Page 60 of Cloud Nine Love

Unable to resist him, and those huge brown eyes staring up at me, I bent down and pressed my lips to his. The kiss began slow and gentle. But as I pulled his bottom lip between mine and bit down lightly, it turned into something else. Remi took over. His right hand gripped the back of my neck and angled my head to give him full access and control. I instantly surrendered to him. I climbed on his lap, straddling him. His left hand slid under my shirt. I lifted my arms so he could pull it off when I heard a sound that caused me to freeze. A key was turning in the lock.

“What?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Shh. Kenna’s here, with Harp.” I scrambled off of him, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the front door opening. Without thinking, I pushed the pantry barn door open and shoved Remi inside before shutting it again.

I’d barely managed to slide it back in place before Harp raced around the corner.

“Mommy!” she called out as she jumped into my arms.

“Hey, Peanut!” I held her tightly, and she started to wiggle.

When I sat her down, she took off racing down the hall. It was then that I noticed my daughter’s hair was in a side ponytail, and it was teased. She had on bright orange fishnet fingerless gloves and neon green leg warmers.

“Bathroom emergency,” Kenna explained as she set Harp’s backpack down.

Even though the only thing I could think about was getting Remi out of the pantry and the house without being detected, I was briefly distracted. My cousin was decked out in a bright pink tulle mini-skirt, an off-the-shoulder crop top, lace leggings, and electric blue pumps. She had about fifty brightly colored bangle bracelets on one arm and a huge black bow on the top of her head.

“Was there an ’80s party I didn’t know about?” I asked.

Kenna smiled. “We watched Desperately Seeking Susan and then played dress-up.”

“You had all that lying around?”

“Of course,” Kenna replied as if that was a given.

In fairness, it should be a given. Kenna had always been obsessed with the ’80s. She maintained she was born a decade too late.

My cousin stepped closer to me, which meant she was closer to the pantry, and I said a silent prayer that Remi wouldn’t sneeze or make some other noise, drawing her attention to it.

“Before little ears come back, I have to tell you my brilliant idea,” she whispered.

“Brilliant idea?”

“Yes, when I was watching D.S.S. today, I figured out how we can find Kyle.”

“What? No.” I shook my head and tried to walk past her to get her away from Kyle, who was hiding a foot away from her, but she blocked my path. “I don’t want to find him.”

“Yes, you do. You explicitly said he’s the best sex you ever had. We can’t just let that quality D go without doing everything in our power to find him.”

Internally, I did a mental face slap. Why had I told Kenna that particular detail? Why had I told her anything? In fairness to me, I’d texted her that information on the flight home, thinking I would never see him again.

“I need to go check on Harper.” I tried again to walk around her, but she grabbed my arms, halting my escape. At this point, I was more worried about Remi not hearing what was going to come out of Kenna’s mouth next than getting him out of the house.

“Just listen. I’ll make an anonymous post, Desperately Seeking Kyle?—"

“Kenna, no,” I blurted out, but she just kept talking over me.

“I’ll leave enough hints in it about your guys’ meet-cute and hotel hookup that he’ll know it’s him, but I won’t say what he called you. That’s what I’ll ask for as proof of his identity.”

“Kenna, stop.” I tried again, but she bulldozed right over me.

“It will go viral, and then I’ll weed through all the crazies and psychos until I find the message where he says you were his Ana,” she emphasized with a swoon.

“No. Just stop!” I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but this was all more than I could handle with no sleep.

Her eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing; I’m just tired. Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

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