Chapter 15 Needs A Chance
NEEDS A CHANCE
“Ihave to admit I didn’t think you’d come,” Kenzie said the following Saturday.
He almost didn’t.
Work had been crazy, he was running around trying to get done as much as he could, which was hard when he was dealing with people in different time zones.
But Nelson wasn’t about to give up any time with his wife. The person he wanted to keep in that position.
To do that, she had to know he was going to stick.
And after their kisses last week, he knew she was feeling the same about him as he was her.
One look. One touch. That was all it took for him to finally see, really see, what his siblings had been saying and feeling for years.
When it was right, you clung to it with everything in you, holding so tight that even the fiercest hurricane couldn’t rip you free.
That was exactly what he was going to do. Even if it scared her, because he was terrified and didn’t want to feel alone in those thoughts.
“I said I would,” he said, reaching for her again. She came to him willingly.
The minute he opened the door to his hotel room, she was there to hug him tight, kiss his lips, and linger on as if she couldn’t believe he’d kept his word.
She’d let go of his body, then moved into the room and sat on the bed.
The urge to tackle her and pick up where they left off last weekend burned hot in his chest, his dick twitching, his control slipping.
He held her now in his arms, standing by the bed, her head against his chest almost swaying to a song in her head.
“Did you have plans for today? I’m really sorry that I can’t spend more time with you.”
“I know,” he said. “The last of your exams is this week. I feel guilty pulling you away now.”
He’d left JFK early this morning, then with the time change landed before lunch.
He was taking off at ten tomorrow. Not even twenty-four hours with her.
But this weekend he’d take what he could get and they had to have some conversations because after graduation next weekend, she might start talks on ending their relationship.
He discovered that if he wanted this to continue, he was going to have to make that step.
Kenzie had her pride and it was coming through in tiny doses of conversation.
That she didn’t like to be judged and had been growing up.
She struggled to fit in.
There was a part of her that feared him and his life, his lifestyle.
Nelson had to ease her into it and the only way he could was to show her parts of him and his past that weren’t much different from hers.
“One day won’t hurt. These last two exams are actually my best courses. I’ve got a good grasp on them, so I feel fairly confident.”
“That’s good. Do you feel confident with us?”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means, I want to know where you think this could go. I mean, we are already married.”
She laughed. “Nelson, we live on different sides of the US.”
“So? Are you really anchored here? Sometimes I get the impression that you want to escape. That though you love your parents, they don’t understand you.”
She sighed and sat on the edge of the bed again, patting a spot next to her.
“They don’t. They think this thing with us needs a chance.”
Damn. This might work more in his favor.
Unless Kenzie wanted to rebel and do the exact opposite of what her parents expected.
“It’s going to be hard to do with you here and me there,” he said. “I can’t really leave. Not yet. I can do some remote work, but it’s not a long-term thing.”
He’d run it all through his head for the past week.
Though he was on the road a lot and sometimes for a few weeks at a time, it wasn’t as much as it used to be.
Could he try to find something around here to do or work at? In the future, sure, but it’d take time.
Time was something they were short on.
But Kenzie, she could move. She could take the bar in New York, or New Jersey.
She wouldn’t have to work until then and could study.
They were married, he could easily support her... if her back didn’t get bent out of place over it.
She sighed. “I know. I don’t want us to have pressure put on us. We’ve not spent a lot of time together. We don’t know how things are going to be.”
“I know what I feel,” he said. “I can see how you do. It’s just whether or not you’ll admit it.”
Her head went side to side. “I can admit it, just like I can be honest and tell you it terrifies me to pick up and go somewhere I’ve never been before.
If I take the bar there and get a job and we don’t work out, I’m alone.
Alone in a place that costs a lot more to live than where I am.
Coming back would be hard and I’d have to take the bar again to find a job. There is just a lot to consider.”
“How about considering that maybe this can work? Did I tell you my mother only knew my father six weeks before they got married? She was pregnant too but didn’t tell us that until later.”
Kenzie laughed and put her head on his shoulder. “No, you didn’t.”
“And Talia, she and Jace were together six weeks before she found out she was a few weeks pregnant. She’s having the baby in a week. They are happily married.”
“But they still spent more time together than us.”
“True, but theirs wasn’t as intense as ours. What we are going through is binding us.”
“Of course it is,” she said, shoving his arm. “We are legally married.”
He liked when she let go a little and was playing with him.
He turned and laid her on the bed, pinning her in place, his lips smacking hers.
“Take a chance and come back with me after graduation. I know you’re going to get pissed when I say this, but bite your tongue and listen.
You know damn well I can take care of both of us while you study for the bar.
Once you pass it, then decide your next step.
It will give you time to get used to the area and me.
It’s two months before you take the bar in July here. You can fly back to take it still.”
“I missed the application for New York,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to take it until February now.”
“I know. That’s why you can come with me, study, and we’ll fly you back here to take it. Then you’re not behind if things don’t work out, but can still plan on taking it in February in New York or New Jersey. Your choice.”
He didn’t want to consider a possibility she’d come back and stay here, but he laid it out as best as he could to give her options.
“I’ll know within a month in Utah if I passed or not. New York or New Jersey takes longer,” she said.
He grinned. She’d been researching too.
He didn’t know if it was because she wanted to or her parents were putting so much pressure on her to look into it.
“True,” he said. “Think about it while I’m here. I’ll do whatever I can to convince you. You’re losing nothing, but gaining two months’ time with me. Come on, you’d be crazy not to take it.”
“It can’t be much crazier than marrying a complete stranger and not remembering a thing about it.”
“There you go,” he said.
He kissed her again, content that he had just bought himself more time.