Chapter 38
KENSEY
Isat cross-legged on my childhood bed, staring at my phone like it might bite me. The principal’s number was already pulled up. All I had to do was hit call. My thumb hovered over the screen. I had the official email already written but I wanted to call her personally. She deserved that much.
This was it. The moment that would make everything real. Once I made this call, there was no going back. I’d be officially unemployed, officially committed to staying in LA, officially all-in on this new life with Drew.
My stomach twisted. I loved my job. I loved those kids. Walking away from them felt like I was abandoning something important. But staying would mean abandoning Drew, and that felt impossible now. I had to choose my path. My future. My happiness.
I took a deep breath and hit call before I could talk myself out of it.
The phone rang twice before Principal Walker answered. “Kensey! How’s your summer going?”
“Hi, Mrs. Walker.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “It’s been good. Really good, actually. That’s kind of why I’m calling.”
There was a pause. “That doesn’t sound like a ‘really good’ tone.”
I closed my eyes. “I need to give you my resignation. I’m not coming back in the fall.”
The silence on the other end stretched so long I thought the call had dropped. Then she sighed. I could hear the genuine disappointment in it.
“I was afraid of this,” she said quietly. “When you asked for the whole summer off instead of just a few weeks, I wondered if you were thinking about leaving us.”
“I didn’t plan it,” I said, tears already burning at the back of my eyes. “It just happened. My life took a different direction this summer and I need to stay in California.”
“Is it a good different direction?”
I thought about Drew. “Yeah. It really is.”
“Then I’m happy for you, even though I’m sad for us.” She paused. “You’ve been such an asset to this school, Kensey. The kids adore you. Your test scores are consistently among the highest in the district. You have a gift for reaching the ones everyone else has written off.”
The tears spilled over. I wiped at them with the back of my hand. “That means so much to me. This job changed my life. I’m not walking away because I don’t care. I have to do this for my future.”
“I understand. Love makes us do crazy things.” Her voice was warm, knowing. “Then go be happy. But if it doesn’t work out, or if you ever want to come back, you call me. I’ll find a place for you.”
“Thank you.” I could barely get the words out past the lump in my throat. “For everything. For being an amazing boss and for understanding.”
“Take care of yourself, Kensey. And good luck with your new adventure.”
We said our goodbyes and I ended the call. Then I sat there on my bed, phone clutched in both hands and let myself cry. Not because I regretted the decision.
After a few minutes, I wiped my face and pulled up my texts with Drew.
Me: It’s done. I called the school.
Drew: How are you feeling?
Me: Sad. But good. It was the right thing to do.
Drew: Come over. Please. I need to see you.
Me: Give me an hour.
I splashed cold water on my face in the bathroom, trying to reduce the puffiness around my eyes. Then I packed my bag for a couple of days. We were both unemployed and I had a feeling we’d be spending those days together.
I grabbed my keys and headed downstairs. Mom was in the living room, reading a book. She looked up when I appeared.
“You okay, honey?”
“I called the school. Resigned.”
She set her book down and stood, crossing to pull me into a hug. “That must have been hard.”
“It was.” I leaned into her. “But it’s done now.”
“Are you going to Drew’s?”
“Yeah. He asked me to come over.”
She pulled back and cupped my face, studying me with that mom intensity that saw everything. “You’re doing the right thing. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but you are.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
The drive to Drew’s house was a blur. I pulled into Drew’s driveway and killed the engine.
Before I could even unbuckle, the front door opened and he appeared, walking toward my car in swim trunks and nothing else.
I climbed out and he immediately pulled me into his arms. I buried my face against his bare chest and breathed him in.
Home.
“You okay?” he murmured against my hair.
“I will be.”
He pulled back enough to look at my face. His thumb brushed under my eyes, tracing the evidence of my tears. “Let’s go swimming. The water will help.”
“I didn’t bring a suit.”
“So?” He grinned. “We’ve got a private pool and a tall fence.”
I laughed despite myself. “You want me to skinny dip in broad daylight?”
“I want you to relax. Come on.”
He took my hand and led me through the house to the back patio. The pool sparkled in the afternoon sun, perfectly blue and inviting. I hesitated for just a moment before pulling off my shirt. If I was doing this, I was committing.
Drew watched as I stripped down to nothing, his eyes darkening with appreciation. Then he stepped out of his swim trunks and dove into the pool in one smooth motion. He surfaced in the middle, water streaming down his face.
“Come on in. The water’s perfect.”
I walked to the edge and dove in. The cool water enveloped me, washing away the tension I’d been carrying all day. When I surfaced, Drew was right there, pulling me against him.
We floated together in the deep end, his arms around my waist, my legs wrapped loosely around his hips. The water made us buoyant, weightless. I let my head fall back, staring up at the clear blue sky.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“For understanding.” I brought my head back up to look at him. “For making it easier to walk away from something I loved.”
“You’ll find another job you love. One that’s even better.”
“I know. It’s just scary, you know? Starting over. Not knowing what comes next.”
“I know.” His hands moved up and down my back in soothing strokes. “But we’re doing it together. That’s got to count for something.”
“It counts for everything.”
We drifted like that for a while, not talking, just being together. It was perfect. Peaceful. Exactly what I needed.
Drew pulled me closer, his forehead resting against mine. “I’m proud of you,” he said quietly. “For making that call. I know it wasn’t easy.”
“Drew?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
He went completely still like someone had hit pause on him.
His hands stopped moving on my back. His breathing stopped.
Everything stopped. Panic clawed at my throat.
I’d said it too soon. We’d only been officially together for a couple of weeks.
Yes, we’d known each other forever, but this thing between us was new and fragile.
I’d just dropped the L-word on a man that had never been in a full committed relationship.
“I love you too.”
I looked up and saw his eyes shining with something that looked suspiciously like tears.
“I’ve loved you for as long as I’ve known what love is,” he continued.
My heart melted at his words. I pressed closer to him in the water, my arms looping around his neck as I kissed him soft and sweet, pouring every ounce of feeling I had into it.
“I love you,” I whispered against his lips. “So much.”
He kissed me back harder, his hands sliding down my back to cup my ass and pull me flush against him.
I felt him hard against my thigh. Heat flooded through me despite the cool water.
We kissed like we had all the time in the world, tongues tangling, breaths mingling, until the need became too much to ignore.
“Inside,” he murmured, already walking us toward the shallow end. “I need you now.”
We climbed out dripping, not bothering with towels.
He led me to the wide lounge chair by the pool, laying me down on the cushions before stretching out over me.
His mouth found mine again, urgent now, while his hands roamed my wet skin.
He kissed down my throat, my collarbone, taking one nipple into his mouth and sucking until I arched beneath him with a moan.
“Drew,” I breathed.
He lifted his head, eyes dark with want. “I love you so fucking much.”
I reached up and cupped his face in my hands, pulling him back to my mouth.
He kissed me deep and slow. I rocked into him deliberately, swallowing the low groan it pulled from his chest. His mouth traveled back down my throat and ultimately took my nipple between his teeth, just enough pressure to make me gasp, then soothed it with his tongue before moving to the other side.
“Drew.” His name came out breathless, barely a sound.
He kissed down my stomach, hands spreading my thighs.
I felt his breath there before I felt his mouth, and when he finally put his lips on me I grabbed a fistful of his hair and held on.
He was unhurried about it, thorough, like he had nothing else in the world he’d rather be doing.
He worked me slowly up to the edge and kept me there, his tongue moving in long strokes, until my thighs were shaking against his shoulders. I pulled at his hair with both hands.
“Please,” I managed. “I need you. Now. Please.”
He kissed his way back up my body, settling his weight between my thighs. I felt him there, forehead dropping to mine, both of us breathing hard.
“Wait,” I said.
He stilled immediately, pulling back enough to look at me. His hair was still damp from the pool, curling slightly at his temples. His eyes searched mine.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” I smoothed my hand along his jaw. “I was thinking, I don’t want to use a condom. I’m on the pill, I’m clean, and I want to feel you. Just you. Nothing between us. We’re together, right?”
He groaned. “Fuck, really?”
“You don’t?”
“Oh, I do. I didn’t want to pressure you. I haven’t been with anyone in months.”
“Good.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
He exhaled slowly and pressed his lips to my forehead, my cheek, and the corner of my mouth. “Thank god,” he breathed against my lips. “Fair warning, it’s going to be good. Really good.”
He reached between us and then pushed inside me slowly, inch by inch, his eyes locked on mine the whole time. My breath left me in a rush. The stretch of him, the warmth, the closeness of it without any barrier between us. I felt everything.
He began to move, long slow rolls of his hips.
I reached down and grabbed his ass, pulling him in deeper.
He groaned into my neck and picked up his pace.
I dug my fingers into his back, feeling every muscle shift and flex beneath my palms as he moved.
The lounge chair creaked softly beneath us.
The afternoon sun was warm on my skin. I could smell chlorine.
He braced one hand beside my head and slid the other beneath my lower back, tilting my hips up, changing the angle. I cried out.
“There,” I breathed. “Right there, don’t stop.”
“I’ve got you.” He kept the same angle, steady and deep, watching my face and reading my reactions. He was the only person in this world who knew me and what every gasp and moan meant. “I’ve got you, Kens.”
I came apart with my face pressed into his shoulder, his name broken into pieces on my lips. He followed me over the edge with a low groan that rumbled through his whole chest, his hips stuttering, his grip on me tightening like he was afraid I’d float away.
He collapsed on top of me before scooting his upper half to the side.
“I’m going to invest in steel furniture,” he said.
“What?”
“I foresee lots of outdoor sex. I don’t want things to fall apart.”
I laughed and got a glimpse of our future together. It was a whole new chapter. A whole new life.