Risking It All (30 page)

Kennedy scoffed.

“Sounds like the dog ate my homework excuse.”

“I was at the springs and was going to send you a picture of it when I dropped the damn phone in the water.” He shrugged. “You can believe it or not, but it’s the truth. If I was going to lie, you know me well enough to know I’d come up with something a lot more clever.” He rested one hand on the wall behind her and leaned toward her. “Now you tell me what you’re doing here with him.”

Kennedy nervously swallowed.

“Having dinner.”

“You have to do better than that, Kennedy. Did you break up with him?”

“No,” she answered meekly.

“Does he know about us?”

“No!”

“Are you going to break up with him?”

“I was. I am,” she corrected quickly and glared at him. “It’s not an easy situation to be in, Memphis. I came home intending to end things, but then he showed up and practically begged me to let him try again. What was I supposed to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

She looked away and remained silent.

“So let me get this straight. You can continue to fuck your boyfriend, but I’m supposed to stay home and wait for you to make up your mind?” Memphis asked sharply.

Kennedy snapped her head back to look at him.

“Fuck you, Memphis!” She poked his chest. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I haven’t let him put a hand on me.” She ducked away from him and only turned back once she reached the door. “If that’s what you think, then you can do whatever the hell you want. What the fuck do I care?”

She wasn’t quick enough to unlock the door and leave before Memphis grabbed her and spun her around, pressing her against the door. He grabbed her wrists and held them to her sides while she struggled against him.

“Let me go!”

“You know you care, Kennedy,” he said harshly, holding her tighter. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have made such a scene out there. You would have come over and introduced yourself like you usually do, not freak out and run to hide in the bathroom.”

Kennedy stopped struggling and scowled at him.

“I wasn’t hiding.”

“I bet your blood was boiling,” he continued as he gripped her wrists and moved his mouth close to her ear. “Your heart was pounding from it, and I bet you felt anger and betrayal like never before. Jealousy,” he whispered, making her shiver.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she gasped, hating that her voice gave away how much he was turning her on by sounding breathless.

“I know exactly what I’m talking about.”

He slid his mouth down her jaw, his lips never touching her skin, and stopped at her mouth. She could smell the wine he had been drinking as he breathed against her mouth, the cool air making her lips tingle.

She was surprised when Memphis let her hands go, and she rubbed her wrists, still staring at his mouth. Her fingers itched to reach up, grab his hair, and pull his mouth to hers. She dug her short nails into her palms to keep from doing it as Memphis trailed his fingers along the hem of her skirt, brushing her knees as he did.

“Do you want to know how I know, Kennedy?” he asked.

“No,” she lied.

“I think you do.” He brought his mouth as close as he could without touching her and said, “I know because that’s exactly how I was feeling.”

Kennedy flung her arms around his neck at the same time he crushed his mouth to hers. Memphis slipped his hands under her skirt and grabbed her ass, squeezing hard until she cried out against his mouth. He ran his finger along the crotch of her panties, feeling them almost instantly dampen at his touch.

Kennedy wiggled against him as he slid a finger passed her silky barrier and dragged it through her wet sex.

Memphis broke the kiss and stared down at her, his blue eyes darkening. 

“Did you get this wet for
him
, Kennedy, when he showed up at your door?”

She shook her head, afraid she wouldn’t be able to speak if she tried. Memphis pulled his hand away from her, and she almost wept from the loss of his touch. He tugged her away from the door and spun her to the right so she was standing in front of the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

Memphis leaned into her back, pressing his front into her ass so she felt how hard he was for her. He locked eyes with her as he slid his hands back under her skirt and cupped her through her panties.

“Do you know why you didn’t?” he asked.

“Memphis, please,” she whimpered, rocking her ass against his cock.

“Tell me why you didn’t,” he demanded.

“Memphis . . .” She closed her eyes and shook her head, wishing he’d shut up and not make her think.

“Tell me.”

“Please.”

“Tell me!”

“Because he’s not you!” She opened her eyes again and looked at him. “It’s only you,” she whispered.

Memphis’s grip on her hip became almost painful as he watched her in the mirror. She stared back at him, afraid of his reaction to her confession and what he would think.

“Memphis . . .”

It was all he needed to snap him out of whatever thoughts had taken hold of him. He flipped her skirt up and roughly dragged her panties down. Kennedy watched as he fumbled with his pants, the jingling of his belt echoing in the small bathroom.

He pressed on her back until she was leaning over the sink and had to grip the white porcelain for leverage. He ran his hand down her spine and over her ass before grabbing her hips again and positioning himself behind her.

Memphis locked eyes with her and savagely thrust deep inside her, pushing her into the sink as she bit her lip to keep from screaming. Her walls clenched around him, milking his cock as he slammed his hips against her over and over again. Kennedy couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight of them, the sound of skin slapping skin filling the room as he both took and gave what they both needed.

He pulled almost all the way out of her so just the head of his cock was wrapped in the wet warmth of her lips.

“Mine,” he growled as he thrust back in.

“Yes,” she groaned, pushing against him as he plunged into her, making him sink even deeper inside her.

“Tell me.”

“Yours,” she breathed, encouraging him with that one word to fuck her even harder. “I’m yours.”

Those two words seemed to be enough to drive him over the edge, and he slammed into her body hard, lifting her feet off the floor for a split second. She cried out, whether from pain or pleasure she wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from finding the release he so desperately needed.

Kennedy shuddered and moaned beneath him as he leaned over her and locked his mouth on the back of her neck to keep from bellowing his release. His hips slowed until he was no longer moving, just nestled against the cushion of her bottom, while their breathing slowly returned to normal.

Kennedy straightened when Memphis pulled away from her and was grateful when he turned his back so she could clean up without being watched. She pulled her panties back in place and tugged her skirt back down. She looked in the mirror and saw how flushed she was, something that would definitely not go unnoticed when they had to leave the bathroom.

She gathered her hair and held it away from her neck as she bent over the sink and splashed water on her face for the second time that night.

“Um, you might want to keep your hair down for a while,” Memphis said.

Kennedy looked at his reflection and gave him a confused look.

“Why?”

He sighed and turned her body so she could see the back of her neck in the mirror, and her heart stopped.

“Memphis!” She spun around and slapped his chest. “You fucking marked me!”

He grimaced and rubbed the spot she had just attacked.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“What if Brooks sees this? What am I supposed to say?”

Memphis shrugged.

“Tell him I bit you.”

Kennedy glared at him and pushed past him to the door.

“That’s very helpful, Memphis. Thank you. I need to get back.”

“Kennedy?”

“What?” she sighed, turning to face him again.

“Did you mean it?” he asked, not needing to explain what he meant.

Standing there with his hands in his pockets, looking so unsure of himself and what just happened, shocked her. This was what Memphis looked like when he was vulnerable. In all the years she had known him, she had never seen that side of him. He was always so confident, so sure of where he was going and who he was. This . . . this was new. And her heart broke a little that she was the one who had the power to turn him into that.

“Yes.”

“Then you know what you have to do.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“It is,” Memphis argued. “You know it is.”

“And what about you?” she asked. “You want me to open up and bare my soul and everything I’m feeling to you. When do you do it for me?”

Memphis stayed silent.

Kennedy pressed her lips together and opened the door without first looking to see if anyone was around. Pretty stupid since Brooks could have been standing there waiting for her, but all she could think about was getting away.

Memphis wanted everything from her but wasn’t willing to give anything in return. How could she trust what he felt was real and not just a sudden urge of jealousy if he wasn’t willing to tell her?

“Kennedy!”

She turned and saw Brooks hurrying toward her from the entrance of the restaurant.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said. “I sent the hostess in to check on you, and when she said you weren’t in the bathroom, I panicked. I’ve been outside looking for you.”

“I’m sorry. I was just heading back to the table now.”

“Where were you?”

“In the bathroom.”

Brooks narrowed his eyes at her.

“No. I told you the hostess was in there and you weren’t.”

Shit.

“No. I mean I was in there, and then I needed some air, so I went out for a bit. I was just coming back from the bathroom now to find you.”

“I was outside, Kennedy. I didn’t see you.”

“I guess we missed each other,” she said, angry. Angry at Memphis for hiding how he felt. Angry at herself for putting them in this position and not knowing what the fuck to do about it. Angry at Brooks for looking so damned concerned about her when all she wanted was for him to shut up and leave her alone. “Look, I’m sorry, but I need to go home. I’m not feeling very well.”

“Do you need me to take you to the hospital?” he asked, automatically going into doctor mode.

“No. I just need to go home. Please.”

Brooks gazed at her for so long Kennedy started to sweat. She was sure he could see through her feeble answers and knew what she had been up to, and she was terrified Memphis would step out of the bathroom at any moment—before she had a chance to get out of there. Finally, he nodded.

“Okay. I’ll take you home.”

Kennedy tried not to bolt from the restaurant and draw even more attention to herself. She walked beside Brooks at his pace, making sure to keep a good foot between them. The drive back to her apartment was quiet, the truck filled with uncomfortable silence.

She figured he had to know something was up. He couldn’t be that clueless about the whole thing, could he? Maybe he was waiting to confront her at her place; to ask her what was going on and where she had really disappeared to.

But when they pulled into her parking lot, the only thing Brooks asked was if she wanted him to stay the night in case she got sick.

“No, thank you.” She forced a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. I have an early shift tomorrow so I’ll be at work if you need me.”

“Of course.” She opened her door and scrambled out quickly, waving to him from the safety of her entrance, thankful he hadn’t insisted on following her upstairs.

She wanted nothing more than to sink into a warm bath and forget about the two men who had taken over her life.

She knew what Memphis wanted her to do, and she knew what Brooks wanted her to do. The only question was, what did she really want do?

She filled the tub with water and poured a good amount of bubble bath in as well before stripping off her clothes and sinking into its warmth. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind of everything and enjoy the quiet.

That lasted for a minute before she heard her cell ring. When it stopped playing its musical tone, her house phone was next to break the silence.

“Go away,” she said to whoever was calling.

Her machine clicked on and suddenly Memphis’s voice filled her apartment.

“Hey . . . I guess you’re either screening or not at home.” He paused and she waited with bated breath to see if that would be all he said. “Look, Kennedy, this isn’t something I wanted to say on a machine . . .” Her heart stopped and her stomach rolled. “Maybe it’s best this way, though. I can’t tell you what you want to hear . . . I want to, but I can’t. Not while you’re with him. But you know. I don’t need to say the words for you to know.

“When you walked out tonight to go back to him—I’ve never felt that kind of punch in the gut before. You see me with someone else, and you think you’re the only one who’s hurting, but you have no idea what I’m feeling when I see or even think of you with him. And what I realized tonight is I can’t do it anymore.

“You need to choose, Kennedy. And whatever you choose, I’ll support you and be there for you. But I can’t be there until you do. Make a choice, beautiful. And call me once you have.”

Kennedy’s heart clenched as her chest tightened and tears streamed down her face as the machine clicked off and Memphis was gone.

Chapter 17

Kennedy shut herself away from the world over the next few days, hoping by doing so she would figure out what to do. She spent hours at the studio, unable to find her usual comfort in the strokes of her brush.

    She didn’t like that Memphis had given her an ultimatum. But when she thought about it, she knew that wasn’t really what it was. He didn’t say ‘choose me or I’m gone’; she just had to be with only one of them. Memphis would still be in her life either way.