Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Shane
An insecure man would probably be worried that he’s about to spend the night in a place where his girlfriend and her late husband spent time together while she was pregnant with their baby. Where they no doubt had sex and created fond memories. And, yeah, there’s a small part of me that hopes what Kinsley and I are doing is enough that she doesn’t wish Brandon were here instead of me, but mostly, I’m just so damn proud of the strides she’s made since I met her. She’s come a long way in a short time, and I’m happy that I get to witness it.
“This is it,” Kinsley says, stepping into the cottage that she told me has been in her family since her parents got married and her dad bought it for her mom as a wedding present.
“It’s beautiful,” I tell her, wrapping my arms around her from behind.
“Do you want a tour?” she asks, glancing up at me.
“Maybe later.” I lean down and kiss her exposed shoulder and then the curve of her neck. “Right now, I just want you to show me to a bed so I can get lost in you.”
“That sounds perfect.”
Taking my hand, she guides me down the hall, but before I can toss her onto the bed, her phone rings.
“Oh, it’s Taylor!” she says, jumping onto the bed and answering the call. “Hey, you! How’s it going?”
“We did so good!” Taylor exclaims, her face covered in stage makeup and her hair up in a tight ponytail. They must’ve just finished performing. “We won’t know the results until later, but I’m almost positive we’re going to place.”
“That’s awesome, Tay!” I move into the picture so my daughter can see me.
“Hey, Dad!” Taylor grins before her brows furrow. “Where are you guys? That doesn’t look like our house.”
“We’re at Kinsley’s family’s cottage in the Hamptons,” I tell her. “We’ll be back before you.”
“Ohh, look at you, taking things to the next level.” She waggles her brows, and I shake my head. “At this rate, I’ll be calling Kinsley my stepmom by the end of the year.”
She cackles at her joke, but I notice the way Kinsley stiffens. She forces out a laugh, but something about what Taylor said doesn’t sit right with her.
“So, what happens if you place?” Kinsley asks, changing the subject.
“We go to Nationals, which is in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then Worlds, which is in Orlando. If we make it to Worlds, I plan to beg my dad to take me to Disney.”
I chuckle. “You don’t have to beg. We can go even if you don’t make it. Gotta get a few trips in before you leave me for college anyway.”
Taylor grins. “Kinsley, you’ll go, right? To Nationals and Worlds if we make it?”
“Umm,” she chokes out, thrown off by Taylor’s request, “I should be able to.”
“Awesome.” Somebody says something to Taylor, momentarily distracting her. “I gotta go, guys. But I’ll call you tonight once the results are in. Love you. Bye.”
Without waiting for us to respond, Taylor ends the call.
“That girl has so much energy,” Kinsley says with a light laugh.
“Since the day she was born.” I pluck her phone out of her hand and toss it onto the nightstand. “Now, where were we?”
She leans back and bites her bottom lip, her eyes looking at me with lust. “I think we were about to make new memories here.”
“Ah, yes.” I pull her shorts down her thighs and spread her legs. “Starting with an orgasm so good that every time you think of this place, your only thought will be how hard I made you scream my name.”
I drop her shorts onto the floor and lie on my stomach, spreading her legs so her perfect pussy is at eye level. Then, with the determination of a starved man, I go to town on her pussy. She’s already wet, and it doesn’t take long until she’s coming all over my tongue and fingers.
“Shane, I need you,” she says, dragging her fingers through my hair.
Quickly discarding my clothes, I climb on top of her, and she pulls my face to hers, kissing me like she’s desperate for the connection. When she tastes herself on my lips, she moans and clenches her thighs, clearly turned on.
“Fuck me, please,” she demands, licking the seam of my lips as her ankles dig into my ass and she pushes me toward her.
I slide in without any resistance, fucking her slow and deep. Every time with Kinsley is amazing, but when she pushes me onto my back and climbs on top of me, giving me access to her luscious tits while she rides me, I’m pretty sure this is what heaven looks like.
“Fuck, baby,” I groan as she swivels her hips, finding the spot she needs to get herself off.
With one hand tweaking her nipple, I reach between us to massage her swollen clit. It’s the push she needs, and within seconds, we’re both coming as we moan each other’s name.
“My God, that was so good,” she sighs, her words coming out a bit slurred.
“Damn right it was,” I tell her, flipping her onto her back so I’m caging her in. “Because we’re good together.”
I slide down her body, kissing her rose-dusted nipples, her flat stomach, and each of her hip bones because I can’t seem to get enough of her.
I’m about to climb off the bed to go grab her a washrag to clean her up when she lazily parts her thighs and I catch a glimpse of my cum leaking out of her.
“I like this,” I say, running my finger along her slit. “You filled with my cum. It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Kinsley lifts onto her elbows, glancing down at me with wide eyes. “Um, Shane,” she says, her voice off. “I … I didn’t think about it before, but … we haven’t been using protection.”
It takes me a second to understand what she’s trying to say because I’m aware we haven’t been using protection. But once my brain wraps around her words, it hits me.
No protection … fuck.
We never even discussed it.
The first time we had sex wasn’t planned. We were at Exposed Ink, and one thing led to another, and before we knew it, I was fucking her on the pool table. And every time since then, we’re just so busy getting lost in each other that we don’t even think to discuss it.
“Are you on birth control?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, pulling her into my arms so she’s straddling my lap. “I didn’t even think. It’s been a while for me, and I always used protection, but it was never like it is when I’m with you.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“When I’m with you, it’s like all common sense flies out the window.”
She smiles softly. “I didn’t think about it either,” she admits. “Before … I was on birth control. An implant that lasted three years. And when we decided to get pregnant, I had it removed. I’ve been so lost in my own head and then lost in you that it didn’t cross my mind.”
“I mean, that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” I say with a smirk. “I like that you’re lost in me.”
“Yeah, but that means we’ve had sex a bunch of times without using protection, and even though the doctors said that it will most likely be harder to conceive, they didn’t say it would be impossible. I don’t know my cycles, but from the number of times we’ve had sex, I could already be pregnant.”
The thought of her swollen with my baby has my cock hardening. But we’ve only just started dating, and Kinsley asked to take things slowly.
“We can’t do anything about it now,” I tell her, palming her cheek. “But we’ll start using protection until you decide if you want to get on birth control. But just know this …” I lock eyes with her. “I wouldn’t be upset if you were pregnant.”
Her eyes comically widen. “But … but …”
“I know. You’re not ready for that, and I respect that. But I know you’re the person I want to spend my life with. I’ve fallen in love with you, Kinsley, and I hope, one day, you’ll want a life with me too.”
“I don’t know if I can do that,” she whispers. “I never thought … I didn’t consider my future.”
“I know, and that’s okay. But if at any point you feel like you’re ready for more, I need you to know that I want that too. Marriage, babies. I want it all with you.”
“But what if I don’t want that? Or what if I can’t? They said there’s a chance …”
“Then, I’m content with you and me and Taylor.” I lean in and press my lips to hers. “All I want is you, any way I can have you. Whatever that looks like is completely up to you.”
I deepen the kiss, and instead of her pulling away, when my hard cock pokes her ass, she guides me back inside her. With her already full of my cum, she slides down easily, riding me once again.
“Kins,” I groan when I’m close, “if you don’t want me to come in you, you’re gonna have to move now.”
Instead of her moving off my lap, she shocks the hell out of me when she pulls my face to hers and fucks me harder, kissing me like I’m the air she needs to breathe as we both find our release.
As we catch our breath, she leans in and nuzzles her face into my neck. “I never thought I’d feel like this again,” she murmurs softly.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m not so broken.”
* * *
“I can’t believe it’s raining.” Kinsley pouts, staring out at the buckets of rain hitting the pool while I make us breakfast.
Yesterday, it was nice out, so we spent some time in the heated pool before we walked down the beach to a local bar and restaurant, where we had dinner and hung out, listening to the band play while we had a few drinks. But today, since the moment we got out of bed, it’s been pouring down rain.
“That’s New York for you. One minute, it’s snowing, and the next, it’s ninety degrees. Then, you turn around, and it’s pouring outside.” I set her bowl of Greek yogurt and iced latte on the island and walk over to her.
“I used to love the rain,” she admits, her gaze staying locked on the outside. “Until that night.”
I wrap my arms around her from behind, and she sighs into me.
“How can something so beautiful be so devastating?”
I don’t answer since I know she’s not actually looking for one. She’s lost in herself, stuck between the present and past, and all I can do is be there for her until she’s back here with me.
“Rain used to make me think of good things, like dancing in the rain, skinny-dipping during a storm.”
Through her reflection in the sliding glass door, I can see the silent tears sliding down her cheeks.
“It reminded me of a new day. It’s what makes the grass grow and the flowers bloom.”
“It can still mean that,” I tell her, an idea coming to me.
I reach into my pocket and pull my phone out and find the song I’m looking for. Taylor’s played it a million times over the years, and when the words start up, I know I’ve found the right one.
“Dance with me,” I tell Kinsley, pushing the slider open and extending my hand.
She looks at me with confusion etched in her features until her brain wraps around the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s “Fearless.”
She takes my hand, and even though no words are spoken—both of us letting the lyrics speak for themselves—we can feel the shift in the moment.
I pull her outside, and with the song playing loudly—even over the rain pelting the area—I hold her in my arms and sway to the music.
The rain drenches us, and at first, Kinsley doesn’t smile, still lost in her thoughts, but then I spin her around playfully so she glides away from me and then straight back into my arms, and her eyes light up with mirth.
“It’s so cold!” she yells, wrapping her arms around my neck as we continue to dance. “But it feels so good.”
I bend down and capture her mouth with mine, and she hops into my arms. We dance like this for several minutes, in the cold rain, our bodies and mouths connected, and then I do something she doesn’t see coming. I run us toward the pool and jump in.
Kinsley screams as we plunge into the water, and then she’s laughing so hard that she can barely catch her breath as she holds on to me for dear life.
Her hair is a mess, and the bit of makeup she put on when she woke up is dripping down her cheeks, yet she’s never looked so damn beautiful.
“I can’t believe you did that.” She shakes her head, her smile still in full force.
“I love you,” I tell her, pushing several strands of hair that were sticking to her forehead out of her eyes. “There are going to be good days and bad, but I promise, no matter what happens, I’ll be right here, dancing in the rain with you.”
I press my lips to hers, and she wraps her arms around me tighter, like I’m her lifeline.
“I want that too,” she murmurs against my lips. “I want to dance in the rain with you.”