Page 37 of Things We Burn

“Okay.” Kiera clapped her hands together and stood. I jerked back at the sudden sound to look at my best friend. “I’d like to stay, and I mean that. I could watch this,” she motioned between me and Kane, “like I watch aReal Housewives’reunion—with delight and rapt attention. But alas, I have things to do.” She pointed to Kane. “You live up to the hype.” Her gaze returned to me. “I’ll be here Monday to get ready for the party and to pre-game. If you keep getting all that good sex you’re obviously getting, you won’t even need makeup.” She blew me a kiss then sauntered out the door.

“So that’s Kiera,” I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes.

“Fond as I am of her company, she sorely delayed the way I wanted to wake up.”

In a heartbeat, I was flipped onto my back on the sofa, Kane hoisting my legs upward and moving himself downward so he was right between my thighs.

He looked up at me with fire in his eyes. “Planned on tasting you first thing in the morning, so the first thing you screamed was my name. But I’ll take having the taste of you on my tongue for the rest of the day.”

Within seconds, my panties were off, and Kane’s mouth was on me.

I was lost in pleasure, but not too lost to try to imprint the feeling into my mind, knowing it was temporary.

The next night, Kane stayed over at my house again.

Again, he cooked for me.

We’d gone grocery shopping after he’d buried his face in between my legs and made me scream on my sofa. After he’d then bent me over that sofa.

I’d gotten dressed in a daze, let him convince me to delay my errands for the restaurant for a morning of grocery shopping.

It wasn’t hard to convince me.

I’d put on simple clothes. Jeans and a white tee, thrown my hair up into a messy ponytail. I slapped on tinted moisturizer that doubled as SPF because at my age, you knew the importance of SPF. My skin was largely lineless because of this. Well, and good genes and ensuring that I wasn’t out in the sun often, always in a kitchen filled with heat and grease that kept my skin from drying out.

“Ready,” I informed Kane, snatching a pair of black designer sunglasses from my dresser. Kiera gave them to me. No way would I have spent $500 on sunglasses, but I liked them.

Kane glanced at me as I slipped on a pair of sneakers. He was lying in bed shirtless, reading one of the paperbacks I’d had in the apartment for decoration up until that point.

His phone was on the nightstand beside me.

It touched me that he was reading in his downtime instead of scrolling his phone like 99 percent of the population did these days.

I’d only seen him on his phone to answer a text or call, and that was only a couple of times. Otherwise, he wasn’t on it.

“You’reready?” He dog-eared the book then put it on the nightstand. His eyes raked over me as he got up to snatch his jeans. “Jesus, I thought I’d have at least another ten minutes. Chicks take ages to look as gorgeous as you do right now.”

The compliment was offhand, easily given, and it tickled the back of my neck. Still, I rolled my eyes. “You’re biased because of the sex we just had.”

Kane pulled his tee over his head then grasped my chin, face uncharacteristically serious. “Chef, I’m not biased. You’re gorgeous. It’s off-putting, just how stunning you are. Yeah, at the party with the makeup, the top that did great things for your tits … you looked hot. But hot is a dime a dozen. You, in your chef’s whites, in your kitchen, face flushed, eyes wild and alive—that’s beauty. You on top of me, riding me with your hair wild—that’s beauty. You now…” He tugged my ponytail. “Beauty,” he whispered, then his lips were on mine.

I lost all sense.

“You’re kind of beautiful too,” I whispered back.

He smiled. “I know I’m meant to say that I prefer ruggedly handsome or masculine, but I like that you think I’m beautiful.”

He kissed my nose.

“Now, let’s go get some groceries so there’s something living in your apartment that isn’t just the bacteria on old Chinese takeout.”

So we did.

We walked a handful of blocks together, in the daylight, Kane’s hand in mine. Easy as can be. Natural. We got lost in the crowds of other people going about their days. I got lost in the notion that Kane and I were just a man and a woman grocery shopping together.

It was that simple.

And that complicated.

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