Page 62 of Easy Reunion
Chapter 25
Kelsey
Stumbling inside, we’re so close to one another I can feel Ry’s breath brush the wisps of my hair off my forehead. This isn’t the wild pleasure we’d surrendered to the night of the reunion in Savannah; I suspect a single kiss is going to make me weep. His hands are sliding over me, making me believe the whisper of them against my skin are going to be more potent than anything I could ever dream of because they’re real.
This is real. We’re real.
I’m shivering, aching for the pleasure I already know his body can bring mine.
And it’s him. A sigh of pleasure escapes my lips as his fingers trail over the silk of my dress, pulling my hips tighter against him.
The first time he touched me, I didn’t appreciate why his heart synchronized so perfectly with mine. Or what it meant when his fingers left goose bumps in their wake. I didn’t understand our bond goes beyond our mind and our hearts; it’s woven in our souls. Somehow, this man became more than a fantasy; he became my reality. He’s my every wish, my biggest regret, and my deepest fears all wrapped up in one devastating package.
Tentatively, I reach up and cup his jaw. He ducks his chin and places a lingering kiss in the center of my palm. “Are you nervous?” The tenderness and seductive rumble of his voice wraps around me like sexy velvet.
I curl my body closer and nod. “A little,” I admit.
Bending down, Ry catches me behind the back of my knees, shoving my dress well above my thighs. With a yelp, I instinctively wrap my legs around him. “A little warning next time.” I whack him on the shoulder.
He grins and just that easily, I’m transported back to the moment when his bright blue eyes were shining down at me the day he found out he got into college. That same look is causing feelings to power up inside of me. Not just because of how he’s touching me, but because of how he already did. Years ago. I begin to tremble from head to toe.
“Kels? What is it?” Ry backs me into the nearest wall, bracing me with his lower body so his hands can frame my face.
“You really did have feelings for me back then?” I whisper, finally believing. I want to laugh and cry.
What I feel, finally, is joy.
“I think what I felt was a man’s feelings in a young boy’s body,” he confesses. Unwrapping my legs from his waist, he pushes my body back into the wall. He rocks his hips against mine, which are still exposed. “I was, am, intrigued by you. I was, am, protective of you. I was, am, aroused by you.” Twirling a lock of hair in between his fingers, he brings me back to that moment in Professor Wiley’s classroom. “You’ll never know just how close you came to being kissed that day,” he surprises me by saying.
My breath catches in my throat. “I thought…but then…”
“Let me show you what I was thinking.” Pulling back, Ry leans down to straighten my skirt.
I begin to giggle. “This isn’t what I was expecting,” I explain when he glances up at me.
“Oh? What were you expecting?”
“Something along the lines of Savannah,” I toss out casually. Heat flares in his eyes. His cheeks turn ruddy. “Where we could barely get the hotel room door open before we were leaving a trail of clothes from one end of the room to the other.”
“Hmm, that has possibilities.” Straightening to his full height, he bends to wrap his arms around the tops of my thighs. “So does this.”
Before I can ask anything, Ry lifts me and begins twirling me in his hallway. “I did it, Kelsey!” he yells. “I got in!”
Tears prick in the back of my eyes. “Oh, God, Ry.” Unconsciously, I say the same words I did all those years ago. My hand lifts from his shoulder, where I was stabilizing myself, to cup his cheek.
Just like I did before.
He lets me slide down the front of his body before his thumb sweeps away the tears I didn’t even know were leaking from my eyes. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” he says hoarsely. “None of it. I couldn’t have made it in to school, and I’m so damn sorry I had to use you to save my sister. You’re behind all the good in my life, and I had to hurt you.”
Pressing closer to him, I tip my head back as far as it will go. “I understand.” Because now I do.
His forehead leans down and rests against mine. It’s so similar to what happened that day and yet so different. This time, I recognize not only my heart pounding but Ry’s as well. I realize what the signs of his narrowed eyes and harsh breathing mean.
This man I’ve longed for in the depths of my heart for so long is going to kiss me.
“Kelsey…” My name is barely a whisper—just like it was before—only this time, there’s no door opening behind us to cause us to jump apart. This time, when Ry’s head lowers, my fingers slide into his dark hair and hold him into place as his lips tentatively touch mine. He pulls back slightly. “That’s the kiss I would have given you then, sweetheart,” he murmurs.
“And now?” His lips curve so close to mine, I can feel the difference, and my heartbeat goes into overdrive because he doesn’t bother to say anything.
