Page 55 of Furever Loyal
“The police. Turns out we had been making a lot of noise and someone called to complain about us. Well, they just so happened to roll up while we were on a public schoolyard.” She felt warm liquid drip down her face as she started to cry. “They arrested me, Kincaid. They charged me. Because it was a place with children, I’m now a registered sex offender! For peeing in a bush at three in the morning on a weekend!”
She broke down into sobs, wanting nothing more than to sink into the ground and disappear. “All because I broke the rules. I shouldn’t have gone out. If I’d just stayed in like I wanted to, I would have it all. Instead they took it from me. Everything. No politician is willing to touch me now. Not with a record like that.”
“You can get that expunged,” he said.
“I know. I did. But it’s too late now. I’ve been barred. Black-listed.” She shivered as he used the sleeve of his sweater to gently wipe away her tears. “I can’t let that happen again Kincaid. I just…I can’t.”
He let go of one hand, reaching up to gently brush back the hairs that kept falling into her face, lovingly tucking them behind her ear to keep them out of the way. She tried to look down, to obscure her face, but he tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes.
They were the same blue as always, a gunmetal, tinged with gray, but the hardness was gone from the edges. Instead, they swam with caring, compassion and sympathy for her. Kincaid let her know, by simply staring into her and letting her gaze back, that he was there for her. That she didn’t have to worry. She was safe with him.
“I won’t let anything like that happen to you,” he promised. “You’ll be safe with me.”
“Kincaid, we’ve already ended up in jail once. I don’t want to go back a third time. Three strikes and you’re out,” she whispered.
“I got sloppy and believed we had more time. Now I know what we’re up against, and soon I’m going to find outwho,” he growled, his voice vibrating so powerfully she felt it in her chest. “Then we’ll end this and put it all behind us for good. We can move on with our lives.”
She knew he was making it sound far simpler than it actually was. They still had no leads, and things were only bound to get worse before they got better.
“I don’t know if I can do that,” she admitted. “I’m scared, Kincaid. I’m so scared.”
Without speaking, he crouched down, wrapping his arms around her body and picked her up, holding her tight to his chest as he walked to the far end of the basement where he sat into the couch, still holding her tight. Haley rested her head on his shoulder, one arm draped across his chest, the other holding tight up his back.
“I know,” he said, kissing her forehead softly. “I know. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to figure this out. I promise you.”
He kept kissing her forehead, and the top of her head. Then he trailed it down her cheek as she slowly raised her head.
Kincaid didn’t stop. His lips found hers, and the instant they touched a blazing bolt of lightning exploded down her spine. The shock woke her instantly to his presence, setting nerve endings on fire and kick-starting the flow of blood from her heart.
They started off slowly, gingerly. It wasn’t anything like the hurried, rough kiss that they’d shared in the hallway. They had time now, time to do it right, and they both took it without consulting with the other. They were simply on the same page now, their desires finally lining up at the same time and bursting forth.
Haley hadn’t known she was interested in going that far with him, but as his hands ran up her sides, denial became useless. Whether she’d been blissfully unaware, or purposefully blinding herself, it was clearsomepart of her body wanted it.
Although she still had her doubts of the situation as a whole, when Kincaid began to gently lift her shirt, Haley didn’t resist. She raised her arms, her only regret the time she spent not kissing him as the sweater and her own shirt all came off as one.
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The feeling of air on suddenly exposed skin sent a shiver through her entire body. Kincaid noticed and paused, leaning back from her.
“We can stop if you’re not comfortable,” he whispered, still stroking her head gently but avoiding any sort of sexual contact besides the fact that she was sitting on him.
“I was just cold,” she explained. “A shiver. You need to come here, I think. Come closer, keep me warm in your arms.”
Kincaid growled excitedly, lifting his own shirt free. “I can do that.” He kept kissing her as he lay her back onto the couch. “I can definitely do that.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he lowered himself to her, the furnace that was his skin blasting her with warmth as he pressed tight. Her one leg was pinned to the couch, but Haley wrapped the other around his waist.
The gentle drag of his skin across her body, and the gentle rustle of his small patch of chest hair left her breathing heavy and aching for more of his touch, but the couch was simply too small for him to do more than support himself on.
“This isn’t working,” she announced.
Kincaid frowned. “What? I thought you said you were okay?”
“The couch,” she said, snaring his lips and parting them with her tongue, making itveryclear she didn’t mean him. The heat she was feeling was no longer being generated just by Kincaid. Her own body was responding. Haley could feel it most between her legs, what started off as warmth was now becoming a burningneed.
Lifting her clear of the couch with a casual display of his strength that had Haley once again biting her lips in anticipation, Kincaid brought her to the bedroom. Holding her up with one arm, he pulled the covers down, pushing her back into the sheets themselves, treating her gently.
He was about to follow, but she raised a hand, a slow, sensual movement that had him frozen in his tracks before he knew what he was doing. Rolling onto all fours she crawled to the edge of the bed and began fiddling with his pants. Kincaid took this time to slide his hands down her bare back and caress her ass.
