Taste (Sense Series Book 2) (6 page)

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to do this,” I said.

“And I’m sorry to hear that,” he said as I walked out of his door.

Part 5

“So you just walked out?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, I just walked out,” I responded.

“Oh my god, you’re do damned stubborn Kerry! I could just shake you right now.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“You were supposed to cave in and be with the man that loves you.”

I snorted, “He may love me, but he loves her more and she is who he wanted to be with. The entire time she had his heart.”

“Are you really that thick headed? If he wanted to be with her, he would have been with her. She was living in his apartment and I bet she was throwing herself at him. He didn’t take the bait. He was still waiting for you.”

I shook my head in disbelief, “I just don’t believe that.”

“That’s because you don’t believe that anything good can happen to you when it comes to love.”

“It’s not that, it’s that I’m realistic about love. Men can be really fickle.”

“So let me get this straight. You were going to marry Michael even though he was cheating with two women that you knew of. But you won’t be in a relationship with a man that was faithful to you even though you weren’t even in a relationship? That truly baffles me, what’s wrong with you?”

I quieted and took a moment to process what my best friend was saying. I knew that she points and that she was giving me tough love, but I felt done with love and dating. It all was just way too complicated, and men were too difficult for me to understand.

“I don’t think that I’m meant to get married,” I said honestly.

“You are seriously having a mental meltdown,” Lizzie said rolling her eyes. “You’re meant to get married, and you’re meant to experience real love. You just have to get out of your own way to experience it. Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, swallow your pride, and go apologize to him.”

“He felt like I was manipulating him, he said that I wasn’t any better than Melanie.”

Her eyes softened at my tone. She could tell that his words hurt me. I was still licking my wounds from our encounter days later. I kept replaying the things that he said to me in my head, and they made me feel worse and worse. I just wanted to start the healing process so that I could move on with my life. I’d been looking for a new apartment as well. I’d contacted the management company and spoke to them about subletting my apartment.

“I know that what he said hurt. He was speaking out of frustration and anger. I can see why he would have jumped to that conclusion. Kerry he 
was
 giving you everything that you wanted. He’s been there for you in every way imaginable, and all he wanted from you was a title. He wanted you to acknowledge who he was in your life.”

I sighed and buried my face in my pillow. All of this was too damned complicated and I wanted it to be over. Life wasn’t supposed to be this damned hard. This isn’t how girls imagine their love life to turn out when they’re girls. Most of us are happily married with children by the time we’re 25 in our heads. My younger self would be weeping with disappointment if she knew what was waiting on her.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said.

“Okay we don’t have to speak about it anymore today,” she said.

“So what’s going on with you? How is the online dating going?”

“It’s not so bad; I’ve been on a few dates. One of them was horrible, he was so rude to the waiter and he was at least ten years older than his pictures,” she laughed.

“Any prospects?”

“Possibly, but it isn’t anyone that I men online.”

“Who is it?” I asked sitting straight in the bed.

“It’s John,” she said.

“John? Your sex boy toy?”

“Yes, he found out that I was dating seriously and he asked to take me out.”

“Oddly enough we have chemistry outside of the bedroom too. He knows my history, my personality, and he still likes me anyway. I think that this may actually go somewhere.”

“Wow, I didn’t see that coming at all. But I think that it can work between the both of you. You’re two horn dogs, and you get along, if that doesn’t make you a perfect match, then I don’t know what does.”

“Whatever,” she said hitting me with the pillow, “Get your ass up, get in the shower, and let’s get out of here.”

*************************************************************

“Dad, I told you that I would consider it, and I mean it.”

“Really baby girl? You don’t know how happy that will make me and your mom.”

“Well the money that the both of you are offering is really tempting and it’s only a few months. I think that will work better than me coming there permanently. I’ve found a few people interested in subletting my apartment, and I’ll make my final decision by the end of the week.”

“Great, I love you and I’ll talk to you later,” he said.

“Love you too, bye daddy.”        

My parents finally convinced me to come home and work with them. They were willing to pay me twice my rate for me to come and completely revamp their marketing strategy. I would rent an apartment in the area and get a much needed change of scenery. There was no way that I was going to accept double my rate from my parents, but that let me know just how much they wanted me, and it warmed my heart.

Oddly enough, I missed my parents. We had a great visit they came up, and they weren’t anywhere near as bad as I expected them to be. Maybe that was because they planned on asking me to come home again. One thing that was really different this time was that they respected my decision to stay. I was finally being treated like an adult, and it felt great.

I looked around my apartment and saw all of my packed up boxes. I loved my apartment, but it was time to give it up. Elizabeth said that I could move with her until I decided what I wanted to do about my living arrangements. Well she actually said that I could live with her until we were both little old ladies, but I doubted that I would take her up on her offer. I loved Elizabeth, but we weren’t going to become old crones together.

There was a knock on my door, and it didn’t startle me because I was expecting Elizabeth at any point. She insisted on helping me pack up my apartment because I pack so slowly. I would have to watch her because she’ll throw things in boxes that don’t belong together. It would take me forever to find my things if I gave her free reign of the process.

I opened the door, and it was Adam. We stared at each other for a few moments before either of us said anything. I didn’t know what to say, it had been over a week since we’d run into each other, and we opted to ignore each other.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hey,” he looked behind me into my apartment, “You’re moving?”

“Yes, I’ll be out in a week.”

“Where are you going?”

I shrugged, “I’m going to Lizzie’s for now, and then I’m going to North Dakota for a few months with my parents.”

“Were you going to say goodbye?” He asked

“I figured that you didn’t want to see me. You made your feelings very clear.”

“That’s not what I wanted. I just wanted you. I wanted all of you.” He said.

“Why did you come here?” I asked.

“I came by because I wanted to talk to you. I’ve been miserable since we’ve been apart.”

My heart palpitated when he said it. I was hoping like hell that he was missing me just as much as I missed him. I had to fight the urge every day to knock on his door when I passed it in the hall on my way to his apartment. One day I stood in front of his door for a full minute, struggling with what I should do. I didn’t want to bring myself anymore heartache, so I decided not to give in.

“I’ve missed you too,” I admitted.

“I came to tell you that I can give you the time that you need to heal. I won’t pressure you anymore. I trust that you want to be with me, and that will be enough. If you’ll still have me, then I’ll wait for you,” he said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

He’d returned to the Adam that I’d grown to love. My heart broke because I’d broken him, and he was willing to settle for a situation that was beneath him. It was similar to what I was willing to settle for with Michael. He deserved to have a woman that would fully commit to him. He was right, I wasn’t any better than Melanie and I’d been so damned selfish.

I could no longer see the logic in my reasons for making him wait. Elizabeth’s words played in my head, and I realized that she was right. He just wanted his love to be acknowledged. I was being a complete idiot. I couldn’t allow him to settle for my behavior.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” I said.

He had a pained expression on his face, and I clarified what I meant, “I can’t allow you to settle for that kind of arrangement. I’m ready to be with you. I’m ready to put my past behind me and to stop punishing you for it.”

“Really?” He asked as he sighed in relief.

“Yes, but I don’t know how it will work. I am going to North Dakota for 3 months. Do you think that you’ll be able to handle that?”

“That’s what they invented planes for,” he said with a smile, “I’ll probably be there every other week, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course that’s okay with me, and I promise to tell my parents who you are,” I grinned.

His arm encircled my waist, and he pressed his lips against mines. His kiss soothed my heart and a sense of calm took over my body. I ran my tongue along his bottom lip, and he gave a small moan. It had been far too long since we had sex. I’d been bursting at the seams with desire, and my toys were doing overtime lately.

“Does this mean that you’re not moving with me?” I heard a voice say from down the hall.

We both turned to see Elizabeth with a huge grin on her face.

“My door is open, and the kitchen and bar is stocked,” Adam said as he grabbed my hand and walked into my apartment.

“Don’t mind if I do, “I heard Elizabeth say as she opened the door to his apartment.

“That was a good question,” I said.

“Shhhh, some things we can work out later. But right now, I want you.”

His suggestion effectively cut me off from talking about the future any further. We lost ourselves in each other. His hand instinctively went to my hair and he kissed me deeply. My entire body sang, and it missed him. My light was shining from within once again, and I smiled against his lips.

He pushed my jogging pants and panties to the floor, as I unbuckled his belt. We were past the point of waiting any further to consummate our new official relationship. We were naked from the waist down and he picked me up, I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he walked until my back was against the wall. I’d never been made love to this way, and I was excited.

I leaned rested my head against the wall as his guided his cock to my entrance and slowly pushed inside of me. He felt so damned big, he gave me short and shallow strokes, working his way in until he was completely immersed inside of me.

“I’ve missed you much, this is where I belong” he said.

“I’ve missed you too,” I panted.

He pulled from me and pushed inside of me quick and hard, his teeth bit into the sensitive flesh of  my neck, and I cried out. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes because I finally felt complete. Him and I belonged together, and I’d finally found the man that I was meant to spend the rest of my life with.

“I’m not going to be able to hold on for much longer,” he panted.

I was already ahead of him, my muscles convulsed around him and I came like a glass of overflowing water. I closed my eyes and rode the waves of pleasure as he pumped inside of me with wild abandon. He pushed in deep one more time and injected me with his seed. I held him close, and I brought my legs to the floor.

“Now that’s what I call make up sex,” he said.

I laughed, “Yeah I gotta clean myself up before our makeup sex is on the floor.”

We both stood in the bathroom and wiped ourselves clean. We stole glances at one another but this time we filled with love and joy.

“I guess we should go see Charlotte huh?” He said.

“Yep, she needs to know that she’s in my new apartment.”

“You’re moving in with me?”

“Yes I am, unless Melanie is still there.”

“She left the day after I found out she lied. Whatever was left at my place, I mailed to her roommate’s address. She’s out of my life for good.”

“And I’m in your life for good,” I said smacking him on the ass.

“You’re damned right, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Finally my life was on track. He and I still had to jump over the hurdle of a long distance relationship, but I was confident that we would be able to get through it. We would be able to get through anything as long as we were open and honest and with each other. I’d finally fell for one of the good guys.

I wasn’t exactly sure what the future would bring, but I knew that with him, everything would be okay. Nice guys may finish last, but that’s only because he’s the last person that I want to be with. I finally have a winner.