Embracing Love (Once Broken Book 1) Page 10

  He can’t even look at me anymore, and I don’t care. He broke my heart and left me high and dry. “You’re a Yankee, you said. You’ll get laughed at in the south, you said. That was all way more important to you than being there for me when I needed you, so why are you here now?”

  “I want to apologize and try to fix things. I miss you,” he says desperately.

  “Why? Is it because I spoke to Jazzmine the other day and told her about Remy? Is that what this is about? She told you I started dating someone so you had to come running down here to try and whisk me away?”

  “I’m hoping you’ll come home at some point, yes.”

  I put my hands up to cut him off.

  “This is my home.” I gesture around my kitchen. “This is where I live. I grew up down here, and after Nana passes all I have left is Aunt Kenderly and Uncle Jasper. What makes you think I want to leave again?”

  “Fine, I’ll move down here,” he says, like it’s no big deal.

  “Why now? Why couldn’t you months ago when I needed you? Do you know how many nights I cried myself to sleep because I felt like I was losing Nana and you left me to deal with it on my own?” The tears I had been fighting back are now streaming down my face.

  “You need to go. I’m not doing this again.” I shake my head to make my point.

  “You can push me away right now. I know I just dropped a lot on you, but I’m not giving up on us,” he says, like he has a choice. I close my eyes as I see Remy’s Audi pull up outside. I take a deep breath as he runs up the porch.

  He knocks on the door.

  “Come in, Remy,” I say through the screen.

  He looks at Daniel, then looks at me. “Hey, sweet pea. Who’s this?” Remy gives him a dirty look. He can see I’m clearly upset and he’s not happy about it.

  “He’s leaving,” I say, but Daniel cuts me off.

  “I’m the ex,” Daniel says.

  Remy smiles. “I’m the current. The name’s Remy.”

  “I’ve heard.” He tries to stand tall, but Daniel has nothing on Remy. Daniel is thin and lean where Remy is taller, broader, and way more built.

  “I think it’s time you go. It appears you’ve upset my girl, and she doesn’t seem to want you here.” Remy steps a bit closer, showing off his size.

  “I’ll go, but know this.” He steps even closer, so they’re nose-to-nose. “I’m your competition.”

  Remy laughs. “Really? That’s what you think.” He shakes his head and starts to say more but stops. “Just go, Daniel, because I won’t lower myself to your standards.” Remy walks over, opening the door for him. Daniel places the flowers on the table and walks out. I pick them up and toss them in the trash as Remy closes the door behind Daniel.

  Remy walks straight up to me. “Come here.” He wraps me in his arms. “Is he why you need to go slow?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just want to finish my breakfast and go about our day.”

  “Okay. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  I shake my head. “I made coffee. Want some while I finish up?”

  He gives me a warm smile. “Sure, I’ll get it if you don’t mind. You make your breakfast.”

  I point to the cabinet the cups are in and say, “Cups are there, the sweetener is there, and cream is in the fridge. Help yourself.”

  He makes his coffee, I make my egg sandwich, and we both take a seat at my small kitchen table. We’re both silent, but for the first time since we’ve started talking, there’s nothing comfortable about it. I feel like I need to say something so I don’t ruin our day.

  I sigh. “We dated when I lived up north. I got the call from Aunt Kenderly that she needed help with Nana.” I take a bite of my sandwich to try and control my emotions. “When I told him I had to move home, he refused to come with me. I was shocked and hurt. We had been dating for almost two years, and when I needed him he wasn’t there for me.” I clear my throat. “I left and told him I never wanted to speak with him again. Now he says he misses me and wants me back.” I start eating again, not sure what else to say. I look up to see Remy staring at me.

  “What?” I question.

  “Do you want him back?” he asks me like it’s even something I’d consider.

  “No. I don’t care how many times he apologizes or how many sets of flowers he brings me. I can’t trust him, and without trust we have nothing.”

  “I agree. You need to trust one another to have a relationship, and you need to support each other in life’s tough choices.” His words cut me as I think back to all the tough choices my father had to make, and all the times my mother cried while she was home alone supporting his career. I push those thoughts away. I really don’t want to go there right now. I promised myself one day at a time, and that’s what I’m going to do.

  “Are you ready?” I ask, putting my plate in the dishwasher.

  He gives me a small smile. “I am.” He rinses his cup and puts it in the dishwasher to be washed. It makes me smile, because that was one of my arguments with Daniel. He would always leave his dishes in the sink.

  ***

  Remy

  We get into the car, and my poor girl is still upset. I can see it. I’m going to give her the car ride to try and get herself settled. Then, when we get to the fair, I’ll help her if need be. We have a little bit of a ride, so I’m hoping we can forget about this morning by the time we get there. I need the drive to try and calm myself as well. I’m trying not to show it, but I’m seething on the inside. This guy has some serious balls just showing up at her place and expecting her to forgive and forget. Who the fuck does he think he is?

  I need to change my thoughts or I’m never going to be able to pull her out of this funk. “So, I heard that Keaton and Lilly have hit it off. Do you want to make plans to go out with them together? Maybe we can go dancing next week?”

  She gives me a small smile. “That would be great. I’m going to have to start getting my classroom ready and putting some hours in at school, so it’ll be nice to do it before that rolls around.”

  “All right, I’ll talk to Keaton, and you talk to Lilly. We’ll figure it out.” I give her a big smile as we pull up to the fair. The place is already really busy, but I manage to find a parking place rather quickly.

  Taking her hand, I help her from the car.

  “Thanks.” She looks a bit happier.

  I close the door and pin her to the car for a minute. I look into her eyes before pressing my lips to hers. Her hands wrap around my neck. The noise of the rides in the background fade away, and for a minute I forget we’re in a parking lot, until a car speeds past us. I chuckle. “Ready for some fun?”

  She laughs too. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Hand-in-hand, we walk through the entrance to the biggest fair in the area. There are vendors set up with shopping, food and snack stations are everywhere, and of course, tons of games and rides. “Where do you want to start?” I ask as I see her looking all over.

  She smiles at me. “Let’s walk the vendors first,” she says, so we head in that direction. There are kids running around with balloons in hand and smiles on their faces. “I remember coming here as a kid. I had so much fun with my mom. We would spend the entire day walking around, checking out vendors, eating junk, and we’d even go on a few rides,” she says with a smile that lights up her beautiful face.

  “Yeah, my brothers and I used to come here all the time too, and then when Brooke was old enough, Mama would drop us off and make us take her around the fair.”

  “How old are your brothers and sister?” she asks, looking at some summer dresses.

  “Dawson is the oldest at thirty-seven. I’m next turning thirty-five, Keaton comes after me and he’s turning thirty, and Brooke is the baby at twenty-seven.”

  “Ah, so you’re a bit older than me,” she says with a smile and a wink.

  “Oh really. Am I too old for you?” I narrow my eyes at her. I’m a gentleman, so I won’t dare ask her
how old she is but I’m dying to know.

  “I don’t know. Is two years too much of a gap for you?” she asks with her brows raised and a huge smile across her face.

  “Hell no,” I tell her, totally relieved.

  She takes my hand, and we continue to walk along the rows of vendors. “Sometimes I wish I had siblings,” she says to change the subject.

  “I’m sure, but they can be a pain in the ass too. For example, on Monday night, Brooke was home waiting for me to ask how my date with you went, like I have to report to her.”

  She laughs. “That’s sweet,” she says. “Think about it, your sister cares that much about you that she is interested in your dates.”

  “Date,” I correct. “I’m only dating you and it can still be annoying.” She laughs, and we continue on. There are a ton of vendors here. Some are selling toys, others cleaning products, and there are a few with clothing. There are even vendors selling sunglasses, ball caps, and sun hats. She puts a sun hat on and it looks great on her, but she puts it back.

  A short time later we finally make our way through all the vendors and have bought nothing, but she’s looked at every shop. We agreed to go back to one of the toy sections before the day was done so I could get a little something for my niece. I doubt they’ll be making the fair since Kayla is due anytime now.

  At the end of the final row, there’s a stage set up and there’s a local dance team performing. “Can we watch?” she asks excitedly.

  “Of course,” I tell her. We find two empty seats, and as we do the instructor comes over a microphone to introduce herself and the dance school. She explains to everyone that her dance team is going to be leaving for some competition in a few weeks, and this is their practice show. The music begins, and the girls start their next routine. I look over at Kenzie to see her all smiles and dancing in her seat. “Are you enjoying this?”

  “Yes, I used to dance as a little girl, and I always wanted to be on a dance team, but Mama said it was too much commitment.” Her smile slips for a second, but she quickly recovers and continues cheering for the girls on the stage. I can’t help but wonder if her childhood has anything to do with her reason for wanting to go slow. She’s spoken about her childhood, but hasn’t said much more than her father passing when she was a young girl, and how her mom died of cancer.

  I notice the rows of chairs around us have filled up. It makes me feel a bit claustrophobic, but as the next dance ends Kenzie’s excitement for the girls brings a smile to my face. It’s nice to see her happy after the rough start we had this morning.

  Taking my hand, she says, “Come on. Let’s get some cotton candy.” We walk along, and as we do, she’s pointing out little kids and laughing at their innocence as they play around with toys they either bought or won. We get to the cotton candy stand and there’s a short line, but we’re served rather quickly. Kenzie says, “Want to share one?”

  “Sure. I don’t eat a ton of cotton candy.”

  She shakes her head. “One cotton candy, please,” she says to the woman in the window. I pull out my wallet and hand the woman some bills for the cotton candy.

  “Come on, I want to win you something from the games. Let’s go see what they have to play.” I lead her over to the games, and we begin looking at the different options. Some of them are really hard and some look easy. There are popping balloons with darts, ring toss, a huge basketball hoop, and of course, the game where you have to ring the bell. I start to walk past it, but Kenzie pulls on my arm.

  “Come on, muscles. Can you ring the bell?” She looks at me with one eyebrow raised.

  “Muscles?” I question.

  “Yeah.” She squeezes my biceps. “I know you work out. Look at these muscles. I bet you can do it.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll see if I can ring the bell.” I hand the guy some cash and pick up the big wooden mallet. It’s not that heavy, which means it’s mostly on me. I slam it dead on, but it only reaches the nine. Ten is when it dings. Kenzie starts to chuckle because I missed, but now that I have the weight of the mallet I hand over some more money and swing again. This time I ring the bell no problem. She starts jumping up and down, very excited I won her a prize. She picks a big giraffe, and I take the silly stuffed animal from the guy. We walk off hand-in-hand.

  “Time for a little competition,” I tell her.

  “Oh really? You want to take me?” she asks, looking a bit cocky.

  If she only knew. I shake my head. I take a seat at the water guns. “Want to race?”

  She plops the last of the cotton candy into my mouth and says, “You’re on.”

  She takes a seat next to me as I pay the guy for both our games. The guy says, “On your mark, get set, go!” he shouts. We both hit the trigger. I hit my target a second quicker than she does, and it gives me the advantage. I win, and she pouts at me.

  “Want to try again?” I ask her. She nods.

  The guy restarts the game, and this time as he says, “On your mark,” Kenzie reaches over and squeezes my thigh. The little cheater is distracting me. “Get set,” the man says, and her hand climbs higher, causing my cock to twitch in my pants. “Go,” he shouts, and she squeezes my cock as she squeezes the trigger with her other hand. I lose my target, and she gets the upper hand, winning the round. She jumps up and down excitedly, collecting her prize.

  We walk off, and I pull her out of the row of games and behind the truck, pinning her against it and out of sight of spying eyes. “You cheated,” I say, pressing my cock between her legs.

  She bats her lashes at me. “My goodness, you’re not upset you lost to your girl, are you?”

  “Not at all, it was worth it to see that beautiful face of yours light up with excitement.”

  She presses her lips to mine and says, “What are we doing after this?”

  “Whatever you want.” I shrug.

  “I want to go on a few rides with you, and then I want to make you dinner at my place.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  ***

  We pull up to Kenzie’s with my backseat full of stuffed animals. Our stomachs are growling, but to be honest, with all the flirting she’s done with me food is not at all what I’m hungry for. I help her get the stuff from the back to take inside. We walk in, and for the first time since I’ve been here, she shuts and locks door behind us, while I put her stuffed animals in her living room.

  I turn to find her right behind me. She wraps her arms around my waist and says, “Thanks for a fun afternoon.”

  “You’re very welcome.” My words are barely a whisper. Her hungry eyes are devouring me as she looks between my eyes and my lips. I slowly lower my lips to hers, making my intentions clear, but when they meet the kiss instantly becomes heated and passionate. Our tongues meet and dance as I slip my hands into her long hair. I pull it gently, adjusting to give me better access. “I’m starved for you,” I say, looking into her eyes.

  “Me too,” she says, taking my hand and pulling me to her bedroom. She kicks the door shut behind us and kicks off her shoes. My lips crash down on hers, bruising our lips. She begins pulling my shirt from my jeans.

  I break our kiss. “Are you sure, Kenzie? I really like you and I want no regrets.”

  She bites her lip and says, “I’m sure,” before pulling my shirt over my head. Her eyes are devouring my body until she comes across my scar. She leans in and presses a gentle kiss to it. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for.” I lift her chin, gently kiss her, and begin trailing kisses down her neck. I dispose of her shirt and bra, exposing her perky breasts before I playfully push her down on the bed, kick off my shoes, and slip her shorts and panties off, leaving her gloriously naked. She gives me a bashful smile as I climb on top of her. “You’re so beautiful.” I kiss her neck and continue my way down to her chest. I can see her breathing has already changed as I suck one of her nipples into my mouth and roll the other between my finger and thumb. Kissing acr
oss the valley between her beautiful breasts, I suck the other into my mouth and roll my tongue over her hardening nipple while slowly gliding my hand over her flawless skin. When I reach her sex, I slide my fingers through her folds and slowly slip them into her tight pussy. She moans as I begin working her with my fingers and kissing my way down her flat belly. I get to the top of her sexy patch of hair, and take a second to inhale her intoxicating scent before licking my way through her folds, finding her sensitive clit. I gently lick at her, lapping up some of her juices.

  “Mmm, you taste heavenly,” I tell her before I continue licking at her beautiful pussy.

  Her hips start to move in rhythm with my tongue, grinding herself against my face. I’m fucking her with my fingers as I lick at her tasty little clit. “Shit, Remy, I’m going to…” she trails off. I look up to see her biting her lip and moaning as her legs shake. She tightens her legs around me. I continue licking her clit until she rides out her orgasm. When she looks down at me I press my tongue against her, licking from her ass to her clit in one slow lick. She smiles back at me.

  I grab the condom from my wallet before disposing of my shorts and boxers. I kneel between her legs, slip it on, and position my cock at her tight opening. Her smile grows, letting me know she’s ready. Thrusting my hips forward, I slide my full length inside of her. “Lord, woman, you feel so good.” I slowly start to move my hips, sliding my full length in and out of her tight pussy.

  Once I have control, I begin picking up the pace. I press my lips to hers as I continue stuffing her full of my cock. We’re moving together and it feels amazing. I bite my lip trying to fight off my release as I build her back up. It’s a struggle and just when I think I’m going to have to stop to gain control, another orgasm takes over and her pussy starts tightening around my cock. I slam myself deep inside her one last time as she screams my name and I release my load. I’m panting and sweating as I lower myself on top of her. “Holy shit, Remy,” she pants.