"You're strong and brave, and I respected that. Hell, I fell in love with you, but when you thought everything was all your fault. You thought that you were the reason all the terrible things happened in your life, I couldn't fix that for you. I wish you saw yourself the way Mia and I saw you.
"The way I still see you. That's why I fought to name Sinclair House after you. That's why I worked hard to get the food bank up and going, and to make the rehab center successful."
By the time he finished, tears rolled down his beautiful sun-kissed cheeks. The honest, raw emotions reflected in his eyes called to the part of me I kept hidden for the past twelve years.
"You love me?" I choked out.
The force of my kiss made him stagger back, but Kai was a runner, steady on his feet. He caught us both in his arms and returned the kiss with the same fierce strength.
His body was perfect, all hard lines and soft curves. The barest dusting of light brown curls scattered across his golden chest and down his belly. He said he loved me. I needed him. I needed him like I needed air like a fish needs water. I needed his lips to return to mine.
He nodded through our kiss and lifted me in his strong arms. We moved while we kissed, my legs wrapped around his hips. My core was wet and needed to be touched by him. I didn't care where he took me, as long as he kept kissing me. I needed him to never let go.
We made it to my old bedroom. The room we spent the best two months of my life in, in his arms.
Kai smiled and nodded with his lips still on mine. "Yeah, I fucking love you. I've loved you since the first day I met you. I'll always love you, Sinclair."
I was momentarily distracted by the memory of our first meeting. Kai made some joke about Mia's curly hair. I got in his face, called him a bully, and pushed him down.
After that, he wanted to hang around us as much as he could. When he found out I lived on the same street, it was practically impossible to keep him away. Everything made sense now.
Bringing me back to the present, Kai caressed my cheek. The pad of his thumb brushed the pulse point on my neck. His fingers slid under the hem of my tank top, and he lifted it over my head.
With my top gone, Kai nipped the tender skin beneath my jaw and flicked his tongue against my pulse point. Wet, lingering kisses left a trail as his mouth moved down to the hollow part of my collarbone, while one hand found a breast beneath my bra, and his other hand worked to unbutton my jeans.
Why the hell did I wear jeans today?
Kais's mouth found the valley between my breasts, dragging his tongue down the center to the little piece of fabric holding the not-so-sexy cotton bra together. My jeans and top were cute, but my bra and panties tonight was of the Haines variety, not the Fredricks of Hollywood kind.
Kai lifted his head and returned his mouth to mine, taking in my breath, and pulling my back from the door. His hand left my breast cold and alone, but just long enough to reach behind me and unfasten my bra with nimble fingers.
Kai returned his attention to my breasts. His warm strong fingers pulled my bra down from my shoulders and left it on the carpet at our feet. His mouth once again left mine and found a nipple, hard and waiting for attention. He wrapped his arms around the bottom of my ass and lifted me into his arms. As though I were feather-light, he moved us to the bed, his mouth not once leaving my needy breast except to pay tribute to its twin.
Kai nipped at the tender pink flesh and began a trail from my now cold, yearning tits to my belly. I should be self-conscious about him touching, tasting, and seeing my belly. It wasn't perfectly flat like most women my age. No, I had a few stretch marks. My body carried a life inside me and it showed. A little.
Kais's mouth made it to the top of my jeans, and as his fingers worked to unzip the denim, he bit and kissed my hips, trailing his tongue from side to side, making me moan, but it came out more like a throaty cry for more.
Kai sat up. Oh no. Did I do something wrong? It had been a while since I had been with someone like this.
All I was good for was a quick hookup. Fuck fuck fuck fuck.
As if he could sense my anxiety, Kai bent forward and kissed my lips.
"Fucking beautiful." His words whispered in my ears before he sat forward to remove me from the rest of my clothing.
Thank fuck for the flip-flops. Those fuckers were left by the front door the second he lifted my feet off the ground.
His lips returned to mine in a hard kiss that had my hips bucking for his touch like a bull who was ready to be ridden. Once my thighs were bare, the soft, thin fabric of his pants scraped my skin lightly.
Every hot-blooded, sexual human has, at one point in their life, had some doctor-kink fantasies, but I'm not quite sure they took place in the childhood bedroom of the person having them.
His erection was more apparent now. How had I been so wrapped up in my own need to be touched that I didn't realize the good doctor was rocking a hard-on of epic proportions?
I slid my fingers down his bare chest, dragging my short nails across his skin as I went. I reached for the knotted string at the front of his waistband and found it incredibly easy to untie.
Fucking hell! Was there an ounce of fat anywhere on his body? I was about to experience life-altering sex with my best fucking friend in the entire world.
That's when things started to crumble. That little teenage voice in my head reminded me we had been there, done that, and I had the proof hidden down in Southern California.