Текст книги "Sharing You"

Автор книги: Molly McAdams

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

My words were cut off when Brody suddenly closed the distance between us and pulled my body to his, his mouth falling onto mine roughly. A noise that sounded like a cry broke past my lips when the kiss ended, and I dropped my head to Brody’s chest, his arms tightening around me as he pressed his mouth to the top of my head.

“Please don’t leave again,” I choked out. “I’m so sorry!”

“Shh, it’s okay.”

I sobbed into his chest and gripped Brody’s back. Like if I held on to him tight enough, he wouldn’t leave me. My tears continued to fall harder, and my shoulders hunched in against the sobs that were being wrenched from my body.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby. It’s okay,” he whispered and moved back to the counter so he could sit me on top of it.

I heard a choking sound behind me and turned to see both Andy and Grace standing there holding hands and crying. I smiled, and a relieved breath burst from my chest. “Uh, I think we can close early. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.”

“’Kay,” Andy sniffed, and Grace just nodded her head. When they turned to go into the kitchen, I looked up into Brody’s eyes and sagged into his chest.

When I’d moved here, I knew I’d never been happier. Brody, Kinlee, and Jace made my life complete. But lying to them and keeping the earlier part of my life hidden had taken its toll on me. The stress of worrying that someone would recognize me—that my family would find me—was now behind me. It had happened, and for a while my world had felt like it would crash down around me, but now that it was over . . . now that everything was out there . . . it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The relief was amazing, but at the same time I felt worn out now that months of hiding had finally come to an end. The exhaustion from the stress felt like it would consume me.

“I’m sorry,” I said again.

His hand paused a few seconds from where it’d been moving gently up and down my back, before starting up again. “I know you are. I’m sorry for not giving you the chance to tell me, and for what I said. I—God, I’m sorry . . . I don’t think you’re like her, Kamryn. I know you. I just . . . when it finally all clicked who you are, I freaked. I was afraid it would be a repeat of her, I was mad that you’d kept that from me, and I was scared about what would happen now that they’d come for you. I’ve always been terrified of losing you, and then I almost took myself away from you . . . again.”

“Please don’t apologize,” I whispered and looked up into his glassy eyes. “Not for this. You have every right to be mad, and I knew even when you said it that you didn’t believe what you were saying to me. I knew it was out of anger. It hurt . . . but I knew. But don’t apologize. This is my fault. None of this would have happened if I’d just told you.”

He looked at me for a few seconds before asking, “Why didn’t you?”

I shrugged as I tried to figure out the words to say. “A lot of reasons. Where I’m from, everyone knew me by name and the way I looked. So I changed those things, but I still was terrified that if anyone knew my real name, they would know who I used to be and somehow my parents would find out. I couldn’t risk it; I’d worked too hard to disappear from them. But then Olivia recognized me that morning she came to my shop, and I have no doubt she’s the one who told my parents. I told Kinlee about my past the night you and I made up at their house, and I was going to tell you that last day in the hotel room, but obviously, I never got the chance to because we were fighting about other things. When the letters from Olivia started, I tried to tell you then . . . and every time I tried something would happen. Your phone would ring, you would have to leave, Kinlee would show up . . . and I kept taking it as a sign that I shouldn’t say anything. Then you came back from the meeting with the lawyers and said you didn’t want to talk about her again. I don’t know, I just kept making up excuses, but I know I should have just told you.”

He brushed back my bangs and nodded slowly. “I understand. I wish you would have, but with everything that’s happened . . . I get it, Kamryn. Please, though, if there is anything else, just tell me now.”

I thought hard, trying to think if there was anything about me that Brody didn’t know. I shook my head for a few seconds before blurting, “Oh! Barb isn’t my aunt. She’s my parents’ maid, but she raised me. She helped me with everything so I could escape from there.”

Brody’s lips tilted up in a lopsided smile, before dropping. “Wait, why didn’t she tell you they were coming? Is she still that mad about us?”

“No, no, there’s no way she wouldn’t have warned me about that. My parents knew how close I was with her. My mom had to threaten to fire Barb in order to make me stay with Charles. But once they found out that I hadn’t actually been kidnapped or whatever, I doubt they even told her they were going out of town because I’m sure they figured she would warn me. They probably just left, and it’s not an uncommon thing for them to do. Barb packs for my mom if they’re going on vacation, but they’ll leave to check out horses on a moment’s notice and be gone for days, and they won’t tell Barb they’re leaving.”

“Okay,” he whispered and searched my eyes. “Anything else?”

“I love you . . . and I’m sorry. I can’t say that enough.”

Brody leaned in to kiss me softly, and I melted into his arms. “We’ve both said ‘sorry’ a lot,” he said, “and there have been a lot of hard times we’ve had to get through to be together. I haven’t regretted a single one of them, and there’s not one of them I wouldn’t go through again in a second. But I’m ready to start making good memories with you, Kamryn Cunningham. What do you say we get through this divorce, and then how about we focus on that forever?” he asked against my lips.

A short, relieved cry burst from my chest, and I nodded, my nose brushing against his. “Sounds perfect.”

20

Kamryn

August 4, 2015

“SO, NO MORE notes, no more nothing?”

I shook my head and shrugged at Kinlee. “There hasn’t been anything since the morning he went into the meeting with them. And Brody made up something about being able to arrest Charles for coming back to my bakery on Friday, and Charles bought it and told him that Olivia’s dad was the one who called my parents. But that had been before the meeting on Tuesday, so . . . oh, well. Now we’re just waiting to see when the court date will be, and then we’ll deal with that mess.”

“And then we’ll all be done with Olivia Reynolds for—hopefully—ever.”

I grinned and relaxed into the cushions of my couch. “Yes, ma’am!”

“I like that you aren’t hiding your accent anymore,” Kinlee said with the worst drawl I’ve ever heard.

“I don’t have an accent,” I grumbled.

“Whatever, Miss Kentucky!”

I rolled my eyes and kicked at her leg.

“Has Brody mentioned getting married or anything?”

My eyes went wide, and I sat up quickly. “Kinlee! No!” I shouted and laughed.

“What? Why is that such a definite no?”

“Really? Think about it. It has technically only been three months.”

Kinlee’s face fell, and her eyes looked up and to the side as she thought about that. “For reals?”

“Yeah. Just three months. It may have felt like it took years to get here, but . . . not so much.” I sat back against the cushions and watched as she thought some more, knowing she was nowhere near done with this conversation yet.

“But you’re different. From listening to you both tell the story, you met and the world stopped turning, and no one else mattered except for the two of you because you were made for each other!”

I glared at her.

“Whatever, you know what I mean,” she said with a laugh. “But you had that instant connection. And it wasn’t something you read about in fairy tales. Where they meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. You met, you knew you couldn’t be together, and still you knew you couldn’t live without each other. Now you’ve both been to hell and back in the last three months, and you can finally live your happily ever after. Why would you wait?” She looked at me expectantly for a few seconds before sitting up and scooting closer to me. “It has been three months. When you put it that way, I totally get it. Any other couple and I would think it would be insane. But then again, any other couple and I would probably hate the fact that they were together. I would think you stole him from his wife and he was an asshole. With you? I couldn’t be happier that the two of you are together, and I want this for you.”

“Kinlee,” I said softly when her eyes filled with tears.

“I didn’t even know about the bad shit when it was happening. But knowing the story, knowing both of you, I just—I just want you both to be happy. You deserve this.”

Leaning forward, I pulled her close and hugged her hard. “Thank you, Lee. Thank you for understanding us. And we will,” I continued when we both sat back. “We will get married someday. But I think once the divorce is final, we both just want to be together for a while.” I shrugged and smirked. “Or who knows, we might get married the day after it’s finalized if she drags it out long enough.”

Kinlee laughed and rolled her eyes. We both knew that was a possibility.

“Brody and I are both just happy that we can be together finally. So for now, this is enough.”

“Okay.” She nodded and looked away thoughtfully. “That makes sense. But promise me you’ll try to have babies someday!”

I laughed and covered my face. “Kinlee, oh, my God! What? Yeah, someday. Like, way far away someday.”

“As long as there’s a someday, I can live with that! Because I want to be Aunt Kinlee, and I really want us to be moms together.”

My head snapped up, and my eyes widened at her. “What?” I asked breathily.

“Jace and I have been talking ever since that Sunday at my house, and, uh . . . well, on Friday we started the really ridiculously stupid-long process of adoption.”

“Really, Lee?”

She nodded and tried to bite back a smile, but soon it was covering most of her face. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m just really freaking excited that we finally started it!”

“I’m so happy for y’all! It will happen, I know it will. And you’ll be the best parents!”

“You think so?” she asked, her expression hopeful.

“I know so. Come on!” I jumped up, pulling her with me. “We need to go out and celebrate.”

Brody

August 4, 2015

SHUTTING THE GARAGE, I closed the door and locked it behind me and made my way through the condo, turning off lights as I went. The house was unusually quiet, so instead of calling out for Kamryn, I walked silently toward the bedroom and smiled when I found her.

Leaning up against the doorjamb, I studied her for a few seconds before pushing off and walking the few steps to where she lay asleep, her Kindle on the bed beside her, her glasses still on. Taking the frames gently in my fingers, I slid the glasses off her face and placed them—along with the Kindle—on the nightstand before brushing her bangs back and kissing her forehead.

“Night, sweetheart,” I whispered and stood to walk into the closet.

After ridding myself of my boots, radios, duty belt, uniform, and vest, I stripped out of my undershirt and boxer-briefs and went to take a quick shower. When I came back out with a towel around my waist, Kamryn was sitting up on her knees at the end of the bed with a soft smile on her face.

I smiled back at her curiously and opened my mouth to apologize for waking her, but she placed an index finger over her pouted lips, her blue eyes conveying her want. My body instantly warmed more than it had in the shower, and my need for her coursed through my body.

Kamryn sat up higher on her knees and, with the hand that had been pressed against her lips, reached out toward me. I took the last few steps between us, and a short, hard breath blew past my lips when her fingers pressed low on my bare stomach. The muscles there contracted involuntarily, and she bit back a smile as she shamelessly let her eyes move over every part of my body.

When I brought my hands up to her shoulders, her blue eyes flashed up to meet mine for a brief moment before she slowly reached out for the towel resting on my hips. A needy groan sounded deep in my chest when the towel dropped to the floor, she moved her hands up my length, and I bent forward to alternate placing openmouthed kisses and gentle bites up the side of her neck. Her head rolled to the side to give me more access, and I let my hands slowly fall down her waist until I hit the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off her body.

Wrapping her hands around the back of my neck, she leaned back onto the bed so her bottom rested on her feet, taking me with her. I ran my hands slowly up her legs, starting at her bent knees and moving to her thighs, and pressed my mouth firmly to hers as her fingers dug into my back, trying to fuse our bodies together.

Moving my lips down her body, I gripped her underwear in my hands and hoped she didn’t like this pair as I quickly tore them, then pulled the scraps off her and threw them to the floor. Her breathing hitched when I blew cool air on her wet lips seconds before I sucked her clit into my mouth. I smiled against her when I heard her hands hit the bed and a breathy exhale fill the room, then gave one slow lick before climbing back up her and kissing her before she could make any form of protest.

Placing one hand behind her back, I pulled her with me as I lay back on the bed so she was now lying on my chest, and I growled when she lifted up on her knees enough to bring herself back down on top of me. She whimpered as I slowly filled her, and once she was fully seated on me, I grabbed her hips and pressed her down even more. Kamryn exhaled hard against my chest as she rocked against me, and with a lingering kiss, she sat up as she continued to move on top of me.

Keeping one hand firmly on her hip, I brought my other to her clit and rolled my fingers around the sensitive bud I’d only teased earlier. Kamryn arched her back, and I felt her tightening around me as her movements got quicker and her breaths came harder. Her body trembled above me, and she tightened against me for long moments as I continued her through her orgasm, before she leaned forward to curl her body on top of mine.

Gently rolling us over, I cupped one of her cheeks in my hand, and pressed my other hand against the bed as I moved inside her. Her eyelids were heavy, but her blue eyes were locked with mine as I told her a hundred things:

That I loved her, and would love her even after I died.

That there was no one else like her.

That I would do anything for her.

That I wanted to make her my wife.

That I wanted to spend the rest of our lives making up for the years we’d lost.

But through this, the only sound in the room was our ragged breaths as our bodies moved against each other.

I quickened my pace before stilling above her, and I realized that somehow, with no words, Kamryn and I had said more in that time than ever before. There had been trust, passion, love, and promises. And as I lowered my body and rolled us to our sides, we continued to not say anything as we stared at each other. There was no need. That soft smile that crossed her face just before her eyes closed and she fell asleep said it all.

I love you too, Kamryn.

Epilogue

Two years later . . .

Brody

KAMRYN LAUGHED LIGHTLY and ran her hands through my hair. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who loved that sound. A little hand jabbed against mine, and I looked up at her with a smile crossing my face.

“Laugh again,” I prompted her.

“I can’t just laugh again, it wouldn’t be genuine. She’ll know.”

I smiled again and pressed my lips to her large stomach. “Oh, will she?”

“She will . . . she has laugh-dar or something.”

“Now your mom’s just being ridiculous,” I whispered against Kamryn’s belly. Running my fingers gently across her stomach, I let my lips leave a trail as I continued speaking. “But you’ll keep moving for Daddy, won’t you, baby girl?” Letting my voice drop lower, I spoke softly. “Tatum, baby, move for Daddy,” I crooned and was instantly rewarded with a few kicks.

“Show-off,” Kamryn scoffed, but she smiled widely down at me.

“Nah, she’s just a daddy’s girl.”

“Ugh, gag me,” Kinlee said as she walked into the kitchen. “Can the two of you be any cuter? I’m waiting for you to get out of the honeymoon phase so I can watch the lovely drama unfold of you hating each other.”

I stood and rolled my eyes before kissing Kamryn quickly.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Kamryn began, “you and Jace have been married for five years, and y’all are still in the honeymoon phase.”

Kinlee flipped her hair back and sighed dramatically. “Well, that’s just because we keep it exciting in the bedroom.”

I laughed and Kamryn started gagging. “Gross, Lee.”

“Kinlee told me she’s always telling you to join us, Kam! Even pregnant, I’ll let you join,” Jace said as he walked into the kitchen.

Straightening up, I glared at my younger brother.

“Oh, come on, Brody. You know I’m joking. It’s just what Lee says when she’s drunk.”

My glare didn’t waver, and his smile faltered as he moved to stand next to his wife.

“Still grossed out, losing appetite!” Kamryn gagged again. “Seems to be a recurring theme when it comes to y’all.”

“Pfft, whatever.” Kinlee bounced a few times on her toes and looked up at Jace with bright eyes. “Now?” she whispered.

Kamryn and I exchanged confused glances as she moved to rest against my chest. My hands automatically moved to caress her swollen stomach, and I smiled when I felt Tatum moving.

Jace nodded twice and bent down to kiss Kinlee’s forehead. When he was standing upright, I saw a look I’d never seen on my brother before, but just seeing the way his eyes and smile lit up had me anxious to know what was happening.

“Okay, so, we’re going to be telling everyone at dinner tonight, but we wanted you two to come a little early so we could tell just the two of you first, since you’re not only our family but our best friends,” Kinlee choked out as a few tears slipped down her cheeks, and for whatever reason, Kamryn was already crying too.

Pregnant women. So confusing.

“Well,” Kinlee said, drawing the word out and glancing up at Jace one more time, “we got the call yesterday, and we’re going to be adopting a baby boy in three months!” she cried out and began jumping up and down.

“Oh my God! Are you serious?” Kamryn grabbed at one of my hands, and the other went to her chest as she watched her best friend. And when Kinlee nodded, she moved to pull her into a hug. “Oh my God! I don’t know what else to say except, oh my God!”

Kinlee choked out a laugh. “I know! And you know what this means! We get to be moms together!”

The girls screamed and began talking excitedly, and I tore my eyes from my wife and sister-in-law to look at my little brother. His eyes were bright, and with a choked sob, the tears began falling down his face.

Grabbing his shoulder, I pulled him in to hug him and watched as he wiped at his cheeks when we parted. Squeezing his shoulder once, I smiled and tried to control my own emotions. “I’m really happy for you, man. I know this is something you’ve been wanting for a long time now.”

He just nodded hard and laughed when my very pregnant wife squeezed between us to hug him. I moved around them and grabbed Kinlee up in a bear hug, squeezing her tighter when her soft cries turned into sobs.

“You’re going to be a great mom, Lee. You and Jace deserve this, and you’ll be the best parents. Okay?” She nodded, and I kissed the top of her head. “Love you, Lee.”

“Love you too, you big jerk,” she said with a laugh and punched my arm.

She moved into Jace’s arms, and he pulled her back a few feet as she tried to control her crying, and I wrapped my arms around Kamryn, bringing her back against my chest.

“What are you thinking?” I asked when I caught her staring up at me.

“That everything’s perfect. And how so long ago, I didn’t know how we would ever make it through the beginning. So many things seemed too hard to get past. Hiding our relationship, hiding from my family, trying to get your divorce finalized . . .” She drifted off. “I remember thinking that someday we would be done with all of that, and we would finally get to just live.” Shrugging, she smiled up at me and placed my hands on her stomach. “I just realized we are.”

Leaning down, I pressed my mouth against hers and whispered against her lips. “We’re living our forever, Kamryn.”