Take Me (31 page)

she asked before she could stop herself.

“I never cheated on you,” he said, and held up his right hand. “Scout’s Honor.”

Scout’s Honor was something Jeremy liked to say. It had always pissed Kenley off.

Scout’s Honor? That was something you said when you were seven and actually, you know, in the Boy Scouts. Which Jeremy had been, but still. It was like, get over it already. Plus there was that whole thing about the Boy Scouts not allowing gay troop leaders. That didn’t sound very honorable to Kenley at all.

“Well, whatever,” she said, and went to push past him. She couldn’t deal with this right now.

“Hey,” he said, and reached out to stop her. “Listen, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. If you ever need to talk about – ”

“What’s going on here?” Kenley looked up. Chad was standing in front of them, his eyes dark with concern. She was so happy to see him that she literally threw herself into his arms.

“Nothing,” she said, and draped herself around his neck. “I just ran into my friend Jeremy.”

“Hey, man,” Chad said, reaching out and offering Jeremy his hand. “I’m Chad.

You’re a friend of Kenley’s?”

Kenley could have kissed him. Without realizing it, Chad had said the perfect thing. He was acting like he had no idea who Jeremy was. Which wasn’t that hard, because Chad really
didn’t
have any idea who Jeremy was.

“Yeah, I’m…” Jeremy’s eyes were about to bug out of his head. He definitely knew who Chad was. Jeremy puffed his chest out, apparently deciding that just because Chad was a famous baseball player didn’t mean that he was going act threatened by him.

“I’m Kenley’s ex-boyfriend.”

“Cool.” Chad looked over Jeremy’s head, seemingly bored.

“Well!” Kenley said brightly. “We should get back to the table, honey.” She ran her finger down the buttons on Chad’s shirt, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. Chad turned to her and rubbed his nose against hers. “Bye, Jeremy,” Kenley said. She wiggled her fingers at him casually. “Take care.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy said. He still looked stunned. “You too.”

***

“That’s your ex-boyfriend?” Chad asked once they were out of earshot.

“Yes,” Kenley said. They were walking back to the table where Alyssa and Jay were waiting. Kenley had felt a sense of happiness and vindication at the look on Jeremy’s face when he’d seen her with Chad, but the high was short-lived and now she was starting to feel defeated. It was demoralizing, honestly, to realize that someone you didn’t even like that much might have cheated on you.

And if Jeremy
hadn’t
cheated on her, he’d obviously broken up with her to be with someone else. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was thinking about the fact that she’d stayed in that relationship so long that he had been the one to end it. What the hell was wrong with her?

“Did you like the way I nuzzled your nose?” Chad was asking, sounding proud of himself. “I thought that was a nice touch, you know, very intimate. By the way, that guy looks like a tool.”

Kenley nodded, lost in her thoughts.

“Hey,” Chad said. They still weren’t back at the table, and he stopped. He put his hands on her shoulders. Kenley looked down at the floor, unable to meet his eye, and he reached down and tilted her chin up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She shrugged, not really wanting to get into it. “It just sucks, seeing your ex.”

“Yeah.” He sighed, but Kenley knew he probably didn’t get it. A guy like him was definitely not used to having a ton of broken hearts. But Chad surprised her by asking, “You want to get out of here?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m fine.” It was halfway true. She wasn’t freaking out or anything, but she wasn’t really in the mood for socializing, either. Damn Jeremy and his stupid, boring face! She’d been in such a good mood before he got there, and now she’d been forced back into thinking about all her problems. “You’re not fine,”

Chad said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“But Jay and Alyssa… ”

“Please,” he said, and rolled his eyes. “Jay and Alyssa don’t care. It’s the least rude thing I’ve done to Jay in my life. Besides, they’ll probably be thankful that we’re leaving them alone. They can make out without feeling embarrassed.”

“What will you tell them?” Kenley asked.

“That you’re not feeling well.” He rubbed her shoulder. “You wait outside, okay? I’ll tell them and then call the car.”

She nodded, thankful that he was taking care of her. “Thank you,” she said, and then turned around and walked out into the cool night air of New York City.

“Do you want to order food or something?” Chad asked as he unlocked the door to his apartment. Kenley had been quiet on the ride back to Brooklyn, and he was starting to get worried about her. There was no way she could be that upset about that Jeremy dude, could she? He seemed like such a douche, with the dumb suit he was wearing and the way he was so obviously trying to hide his receding hairline by cutting his hair so short. Kenley was way too good for a poser like that.

“That sounds great,” she said. “I’m starving.”

Chad relaxed a bit. If she was starving, she couldn’t be all that upset. “Great,” he said. “We can get Thai food if you want, there’s a great place down the street.”

“That sounds amazing.” She dropped her purse on one of the chairs in the living room. “You can order me pad thai,” she said. “I’m going to go and change.”

“Okay.” He picked up the phone and ordered a bunch of food – pork dumplings, pad thai, crispy friend noodles and two orders of vegetable spring rolls. His stomach grumbled as he hung up the phone.

Kenley came out of the bedroom, looking sheepish. “Hi,” she said shyly.

“Hey.” He sat up on the couch and swallowed hard. She’d changed into a pair of loose gray pants and a soft gray hoodie. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she’d scrubbed off the make up she’d been wearing earlier, leaving her skin looking smooth and radiant. Jesus. He’s have figured there was no way she could have looked even better than she had when they’d left for dinner, but she did. He wanted to reach out, to grab her, to keep her close and kiss her all over. The urge to do so was so strong that he was relieved when she chose to sit on the chair across from him instead of next to him on the couch.

“Sorry,” she said. “I feel really stupid.”

“No,” he said. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yes, I do.” She twisted her hands in her lap, and the gesture was so adorable Chad could hardly take it. “You’re paying me a lot of money to be out and about with you, and I couldn’t even do that.”

“It was fine,” Chad said. “They got their pictures.” It didn’t even matter if they did. Right now she could do anything, and it wouldn’t matter as long as she was here with him. He looked away and tried to clear his head. Jesus, this girl was turning him into some kind of character in a cheesy romantic comedy.

“I know,” she said. “It’s just so stupid I mean, Jeremy, he…I’m not even… I don’t even
like
him. So to get so upset about him is ridiculous. ”

“Ehh,” Chad said. “It doesn’t matter if you like someone or not. Sometimes certain people just get under your skin.”

She looked at him. “What do you know about that?”

“About people getting under my skin?” He sighed, ran his fingers through his hair and then leaned back on the couch. “Honestly, not much.”

“Exactly,” she said. She turned sideways on the chair and dangled her legs over the side. Her feet were bare. She had adorable feet. Feet had never been Chad’s thing, but he could appreciate cute feet when he saw them. God, he wanted to reach over and massage her foot. The thought surprised him, and he quickly tore his gaze away from her toes. “You’re the type of person who wouldn’t let themselves get all caught up in something that’s so obviously not working,” Kenley said. “You have more self-respect than that.”

“Well, yeah,” Chad said. “I mean, I don’t get caught up in those things. But it’s not exactly the best way to live. And it’s not really because of self-respect.”

“Then why is it?”

She was looking at him, and he could tell from her tone and the look in her eyes that she really wanted to know. He hesitated. “Mostly it’s because I’m afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Rejection.”

“You?”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “My family wasn’t exactly stable growing up.

My mom left when I was young, and it destroyed my dad.” He shrugged. “I guess I just became determined that would never happen to me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, and sat up in the chair. “I didn’t mean to start bringing up-”

“No, it’s okay.” He smiled . “It’s really not that big of a deal.” It was a lie, of course. It was a big deal, mostly because it was the reason his relationships with women never lasted that long. And it was also a big deal because he’d never spoken that thought out loud to another person. Ever.

Kenley got up and crossed the room, then sat down next to him on the couch.

Chad felt a burning need inside of him when he looked at her, the magnitude of which he’d never even come close to experiencing. It was physical, but it went much deeper than that. It terrified him and excited him at the same time.

“I know it’s not a big deal,” Kenley said. She pushed her hair back from her face.

The shoulder of her sweatshirt slid down a bit, and her skin was so lovely that Chad wanted to reach out and run his thumb over her collarbone. “But it’s still hard to talk about this stuff. I know that when I --”

But he couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. All he could think about was how bad he wanted her, how smooth her skin looked, how full her lips were. He tried to calm himself down, but he couldn’t take it anymore. The desire for her was building up inside him, stronger and stronger, until finally, he snapped. Before he even knew what he was doing, he reached across the couch, pulled Kenley toward him and kissed her.

***

Kenley was surprised by the kiss, but not in the same way she’d been surprised when he’d kissed her in Siesta Key. This time, she was surprised by how soft the kiss was, how gentle Chad was being. And yet she could feel the need behind it, the intent that was pulsing under the surface.

They fell back on the couch, Chad on top of her, their limbs entwined, his fingers in her hair. They kissed for a long time, their tongues swirling against each other in ecstasy. She felt his hands stroking the skin underneath the back of her shirt, exploring, and she moaned softly.

“Kenley,” he whispered, and then kissed her again. He pulled away and she tilted her head back as he peppered kisses onto her collarbone, down to the top of her sweatshirt. He unzipped it slowly, his tongue trailing down her skin as he went, over her cleavage, his other hand still behind her back, holding her in place.

Heat exploded through her body, and she prayed to God that he would just pull her shirt off. But he took his time, moving slowly, unzipping slower and slower until the zipper was completely undone. They he kissed her stomach as he ran his fingers up her body, moving his hands over her bra, cupping her breasts through the fabric.

Her body was on fire. She had never felt like this, never wanted someone so bad in her life. And when Chad slid the fabric of her bra down over her nipple and brushed his finger over the tip, she thought she was going to combust.

He moved back up to her mouth, this time kissing her hungrily. She could feel his cock against her, hard in his pants, and she rubbed against him.

“Not yet,” he said huskily in her ear. She could feel his breath on her skin, the slight stubble on his face rubbing against her neck.

“Please,” she said, hearing the want in her voice.

He kissed her again, this time to silence her, and then she felt his hands unclasp her bra. Her breasts spilled out, and he cupped them, his fingers flicking over the nipples, slow then fast, ebbing and flowing in rhythm with his kisses. She slid her hand down his stomach and felt the bulge in his pants.

The spot between her legs was dripping wet.

“I want to feel you inside me,” she whispered. “Please.”

He grinned, then sat up and pulled his shirt off. She ran her hands down over his arms, over the muscles of his chest, over the smoothness of his stomach. He pulled her toward him, and she sat up a little as he slid her shirt off her shoulders. She let her bra fall down, and he tossed it on the floor.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he said. He ran his fingers over her shoulders, then pushed her hair back, looking at her, taking her in.

She blushed at the way he was looking at her. She felt suddenly self-conscious.

He’d dated freakin’ Jessica Alba for Christ’s sake. There was no way her body was going to measure up.

But she didn’t have long to think about it, because before she knew it, he was on top of her again, kissing her long and deep.

He reached down, slowly inching her pants down, until she was left in just her panties, which were soaking wet. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, and his mouth was still on hers. He didn’t break the kiss as he dipped his fingers inside her panties, running them over her slit.

Kenley moaned, and pushed herself into his hand, feeling his fingers enter her slowly. She rocked her hips, feeling the orgasm building inside her. But just when it was about to take over, he pulled back, rubbing her clit softly, teasing her. He kept going for what felt like forever, rubbing gently, taking her to the edge again and again before pulling back.

She could still feel him, hard against her, and she reached down and pulled his zipper down, and he stood up, letting his pants and boxers fall to the floor. Her hand reached out, grabbed his hardness and started stroking him up and down.

“Please,” she said. “Please, I want you to fuck me.”

And then he was back on top of her again, his lips back on her mouth. The only thing between them was the sheer silkiness of her panties, and Chad put his hands on her hips, pulling down the sides of the fabric just a tiny bit.