Saying nothing, she returned her focus to the CDs. He doubted she was studying the titles but rather it acted as a convenient focal point for her to gather her thoughts while she couldn’t bear to look at him.
He approached her from behind, encircling his arms around her. Though he felt Kenna’s ribs hitch, she didn’t protest at the proximity. In that moment, he caught a glimpse of what their romantic relationship might entail—were they to ever fall into one. Breathing exercises for her to stomach their intimacy and a vicious cycle of establishing small doses of trust before some discovery on her part inevitably eroded it.
She pulled outAlmost in Love. “Elvis?”
“He got all the girls.”
“So do you.” Her words stung, but he didn’t let their venom linger. She replaced the CD, her hands covering his. “Why me? Why not any of the others?”
It was a fair question and yet Dayton found himself unable to say any of the things streaming through his mind. There had never been an endgame so to speak with any of the girls. By the same token, none of them had asserted themselves quite like Kenna had. That entire semester, he’d schemed to have her and she’d schemed against him and they slowly, accidentally became something to each other they didn’t know they needed. While he still wasn’t surewhatthey were, he knew that he loved her and couldn’t fathom letting her go.
“I don’t know. Somewhere along the way you became important. The more time we spent together … I knew.”
“Knew what?” she whispered.
Heartbeat quickening, he dared to speak the words on the tip of his tongue. He’d no longer hold them back. “That I wanted you. Only you. Forever.”
Gathering her hair, he put it to one side and placed open-mouthed kisses on the nape of her neck. She reached back and pulled his own hair, as if his lips could get any closer, could delve past the skin and into the ribbons of nerves and delicate vertebrae that lay beneath. He would’ve done it, if he could.
Kenna gasped as his tongue traced her spine and she freed his hair in favor of clutching the dresser. Hands sliding lower, he unzipped her jeans and tugged them down the subtle curves of her hips. He touched her like he’d never again have the chance. His palms roved over her thighs, up to her waist, under her shirt where he inched along her stomach and finally let his hand rest on her chest, wrist pinned between her breasts. Whatever precious little autonomy he had left was broken. Her body ruled him.
Though Dayton heard her quickening breath and felt her pounding heart, he yearned for proof that she wanted this as much as he did.
Fingers fanning out over her chest, he clutched at her skin as if it were fabric and she released a sigh that was so uninhibited, pure yet erotic, that he yanked her underwear and sent them falling to her ankles. She made no motion to stop him but mumbled something akin to ‘lock the door.’ The request was lost on his ears. Everything was muted with her silken skin beneath his fingertips.
She was the only thing in existence.
How glorious it was to caress her tender flesh once more. He’d spent many nights alone equipped with nothing but memories and the three pictures of her he had in his possession. Truthfully, that had been when he’d known she was his forever—though he’d suspected as much at Nathan’s wedding. Reliving the experience had satiated him with all of Kenna’s predecessors, but revisiting the lone night she’d spent in his bed spawned lunacy closely trailed by the regret of having driven her away.
“Should I …” Her timid question faded, unasked, as she hiked one her legs onto the low dresser. The sight was almost his undoing. Leaning over wearing nothing but a t-shirt.
She arched her back as he pushed into her. He savored it all. The quiet cries of pleasure tumbling from her lips, the perfume emanating off her neck.
Oh, the perfume.
He had to draw her body nearer, the vanilla, that comforting smell. Dayton held her still with one hand, burying the other in her hair, tugging on it to bring them closer.
“Dayton,” she breathed his name and it was pure bliss.
Her voice. Her heat.
He moved within Kenna, gritting his teeth, thinking of how reluctant he’d be to surrender his hold on her when this was over. He never wanted to turn her loose. Her freedom was his insecurity. One day, she may decide she didn’t want him. Everything they could be. When, and if, that day came, he would follow her and bring her back to where she belonged.
In his arms.
Brushing his lips against her temple, he mumbled, “Tell me you’ll never leave, lamb. Promise.”
She said nothing and, as his movement within her turned more desperate, he wondered if he’d spoken too softly or not at all.
21
NO REST FOR THE WICKED
After Dayton had claimed her as his nightcap, Kenna switched on her phone’s flashlight and turned the entire bedroom upside down in search of anything that might have been the least bit incriminating.
She had not found a thing, and though she was disappointed at coming up empty-handed, she slept easier.
Her heart was lodged in her throat as she carefully descended the stairs the following morning. Facing his family initially had been nothing short of anxiety-inducing, and Kenna predicted it would be nightmarish given their illicit activities once the evening had faded to dark.