“What kind of research?” he asks, sliding his hands around my waist from behind. Sweeping my hair away from my neck, he presses his lips to my skin and plants a slew of open-mouthed kisses along my hot flesh. I close my eyes and shiver as my pussy aches for his cock.
I’m still mesmerized at how insatiable I’ve become, as it’s completely new. Even when I first started having sex, I never remember being this desperate for Curtis or feeling like I would die if I couldn’t have his hands on me. Vander already fucked me over the couch when I arrived an hour ago, but I want him again. My carnal need for him is at an all-time high, and I’m like a horny teenage boy with sex constantly on my mind. “Research of the kinky kind?” he adds when I don’t reply. Lowering his hand, he cups my pussy through my dress.
“You know I’m happy to leave that up to you.” I trust Vander with my body one hundred percent, and he always makes me feel so damn good. I love leaving my pleasure in his magical hands, and he never disappoints me. He’s got mad skills, and I can’t get enough. I’m a born-again slut and I freaking love it.
“I love that you’re up to try anything,” he murmurs, rubbing me through my dress.
Reluctantly, I remove his hands from my body because I didn’t plan this belated celebratory dinner only to burn it. Reducing the heat on the stove, I turn around and circle my arms around his neck. “I love that you’re bringing out a side of me I haven’t explored.” I bite down on my lip as I contemplate how to make my next request. “You know how you said previously you wanted me to pose for you?” He nods, and his eyes instantly spark to life. “I thought we could do that after dinner.”
“Hell yeah.” He grabs my hips and yanks me into his hard body, kissing me passionately.
We break apart, smiling as we continue to cling to one another. “Good.” My smile brightens as I think about his face when I tell him my idea. I think he’ll love it. But first things first. “Dinner is ready. Go pour the champagne, and sit down.”
“This looks delicious,” he says, salivating over the chargrilled steak, dauphinoise potatoes, green beans, and pepper sauce.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to do this last weekend.” Fucking Curtis screwed my plans up at the last minute. He is stalling on the divorce and backtracking on things he promised me, and I’m running out of patience. I can’t wait to be officially and legally free of him. I’m not impressed with his lack of commitment to our temporary agreement or how he now appears to be contesting everything. It’s almost like he resents me for not being miserable now we’re apart. Like a punishment for daring to be happier without him, so he’s determined to mess with me and ruin my good mood.
“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault that asshole fucked with our plans.” He cuts a piece of steak and pops it in his mouth, instantly groaning. “This is so damn good.” Leaning across the table, he plants his mouth on mine. “Thanks, sweetheart. You’re spoiling me.”
“I like spoiling you, and you do it enough for me.” He is so incredibly good to me—bringing me flowers every Sunday when he comes over for dinner, invoking huge amounts of patience trying to teach me self-defense, texting me every morning and every night to let me know he’s thinking of me, helping me with my philosophy homework, running me a bath when I arrive on Saturdays worn out after a busy week—and he’s even returned to the retirement center with me a few times and helped out. We spend as much time together as we can out in the open, without having to sneak around, because he knows how hard that is for me. He sees the guilt I’m carrying and how I hate lying to West and Stella about where I stay over every week.
But it’s more than that. Vander makes me laugh. He listens to me and seeks out my advice. He shares my beliefs and encourages my passions. He worships me and makes me feel desirable. He’s teaching me how to ask for and give pleasure in the bedroom, and he’s the reason I have a permanent smile on my face and a constant spring in my step. He’s giving me my confidence back, and I can’t put a price on that.
“You never told me about your research,” he says in between mouthfuls of dinner.
“I looked up Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox after our conversation with Boner last night, and he was right. They seem to have a very spiritual relationship, and they fully believe they are soul mates.” I take a sip of my wine in between mouthfuls of the sumptuous steak and the melt-in-the-mouth potatoes. “Like us, they felt the connection straightaway. She said they are twin flames. I like that, and I Iove them. They are so hot for one another, so in love, and the things they post about each other online are just beautiful.” It’s possibly a little cheesy, to some people, but they can get away with it. They are bringing the entertainment and the glamour back to rock and roll, and I think the world needs that right now.
“He carries a necklace with her blood in it,” Vander says with a little glint in his eye. “To celebrate their recent engagement, they drank each other’s blood.” I blink at him as his lips curve up at the corners. “When we get engaged, we should totally do that too.”
My mouth drops to the table, and he chuckles. “Is that too vampire-y for you?” He wolfs down more of his dinner.
“I don’t think vampire-y is a word, although I could be mistaken, but it wasn’t that part that had my jaw dropping, even if I draw the line at wearing or drinking blood.” I gulp another mouthful of wine.
“Ah, I see.” He leans back in his chair, all casual, smiling confidently across the table at me while popping another piece of steak in his mouth. He maintains eye contact as he chews, enjoying seeing me all flustered. The punk. “It’s the engagement part.”
I nod and guzzle more wine. He sits up straighter, losing the cocky grin, replacing it with a serious look as he slides his hand across the table and threads our fingers together. “I don’t want to freak you out, but I’m not going to lie to you either. I want to marry you some day, Kendall. That’s a promise. I already consider you my wife, in here.” He thumps his fist over his heart. “In the only way that counts.”
I get up and walk around to him, kneeling at his feet. My pulse is pounding, and my heart races as I take his hands and peer up at him. There will never be a more perfect moment to tell him how I feel. “I adore you.” Emotion gathers in my throat as I press a kiss to his knuckles. “I crave you.” I climb to my feet and crawl into his lap, tilting his face up to mine because I need to be looking into his eyes when I say this. “I love you.”
Emotion shines in his eyes as he stares at me. “Say it again,” he whispers, clasping my face in his large hands.
“I love you.”
“Again.”
I laugh as happy tears pool in my eyes. “I love you, Vander. I love you so damn much. It feels like I’ve been waiting for you to show up and infuse life in me.” He kisses me softly, and the joy emanating from his soul is like a beacon of light illuminating his body in a golden halo.
“I love you, Kendall. You have breathed life into me and given me reason to hope.”
“You are so romantic.” I peck his lips as I drag my fingers through his hair. “Sexy too.”
His pupils dilate, and his hands dig into my hips. “I need you,” he says, his voice thick with lust and matching my own need. “I need to feel every part of you fused with every part of me.”
Sliding off his lap, I push the remnants of our dinner to one side of the table before climbing up on the other. I lie back on the table as he stands, widening my legs so he can get into position. We don’t even fully remove our clothes, only the parts that stand in the way of him burying his body deep inside mine.
* * *
“I’m making a new rule,” Vander says as we sit on the floor, semi-naked, feeding one another cold leftovers. “Clothing is banned when we’re together.”
