Just a Kiss: The Bradfords, Book 5 (15 page)

Sure, relaxing. That was going to take a lot of schnapps. Every nerve in her body seemed to be humming and jumping.

“Hmm.” Kevin sipped, the swallowed and licked his lips. Then he turned toward her. “Maybe we could fast track some of that.”

She smiled. “How would we do that?” She wrapped both hands around the cup to keep them off of him and sipped. The peppermint was perfect. Not a substitute for the taste of Kevin but not a bad way to keep her mouth busy.

“We each get five questions. The most important ones, the ones we really want answered.”

Oh, boy. This could be dangerous. “And then?”

“I’ll be honest,” he said. “You’ve been seducing me all night.”

“I haven’t done anything yet.”

But there was definite heat in his eyes.

“You’ve been here, you’ve made me smile, you’ve made Drew smile. You talked to his teacher, you gave Dooley a hard time, you didn’t even blink when Tanner got cheese on the sleeve of your shirt.”

She looked at the spot where she’d wiped cheese from the plum colored polyester. She shrugged. Cheese was no big deal. “I thought having the boys here was good.”

“It was good. And it was your idea.”

She leaned deeper into the cushions. “And that tempted you a little?”

He spread his palm out on her knee. “Definitely. You were great.”

The heat from his hand soaked through her jeans quickly, heating the skin underneath. “I was planning to buy you a bunch of stuff and take you on a romantic picnic and impress you with all of the football stats I’ve memorized.”

“See,” he said, sliding his hand up and down the thigh of her jeans, “we can fast track for sure then. You already bought me jelly beans and I think this is pretty much like a picnic.”

“Drinking cocoa on the couch is like a picnic?” she asked as his hand stroked up and down again, making the skin underneath tingle. She loved having him touch her so she shifted and stretched her leg out to rest it across his lap.

“We could sit on the floor if it would help,” he said, running his hand down her calf and over the top of her bare foot.

Why would she
not
agree to fast-tracking?

She shivered. “Sure, this is a picnic. Okay, what’s your first question?”

He didn’t move his hand, but his gaze went from her face to his cup. He took a deep breath. “You seem so sure that you want me back.”

“I am,” she said firmly.

“But why now? It’s been a long time, Eve.”

She sipped, taking time to form her words carefully. It was a great question. Why had she waited to get him back? Why hadn’t she gone after him before now if she wanted to be married to him so badly?

Swallowing the now cold cocoa, she leaned over and set her cup on the table. “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I did try, at first,” she started, “but you wouldn’t talk to me. So then I spent quite a bit of time angry, then ashamed. Then I tried to forget you. Then I tried to move on. I’ve been working on that one for awhile.”

He still wasn’t looking at her, but he was still touching her, so she went on, “I think I knew a long time ago that I wasn’t going to get over you, but I was trying to ignore it because…it made me sad, and hopeless and lonely. I felt pretty pathetic, frankly, but I couldn’t help that no guy ever measured up to you. Then, seeing you again, talking to you again, I realized that I was getting a second chance. You’re here and I can’t let you leave again without trying.”

There. That hadn’t been so bad.

She wasn’t sure Kevin was breathing.

“Okay,” he finally said hoarsely.

“Okay?”

He looked up at her. His eyes held a heart-wrenching combination of regret, relief and want. She leaned closer.

“So let’s hear some stats.”

She blinked. Then smiled. “College or pro?”

He wrinkled his nose. “College.” He hadn’t wanted to go pro. At least at one time.

Eve had been surprised when he’d entered the draft but things had changed drastically in her life by that time too, so she couldn’t question his decisions. He’d seen a little playing time that first year and impressed everyone. His second year with the Chiefs had been outstanding and things had looked promising. She’d seen every televised game of his college and pro career. Including the game that had ended it all.

She’d watched the slow motion replay of the hit that had torn up his knee over and over. She could still feel the way her stomach had roiled and her heart had squeezed. She didn’t necessarily mourn his career so much as she felt sick about him being injured and the slow, frustrating, painful rehab process.

“Do you miss playing?” she asked.

He dragged his hand down her leg to her foot, pressing his thumb into the arch. She moaned and he sucked in a quick breath. But he pressed again, massaging.

“Is that your first question?” he asked. “Because I’m thinking that maybe five questions each is too many.”

She flexed her foot against his hand and grinned. “You’re the one that wanted me to prove that I wanted you back.”

“I didn’t know you’d be so good at it.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Is that right?”

He chuckled. “If I’d thought for even three seconds about it, I would have realized what I was getting into. But all I could think was that I’ve always been too easy for you. Before I do that again, I want to be sure you’re really in this.”

She started to say something smartass about him being easy, but suddenly she couldn’t. The thing was, he had been easy for her. But not because he wanted in her pants. Even as a naïve teen she’d felt the difference between the boys that flirted because they wanted to cop a feel and Kevin. Kevin had truly cared about her. He’d fallen in love with her. He would have done anything for her.

She’d made him work at it because she’d thought that’s what she should do. She’d been raised knowing right and wrong, good and bad. Even more than those black and white ideas, she’d also been taught about consequences—that bad things happened when you made the wrong choices.

Yeah, well, that may be true, but bad things could happen even if you made the right choices so all of that seemed like a lot of crap to her now.

She’d honored her father’s beliefs and the church’s teachings about love and sex and marriage and had waited—and made Kevin wait. Then she’d done it the right way. She’d married him. And from there her whole world fell apart.

Kevin didn’t know that after she’d lied to her father about where she’d spent their wedding night, she’d finally gone and confessed. He didn’t know that even though she’d essentially rejected him, her father had still asked her to leave their house. For good.

She still remembered how calmly he’d made the request. There had been no yelling, no accusations, no recitation of the Ten Commandments. He’d asked her to leave and she had.

She’d followed the ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, and it seemed that she was screwed either way. She’d been miserable doing the right thing and miserable doing the wrong thing. And it had cost her this man. This man who had taken in a little boy whose parents had messed everything up, who had no one else, who was a complete stranger and who wouldn’t even make eye contact with him. He was looking past his father’s mistake, Heather’s mistake, even Drew’s own behaviors, and was doing something good.

He wasn’t getting away again.

Eve met Kevin’s gaze directly. “No, my first question is how do you feel about forgiveness?”

He looked at her without a word for a moment. Then he moved and set his cup beside hers. When he leaned back, he rested his elbow on the back of the couch and took a deep breath. “I think when we forgive someone for something they’ve done to us, that’s as close to divine as we can get.”

She stared at him. “I, um…”

“Forgiving is the hardest thing we have to do,” he went on, “especially when it’s for something that can’t be changed. And most of us are really bad at it. We might say the words, but really feeling it is something else. But…” He took another deep breath, “when we really do it, then it’s amazing. It makes everybody involved better.”

Tears stung the back of her eyes and her throat felt thick. He’d been back in town for less than twenty-four hours but she knew that her life had changed.

“So question two,” she said, her voice scratchy, “is can you forgive me? For not telling my dad, and everyone, that we’d gotten married? For making you feel like I was ashamed of it, or of you? For not confessing to the world how much I loved you?”

His gaze roamed over her face, touching every centimeter from her forehead to her chin, ear to ear. Finally he said, “I want to. Can we start with that?”

Her heart stopped for a moment. He hadn’t said yes. It was way too soon for that. But he wanted to.

They could definitely start with that. She couldn’t have stopped the grin on her face for anything. She was going to deserve this man this time.

Moving quickly, she shifted and slid onto his lap, straddling his thighs to face him. “You hold Nebraska’s school record for tackles with loss at fifty-nine,” she said, putting a hand on his chest and leaning in to kiss him.

She pulled back after only a moment. “You are second in school history for quarterback sacks with twenty-five point five.” She tipped her head and kissed him again.

Kevin’s hands went to her hips and he held her close as the second kiss lasted longer. He groaned in protest when she lifted her head.

“You also had seven fumble recoveries.” This kiss lasted even longer and Kevin opened his mouth under hers, curling his fingers into her hips and shifting his thighs restlessly against her, but she still pulled back.

“And you scored two touchdowns from those recoveries. Oh, and blocked two kicks—”

“Yeah, yeah. Very nice. I’m officially seduced. Now
kiss
me,” he demanded.

“I am kissing you,” she said with a grin.

“Like you mean it.”

Her smile died and she looked him directly in the eyes. “Oh, I mean it,” she said softly.

Her hands cupped his face and she leaned in, savoring the moment between her heartfelt words and the kiss that was going to rock his world.

Finally
. He was hungry for her, the ever-present desire fueled by a strange combination of the crimson colored polish on her toes, the smudge of chocolate frosting on her shoulder from the brownies—that had been there before the cheese—and the fact that she knew how many fumble recoveries he had. As soon as their lips met, Kevin spread his hand over her middle back holding her in place. He needed her right where she was for a very long time.

The strength of the hunger in her kiss took him aback though. Her hands slid from his jaw to his hair, her fingertips flat against his scalp, holding
him
in place. Their lips opened simultaneously and Kevin’s tongue stroked deep. She moaned—or he moaned—or they both moaned—it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was Eve was here, in his arms, where she belonged.

She wiggled closer, her pelvis pressing against his erection. He lifted against her, wanting some relief to the pressure behind his zipper. That seemed to flip her switch from high to frenzied.

She moaned and ran her hands up under his shirt, her palms hot against his skin. He shuddered, his body straining toward her. Her thumbs brushed over his nipples and heat streaked through him.

“Eve,” he groaned.

“Yes. God, I want you,” she panted.

She’d never ever said that before. All the times they’d made out she was always the one pulling back, reminding him—albeit breathlessly—that she couldn’t go further. Even on their wedding night, she’d followed his lead. She’d been curious, sweet, even greedy at times, but never the aggressor.

“I want to strip you down and lick every inch of you, feel every—”

The sound of the front door opening stopped her words and they heard Dooley tramping in—likely on purpose to alert them to his presence.

Kevin tipped his head back, breathing and listening to the sound of Dooley banging cupboard doors in the kitchen.

At his age, with his experience, and his convictions he should
not
feel so out of control, so desperate, so willing to do anything to be inside of her again.

His friend had never had better timing. Kevin started to shift Eve off of his lap, when she leaned in and put her mouth to his ear.

“Part of making out on the living room couch is the risk of being caught.” She licked the spot on his neck below his ear and he groaned. “I don’t even have my bra off yet. Nothing to worry about.”

He heard Dooley’s footsteps on the stairs and felt Eve press her hips against him.

“Did you ever fantasize about having me on this couch?” she asked huskily, lifting her hips slightly and pressing forward. They’d never made out in either of their parents’ houses. They hadn’t even watched a movie together here. “Did you think about making love to me here? Or up in your bed?”

Had he? Was snow cold? “And a million other places.”

“What did you do about it?”

“Me and my hand got to be good friends while we were dating,” he told her without really thinking.