Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
Kai
The hair in my nose tickles. When I see her crying, my body becomes her armor, shielding her.
My eyes well up, feeling everything that’s bouncing between us.
She’s slowly become my everything. I want her to know I’m deeply in love with her.
I don’t know how I’d live my life without her.
She’s my person. The one who makes everything feel easier, better.
I’m a better person around her, and I want to dance right here for the rest of the night if it means she stays in my arms. It’s all I want. It’s all perfect. She’s perfect for me.
I feel her wipe her face on my shirt, and it’s damp.
I stop moving and tilt her head toward mine with my hand.
She’s quietly crying on me. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?
” My massive hand covers practically her entire head as I pull it to my chest, and my other hand is rubbing her back.
I want to beg her to tell me why she’s crying, but silence wins her over.
“Nothing is wrong and everything is right. Handsome, just hold me tighter, please. You always know what I need without even needing me to tell you.” She tightens her grip on me. “Dance with me all night just like this.”
I love it when she calls me that. It swirls the heat in my body. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.” I move again with her in my arms, exactly where she belongs—with me.
Few words are exchanged as we dance the night away. Until Kendall grabs her phone and changes the playlist and yells to the us girls. “Come on.”
Ava’s head pops up. “I think I need to dance with the girls for a couple of songs.” She pulls away from me and grabs both of my hands. “And then can we go back to your house?”
“Yes, absolutely. I’ll hang out with the guys while you dance your heart out.
” I push a stray hair from her face, gliding my fingertips over her cheek.
“There will be plenty of time to hold you and talk.” I’m not letting her leave me without at least a kiss.
“But first…” I lean down and capture her lips with mine, a delicate touch that leads to our lips moving with each other and tongues meeting.
My hands slide into her hair, pulling her closer to me, devouring her right in the middle of Dane’s lawn.
Then I hear the guys whistling and saying, ‘Get a room.’ I smile against her lips and whisper, “Go dance.”
“You know they’re going to bust your balls the rest of the night, right?” She smirks, peering up at me through her beautiful lashes.
“What are friends for?” I shrug and kiss her one more time before sliding my hand down to hers.
I stand there, mesmerized by her beauty, her dance moves…she can dance for me anytime.
Breaking me out of my daydream, Logan gestures with his hands between me and Ava.
“What was that all about?” he asks, slapping me on the back.
“And you guys give me a hard time about getting a room. Kai was practically fucking her in my yard.” Dane holds his drink in one hand while the other points to the spot on his lawn I just walked away from.
Logan brushes him off. “Cut ‘em some slack,” he says, sipping his drink with his head wagging back and forth in disbelief.
With my drink up to my lips, I mumble, “She’s coming home with me tonight.” A devious grin spreads across my face as I take a sip of my drink.
The whistling starts again. Logan says seriously, “The bench will win her all the way over, if she’s not all the way there now.” A genuine smile on his face has me thinking about how I’m getting that to my house tomorrow.
Next thing I know, Ava is grabbing my hand and dragging me onto the dance floor.
I look over my shoulder, and I’m not the only one.
All the guys are being forced to dance…being close to Ava never feels like an obligation or a chore.
From the looks on the faces of these guys, they’re not putting up a fight.
My attention is back on her. She turns and backs that curvy ass straight into my crotch, waking him up. I slide my hands onto her hips as she grinds against me. “Holy hell,” I say when my hands slide to her stomach, pulling her back into me.
Leaning her head on my chest, she glances up at me.
The world stops, the music fades, and she has my full attention.
Slowly turning in my hands so they land right above her ass.
With her arms slung around my neck, she lifts herself onto tiptoes to whisper-yell in my ear, “Holy hell is right.” She pushes her hips into me.
There’s no way she doesn’t feel him standing hard and tall.
Oh yeah, she sure does with that grin on her face.
She presses her lips to my cheek in a gentle kiss. Then she drops it like it’s hot and stands back up. My eyes are bugging out of my sockets. She is hot as fuck. I’m trying to concentrate on her, but my dick is begging to be released.
When I watch her dance, it’s mesmerizing. The way she moves her hips, her arms—smooth, in rhythm with the beat. I sway with her, or close enough. The rest of the night is spent on the dance floor with this woman who takes my breath away and fills my soul.
After the last song ends, we say our goodbyes.
I bro hug my two brothers from another mother. “Thanks, man, and congratulations,” I say to Dane.
I let Logan know, “I’ll be taking your sister-in-law to my place.”
“Alright, man. You’re the right man for her.” We bro hug, say our goodbyes, and I wait for her.
As Ava comes closer, I scoop her into my arms. “Let’s head home, sweetheart.” I don’t even care how that came out because I want her…at my home forever, where I can hold her.
We walk through the door. When she yawns and stumbles over herself, I know what we need to do next. “I think it’s time for bed.”
She tries to argue with me, but it’s not working. Her arm winds around me as we both walk up the stairs and straight to my room, and I help her get undressed. “You don’t need to undress me…I’m fine.”
Although she keeps saying she’s fine, she is far from it. Unzipping her dress from the back, I tug it off her. “Why don’t you sit on the bed?” She flops onto the bed. I take off her bra. Oh man, those tits are begging for my hands. She’s too tired.
I slide her legs into bed. “Maybe we can…” She wiggles her eyebrows and curls up on the pillow.
I cover her up, kiss her cheek, and say, “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight, handsome.”
By the time I slip into bed, it’s a no-brainer: my arm goes around her waist as my body slides close to her, and having her in my arms feels like a dream come true. We’ll talk in the morning.
All I hear is her breathing in a rhythm that lulls me to sleep.
The sun peeks through the blinds. My eyes flutter open, then close, as the bright light bounces off the walls.
When I move my arm, the soft skin under my fingers puts a smile on my face.
I skim her skin, and her body moves ever so slightly.
I tighten my grip on her. She moans and stretches her arms over her head while her legs stretch out.
When she rolls onto her back, her eyes are shut, and I gaze at her hair fanned over my pillows, a little tangled. Her plump, kissable lips are begging for my mouth to be on hers.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
She groans, nodding her head. “I don’t want to wake up.”
“I know you don’t.” I brush her hair off her face and linger on her cheek, swiping it a few times. “If you want, I can make you breakfast.”
“Yes, please.” Her eyes finally stay open. Those hazel eyes with light shining on them. They are the most beautiful color I’ve ever seen. With her lying in my bed next to me, I slide over with my body over hers and stare into her eyes.
“Why do you look so gorgeous when you wake up in the morning?” I ask her, truly questioning her beauty, lying in my bed.
Shaking her head, she says, “I’m a mess.
You should clean those sleepies out of your eyes.
” I chuckle at her and then place a kiss on each cheek, then move to her lips.
I press down, feeling the sparks between us.
Her hands make their way to my face, cupping it.
The way her hand holds me, the way she feels under my lips, and how every nerve ending fires.
This is how I want my life to be when I wake up in the morning.
Whispering on her lips, “Whether your hair is done up and you’re dressed to the nines or you’re lying here with me, mascara smeared all over your face and your hair in knots…you will always look gorgeous to me.”