Page 37 of Devoted
After taking a few bites of my own, I ask a question I’ve been curious about since I first started watching her in her apartment. “And you? How long have you known you are bisexual?”
She wipes at her lips and laughs behind a napkin. “It’s that obvious?”
“You have a bisexual pride flag hanging in your workroom, darling. Though I almost missed it completely when you were making a show of yourself for me the other night.” Licking my lips, I set down my fork and twist my body toward her.
“If you want season two of that show, you’ll stop with that smirk,” she laughs, but her sideways gaze sends a hint of warning. “I guess I’ve known since I was about nine? That was around when Alek left home, and I was terrified of what it could mean for me if my parents found out I was like him.” She exhales deeply after sharing her story.
“I’m sorry you went through that,” I respond. Deciding she is too far away for my liking, I wrap my fingers around the edge of the stool and pull her so she nearly sits in my lap. I want to comfort her and make all the wrongs she’s experienced in life disappear.
“Once I finally got the courage to stand up to them and move out,” Vivian continues, and I rest my hand at the small of her back. “Well, I was so grateful when Alek let me live with him while I worked and went to school for my design degree. I kind of felt bad that it took me so long to leave. At twenty-two, I was still in their clutches and hardly independent. I also missed the hell out of my brothers.”
Food forgotten, I give all my attention to Vivian. Her story is one of courage and discovery, having gone through so much at a young age. She continues talking about graduating from design school last summer and starting to work at The Garden of Eden. I berate myself for not being more involved at the club until that fateful day when I needed Alek’s help… the same day I first laid eyes on her.
Seeing her made me a believer in destiny.
Perhaps her childhood is why I’ve resonated so much with her, despite how illogical it might seem to a person on the outside looking in. My childhood and adolescent story isn’t one I’m willing to share so easily—so bravely—as Vivian has, but I feel the draw to open up to her. Without a doubt in my heart, I know she will understand. The wall I’ve built around myself stillstands, even when Vivian is at the front, demolishing away with a hammer. It’s only a matter of time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
VIVIAN
Smile, you’re on camera.
Knight opens the door to his bedroom and is about to invite me in when he catches me staring at the artwork displayed in the hallway. We’re at the end of his house tour, back at the spot where we first interacted.
Dinner was a lot more tense and deep than I thought it was going to be. When he suggested keeping this casual, I was prepared for what that usually meant in the realm of dating. A quick hangout, a friendly fuck, and that was it. Knight making one of my comfort meals and having a fridge stocked full of my favorite drinks and snacks? I’m not sure what’s casual about that. And with how attentive and caring he was while I spilled about my upbringing…
How am I not supposed to fall for this man?
“Your art… that’s how I knew,” I confess, glancing at him briefly before bringing my attention back to the painting. The art was one of the few posts featured on Knight’s secret social mediapage, and it’s what ultimately led me to find out he was stalking me.
“Would you have continued stalking me if I didn’t figure you out?” I ask.
“Yes. I had all intentions to admire from afar. It’s the only thing I felt was deserved and appropriate,” he replies, shuffling and readjusting my overnight bag on his shoulder.
A snort escapes me as I walk past the threshold and into his room. “I wouldn’t say stalking was appropriate, Knight.” There’s added annoyance in my tone. He was being so hardheaded—still is—about us when it was clear I showed interest, too.
“For the longest time, I didn’t think you reciprocated any of my feelings, Vivian.” Knight trails after me, closing his bedroom door behind us.
“You didn’t ask.” I turn on my heel to face him again. Crossing my arms, I stare him down as I continue. “And you’re fucking lucky I’m into this wholeobsessedthing.”
He closes the space between us in two large steps, his arms naturally falling at my waist as he stands in front of me.
“You like how I cannot stop thinking about you?” Knight smirks, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles on my belly, beneath the hem of my pajamas.
“You’re not alone in that.” Uncrossing my arms, I place my hands over his chest, loving how much closer I am to touching him when he’s not wearing his heavy layers. Just a thin, black cotton T-shirt separates our skin. Massaging his pecs, I can see there’s a little give to their firmness, absolutely perfect for napping on.
Biting my lip, I drop a secret I’ve been keeping close. “I watched you watching me strip down that night you climbed my tree, you know?”
“Wha—” I softly shush him, moving one of my fingers to cover his lips before he can protest.
“I had a hidden camera pointed out the window. I saw every twitch of your hands, the way you barely managed not to play with your cock while I stripped for you,” I whisper, dragging my finger down his lips, chin, and Adam’s apple. “It was hot, seeing you almost lose your mind.” Replacing my finger with my lips, I plant open-mouthed kisses along his throat and the sliver of exposed shoulder.
Knight’s breath comes out ragged as he tightens his hold on my waist. “You’re an evil woman,” he whines and tilts his head back, giving me more skin to kiss.
Nudging his head with mine, I make him turn so it’s easier for me to nibble and lick toward his ear. “Yeah, but I’myourevil woman,” I rasp.
The shiver that travels through his body infects me, too, making goose bumps appear on my arms. They happen anytime I’m near this man; it’s like our bodies are perfectly in tune with each other and constantly hungry for more.
