Anything,” he rasps, his eyes drenched with desire.
My eyes burn with need for him. “Kiss me, Keanu. I need to feel your lips against mine again.”
17
Keanu
I’ve been dying to kiss her from the instant she reappeared in my life, so I’m not wasting another second. Angling my head, I close the small gap between our faces and press soft lips to her mouth. Her lips move more urgently against mine, and I let her set the pace, matching her kiss for kiss, so happy it feels like I could burst. Gently, I lap at the seam of her lips with my tongue, and she opens for me. I lick inside her mouth, our tongues softly stroking one another, and I instinctively pull her in closer to my body so we’re flush against one another, chest to chest, hip to hip.
It takes mammoth effort not to rock my hard-on against her, but we’re taking this one step at a time, and despite her earlier plea, I don’t want to do anything that will startle her or upset her.
She runs her fingers through my hair as we kiss, and precum leaks from the crown of my cock. I swear I could come like this. When she moans into my mouth, I almost do, and my cock twitches, pressing against her of its own volition, my erection straining against the denim of my jeans. I still for a nanosecond, but her lips continue to worship mine, and I relax into our make-out session, kissing her like a starving man who has just stumbled across the most decadent feast.
I lose track of time, and I’ve no clue how long we kiss for, but eventually, we break apart, both panting and flushed with swollen lips and massive grins. “I’ve missed kissing you so much,” I say.
“Me too.” Her expression and her tone are dreamy, and I mentally fist pump the air.
Leaning in, I rub my nose up the elegant column of her neck, inhaling her signature scent. “So, it’s official?” I ask against her throbbing pulse. “We are boyfriend and girlfriend again?”
“To me, we are way more than that. But officially, publicly, yes.”
I lift my lips from her neck, staring into her gleaming eyes. “Publicly?”
She nods, smiling. “No more hiding, K.” She pecks my lips, and a contented sigh slips out. “At least not from our families and friends. But I heard what Keven said last night and we can’t gopublic,public.”
I know what she means. We need to keep this private, within our circle, until the threat has passed.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she adds. “And it’s best we maintain separation in the public eye so you don’t become a target.”
“I can’t wait for the day when I can shout from the rooftops that you are mine,” I reply, “but I agree we need to keep this close for now.”
Her cell pings, and she slides off my lap to grab it from the table. I immediately miss her warmth. “It’s my friend Kelly,” she says, reading a text. Her fingers fly over the phone keypad as she taps out a reply. “Would it be okay if she dropped by your condo tomorrow so I can fill her in?”
“Of course. But we won’t be back until tomorrow evening.”
“I’ll tell her that.”
We watch another movie, cuddling on the couch, and I can’t keep my hands or my lips off her. We’re kissing so much we miss huge chunks of the movie, but neither of us cares.
