Page 52 of Until Now

He opens the door and slides inside the driver’s seat.

“Are you sure you are okay, Aura?”

I shrug off my coat and place it in the back seat. “Yeah, I’m okay. Is your hand hurt?”

I see his knuckles are red with the light filtering through the windshield from the parking lot. His strong hands are gripping the steering wheel and he looks at them and opens and closes his hands.

“Nothing I can’t deal with. It doesn’t hurt.”

He drives down the road but in the opposite direction of the house. He parks at a hotel and marina.

“Why are we here?” I ask.

The lights from the dock are reflecting off the water and the boats as they sway slightly. He doesn’t answer and jumps out of the car, walks around, and opens the door.

I grab my jacket and exit the car. I follow him, and he heads inside and waits for me to enter the hotel.

I send a quick text to Camila and tell her where I’m at and that I’m with Kalum. She sends me a quick update that Lane is fast asleep and not to worry. I made him dinner before I left for the theater with Judy and left him in his pj’s watching TV. He has been doing well with being homeschooled with Camila. I have managed to get him some online classes that help him with reading and math. He is doing well and is happy that Kalum is staying with us at the house. They play and watch movies together. Kalum always makes time to give an hour or two each night dedicated to Lane. It is so hard not to fall in love with a man that cares so much about you and how your son feels.

He murmurs something to the lady at the front desk and she hands him a key card. The lady gives me a warm smile as Kalum slides his fingers through mine and guides me farther into the hotel.

He opens the door to the room and closes it with a thud. He opens the French doors leading to the harbor and the view is breathtaking.

“Kalum.”

“Take off your clothes, Aura.”

He gets close, and his dress shirt is stretched across his tight chest. He walks me back to the bed and he looks down at me as I have no choice but to sit.

“I want to be inside you, Aura. I need to show you how much I love you.”

He said it! He loves me. I begin to remove all my clothes, throwing my jacket and then my long-sleeve T-shirt until I’m completely naked. He does the same and we are both… naked.

He leans over me and slides his big hands up the length of my arms over my head. The cool air sends a breeze into the room and my nipples harden instantly. From the cold and from the heat that is pooling between my thighs.

He begins to kiss my neck and down my chest until he reaches between my legs and begins sliding his tongue inside my pussy.

I moan. “Kalum. Yes. Fuck. Yes.”

The wicked things he is doing with his tongue, then sucking my clit.

“You taste so fucking good. Taste like honey. So sweet. You always tasted sweet. I never thought I could taste pussy this sweet,” he rasps against my clit.

“Kalum,” I moan, running my hands through the strands of his dark hair. “I love when you eat my pussy and I love it when you’re inside me.”

He looks up, and he raises his body over mine. “Me too, baby. I brought you here because what I have to say I need to tell you alone and I can’t go tonight without you.”

I’m nervous. My core is throbbing for him, but at the same time, what he has to say is important because, in my heart, I know things are shifting. My feelings for him are way past normal. He is becoming the air I breathe, and slowly, he is becoming everything I need in my life, and I can’t picture it without him in it.

“I have never stopped loving you, Aura. I loved you the first time I kissed you. I fell in love with you, but I was too scared to admit it. I needed to protect you because there was no way my parents would accept us. I was right. I was broken the day you left. The letter you left me broke me. I never got the chance to tell you how much I love you.”

I snuggle into his chest and he holds me as I listen to his words. I close my eyes and remember the way he held me when I cried because of the death of my parents. He was the only one that held me and kissed me. The same way we are holding each other right now, this second.

“I had a whole weekend planned for us, baby. The weekend of your eighteenth birthday, I wanted to tell you how I felt and hoped you’d accept my love. I wanted to make you mine in every sense. My heart has always been yours, Aura. I thought I could let you go, but deep in my heart, I never did. I had to watch you fall in love with my friend, marry a man that wasn’t me and give him the most beautiful son I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I loved you so much that I made a pact with a friend to love you when I couldn’t be there to love you because there was nothing I could offer you. My parents threatened to disown me and to make sure to ruin you.”

Tears are streaming down my face because I thought he didn’t want me or that I imagined the connection between us. A connection I had never felt with someone. Except Lane. He made a pact with Lane. Why? I would have waited but then I would have never had our son.

“It’s okay, baby, don’t cry. Time just wasn’t ready for us. Things happen for a reason, and we both loved you. No matter who you ended up with, me or Lane, there was no wrong choice because we both were in love with you at the same time. He was ready to give you what I couldn’t, and I loved you enough to let you be happy and safe from anyone who would hurt you. It was all planned. I have letters, too, the same way he did, in case I passed. I always wanted to let you know that I loved you. He was okay with that, and so was I. What mattered the most was you. Now what matters the most is you and Lane Jr. I didn’t tell you this because you were mourning your husband and it was wrong to put this on you. I want to be honest and tell you I’m scared.”

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