Page 106
She sighed. “What if we compromise?”
“See, Jessica? You’re sacrificing already. I’m proud of you.”
Her face flushed. “Instead of two beds, let’s just get one big one. California King. Enough room to spread out if I need it.”
“But still the same sheets in case you need me.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Anything else? TV too old? You hate my selection of shampoo?”
She shook her head. She felt a warm hand run up her thigh, fingers inching up the curve of her waist, his smile taunting.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice throaty and breathless.
“Giving you another reason to move in with me.”
“Oh, I’m already well aware of this reason.”
“And it’s not convincing enough?”
She wiggled her toes. “It’s pretty close.”
His chest rumbled with a chuckle. He leaned down and kissed her, his kiss transitioning from soft and sweet to hot and urgent in a matter of seconds, the press of his body on hers deepening the desire in her belly again.
In an instant he stopped and came up for air. “How about now? Convincing enough?”
She whined. “That was fresh.”
“Oh you haven’t seen how fresh I can be, sweetheart.”
She growled at him. His bright laughter filled the room. Jess couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face at the sound of it, at the way he rolled over and tugged her with him, her body now on top of his, his hands roaming down the small of her back and to his favorite…asset.
“So what’s it going to be, my dear Jessica?”
She traced her finger down his forehead, around the curve of his nose, down to his lips. “I think I can handle a few months in this tiny apartment with you.”
He grinned. “I take back what I said.”
“Which time? You say a lot of things.”
“About New York being the best day of my life.” He cupped her face. “Because this beats it by far.”
For the longest time, Jess thought being in a relationship with someone was similar to being locked up in jail. The kind of jail that didn’t allow her to explore who she truly was and what she wanted in life, having to sacrifice so much in an effort to simply be together.
But with Kevin, those bars never came back, never sealed her back in. With him, she was free. He encouraged her to explore and to have fun. Instead of making her small, he challenged her to be bold and brave, to be a better version of herself. And he loved her with such a ferocious intensity. His laugh, his need to constantly touch her when she was close by, his words of adoration in her ear, his hands exploring her late at night.
As the last days of the summer season in Haverport breezed by, as they boxed up her few belongings at the Balls’ cottage and moved them to the small apartment above the shop, she reminded herself of his words. Yes, the sparks might fade. Yes, she might not feel that same intense longing, that those feelings might evolve over time. But that didn’t mean they weren’t meant for one another.
I will never stop loving you, he’d told her. I will never neglect you.
Charlie neglected her, and if Jess was being totally honest with herself, she also neglected him. They fell out of love. They tried to stretch out their relationship for as long as they could, like taking a handful of dough and stretching it to the limit. But they hadn’t tried to form it into something new, form it into something beautiful. That it snapped apart was inevitable.
Jess folded her jeans and tucked them gently into their new dresser, smiling at the framed photo of the three of them next to a pitcher of fresh flowers. It was a selfie from a couple of days earlier, Honey tucked into her arms, Jess tucked into Kevin’s. They were laughing at some absurd joke of his before snapping the photo, and he’d framed it immediately.
“The start of everything,” he’d said as he handed her the frame, a bouquet of sunflowers clutched in his other. The flowers had somehow ended up on the floor…and so did their clothes.
She slid the dresser drawer closed, then in an instant, felt those warm hands snatch her waist and spin her around. Kevin pressed against her, dipping his chin and sealing his lips to hers. His hands slipped inside her tank top and slowly made their trail up her stomach.
