Chapter 14
14
Something smelled good. Sweet, yet salty and buttery too. An aroma too thick to be a part of my dream.
My eyes fluttered open and I realized someone was in my house, cooking .
The only person with a key was my mother, but she wouldn’t drop by like this. Unannounced to cook me breakfast.
As I sat up on my couch, it hit me.
Kennedy.
She hadn’t left.
Still, in disbelief, I got up and crept down the hall to the kitchen. I wasn’t prepared to see what was waiting for me when I got there.
Her hair was in a messy bun. Slightly disheveled from going to bed without a scarf. Standing at my stove barefoot, Kennedy was only wearing a T-shirt. My T-shirt. It hung heavy on her, but she didn’t seem to mind as she kept at whatever she was doing.
I watched Kennedy at work for a moment longer before slipping away to get ready for the garage.
In my master bath, I discovered she’d found a new toothbrush I’d had stowed away in my medicine cabinet. She’d gone through my clothes, stolen a T-shirt, and had washed up here in my bathroom before going about preparing something in the kitchen.
I tried not to focus on the feminine intrusion in my home and went ahead with my morning routine. Thanks to Kennedy’s cooking, I was running ahead of schedule, up earlier than my alarm for once, giving me a good forty minutes before I was due at work.
She was still there when I came out of my bedroom dressed to go in. I found her in the kitchen, sitting with her legs folded underneath her as she read from my copy of Night Changes . There was something so homey about the scene. Kennedy, undone, at my kitchen table, reading a book and drinking a glass of milk. Before her, was her leftover pancakes from Sonny’s Kitchen. And across from her…
Kennedy had made me breakfast.
“Looks like someone just made themselves at home,” I said as I made my presence known.
Startled, Kennedy looked up from her reading and offered me a timid smile. “Morning.”
I inched closer, setting eyes on a plate of my pancakes from Sonny’s as well as what looked like grilled cheese. I arched a brow, questioning Kennedy silently.
She shrugged. “Didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye this time.”
“So you cooked for me?” I pressed.
She blushed, gnawing on that lip of hers. “It’s just grilled cheese.”
“Just nothin’, it’s a thoughtful thing to do,” I argued. “Thank you.”
Kennedy eyed the grilled cheese absentmindedly. “I’d make a horrible wife. I can’t really cook.”
That brought me out of my fantasy, sling-shotting me right back into the reality of the situation.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I took the seat across from her. “Fuck all that, you should be able to cook to sustain yourself .”
“Well, I can’t,” Kennedy said with a lazy shrug.
“I’ll teach you,” I offered as I grabbed the grilled sandwich. “You never know what the future may bring. It’s important you can fend for yourself.”
Kennedy propped her elbow on the table, going and resting her chin on her fist. “Okay.”
I bit into my grilled cheese and bestowed Kennedy’s watchful gaze with a thumbs-up. You couldn’t mess up grilled cheese, but the sandwich was good. For added flair, she’d put mayonnaise on it as well. A thin layer where it wasn’t overpowering the cheesy taste. I liked it.
Usually, I didn’t eat breakfast at home. I often opted to grab a doughnut from the faithful box Jake would get in the mornings.
“Dixie and Darius are quite the pair,” Kennedy noted of my paperback a while into our meal.
I wasn’t one to read or watch romance all like that. Reading about the main character’s, Dixie Pete, longing and pining after the male lead wasn’t my thing.
“They’re something,” I said as I finished eating.
Kennedy set the book aside, her eyes on me. “What made you get it?”
I thought of Eden, the look on her face as she spoke of the story and the joy she’d expressed as she read its pages. “Curiosity. It was recommended to me.”
Kennedy appeared thoughtful, but she said nothing as she stood from her place at the table and went over to the fridge. She’d definitely gotten comfortable in the few hours she’d spent here with me.
“Before I forget, I made you a lunch,” Kennedy said as she reached into my refrigerator and pulled out a brown paper bag. I’d kept a supply just for the occasions I made my own lunch, which was typically a sandwich, a bag of chips, and maybe a snack cake if I was in the mood.
I stood from the table and collected our plates before bringing them to the sink to rinse. “You made me lunch?”
A proud gleam hung in Kennedy’s eye as she spun around and nodded. “Uh-huh. Turkey, ham, Swiss, mayo on wheat. And some grapes on the side. I used to make my dad lunch when I was little. And, uh, I just figured it’s the least I could do since you bought me brunch and dinner yesterday.”
She didn’t have to cook me breakfast and make me a lunch for work. The gesture wasn’t lost on me. I abandoned the dishes in the sink and gathered Kennedy into my arms. She was bare beneath my T-shirt. The sight of her erect nipples and the hint of her figure through the material of the shirt drove my appetite elsewhere. The way she was looking at me, I knew I could’ve had her on my counter, legs spread open as I ate my fill of her.
But I wasn’t into rushing. I preferred taking my time, and time wasn’t on our side.
“Can you squeeze in a quickie?” Kennedy wanted to know.
I shook my head regrettably. “Nah, it’s too tempting to get carried away. Besides, the next time we’re together I want you on top.”
Briefly, Kennedy frowned.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s…not my thing,” she confessed.
She didn’t like giving head, being on top, and she preferred missionary. “What are you? A pillow princess?”
Kennedy hung her head. “I…I don’t think I’m that good at it, is all. I’m insecure, okay?”
Now I felt like an asshole.
Grabbing her chin, I tipped her head back until she was looking me in the eye. “I’d never judge you for what you’re not confident about sexually, Kennedy.”
Slowly, she loosened up. “Will you show me how you like it?”
“You naked on top of me is all I need,” I insisted. I couldn’t get enough of her naked body, or the feel of myself inside of her.
A playful smile had Kennedy beaming up at me as she tickled my chest. “Can I wear your baseball cap when I ride you?”
My dick was having a field day and my brain was warring with it. Could I do what I wanted to do in about…ten minutes?
Doubt it .
For the sake of my sanity, I took a step back and grabbed my lunch. “What are you getting into today?”
“My friend Jadyn’s off from work. I’m going to head over there as soon as I get dressed and hang out with her for a bit,” Kennedy responded.
She wasn’t supposed to do this. Spend the night and make me food, but I didn’t mind it. And it didn’t seem like she did either.
“Thanks again for the food,” I said. “It’s never a problem having you here, just let me know ahead next time so I can have some fish ready for you.”
Kennedy looked away from me, making herself busy pushing our chairs in at the table instead of replying.
The lust in the air dissolved at once and I could feel her coldness.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
It was there. That sadness. That distant look in her eye.
I scratched at my head. “You might as well tell me. I can tell something’s up. You’ve been anxious since yesterday.”
Kennedy glared at me just then. “You don’t know me to know when I’m anxious, Keith.”
Truthfully, I didn’t. But I knew what I saw when I looked at her. Knew she was troubled since the day I met her. Something was weighing on her and I couldn’t leave well enough alone.
“Kennedy,” I urged.
Her forehead creased as she shook her head again. “We…we have a deadline, Keith.”
“A deadline ?” I repeated, confused.
She looked up at me with sorrow in her dark eyes. “Cain, my fiancé, and I agreed to get married in December. This thing between you and me, it will end then.”
All at once my mood dropped. “What brought this on?”
Kennedy shrugged, going and cupping her cheeks as she peered down at the floor. “He’s worried my dad might not make it if we prolong it.”
I didn’t understand her father’s illness. Part of me thought of this as a manipulation tactic, but there was the possibility that her father was borrowing time.
“So, that’s it, huh?” I asked. “Throw the rice and all that?”
“It’s not like that,” Kennedy said helplessly. “Cain said I wouldn’t have to consummate it.”
I deadpanned. “Sure.”
Oddly, Kennedy looked like she believed him. “He said he would wait until I was ready. That the wedding would just be for show. So my dad can see me be married before…”
Before he passed .
It was a fucked-up situation, one that made me disgusted with all the players involved, and annoyed for their pawn.
“And what happens if you don’t marry the guy? If you put your foot down?” I wanted to know.
Kennedy frowned. “I lose my family. My home. Every cent I own— everything .”
It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I could understand her wanting to keep her family intact.
Talk about million-dollar pressure.
“So, this ends in December?” I repeated with finality.
Kennedy nodded solemnly. “I’ll understand if you want to walk away before then.”
I knew the setup from jump. She warned me she couldn’t love me and that this would only be physical. It was an honor to touch little miss rich girl. In the end, she was only slumming it with me before she went off to become someone’s bride.
Fuck it.
This meant nothing and was just something to pass the time. It wasn’t my business to get caught up in Kennedy’s world and problems. If she wanted to be some weirdo’s wife, so be it.
I didn’t allow myself to care. So, I didn’t.
“This is just sex, right?” I said with a lazy shrug. “I’m cool with it.”
I watched her lips tremble and winced inside. “Okay.”
With my bag in hand, I took off down the hall. “Do me a favor and lock up when you leave.”
Kennedy stood back as I reached for the door and pulled it up. “When are you free again?”
I needed to get my head on straight and hit the gym. Kick back with Savon. Visit my mother and Betty Jean. Not get too wrapped up in this woman. “I think Wednesday. I gotta get in my yard, though.”
“Can I watch?” She sounded hopeful and curious.
I looked back at her. “You tryna help?”
Kennedy thought about it for all of a second before bobbing her head, her mood lifting. “That sounds like fun.”
That I’d like to see . “A’ight, cool. I’ll, uh, text you if that’s what I’m doing.”
“Please do. I’m going to go shopping and get the perfect outfit.”
Despite my loss of serotonin, I managed to smile at that. “Most people wear their ratty old clothes to do housework.”
Kennedy examined my T-shirt she was wearing. “Ah.”
She was so serious in her fancy clothes, her high heels, and her prim image, I wanted to see her in jeans and an old T-shirt getting down and dirty.
“I’ll text you,” I said as I felt the smile slip from my face.
I went out to my Tahoe and got in behind the wheel, reveling in the space now wedged between us.
Mobb Deep was playing as I drove in to work. A much-needed distraction from my overall disappointment.
As expected, Uncle Rod was lingering around when I made it in. On an ordinary day, he’d be in his office doing paperwork, while I worked the garage with a few other mechanics.
Today wasn’t one of those days.
“?’Sup, Keith,” Uncle Rod greeted me as he leaned against the front counter, giving me his full attention.
Jake was on the other end, digging in a pink pastry box. He grabbed a cream stick and turned, eyes and ears eager to hear our conversation.
Not happening.
Ignoring my uncle, I breezed by the front room and stepped out into the garage. The smell of gasoline and oil swept around me, clogging my senses, ridding me of a certain perfume. Now if only an engine or tire could get the image of a silly little dance out of my head.
Whistling sounded at my back and I knew my uncle had followed me out here.
I grabbed a clipboard hanging from the wall and checked the day’s itinerary. One of the cars amid the lineup was a Ford Fusion in need of fresh brake pads. Simple.
“She sure was pretty,” Uncle Rod marveled as he came around me.
On second thought, it was best to store my lunch in the mini fridge in Rod’s office first.
Naturally, he was on my heels as I took off in that direction.
“Drop it,” I barked out as we passed Jake’s stance at the front counter.
The sound of chuckling let me know my uncle didn’t take orders from me. With everyone else in the shop, all it took was one look and they went scattering.
In his office, Uncle Rod was quick to lean against the doorpost, studying me as I tossed my lunch in the fridge next to the one I hadn’t eaten the day before.
“What’s gotten you in a foul mood, boy?” he asked.
I stood tall, facing my uncle and blocking out all bullshit from the past twenty-four hours. “Nothing. I’m just ready to work.”
“Uh-huh.” He wasn’t convinced.
Fuck, I needed a cigarette and I really was trying to quit.
I sighed. “I got stuff I gotta sort out, that’s all.”
“Wouldn’t happen to do with that pretty little thing that was in here yesterday, would it?” Uncle Rod went on.
“It’s nothing.”
“You know, you’re not gettin’ any younger, Keith,” Uncle Rod tried to say. “?’Bout time you found you someone nice and settled down, started a family or somethin’.”
This was rich coming from a bachelor. Not that Rod hadn’t ever been around with a woman before. Currently, he was in between partners, and he liked it that way. Or so he said. “Less complicated, less pressure,” he’d argued.
The fact that he thought I should be with a woman when he found solitude peaceful was humorous.
He was right though. As was Savon. I wasn’t getting any younger.
Trouble was, the first person I entertained post Leila was all things unavailable.
It was enjoyable, whatever the fuck this was with Kennedy, but I also missed the intimacy of sex. Of being truly close. Or maybe I’d aged out of flings and wanted something more. Something serious.
It definitely was a wakeup call to get back out there.
Kennedy had problems and I didn’t need that drama in my life. I was only interested in a good time, nothing else.
I made up my mind I wouldn’t see this through until December. That I would dead this before things got too tangled. That it was a bad idea to get my heart mixed in with someone who belonged to someone else.
Going forward, rules would go into place. No more spending the night. No more asking about her father. No more exchanging stories from our past. This started and would end just sex.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I got back to my uncle and went past him out of the room. “I’ll worry about my love life on my time. For now, let’s get to it.”