Loving Kate (Acceptance #3) (11 page)

“God, Mike, yes…don’t stop…
please
don’t stop.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m just getting started.”

Taking her mouth in mine, my tongue seeks hers in a desperate frenzy. Her whimpers echo between us as I flip down her bra so that her breasts are now out and I can give them the attention they so desperately deserve. My fingers squeeze and roll her nipples and she arches her back in response.

“Oh, yes!”

Breaking away from our kiss, I lower my mouth to her breasts. They aren’t big, but they’re perfect. And her nipples, fuck, her nipples are the biggest nipples I’ve ever seen. I’m sure I could make her come from breast play alone, but not tonight. Tonight she’s going to come in my mouth and I’m going to relish every last fucking drop.

As I flick her nipple with my tongue, she writhes beneath me, and when I close my mouth around it and slide my hand into her panties, she screams out in desire.

“Mike, I need you.”

The sound of my name rolling off her tongue lights me on fire. I’ve held back from loving someone for way too long. After releasing her nipple, my mouth leaves a trail of kisses across her stomach until I reach her panties. Quickly, I remove my hand and yank off her panties, spreading her legs open so I can get a good look.

Misty’s pretty pink pussy is bare and glistening.
I have to taste her now.
My tongue circles her opening and she arches closer to my face.
So fucking hot.
She tastes so sweet but I want to take my time with her. Instead of entering her with my tongue, I lick and suck my way to her clit.

“Oh God, yes, yes, yes!”

Misty grabs my head and pushes me down. After releasing her clit from my mouth, I use my thumb to circle it, finally entering her with my tongue. Once my tongue is inside her, she goes off like a rocket.

Fuck yeah.

“Mike, oh…oh, Mike, yes, oh god…YES!”

Her pussy convulses around my tongue, her erotic squeals still escaping from deep within. I’m so turned on as I lap up every last drop. When she is finally spent, I slow down my ministrations, easing myself out of her and kiss my way to her mouth. She needs to taste her sweetness on my lips. At first, she tries to pull away; she doesn’t want to kiss me while her essence is on my tongue.

“Oh no, baby, you need to taste yourself on me.”

“Mike, that’s gross,” she says as a shiver runs through her.

“It’s not gross, it’s you, and trust me when I say you are
far
from gross. Just once, and if you don’t like it you don’t ever have to kiss me again after I go down on you.”

She crosses her arms and looks at me with a defiant glare. “Would you kiss me if the situation were reversed? If it was your come… coating my mouth and lips?”

I want so badly to laugh but that would be such an asshole thing to do. “With absolute pleasure.”

She rolls her eyes at me and I do finally laugh. But then I take her arms and hold them above her head, inching myself closer and pinching her nipple as I lean in.

“Ohh, you’re so not playing fair!” she exclaims as I lower my mouth to hers.

“Maybe not, but if you let me kiss you I’ll stop.”

She lifts her head and her lips meet mine. She hesitates before opening to me but when she does, I pour all of my pent up sexual energy into this kiss. After releasing her arms, she reaches around my neck and pulls me closer, so close our teeth clash a time or two. Her hands aggressively pull my hair as she grinds against me. Our chemistry is off the charts. I wish I could make love to her now but I want to wait for it to be special. Instead, I slow down our kiss and gently pull away from her. She’s flushed but radiant and smiling. I raise an eyebrow at her and she knows I’m waiting for her to say something.

“Fine. It wasn’t that bad,” she concedes.

“Would you do it again?” I ask her as I draw circles on her thigh.

“Yes,” she replies, breathless.

“Good, because you tasting yourself on my tongue is one of the hottest things ever.”

This time she laughs as I help her up, grabbing her clothes along the way, and lead her to the bathroom to clean up.

“Take your time cleaning up. Anything you need should be in the cabinet. Towels, washcloths, body wash, even extra toothbrushes. Meet me in the kitchen when you’re done and we’ll eat.”

“Okay, thanks.”

I run upstairs and wash my face and brush my teeth really quick. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the gesture. When I’m done, I go into the kitchen and take the food out of the oven. I put it in on warm when I went to pick her up. It’s probably a good thing, too, or it would definitely be cold by now. I’ve got everything set and am pulling the salad out of the refrigerator when she walks in.

“Are you hungry” I ask her as I pull out a chair for her.

“Starving. You worked up my appetite,” she replies shyly.

“Would you like water or wine? Or something else?”

“Water would be great, thanks.”

She’s fidgeting with her napkin. Something’s up. After I hand her the water, I place a kiss on the top of her head and take a seat. She still looks uncomfortable. Maybe it’s the food.

“Do you not like lasagna? I thought it was your favorite?”
Shit. Did I get that simple detail wrong?

“No, it’s fine. I love lasagna.” She sighs and sets her napkin down. “I’m just wondering, do you think it’s too soon for us to be making declarations of love?”

“Maybe? I know I disappeared but it’s not like I’m a stranger, Misty. We hung out for months before everything happened last time.”

“I know we did, but…”

“But then I disappeared,” I reply with a sigh.

“Yes,” she answers, nodding her head.

“Well, you’re just going to have to trust me and if you don’t, then we should just stop this now.”

Her eyes widen in horror. “Is that what you want? To stop?” she asks fearfully.

I get up from my chair and squat down in front of her, taking her hands in mine. “No, that’s not what I want. I think that for the past two months there hasn’t been a day that has gone by where we haven’t talked at least once and texted a few dozen times a day.”

“Yes, that’s true,” she replies.

“And in that time, even if we weren’t
technically
dating, I know that neither of us were dating other people.”

“Also true,” she says, brightening a bit.

“We’ve gotten to know each other all over again, but this time my heart isn’t pushing you away, Misty, it’s letting you in. I’m not sure what happened with you these past few years, but I hope you will soon trust me enough to tell me. I’ve spent all this time being cut off from my emotions and screwing random girls. That’s not what I want anymore. That’s not the life I want to have.”

“It’s not?” she asks, confused, but she’s nodding her head as if she agrees. She’s so cute.

“No, baby, it’s not,” I tell her with a sense of renewed urgency.

“What kind of life do you want, Mike?” she asks hesitantly, squaring her shoulders as if she’s afraid of the answer.

“The kind that has you in it. I’m not saying we go run and get married by any means. But what I
am
saying is I love you and I’m finally able to admit that to you and to myself. I’m not running scared anymore. Time is just an arbitrary thing. We can date for six months or fifty years but I’m still going to love you for as long as you want me to. I’m done messing around. I want love and happiness and a family.”

Sooner rather than later
, but I don’t tell her that because she’s already freaking out. A single tear escapes from her eye and I brush it away.

“You want a family?” she asks and I nod. “With me?” she squeaks out and I smile.

“Most definitely with you.”

She nods her head up and down rapidly. “Okay.” And with just that word my heart is pounding, but not out of fear—out of happiness.

“Misty, we are going to have to put the secrets on the table soon. I can’t have you freaking out on me all the time. I’m not going anywhere but the only way for you to really accept that is for you to tell me the thing you’re afraid will have me running for the hills.”

“I know. I get that now. It will be soon. I can’t tell you when, but I promise to do it soon.”

“Fair enough,” I tell her as I rise to my feet. “Let’s eat.”

Today, Kate and I are going graduation shopping together. I’ve got no clue what to get Jess for a gift and even less of a clue as to what to get Kate. I’m hoping I’ll figure out what to get her while we shop for Jess and Connor. It’s really a strange thing for me to not automatically know what to get Kate for a special occasion. It’s never been a problem before and I’ve only got until the party tomorrow night to figure it out.

Daniel is completely on edge today because he’s nervous about his gift to her. I’ll admit I’m enjoying seeing him stress way more than I should. If he wouldn’t have wasted the past two months dwelling on things he can’t change, he wouldn’t be in this situation. We all knew he would eventually forgive her; they’re too perfect together for him not to. Hawaii will be good for them and they’ll come home happier than ever. If their trip is anything like ours was to the Bahamas, maybe they’ll even come home expecting a sibling for Lucas.

And Lila Hope.

As I pull into the driveway, Kate runs out of her house and waves frantically for me to follow her to Vanessa’s.

Something’s wrong.

I jump out of my truck and rush in seconds behind her. Kate is kneeling in front of Vanessa on the stairs and Lucas is asleep in his swing. Kate glances at me and the terrified look in her eyes tells me all I need to know. I’ve got my phone in my hand and am dialing before she even yells, “Call 911, now!”

Vanessa is pale and clutching her chest, gasping for air. She tries to stand and falls right back down.

Does she have asthma?

“911. What’s your emergency?” the operator asks in a crisp tone.

“We need an ambulance at…”
Shit, I don’t even know the address here.
Kate yells it out and I repeat it, “1532 Avon Glenn Lane.” My heart is racing and my palms are so sweaty I almost drop my phone.

“Sir, an ambulance is on its way. Can you tell me what is wrong?”

I need to answer her but all I can focus on is Kate.

“Vanessa, I know it’s hard but try and slow your breathing. You can do it. I know you can. Come on, Vanessa. You can do this, sweetie. Do it for Lucas and Chad. We love you and Lucas and Chad love you. Keep breathing, Vanessa, just keep breathing”

Vanessa sort of shakes her head but she can’t even talk just sort of chokes out words. “Can’t…breathe…hurts so…bad… help me.”

“Sir, can you hear me?” the operator repeats in my ear.

“Chest pain, short of breath. She needs help. Please hurry.”

Kate is doing her best to comfort Vanessa but it’s not working. This isn’t a panic attack. I don’t know what the hell it is but her lips are turning purple, or is that blue?

Please God, not again.

Chad’s at school and Daniel is at work.
Shit. Daniel
. I quickly text him

‘Emergency. Come to Vanessa’s now. Lucas is fine.’

The last thing I want is for him to worry about Lucas. My phone rings almost immediately but there’s too much going on right now for me to even think about answering it.

Vanessa tries to stand up again, but this time her eyes roll up in the back of her head and she does fall. I throw my phone and catch her right before she hits her head, just as the paramedics rush through the door. Kate is officially freaking out and I
know
this is taking her back to the day Lila died because I’m right back there with her, too. This
cannot
happen twice in one lifetime. Vanessa
has
to be okay. Kate keeps hold of Vanessa’s hand and just repeats over and over again how much she is loved and how she needs to fight. I’m fighting back tears because never in a million years did I think we’d ever go through this again. Once was one time too many.

The paramedics gently remove Vanessa from my arms and move her onto the gurney.

“What happened?” the first one asks as the second one looks for a pulse.

“She has a pulse but it’s tachy. Get an I.V. started and push fluids now.”

Kate answers them while they are hooking her up to all the portable monitors. “I’m not sure. She called me and said she was dizzy again and was having a hard time breathing. I’m her friend and the baby’s aunt so I ran right over. By the time I got here, she was clutching her chest in agony and couldn’t catch her breath. It was too painful for her to even breathe.”

“Does she have a history of asthma, heart disease, hypertension, panic attacks, drug use? Anything that could have brought on this episode?” the paramedic asks gently but efficiently.

“Oh my god, yes. Oh no, she has a history of pre-eclampsia. She’s two months postpartum via C-section.”  

The paramedics exchange a glance and Kate finally loses it. I’m completely lost but Kate must understand what’s going on.

“Push heparin now. We don’t have any time to waste.”

And in that instant before the syringe even hits her I.V., Vanessa loses her heartbeat. And just like Lila, the firefighters who are now on scene push Vanessa out as the paramedics try to resuscitate her.