17. Linc
Walking into my house and seeing Kennedy barefoot in the kitchen with her back to me sends a jolt of electricity straight to my dick.
Her long auburn hair hangs loose down her back, and I can see the tattoo on her wrist when she reaches for another dish by the sink to wash.
Mine.
Thinking of her as mine isn’t anything new. She’s always been mine, and I’ve always been hers.
“I brought you a present.”
She doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that I’ve come home, let alone that I say anything to her. So, I do what anyone with a brain would do in my situation. I pull out my phone, lean against the counter out of her eyesight, and start to videotape the entire thing. After all, she has something against me, so it is only fair that I have something against her. Plus, if I’m lucky, I may be able to scare her enough to make her pee herself.
“Kennedy.” I say her name on the video, so I’ll have proof that I tried to get her attention when shit goes south. “Kennedy, can you hear me?”
I shouldn’t be surprised when she starts dancing. She has to have her earbuds in if she can’t hear me from five feet away. But the sight of her like this, at home enough to enjoy herself while doing something as mundane as cleaning, hits all the right buttons.
She doesn’t even have to clean my house or cook or anything like that. But Kennedy, the woman I love, is barefoot, in a pair of pajama pants and one of my shirts. She is comfortable in my space, in the only place in my life that is free from chaos.
Her shimmying hips distract me, and I almost miss the turn. But not the shriek and the sponge that hits me in the chest.
“What the fuck, Linc?” She clutches her heaving chest and sinks to her knees. “You almost gave me a heart attack.” She pulls the white earbuds out of her ears, leaving them on the floor while she tries to catch her breath. The whole time, she glares at me like I’ve just murdered her best friend in front of her.
I hold out the phone and waggle it slightly, just to get her attention.
The outraged gasp is more than enough.
“I’m going to murder you in your sleep,” she fumes while scrambling to get up off the ground. “I almost peed myself, you jerk. Why would you do that?”
“Because I could.” I end the video and set my phone on the counter. “I gotta tell you, Kennedy. Seeing you here, barefoot and just… happy. It does something to me.”
When she steps into my arms, wrapping herself around my body, I almost forget my surprise.
“Before anything else, I have a present for you.”
She leans back, surprise in her eyes at the thought that I may have gotten her something. “What is it?”
“One sec.” I move back and wave a hand at her. “Close your eyes.”
I do not expect her to close her eyes. No. I expect her to glare at me and cross her arms and demand that I stop playing games. But she doesn’t. She closes her beautiful eyes and holds out her hands so that I can give her the surprise. And right there, I know that I’m going to do whatever it takes to fix myself. To get a handle on the post-traumatic stress that is hanging over my head like a hurricane ready to burst.
When she feels the cold metal of her machete touch her hand, combined with the grip that looks like it’d been handmade for her, Kennedy’s face lights up, even if she doesn’t open her eyes.
Laughing, I press a kiss to her forehead, careful not to press the massive knife into her body.
She opens her eyes and hits me with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen in my entire life. “You found it?”
“Yeah, I did.” I do not tell her where I found it, though, because that isn’t a conversation that I want to have. Ever.
“I figured my dad would have thrown it in the dump instead of telling you where he hid it.” Kennedy cradles the precious thing against her chest and practically dances around the room with it in her clutches. “I’m so happy he gave it to you. What did you have to tell him to get it?”
Dumbstruck, I just let her talk. “You know.” I finally manage to put two thoughts together. “Every single time I think I have a handle on you and what’s going on in your head, you throw me completely for a loop and knock me on my ass without even trying.” She pauses her dance, sets the machete down on my coffee table, and sits on the edge of the couch.
“What’s wrong?” Her smile fades, and I join her on the couch, pulling her into my arms so that I can feel the steady rhythm of her heart against my body.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. I just wasn’t going to tell you about your dad hiding it because I didn’t want you to be mad at him. You do that a lot, cut through the bullshit to get right to the point. It’s the most refreshing thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I didn’t know how much I missed until I got to have you in my arms again.”
Tilting her head back, I kiss her with everything I have. I hold her chin between my thumb and forefinger while I press my lips against hers and wait for her to open them. When she does, my tongue meets hers in a fiery blaze, hunger devouring every inch of my body.
When her arms wrap around my neck, we shift, and Kennedy somehow ends up straddling me on the couch with my back pressed into the cushions. She takes command of the kiss, gyrating in time to the matching thrusts of our tongues.
The friction of my pants rubbing against my dick is almost too much to handle, and her body pressing down only makes it worse. I can feel her heat, the desire and need for our bodies to be one, and the intensity of our situation grows with every second that passes.
Kennedy pulls back, gasping for air. Her eyes are wild, full of fire dancing on air. “I’ve waited for so long, Linc. Let’s go.” She scrambles off my lap and pulls me by the hand until I follow her.
“I mean, we could have done it right there on the couch,” I point out as she leads me up the stairs. “Or right here. I’ll do it anywhere you want, Kennedy. Just as long as I’ve got you.”
“Shut up, Linc.” She smiles over her shoulder, and if I hadn’t been wearing pants, I might have blown right there.
As it is, I barely make it into the bedroom without turning into a fuckin’ caveman and throwing her over my shoulder. But I know her better than she knows herself. Kennedy needs to be in control. At least at first. So I let her. I let her guide me into the room and push me back on the bed. I sit there while she strips faster than I could have ripped the clothes from her body, standing in the soft white glow offered by the overhead light, without a single self-conscious bone in her body.
Kennedy is full-figured, with curves everywhere a woman should. Everything on her body is built exactly for my pleasure, and I can’t wait to show her every detail of what she means to me.
“You’re beautiful,” I tell her honestly. “It’s like every single fantasy I’ve ever had, brought to life but a hundredfold.”
“My boobs are too big and I have a belly,” she says waspishly. “You don’t have to say that I’m perfect. I know I’m attractive, but don’t lay it on too thick. You’re already getting some.”
“No,” I bite out carefully.
Her eyes turn to saucers and she steps back hesitantly. That is my cue to move. I pull my shirt off by the hem and step out my pants as I go, making sure that she sees what she does to me.
“No?” Her voice is almost nonexistent while she stares at my dick.
“No,” I tell her again. “I didn’t say you’re perfect. You’re beyond fuckin’ perfect, Kennedy. You’re beautiful the way the world hasn’t seen in millennia. I’m not just getting some. I’m getting everything. You’re everything.”
Then I take her into my arms, lifting her against my body until she wraps her legs around my waist. And I press her against the wall of the bedroom, listening to the way her heart dances in her chest, matching mine.
“I’ll take you against a wall next time. Tonight is for us. For remembering what we’re like together, for creating a new memory.” I kiss her again, clutching her ass as I move us away from the wall and back to the bed.
I have to break the kiss when it comes to setting her down because I don’t want to drop her. Instead, I let her body slide down, dragging along my cock until she is sitting on the bed. Once I’m sure she is there, safe, I follow her down and kiss every inch of her body. Starting at her neck and working my way down to her thighs, I trace every groove with my tongue and savor every moan that escapes her lips.
“Linc,” she whimpers when I caress her skin, blowing warm air where my lips had just been. “Linc, I need more.”
“More?” I ask against her stomach a few moments later.
She takes a deep breath and waits until I look up at her through hooded eyes before she says anything. “Everything.” She holds out her hands, silently ordering me to get on with it.
“Are you sure?” The question is so much more than a simple confirmation. We both know, once we take this step, there’ll be no going back. Tragedy tore us apart once. Never again.
She cups my cheeks, forcing my eyes to meet hers, and I don’t realize until just this moment how important it is for me to know that she has no doubts.
“Yes.”
One word. One simple little word that means everything and more to me.
She tilts her head back, arching her spine and pressing her body against mine until there isn’t anything left for me to do except push into her body. She’s wet and ready and more than willing to take everything I have to give her body. The one I’ve been craving more than life itself. When I don’t move fast enough for Kennedy, she wraps her legs around my waist.
“Holy fuck,” I gasp as she does something with her hips and suddenly I’m completely seated inside her hot core. “Don’t move.”
She groans and writhes, but I can’t breathe, let alone start to move. Sharp buzzing fills the air all around us, and my heart begins to pound in my chest, urging me to move. To brand her. To take her. To make her scream in pleasure.
“Move, Linc.”
I start moving, putting every single emotion and desire I’ve had over the last six years into our connection. Needing more, I grab Kennedy’s hands and raise them above her head, loving the way her chest moves and adjusts with her while she tries to keep up. But she wants more, so I give it to her. I give her everything. Every thrust, every grunt, every agonizing pull away from her body only to return with even more force.
The sound of our bodies colliding fills the air around us, mixing with Kennedy’s moans and my fractured breathing.
“Close,” she gasps breathlessly, shifting under my body and grinding her teeth together in a poor attempt to keep from hitting her climax.
“Good.” I let go of her hands and lean back so that I can touch her, applying pressure to her clit so she’ll have no choice but to let go.
And when Kennedy’s body tightens around mine as she finally reaches that peak, I almost fall right over the cliff with her. It isn’t until the last minute that sense comes crashing into me and I pull out. Staring at her lust-filled eyes as she screams a mix of my name and her pleasure, I come on her stomach.
For a few hard seconds, I stare at what I’ve done and try to rein in the monster inside. The one telling me to rub my fingers in the mess. Then I watch silently as Kennedy trails a hand down her body and does exactly what I’ve been fantasizing about a moment before.
“Fuck it,” I growl.
With a feral smile on my face, I pick Kennedy up to do it all over again.
This time in the shower.