Page 105
She gave him a You have to be joking me face. “Because you like it?”
“Even when you’re pissed at me and we’re not talking to each other, though? You still want to bring me a pastry?”
“Well, yeah.” She shrugged, then hesitated as it hit her. The point he was trying to make.
Kevin chuckled, wiggling his hands into her elbows and prying her arms open, pressing himself as close as possible. He brushed his nose against hers with a smile, his hazel eyes dancing with mischief.
“We sacrifice because we want to, sweetheart. Not because we feel like we need to. We sacrifice because we love one another.”
She stiffened at the use of the big L word.
“Did you mean it when you said it the other day?” he asked softly.
“It slipped right out.”
“But did you mean it?”
She inched her face back, looking down at her golden boy. His tire grease-stained bandana tied at his neck, his deep tan and pearly white teeth, his wavy hair with streaks of blonde from the summer sun.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I love you, Kev.”
He wept. Jess smiled at his big, soft emotions after her confession and kissed away his tears as he held her tightly, then planted a lingering kiss on his lips. His hands moved fast, running through her hair and cupping her face, kissing her back with intensity and purpose. Like she was the answer to a prayer. Because that’s what he was for her. It wasn’t an apartment, a house, or even a bakery that gave Jess the freedom and the comfort she craved so deeply. No, it had always been him. With Kevin, Jess felt like she finally found the person who truly connected to her soul.
Jess nestled closer to Kevin and kissed his chin. He purred, dragging his fingers through her hair slowly, the bedsheet sliding down her shoulders. She shivered from the chill in his bedroom. He lifted the sheet and tucked her in close, their bodies pressed together, his skin warm, his breath smelling like cinnamon sugar from the kanelbullar she’d watched him devour.
She peered around his room. “There isn’t even room for a dresser in here.”
“Yeah, my clothes are in the hall closet.”
“Hmm,” she rumbled. She traced a finger down his ivy tattoo. “We’d probably have to put a dresser in the living room then.”
Kevin shifted and moved on top of her, bracketing his arms by her sides. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
She scrunched her nose. “I don’t know. I’m thinking through the options.”
He beamed. “Tell me the options.”
“You have a pathetic excuse for a kitchen.”
He barked out a laugh. “That’s fair. We could use the kitchen downstairs?”
“Not if we change the space and move all the baking to Grampy’s.”
He shrugged. “We’ll probably have some time before all of those changes.”
She puffed out a frustrated exhale, which had him laughing again.
“Tiny bathroom,” she continued. “Not enough room for the girly things.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “What kind of girly things?”
She swatted his arm. “Why must you always make it weird?”
“Because you set it up so easily!”
Jess attempted to shimmy out of his grasp but he pressed his body against hers, refusing to let her move. She sighed, running her index finger down his jaw.
“What else?” Kevin asked. “Does sleeping in the same bed really bug you?”
