Chapter 13 #2
“You’re wrong. I didn’t choose you over the club out of obligation or some sense of chivalry.
I’m not that honorable. I chose you, chose Oscar, because there was no other choice.
You didn’t take over my life. You became it,” he declared assertively.
His thumb moved over her pulse point again, and she swore he did it deliberately to get another rise out of her.
“You belong here, and not because you needed somewhere safe and I had a very secure building. But because you belong with me.” Rose slowly lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.
“Ghost and the club will just have to deal with it, because there is no alternative. You and I are going to walk into that clubhouse tomorrow with our heads held high, because what we have isn’t something to be ashamed of.
I have never felt more like myself than when I am with you, and I will never give that up. Do you understand me?”
She opened her mouth, her carefully constructed argument beginning to lose its structural integrity, and yet no words formed.
Keys did not back down. “Do you understand me?” he repeated.
Rose closed her mouth, cleared her throat, and then opened it again. “Do you know how annoying you are when you’re right?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I do, but I’m also not going to let you deflect away or distract me from getting your answer.”
“Damn,” she murmured, which got another lip twitch out of him. “Fine,” she groaned. “Yes, I understand you and your stupid confidence and your infuriating sexiness.”
“You think I’m sexy?” Keys waggled his eyebrows, which, of course, somehow ruined and made the moment at the same time.
Rose snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m also extremely impressed you were able to say all that with a straight face.”
“It was really hard.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”
Keys nodded, his face composed. “Like super hard.”
“How hard?” she inquired, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.
“Extremely hard.” He lowered his mouth to hers. “So very, very hard…”
There was nothing careful about this kiss. It wasn’t sensual and romantic, but a pure, unadulterated claiming. And for the first time in a very long time, Rose chose to remain exactly where she was instead of plotting three steps ahead.
When he pulled back, they were both breathing heavily.
“Come back inside,” he urged against her mouth.
“Oscar…” Though she said her son’s name like an argument, she did not end their kiss. Somehow her left hand ended up in the back of Keys’ jeans while his thigh settled between hers, and she had no idea if the wall was holding her upright or he was.
“Is asleep,” he reminded her. His tongue dove between her lips, seeking and tasting. “Come back inside, Rose.”
She meant to say something practical. She was fairly certain she had a reasonable point trying to form somewhere in the recesses of her mind, but Keys chose that moment to lower his hand from her chin down to her breast. His thumb grazed over her nipple through her shirt and her bra, and Rose’s knees buckled.
Keys snaked his other arm around her waist, and picked her up.
“Oh!” Her legs automatically looped around his lean waist as her free arm linked about his neck. “Are you okay? Can you hold me?”
A blush crossed over Keys’ cheeks as he admitted, “The sensors in the floor registered your weight. I’ve been lifting that weight in the gym and practicing holding you like this. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Smiling, because how could she not at that answer, Rose shook her head.
“Good.” He carried her back into the computer lab, which surprised her, because she assumed his destination would be her bedroom. Which was really their bedroom by this point.
He set her down on the edge of the snack table.
Something cascaded behind her. Based on the sound, it was likely the popcorn bowl.
Though, she did absently think it could be the fondue fountain based on the slightly more dramatic secondary crash.
But both of them ignored it as Keys stared down at her with an expression that spoke louder than words ever could.
Rose lifted a hand to scratch her nails through the scruff of his beard. “Have I unthanked you yet today?”
“Twice,” he responded, leaning into her touch. “But I’ll never turn down another unthanking.”
Rose grinned up at him, loving their inside joke.
Loving even more that she had someone to have an inside joke with.
She’d been alone for so long, and at times, what she had developed with Keys felt unreal.
How could she possibly deserve a man as good, as sweet, as kind, as nerdy, as perfect for her as him?
Saying “unthank you” didn’t seem significant enough for tonight. Not after what they’d just gone through and what tomorrow might bring. Her heart thundering like a drum line in her chest, Rose said the words she’d never spoken except to her son.
“I love you.”
Rose wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Maybe for those words to trigger the start of the zombie apocalypse or for pigs to suddenly learn to fly. At the very least, fireworks or some sort of grandiose announcement that signified the magnitude of this moment.
Instead, Keys tucked a lock of hair that had fallen into her line of sight behind her ear and smiled down at her. “I love you, too,” he repeated softly. “And as much as I love hearing those words from you, I hope you didn’t feel pressured to say them.”
She shook her head slowly. “They’re real, and you have no idea what it means to me that you didn’t push me to say them—even after I’ve said them.”
“You say that like it took some herculean effort on my part.” He leaned in, pressing his lips gently against hers. “You needed something from me, and it was something I could give to you without causing you harm.”
“Wow, talk about swoon-worthy,” she said, smiling.
Keys pulled his hand out from behind her back, turning his phone screen around to face her. “Oh, good. This Romance for Dummies book actually knows what it’s talking about then.”
Rose threw her head back in laughter, her sides shaking so hard that they hurt.
She had no idea if Keys actually had an e-book pulled up on his phone, because she hadn’t had a chance to look at the screen long enough before hysterics took over, but she wouldn’t have cared if he had. Because it was so Keys.
Barely able to contain herself, Rose reached her arms up to link around his neck so she didn’t risk falling off the table or spilling something messier than popcorn.
Keys smiled widely at her, a joyous glint in his eyes.
“I want to make love to you, Rose. But before we do…” His voice trailed off as even his ears went pink, which she found enormously endearing.
“I should mention that I may have, at some point, done some research. And acquired some…things. In anticipation of…” He gestured between them.
“Which could be seen as presumptuous of me, but I felt it was my responsibility, but either way, the point is we’re covered.
Responsibly. If you wanted to… That is, if this is what you want.
” He pushed his glasses up his nose, and cleared his throat. “I’m going to stop talking now.”
Rose stared at him, eyebrows raised. “You researched what? Sex? Protection…?”
“Both,” he answered, slightly breathless. “Extensively. Like, I’m pretty sure I’m the only person in existence to hack into a condom company’s servers to ensure that the ingredients they claim are in their product are actually in their product.”
Rose bit her lips, and had to breathe out of her nose for several seconds before she regained her composure. “And, uh, are they?”
“Of the eight major companies I looked into, five of them did and two of them did not. The eighth I did not purchase because I did not like the levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in them, but they were honest about that. It just wasn’t my brand of choice.”
Rose continued to nod, her teeth digging painfully into her lips.
“And I measured myself, too,” Keys continued on, either oblivious to her reaction or was able to ignore it.
“One of the top reported failures in condom usage is inaccurate sizing and improper application. I didn’t feel right practicing on a banana like they do in the movies.
I mean, what do I do with the banana afterwards?
Eating it felt…weird. But then I realized, I don’t need a banana. I can literally practice on myself—”
Rose put a hand up, covering Keys’ mouth. Her ribs and chest were hurting from trying to contain her laughter. “Keys, baby. Where are the condoms?”
He spoke against her hand. “I didn’t know where we would be when the moment hit us, so I stashed kits all around the building.” Gesturing behind himself at the small storage cabinet by his workstation, he added, “Second shelf from the top. I labeled it.”
Rose smiled at the sheer Keys-ness of this entire moment.
A labeled sex kit. This man, who had annotated parenting books with highlighters and sticky notes and had built a neuromuscular interrogation system and named it the Grand Theft Autonomy Jamboree had of course created and labeled sex kits, which he then proceeded to stash around the building.
A part of her wondered if any of the Riley brothers had discovered one, but then also realized she did not want to know the answer to that question.
She loved him so much in that moment it was almost inconceivable.
“Keys,” she said, lowering her hand so he could speak unhindered again.
He gave her a sheepish look, “Yeah?”
Rose reached up and straightened his glasses. “Thank you for being so responsible.”
The pink in his cheeks deepened. “You’re laughing at me.”
As seriously as she could, she said, “I’m really not.” She took his face in her hands. “I am in awe of you.”
“Yeah?” Though repeated, this time there was a spark of hope, even a bit of humor, in the word.