Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Kemp
I could’ve blamed fatigue for my decision. Or the adrenaline crash after the llama intervention call. Or even the fact that it was a cold night, and the bed and its thick blankets looked irresistible.
All of those would be copouts.
The truth was that, in that moment, I was sick of denying my feelings. I was so damn tired of expending all the energy it took to ignore the way my body and my heart yearned for Anna.
On top of that, Chance had gotten into my head.
I slid onto my back, pausing, giving myself the opportunity to change my mind.
I didn’t want to change my mind. I needed to know, one way or another, if she felt anything beyond friendship for me.
After letting my eyes adjust to the darkness, I turned on my side to face her and moved a few inches closer. Anna’s eyes popped open.
“Kemp, what are you doing?” she asked, sounding sleepy but alarmed as she raised her head off the pillow.
“Coming back to bed for a couple of hours, I hope.”
“Where’s Oliver?”
“Asleep in his crib. Thanks for feeding him.”
She propped herself up on her elbow, obviously only half-awake. “What time is it?”
“A little after five,” I told her, keeping my voice quiet, hoping to calm her.
She blinked a few times. “I need to go back to my room.” She started to sit up, and I touched her arm lightly. She froze and glanced down at my hand, then back at my face.
“You don’t have to,” I said.
Anna stared at me in the near darkness for several long seconds, and I held my breath to see what she’d do.
“Do… Do you want me to stay here?” she asked.
I hesitated, giving myself one last chance to do the safe thing. The thing that would leave me wondering forever.
You’ll never know unless you give it a try.
“I do,” I finally said, retracting my hand. “I want you to stay. If you’re comfortable.”
She considered me a moment, then lowered herself back to the pillow, still facing me.
“Is everything okay, Kemp? Was the call a bad one? Was somebody hurt?”
I chuckled quietly. “Nobody was hurt, but I’m betting the llama’s going to have an upset stomach for a few days.”
I told her about Esmerelda’s big adventure and how she was passed out behind the cookie case.
“But she’s okay?” Anna asked.
“I didn’t stick around for Ben to arrive and check her out, but I assume she’ll be fine. The way I understand it, Ben was annoyed with her antics but not concerned in a life-threatening way when they called him.”
“How’d she get inside?”
“No sign of forced entry, so they think the kid who closed last night forgot to lock the door. It’s a lever knob, so the llama would be able to open it with her snout.”
“That’s a crazy story,” she said, grinning.
“One of the craziest we’ve had, and we’ve had some doozies.” I slid my arm under my pillow and moved closer. “Anna…”
Though the only light was moonlight coming in around the blinds, I was close enough that I could see her eyes clearly, see the curiosity in them. And…was that interest? Anticipation?
“What’s going on, Kemp?”
Her hand was loosely balled on the mattress in front of her.
I ran my finger lightly over it, back and forth, noting how soft her skin was.
I traced over the ring she always wore on her pinky finger, knowing it was one of Anna’s most prized possessions.
Her sister, Cassie, had given it to her for her thirteenth birthday—the last one Cassie was alive for.
It was a thin silver band with three tiny birthstones representing Cassie’s, Ryder’s, and Anna’s birthdays.
I tried to organize my words so they’d hit right, but the fact was, they’d either be welcome or they’d have the power to come between us. There was no way to say what I needed to say halfway.
“You’re the most important person in my life. I mean along with Oliver now.” I grinned self-consciously. “You’re my person.”
“Saaame.” She drew it out and said it with a question in her tone.
“I haven’t been totally honest with you though.”
Anna frowned and glanced down at our hands, where I still caressed her fingers.
“My feelings go deeper than friendship,” I said in a rush.
Her gaze snapped up to mine and held. Searched.
I stopped breathing. Waited for her to say something. My chest suddenly burned with anxiety and fear.
“Like…you’re attracted to me?” she asked quietly, in such a way I couldn’t read whether that would be welcome or unwelcome.
I swallowed. “Like I’m dying to pull you into me and kiss you…”
Anna
I held Kemp’s gaze in the moonlit room, barely daring to breathe, absolutely not daring to believe I’d heard him right. The look in his eyes was unwavering and intense, and then I saw a flash of insecurity. Vulnerability. And that’s what clinched it for me and told me he meant every word.
I closed the space between us and pressed my lips to his in a rush, compelled to erase that moment of doubt I’d seen. The second our mouths touched, it felt like plunging into warm, welcoming water, like safety and comfort and home.
Kemp pulled me against him with an arm around my waist, our kiss deepening, our tongues and breaths mingling.
He rolled to his back, taking me with him so I was stretched out on top of his body.
His erection nestled at the apex of my thighs, his arms banding around me as if he was afraid I’d slip away.
I braced my arms on his pillow, along the sides of his head, and rose enough to look at him, to reassure myself, to see with my own eyes that I was kissing my best friend—and that he was into it.
His familiar eyes sparkled in the moonlight, gazing at me as if he needed the same reassurance.
I vaguely noted the faint scar above his eye from when we were six and he’d wiped out on his skateboard on my driveway.
I registered the moisture on his sensual lips from kissing me.
He wove his fingers through my hair, nudging my head back to him.
I went willingly, enthusiastically, and poured my heart into the kiss.
I closed my eyes, but my other senses registered everything—his hot breath, his earthy, masculine scent, the roughness of his facial hair against my skin, the moan that rose from his throat.
As our tongues swirled together, he slid his hands beneath my tank and ran them over every inch of my back and sides, as if touching my skin was the key to sustaining his life. If he stopped touching me now, I thought I might be the one to die.
He drew my tank over my head, and I broke the contact of our mouths long enough for him to remove it. I went back to kissing him as if my life depended on it, part of me getting lost in the feel of him, part of me reeling because…I was half naked on top of Kemp, and he was as into it as I was.
This was all I’d ever wanted.
Or almost all.
He caressed my breast, ran his thumb over my nipple with one hand, and dipped his other under the waistband of my shorts. His large palm covered nearly all of one cheek as he molded and kneaded my butt. My body throbbed with need from his heavenly, multifront attack.
He worked my sleep shorts off, then slid lower so he could suck my nipple into his hot, adoring mouth. I gasped as his tongue and teeth worked together over my tip and shot a line of need straight to my aching core.
“Kemp,” I managed.
“Anna,” he growled, then pulled his head back enough to meet my gaze, both of us breathing hard. “Is this okay?”
I laughed, because I’d never heard a dumber question. “Shut up and do that again.”
A laugh rumbled out of him as he moved to my other breast and did as I’d demanded, pulling a moan from me as I rubbed my body against him, the friction lighting me on fire.
Out of nowhere, Kemp rolled us over so he was on top. He sat up, straddling my hips as he feasted his eyes on me for several seconds, the hunger in them making me feel like the most beautiful, desirable girl in the world.
“You’re gorgeous, Anna,” he said, his voice a sexy, gravelly rumble that resonated with me on a cellular level. “I always knew you would be.”
I ran my hands up his thick, muscular chest that I’d admired dozens of times.
I’d never been able to touch it though, to feel the solid ridges of muscle, to revel in the way he sucked his breath in as I trailed a finger over his nipple.
I was dying to see the rest of him, so I lowered my hands to the waistband of his boxer briefs and tugged at it.
“Not yet,” he said, leaning down to kiss me, our chests skin to skin. I relished the tactile treat of his heat and chest hair against my breasts. “I plan to worship every last inch of your beautiful body until you’re out of your mind, begging for more.”
With the way his hardness now pressed against me, I was maybe T minus ten seconds on that.
He nibbled a trail of kisses along my jaw, to the spot under my ear that shot chills through me, then moved lower, down my neck, along my collarbone, slowly, attentively, lovingly, doing his best to cover every inch of me with his attention, as he’d promised.
I tried to let my brain catch up and process that Kemp was on top of me, showering my body with his full, tantalizing attention.
I tugged at his boxer briefs again. Then when he didn’t rise enough for me to yank them off, I plunged my hands inside, running them over his perfect butt.
He moaned but didn’t stop his assault on my breasts with his hands and mouth.
When I tried to dip my fingers into the front of his underwear, he pressed his body more firmly against mine, preventing me from getting my hands on his cock.
“Not fair,” I said, grinning. “I demand equal opportunity.”
A chuckle rolled out of him as he pulled at the tip of my nipple with his mouth again, another spear of desire shooting to my center.
Instead of granting me access, he ground his erection into me, rubbing my body just so, drawing another moan from me and distracting me from my goal of getting him naked.