“This could be that thing for me,” she added. “Something that could outlast me.”
“Like what people hand down to their kids,” I said without thinking.
The wince that appeared in her features was a stark reminder of what she’d been hinting at. “Kind of like that.”
When we’d left Archie’s, she’d asked me if I wanted kids. Her response hadn’t been no, but it definitely wasn’t yes. I’d been avoiding it – no need to talk about the future when all we had was days.
“One day,” she swore again, starting the engine back up, “I’ll be back.”
It gave me hope: for her, for the beautiful house that deserved the love Kit would give, for me. Even if we didn’t have the luxury of time, she was the kind of person to think back, to remember.
That maybe, if this ended –whenit ended – she might come back for me.
seventeen
KIT
Your Needs, My Needs - Noah Kahan
Jonah had made it all of five minutes before he had me pressed up against a table, hands searching, mouth exploring.
He was insatiable in all the best ways.
This time, however, we hadn’t bothered heading back down to the bedroom, instead opting for every inch of the kitchen and living room until we were spent, lying breathless in front of the fireplace.
We were on the living room rug, the blanket from the sofa pulled over us. The fire roared in the background, the heat burning against my bare skin. I didn’t care, not with Jonah lying beside me.
“Don’t fall asleep,” I murmured, noticing his breathing turn heavy.
He grumbled an unintelligible response, so I flicked him lightly on the nose.
His eyes opened wide, lips pressed together. “Just a little nap,” he said. “I need to rebuild my energy.”
“I still need that post-sex snack you promised me.”
“I thought we ate?”
“No,” I laughed. “I believeyouate. However, it was me that was the snack.”
“Oh yeah.” His smirk chased away any sign of sleepiness, his eyes relighting with a wild heat. “How about I help myself to seconds?”
Jonah rolled onto his side, his body already lowering along mine. My hands yanked at him, clawing to keep him near, hunger rumbling insistently in my stomach. If I let him begin again, there was no way I’d want him to stop.
“How about actual food?” I pushed. “I’m famished.”
His head dipped to reach my torso, looking to kiss the skin there. I pressed my hands to his chest, using up the last of my restraint on this man.
I was falling for him. I could feel it. That rush of blood, the overwhelming need, the lightness I felt around him. It had been only days, but I knew I could fall harder for him than I had with anyone else.
What did this look like after I went home? When he returned to the States? How would it work? Or would I be left with the pieces of my broken heart like the times before? I pushed the thoughts away, avoiding reality like I’d been determined to do.
“Okay,” he relented. “We can’t have you wasting away.”
Before I’d even registered what was happening, Jonah had scooped me and the blanket up in his arms, pulling me close to his body, and moved me across the living room. The warmth of the fire was replaced by the heat of his bare chest against mine before he set me down on the breakfast bar stool, the blanket placed around me.
Jonah leaned back to the dining table, stepping into a pair of shorts he’d thrown there, before heading back to the kitchen and opening the fridge.
“What would you like? A sandwich? Some leftovers?” he listed.
