Page 35 of A Night to Remember

“The ex-fiancée happened,” I sigh. “You really haven’t heard about this?” She shrugs a little, non-committal, so I continue. “I caught her cheating on me early in my last semester in law school. I graduated, but my grades tanked so bad that I couldn’t get a good recommendation. I also didn’t pass the bar. I just couldn’t focus. My dad got me the job at the courthouse.”

“So what’s the next step? Pass the bar, get a better job here or somewhere else?”

“I guess.”

“I’m sorry about Gretchen,” she says softly.

“So youdidknow,” I exclaim, grabbing her upper arms and rolling on top of her. She laughs and nestles her knees on either side of my hips in a move that already feels familiar.

“I sort of knew,” she confesses. “I mean, it’s a small town. I knew you had been dating Gretchen Meier, and I heard that you broke up, but I didn’t knowwhyyou split. There were all kinds of rumors floating around that café, but I didn’t want to assume any of it was true until I heard it from you.”

“Very sensible,” I murmur. Talking about Gretchen should be a mood killer, but pressing up against Kayla makes her feel like a distant memory, no more real than a spaceship mortgage.

“And I don’t mean to be catty,” she says in a lower voice, running her fingertips from my shoulders to my pecs. “But GretchenMeier? She totally doesn’t deserve you. You can do so much better.”

“I think you’re right,” I whisper, then bend down to kiss her throat. She gasps and tilts her head back, giving me betteraccess. I don’t want to pass the bar. I don’t want to leave Kentwood. I don’t even want to leave this bed. I want to stay here and worship this beautiful woman forever.

I have had so many filthy, obscene fantasies about her that have shifted and morphed as I grew from a teenager into a man, but I can see now that I don’t have Kayla’s literary imagination. Her smell, her taste, the feeling of her smooth skin against mine are all more incredible than I ever expected.

“Kayla Johnson,” I whisper. “There’s nobody better than you.” I kiss and bite and suck my way down to her nipples, and when I flick one with my tongue, she moans and wraps her legs around my waist, lacing her fingers through my hair. I can feel the heat between her legs. I reach down and slip a finger inside her. She seems so ready already, warm and swollen and wet, that I wonder if she would just let me fuck her now. But…

“I don’t have another condom,” I confess. She opens her eyes, and her steely gaze is soft now, her pupils dilated. I continue to stroke her slowly, exploring her folds, sliding my finger in as deep as it will go.

“That’s okay,” she says breathily. “I’m on birth control. And I haven’t been with anyone in a long time. I mean, it’s okay with me if it’s okay with you.”

“I’m clean too. God, Kayla, I want to fuck you again.”

“Then do,” she whispers, and reaches down and guides me inside her. She voices no concerns now about me being too big. She already seems used to me, already knows how to take it from me. She squeezes her eyes shut again and I watch her, greedily, as she responds to my every thrust. Her channel throbs and pulses against my cock, pulling me deeper.

“I’m not going to last much longer,” I pant, leaning over her until my chest is pressed against her breasts.

“I’m coming,” she whimpers, pressing her palms into my chest. “It’s okay, just give it to me, Gabe?—”

My world goes dark for one brief, ecstatic second, then I collapse into her arms for the second time tonight.

“Wake up!”Kayla hisses, shaking my shoulder. I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep. An hour? A day? It’s still dark outside, but Kayla is dressed and standing next to the bed.

“What time is it?” I groan. I take the opportunity to stretch out now that I’m alone in the bed.

“It’s 5:30,” she whispers. “I have to go for a run, and you have to get out of here before my mom sees you.”

“You’re going for a run? But it’sdark.”

“I have a headlamp. C’mon, get up.”

I sit up reluctantly, wondering vaguely where my clothes are. I had fallen asleep looking forward to morning sex, but it doesn’t look like that’s happening now. Kayla snaps on her bedside lamp. I squint at her as she ties her running shoes. She is impossibly perky in her tight running gear, her ponytail twitching briskly. She isn’t looking at me. Does she regret last night? Is she literally going to run out on me? Again? Is running at this hour even safe?

“Don’t tell me you’re going outnow, likethat,” I say without thinking. She glares at me.

“What are you, my dad? What are you talking about?”

“Johnson! You’reinsanely hot. There could bemurderersout there. Where do you even run?”

She shrugs. “The woods, mostly.”

“There could be coyotes! Mountain lions!”

“They avoid people, I’m really not too concerned?—”

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