Stripped Raw (23 page)

His eyes watch the path of my fingers running across the muscles of his chest and stomach. His tongue slides across his bottom lip, the corner of his mouth turning up. There’s nothing sexier than a man craving you, knowing how much he wants you. We all know that look—the look a man gives right before he kisses you or makes love to you. It’s all intense, but also sweet. It’s the difference between being with a man who loves you and being with a man who’s just fucking you. You can see it all in that one little look.

He lifts my shirt over my head then takes a small step back. His fingers run under the strap of my bra, caressing me, forcing my breast up. My breath catches as his mouth covers my nipple, sucking and biting lightly between his teeth.

“Oh, God!” I reach around and unhook my bra, granting him access. I feel him smirk and wind my fingers in his hair, wanting him to suck harder. His hand slides to my other breast, his finger gently playing with my nipple. The pleasure shoots right between my legs. I feel the moisture in my panties, the heat rising.

He lowers me down to the bed, kissing me gently, and I feel my body soften under his expert tongue. He kisses his way down, his tongue circling my belly button, kissing my waist. His eyes lock on mine, and I watch as he slips down my pants, kissing my hips and inner thighs.

The ivory silk of my panties must have called him because he buries himself between my legs, letting his breath drive me to the brink. I know he can taste how wet he’s making me, how wide open I am. He takes my panties between his teeth and pulls at them. I lift my hips to help him slide them down.

I push him down to the bed, pulling off the rest of his clothes, and slide him deep into my mouth. When his hand slides to my hip and he guides me over him, my eyes flash open. I’m straddling his face. With the first swipe of his tongue, any embarrassment flies out the window. Within a few seconds, I find myself moving my hips, gliding his tongue in and out of me. I almost forgot what I was supposed to be doing, it feels so incredible.

If this is a contest, I’m not sure who is winning. I lean down and suck him so deep into my mouth that I swear he is touching the back of my throat. I continue sliding my tongue over him, but it’s hard to concentrate with his tongue gliding in and out of me. I move my hips over his mouth, no longer embarrassed by my pleasure, no longer self-conscious about my body with him. He places his hand on my ass, encouraging me to use his mouth to get myself there. I stop sucking him, stop licking him, and start panting. I start screaming. My hips lower slightly, pushing against his mouth, and my legs tighten. “Oh, God!”

My head falls to his upper thigh as I collapse. I lay there panting for a few seconds, while Kane runs his hands across my butt draped across his chest. I roll over. “I’m so sorry.”

Kane chuckles. “For what?”

“Smothering you, for one,” I say. “And leaving you hanging like that.”

Kane pounces on top of me. “Smother me anytime, and as for leaving me hanging, I’m not done with you yet.” His dick twitches between my legs, and I smile. I reach down and slide his tip inside. His eyes close tightly. “Christ, you’re tight.”

I grip his back and take a deep breath. I hadn’t expected this ache—a delicious, slow burn as he fills all of me. Kane brushes his hand across my cheek, directing my eyes to his. My muscles relax, and I melt around him. He slides himself deep inside, keeping his eyes fixed on mine. My mouth drops open slightly in pure pleasure, but he doesn’t move. I know he’s memorizing this moment, burning it into his brain, not wanting to take me or making love to me for granted. His mouth finds mine, his tongue slowly parting my lips. Our tongues meet, and he presses deeper into me. I clench around him, and he pins my arms over my head. “Still,” he says. “I want to watch you. I want to feel you tremble underneath me as you come.” He slips himself in and out slowly, my body pulsing with each thrust.

I cry out a little, desperate to come again. “I’m so close.”

“I won’t stop until you come,” he promises.

And I know that’s true. I know my pleasure is more important to him than his own. For the first time, I am the most important person in a man’s life.

*

Giggling, I try
to grab the bed sheet from Kane, but he yanks it away. There is no room to be shy with him. He simply won’t have it, and frankly, the time for being shy is over. I’m not sure how long we’ve been naked in my bed. There was the amazing sex, then we napped naked, then more sex, then we ate naked, sex again, and now we’ve been talking and laughing, laying naked next to each other for hours.

I reach for the sheet again, smiling. “I’m cold.” He pulls me to his chest, tossing the sheet on the floor, and I laugh. “Can we stay like this forever?” I ask. He kisses me in agreement. “Promise me it will always be like this.”

“I promise.”

“Good, it’s settled. We’ll stay here forever.”

Kane leans up on his elbow, and pushes a stray hair out of my face. “Actually, I’ve been thinking. . . . My house is selling soon, and you need a bigger place. . . .”

I know he’s still talking, but the only thing I can hear is the thumping of my heart. Moving in with Charles had been a huge mistake. I don’t want to make another mistake. “I know it’s quick, but I love you. For so long, I was walking through my life, but not really living it. Your laugh that day was my alarm clock, and I don’t ever want to lose you, to lose this feeling.”

I stroke the stubble on his face. “I don’t either, but I have to think about Zoe and Tessa.”

“I know,” Kane says. “I’m thinking about them. That’s one reason why I’m doing this now and not waiting. Tessa would love to be there on your wedding day.”

My mouth drops wide open. What did he just say? Nowhere in the crevices of my mind was I expecting a proposal. “Wedding day? I thought you were asking me to move in with you?”

“I am. As my wife.” He reaches over and pulls something out of his suitcase. The box is way too big to be a ring. He slides it in front of me and motions for me to lift the lid.

I slowly take the lid off, a pair of Tiffany Blue high heels inside. He knows me so well. “Size eight?”

He chuckles then points to the heel, a huge diamond ring dangling from it. “Hope I got the ring size right, too?” He gets on his knees in bed, totally naked. “You told me once that you can tell a lot about a woman by the shoes, so I’m hoping these say ‘bride.’ Kenzie Scott, will you please wear these shoes and walk down the aisle and become my wife?”

KANE

It feels like
time is standing still as I wait for her to answer the biggest question of our lives. She reaches towards the box, hopefully to slip on both the ring and the shoes. But she picks up the lid and places it back on the box. “I’m sorry, but I can’t, Kane.”

What the fuck just happened? I look down at the box, my chest a tight ball. I can’t believe she actually turned me down. I mean, I knew this was a risk—a big one, but I thought she’d at least think about it more than five seconds.

Her fingers lift my chin. “This was perfect. Exactly what I would’ve wanted.”

“Then why are you saying no?”

She gets up, throwing on my shirt, and starts pacing around her little apartment. “Because it’s so fast. We never talked about it before. Because my sister is dying. Because I have to think about Zoe. Because I lost myself in a man before and if I’m not careful, I’ll do it again. Because. . . .”

“Kenzie, I won’t let that happen. I love who you are. That’s the point.”

“I know, so I want to make sure I stay who I am.”

She looks over at me, and I see how scared she is, and I know it has nothing to do with me. I also know exactly what’s she’s talking about when she says losing herself. Lily would say the same thing. Lily had lost herself with me. My life had overpowered hers, until she was nothing more than a shell of a woman moving from social event to social event, doing things she thought were expected of her instead of doing things she wanted. I capture Kenzie’s hand and push the box in her direction. “When you’re ready, put them on, and I’ll know.”

Kenzie puts her hands on the box. “I don’t know when or how long. . . .”

I lean forward and kiss her gently. “It doesn’t matter because I’m not going anywhere. My proposal to you has no expiration date because my love for you doesn’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

I hold her close to me and feel her tremble. She’s actually scared I’m going to leave her. “Hey, none of that. I knew this was risky.” I nuzzle her nose gently. “We’re fine, baby.”

“But how?”

I shrug. “Love. I know why you turned me down, and I know it had nothing to do with how you feel about me or how I feel about you.”

“I love you so much,” Kenzie whispers.

“I know,” I flash her a smile. “Remember, I’ve got you in the palm of my hand.” Kenzie starts laughing, and my body comes to attention. I can’t for the life of me figure out how her laugh can give me a hard-on, but it does—every fucking time.

*

I yawn and
stretch my arms overhead, hitting the wall in Kenzie’s tiny apartment. We have got to get her a new place. Groaning, my eyes try to adjust to the light. The proposal box comes into focus. Kenzie has placed it on top of the television, the most prominent place in the room. If she had a mantle, I’m sure the box would be there. I hear voices coming from the work area. It’s too early for clients. It’s really too early for Kenzie to even be up, much less be carrying on a conversation. It usually takes her a good half hour before she’s even coherent. I start towards the hallway and freeze. It’s Tessa and Kenzie, and they’re talking about last night.

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I just laid awake staring at that box,” Kenzie says. “Did I do the right thing?”

“No,” Tessa weakly laughs. “You totally fucked that up. I can’t believe you turned him down.”

I hear Kenzie groan. “Maybe the incredible sex made me stupid.”

“Wait, he asked you after sex?” Tessa asks. “You left that part out. Details please.”

I can only imagine how red Kenzie is right now. “I’m not giving you details. But God, Tessa, he’s so. . . .”

I try to listen harder. I don’t mind her gossiping if she is going to brag about my abilities.

“That good, huh?” Tessa says. “I hate you.”

“It wasn’t just how incredibly good it was. He was. . . . I don’t know how to describe it other than to say unselfish. I swear he didn’t think about himself for one second. It was like he only cared about how good I was feeling.”

“And so after this incredible, unselfish sex, the man proposed, and you said
no
?”

“I told you the sex made me stupid.”

“Sex does tend to make women stupid,” Tessa says. “But men think more clearly after they get off.”

“They do not,” Kenzie says.

“Yeah, they do,” Tessa insists. “Think about how single-minded a horny man can be. But after they finish, they can focus on other things. I actually read a study about it—the endorphins released in the male brain or something. It even has a name. It’s called post-cum clarity.”

I bite down on my lip hard to keep from laughing. Tessa is a riot. She is leaving this world far too early. I hear Kenzie start to laugh, too.

“I’m sure he’ll never ask me again, no matter how many times I have sex with him.”

“He’s still here. He stayed. Sounds like he’s still asking.”

“What am I supposed to do? Just casually put the shoes and ring on one morning?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do,” Tessa says. “You know, I’m not always going to be around for these middle of the night sister crises?”

“You have to be,” Kenzie says.

“I promise I’ll be listening.”

I hear Kenzie’s voice cracking. It’s impossible for me to hide any longer. She needs me. I walk out. Tessa is now in a wheelchair, and Kenzie and Tessa are hugging with Zoe smashed between them, sound asleep. Kenzie’s back is to me, so my eyes catch Tessa’s first. I’ve never been close to anyone with a terminal illness, but she is literally wasting away. I bend down and pull Kenzie into my arms. She buries her head in my neck.

“Just so you know, I think Kenzie is an idiot,” Tessa says.