Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
LOVERBOY, “HEAVEN IN YOUR EYES”
Eve
I stared out my bedroom window a little before midnight. Lights were still on in the main level of Kyle’s house. My family was asleep after hours of arguing over my decision. But my parents were outnumbered, so they eventually went to bed. I knew they’d pick things up in the morning after Sarah and Isaac left and Gabby headed to a friend’s house. Grandma wouldn’t be there. It would be two against one.
“Screw it,” I mumbled to myself, jumping out of my window seat and throwing on my clothes.
I hopped through the snow, riding a wave of adrenaline, and tapped on Kyle’s back door.
The lock clicked and he opened it, standing before me in jeans and a hoodie. “It’s past your curfew.” He stepped aside.
I toed off my boots and unzipped my coat. “After exhausting fights with my parents, I used to drink. But I don’t drink anymore, so I need something to replace that bad habit. Something to help me relax. Got any ideas?”
Lines of concern spread across his forehead.
“Did you miss the part where I said I’m not going to drink?” I rubbed my finger along his worry creases, trying to erase them.
“What did you have in mind?” he asked, relaxing a bit.
I grinned, ghosting my fingers from his forehead down his nose and across his lips. “I’m sure it’s just me because I’ve never lived on my own or with anyone except my parents, but I was wondering …”
“What were you wondering?” He nipped at my fingers.
“I was wondering what it will be like when we’re living together and we can have sex before Josh wakes up in the morning. And when he’s at school, on days you’re not substitute teaching, we can have sex. Like so much sex in every room. And after Josh is in bed at night, we can shower together. Sex against the bathroom vanity while looking at each other in the mirror. Sex in your truck when you take me fishing.”
He smirked. “You’re such a perv. You need to lay off the George Michael songs.”
I started to speak, but he kissed me instead, snaking his good arm around me to hoist me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he carried me upstairs.
As soon as his bedroom door was locked, we discarded our shirts. My bra landed on the floor a second before my back hit the bed. He unbuttoned my jeans while sucking my nipple into his mouth.
“Yesss …” I arched my back and grabbed a fistful of his hair. His urgency fed my greed as he peeled off my jeans and underwear.
We skipped the slow seduction, and he had his jeans off and a condom on in the next breath. He entered me slowly at first but quickly moved into hard thrusts. It had been too long, and need became the theme that night.
He kissed me to muffle my moans and his own as I curled my fingers into his backside, gripping him harder while he drove into me faster. The best sensation unfurled in endless waves. Kyle hiked my leg closer to my chest and pistoned his hips faster until he came hard with an agonizing expression that settled into a huge grin when he opened his eyes and collapsed onto me.
I didn’t want him to pull out or move or speak. Despite the suffocating feeling of his body draped over mine, I felt wholly loved and wanted.
Desired and accepted.
I felt like a woman and a lover.
He rolled to the side, taking me with him. His gaze swept along my face. “Let’s take a shower,” he said with a grin.
“I should get home,” I murmured.
He slid his hand along my hip, up my side to my breast, thumb circling my nipple. “Baby,” he leaned into me, brushing his lips over mine, “you’ve arrived. I’m your new home.”
I closed my eyes as he peppered my face with light kisses. “Kyle, I love you,” I whispered. “And I know you only came after me because some of Josh’s favorite recipes are too complex for you to figure out.”
“Shh … let’s not dwell on the reasons,” he said.
I giggled.
The following morning, I sat in the middle of Kyle’s bed as he dressed.
“I’m scared,” I said. “My dad is going to be so mad.”
He threaded his arms into his long-sleeved T-shirt. “Josh will be with us. And I’ll suggest we pray together before discussing anything.”
“That’s really smart.”
“Thanks.” He sat on the end of the bed and pulled on his socks. “I knew you’d eventually come around and acknowledge my superior intelligence.”
I lifted onto my knees and pressed my chest to his back, arms around his neck. “You were going to let me go. That makes you stupid. I’m quite the catch.”
“And humble. Don’t forget how humble you are.”
I laughed and he leaned back, forcing me onto my butt with his head on my leg. My fingers played in his hair.
“I can’t make this right, Eve,” he sighed.
“Make what right?”
“Us. There is nothing I can say to your father that will make him feel okay about us.”
“That’s because he’s stubborn.”
“No. He’s your father. He’s a man of God. And he’s not entirely wrong to feel the way he does.”
My fingers stilled, my whole body stiffened.
“Look at me, Eve.” Kyle gazed up at me.
I clenched my teeth while looking at him.
“Think about it. Say it in your head. Imagine it’s not us.”
“Say what?” I questioned.
“You are eighteen. I am twenty-eight. That’s ten years. When Josh was born, you were thirteen.”
“What are you saying?” My voice felt tight, each word fighting for composure like the rest of me.
He sat up, rubbing his palms over his face. “I’m saying that what we have at our current ages is an outlier to social norms.”
“I don’t care about social norms. But clearly you do. And if our age is always going to be?—”
“Eve!” He stood, stabbing his fingers into his hair and pacing the room a few times. “Take a step back. Can you do that?” He stopped, resting his hands on his hips. “If any other eighteen-year-old girl in this town were involved with a twenty-eight- year-old man, you and all of your friends would be talking about it because it’s not normal. And I’m okay with us not fitting into the norm. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. My ego screams ‘fuck them’ when I think about other people judging us. And that’s why I ran after you yesterday. I don’t care if anyone understands us. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t get it. I can take a step back and see it from their point of view. And that’s called empathy. I think you—we—need to be empathetic to our families. Even if they don’t understand us, we can give them space to change their minds over time as they see us thriving together.”
I slowly nodded. “We can prove them wrong.”
He shook his head. “Maybe take a bigger step back. It’s not about proving anyone wrong. It’s about giving them time to see us as two people in love. And eventually they won’t see a ten-year age difference. They’ll just see love.”
Again, I nodded. “And then I can say I told you so.”
Kyle laughed and I smirked.
“Yes, baby.” He kneeled in front of the bed and pulled my legs, bringing me to the edge. “Then you can gloat.” He wrapped his arms around me, resting his forehead on my chest.