Embracing Love (Once Broken Book 1) Page 11

  I chuckle. “I know. I feel the same way.”

  She giggles, and before she can say anything more, I cover her mouth with mine, this time in a much gentler kiss. This time, when I press my forehead to hers she says, “I owe you dinner.”

  That’s when my stomach growls. “Apparently my stomach agrees.”

  She laughs again. “Let’s clean up and I’ll make us something to eat, but I have one question for you before we do.”

  “What’s that, sweet pea?” I ask, rubbing my knuckles across her cheek.

  “Will you spend the night with me?”

  I smile down at her. “I’d love to.”

  Chapter 11

  Remy

  Watching Kenzie sleep is the most beautiful thing. She looks so happy and peaceful. It makes me happy we don’t run on Sundays. It gives me a chance to watch her for a few more minutes before I wander into the kitchen to show her some of my cooking skills. While helping her with dinner last night, I made note of the eggs she had in the fridge, and decided, since she took care of me with a delicious dinner last night, I’d take care of her this morning.

  Gently sneaking out of bed, I slip on my shorts and tiptoe to the kitchen, hoping I don’t make too much noise. I start pulling pans from the cabinets I saw her take them from yesterday, and begin whisking eggs for scrambled eggs. Checking her freezer, I find a ham steak that will be a perfect addition to our little breakfast, so I pull it out and pop into her microwave to defrost while I cut up some onions and peppers to add to our eggs.

  We had a long conversation last night with regards to foods that we both like and dislike, and I was happy to hear we seem to like most of the same things. I smile thinking about how excited she was cooking for me. I throw the peppers and onions into a pan to start cooking. The microwave beeps telling me the ham is defrosted, so I pull it out and set it aside to finish cooking it when I’m done with the eggs. I find her bread and set aside two slices each for toast, then get busy making our coffee. I’m quite happy that Mama made us boys learn how to cook to some extent. Keaton was the only one who was a pain to her about it, but he can at least hold his own. Then again, Keaton was a pain in the ass about most things. That reminds me; I need to text him later so we can set up this double date. After pouring the eggs into the pan with the peppers and onions, I turn to make us some toast, and when I do, I’m stopped dead in my tracks. Kenzie is leaning against the door frame wearing nothing but my shirt and a huge grin.

  She strolls over to me, wraps her arms around my waist, and says, “Showing off your cooking skills, huh?”

  I smile and say, “Something like that.” I place a gentle kiss on her soft, luscious lips. I step away to tend to the eggs while she grabs two coffee cups and starts to pour our coffee. “It’ll be ready in just a few minutes,” I add as she places a cup of coffee beside me. “Thanks,” I tell her before sipping it. She made it just the way I like it.

  Placing both plates of food on the table, I sit beside her and we begin eating. She moans her appreciation, but the message goes to the wrong head as my cock twitches under the table, but I mentally talk him down. Now that I’ve had a taste of her, she’s going to be hard to resist. I quickly start eating, but all I can see is her cleavage hanging out from the V of my shirt. I glance up to see her grinning at me. She knows exactly what she’s doing. I clear my plate in record time and lean on my arms as I watch her eat. She’s just about done, and as soon as she takes the last bite, I’m going to fix her.

  She pops the last piece of toast into her mouth and chews it with exaggeration as I watch her with one eyebrow raised. As soon as she swallows it I leap to my feet, scooping her up over my shoulder and carrying her back to her room. She’s pretending to fight me, but she’s laughing so hard I know she doesn’t mean it. She slaps me on the ass, but it’s a bad choice because her half-naked ass is by my face, so I turn my head and bite hers.

  “Ow,” she squeals as I toss her onto her bed. She starts laughing again. “I can’t believe you bit my ass.” She’s rubbing her butt cheek.

  “It was a tasty ass too. Now look what you did to me, showing off all that cleavage at the breakfast table as you moaned and groaned.”

  “You’re a good cook.” She bats her lashes, trying to be all innocent. She scoots to the edge of the bed, slips her hands in my shorts, and pulls them down over my hips, releasing my fully erect cock. She gently wraps her warm fingers around it as she licks her lips. Looking up at me through her lashes, she says, “I’m still hungry.” I watch as she slowly licks from the base of my cock all the way to the tip, making my cock twitch again. She does it a second time, but this time, when she gets to the tip, she sucks it into her mouth. I take in a sharp breath and slip my hands into her hair. I gently encourage her to take me deeper into her warm, wet mouth. My hips are moving, and my hands are holding onto her hair for dear life.

  “Lord, woman. That feels so good.” I’m panting as I try to force words of encouragement out. She’s practically gagging trying to take my full length, but she’s amazing. Her tongue glides over the vein in my cock. “Kenzie, I’m going to come.” I’m trying to hold on. “If you don’t want me come in your mouth you need to stop,” I warn her, but she only sucks harder. She takes my balls in her hand, massaging them, and it’s enough to send me over the edge.

  “Fuck, Kenzie.” I start spilling my seed down her throat, and she swallows it like a champ. She sucks hard one last time as she pulls my cock from her mouth, causing a popping sound.

  She giggles at the noise she makes. “Now I’ve had enough,” she says with a huge grin.

  “But I haven’t.” I toss her back onto the center of the bed and crawl up her body, peeling my shirt up as I go, exposing her beautiful breasts to me. I suck one into my mouth and pull on it to make the same popping noise she made with my cock. She giggles as I kiss my way across the valley of her chest and repeat the same process to the other breast. I kiss up to the vein in her neck, then lick to her earlobe. I suck it into my mouth and nibble on it before I whisper, “I want to be buried inside you.”

  “I want you buried inside me.” She moans as she’s grinding her hips against my cock.

  “Do you have condoms?” I question.

  “Nightstand.” She points with her chin. I wink at her and reach over to grab one. I quickly roll it on and then flip her over, pulling her ass into the air. I kiss her ass cheek where I bit it earlier. Spreading her ass wide, I slip my cock into her opening and slowly move my full length in and out of her while I reach around with one hand to play with her clit. She starts backing her ass up, meeting my thrusts, forcing me deeper inside her sweet pussy. “Damn, Remy, I’m going to come,” she says before she bites down on her pillow. Taking both hips in my hands, I slam my cock inside her a few more times as her muscles tighten around me, squeezing my cock, and emptying me of my load.

  When I lie down beside her, she rolls over and places her head on my chest. “What are your plans for the day?” she asks me.

  “Well, my brothers are coming over for family dinner tonight. Other than that, nothing,” I reply as she looks up at me, resting her chin on my chest. “Did you have something in mind?”

  “No, I wasn’t sure if you had to rush off.”

  I roll her over so one of my legs is between hers, pinning her down, and I look into her eyes. “Come to dinner with me tonight.”

  “Don’t you think that’s moving things a bit quickly? Besides, I have to go check on Nana today.” A look of panic flashes across her face, but she recovers quickly.

  “I don’t think it’s moving quickly, but I understand that your nana has to come first,” I tell her, trying not to sound disappointed. “Will I get to see you during the week?”

  “Can we play it by ear? I have to go to the school and spend some time in my classroom figuring out what I need before the start of the year, and I need to make sure that Aunt Kenderly and Nurse Emily are not killing themselves over Nana.”

  “Is there a proble
m with the new nurse? You know my father can get you someone else.”

  “No, she just came on a little too strong at first, but she’s really sweet and cares about Nana. It’s Aunt Kenderly. I think she’s struggling with the situation. Her dad’s already gone, as are her sister and brother-in-law. Once Nana passes, I’m all she has left, and I think it’s causing her to be a bit snippy.”

  “I’m sure it’s hard on her.”

  “Yeah, well, I had to get in between the two of them the other day and get everyone on the same page. I need to make sure they are working well together before school starts so I’m not stressing over that while I’m in classes.”

  “Okay, we’ll play it by ear. Call me during the week, and if I have some free time, we’ll make plans. Otherwise, I’ll work on setting something up with Keaton for Friday night.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” she says, licking her lips.

  I press a kiss to her moist lips. “I’m going to head home soon, so I can get my stuff ready for work tomorrow before the family arrives.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you for our run in the morning,” she says, but she sounds off.

  “Are you okay?” I ask gently. I want her to be comfortable talking to me, and it seems she struggles a bit in that department.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she says, trying to sound convincing, but failing. I want to push, but I decide to back off, hoping she’ll come to me when she’s ready.

  “Come on, let’s go clean up from breakfast before I have to take off.”

  “I got it. You can head home if you need to.” Wow, now I feel like she’s pushing me out the door. I narrow my eyes at her, and even though I’m unsure how to respond, I decide to stand my ground.

  “I said I’ll help you. I’m not going to make a mess in your kitchen and leave it for you to clean.” I climb off of her, grabbing her arm and pulling her up with me, my hands wrapping around her waist, pressing her to my bare chest. Her hands grab onto my shoulders, and I look down into her eyes. “I wish you would talk to me. I want to try and ease the concerns that are going through that pretty little head of yours.”

  She swallows hard and says, “Not today, but soon,” while pushing away from me.

  I take a deep breath to try and calm my frustration, then put on my shorts and shirt and walk out of the room, leaving her to finish dressing as well. I like her, but it’s killing me that she’s so closed off, and so help me god if it has anything to do with this guy Daniel, I’m going to kick his fucking ass.

  She sneaks up behind me while I’m cleaning a pan at the sink. She wraps both hands around my waist and presses her cheek to my back. I step out of her hold to put the last few dishes in the dishwasher before I grab my keys off the table.

  “You’re holding back and I can’t imagine why,” My voice a bit louder than I mean it to be. “I can’t even try to ease your pain or your concerns because you won’t talk to me about them, and it’s leaving me feeling helpless,” I continue while running my fingers through my hair. “Can’t you see I like you, Kenzie? Shit, I like you a lot, but if you’re going to shut me out, then I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” I look down for a second. “You said without trust there’s nothing, and yet you don’t even trust me enough to tell me what’s bothering you.” She looks to the floor, but says nothing.

  I give her a minute to respond, but still she says nothing.

  I slam my fists on the table. “Damn it, Kenzie. You can’t just stand there and act like this is nothing. I know you feel the connection between us. Are you really willing to let it go?” She still just stands there, looking lost and unsure of what to say. I sigh in defeat, walking out the door, letting it slam behind me. When I turn to get into my car I see her standing on her porch, staring at me. She looks completely heartbroken, and part of me wants to run back up those steps and wrap her in my arms. I want to tell her it’ll be okay, but I don’t know if it will when she can’t even open up to me—not even a little. I shake my head in frustration, get in my car, and drive off.

  Chapter 12

  Kenzie

  Rolling over with a huge yawn, I stretch in my bed and glance over at the clock. I’m supposed to get up in five minutes for my morning run, but I have no desire to run today. I look out the window to see it’s a bit foggy and probably a great day to go, but I slept horribly last night. The look of disappointment and frustration on Remy’s face before he walked out yesterday kept playing over and over in my mind. I haven’t known him long, but in the short time we’ve been hanging out, he’s already managed to get under my skin. I know he probably thinks it’s no big deal to talk to him about my feelings, but it is. He thinks he can settle my fears, and for the life of me I can’t seem to figure out how he could do that.

  Punching my pillow in frustration, I try to get comfortable and roll over trying to fall back to sleep. There’s no way I can go running today. I’m exhausted, and I’m not sure I can face him until I figure my shit out. Taking a deep breath, I can feel my eyelids getting heavy, until I hear a pounding noise. I jump up in bed to realize I hear it again. I throw on my robe and run out to see Remy standing at the door.

  Pulling the door open, I snap, “What are you doing here?”

  I can see from his expression he’s taken aback. “You weren’t out for our run. I was worried about you,” he says with his brows furrowed, his hands running through his hair because he’s so upset.

  “Well, I’m fine. I didn’t sleep well last night, so I decided to skip running this morning.”

  “And you didn’t think I would worry, so you didn’t bother with a text to let me know?”

  “You’re not my father, Remy. I don’t need to report to you.” Now I’m pissed. He nods slightly, trying to control his temper. I can see I’ve managed to hurt him yet again.

  “Have a good day, Kenzie.” He runs down my porch and toward the street. I call his name to apologize, but I’m too late. He ignores me and continues on his way.

  I sigh, walking back into my house to shower. I go about getting ready for work, determined to push this out of my head. I’m pissed that he thinks I have to report to him if I’m not going for a run, but at the same time it’s sweet he was concerned. My emotions are all over the place, and I need to focus on the task at hand. Right now, that’s figuring out what my classroom needs.

  After arriving at the school, I walk down the hall and straight into my classroom, closing the door behind me. I don’t care to say hi to the teachers I have met, or introduce myself to those I haven’t met yet. I want to get this done so I can go visit Nana. The first thing I notice when I walk through the door is the room smells stale, so I immediately begin opening the windows to let in some fresh air. I move on to moving the desks around. They’re all pushed against the wall from when the janitorial staff was in last week polishing the floors so they’ll look nice when school starts. Once I have the desks lined up in nice, neat rows, I double check that I have enough desks for the twenty-two students who will walk through that door on the first day.

  I take a seat at my desk and begin looking through the drawers to discover most of them are empty, and the ones that aren’t have some supplies in them, but there isn’t much. I have a stapler, a pair of scissors, a few pens, a small pad of sticky notes, and some scrap paper. I sigh as I begin to think about all the things I will need for my desk, let alone the remainder of my classroom. A short time later I have a list of everything I will need, as well as all the paperwork I need to get some work done from home the rest of this week. I need to make name tags for the kids’ desks, and pick up some decorations as well as finish my lesson plans so I can submit them to the principal.

  Exiting my classroom, I make my way through the school to the front where my car is parked. When I get out there, my phone starts ringing so I quickly answer it. “Hello,” I say, holding the phone with my shoulder to my ear as I put my bag into the car.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Daniel says into the phone. I want to grunt as I roll
my eyes. As if my day isn’t shitty enough, now I have to deal with this jerk.

  “Daniel, I’m not your sweetie.” I climb into my car and shut the door.

  He sighs. “I know, but I wish you were.”

  “What do you want, Daniel? I’m working, or at least trying to.”

  “It looks to me like you’re leaving work.” I gasp as I look around the parking lot for him, but I don’t see him until he flashes the lights on his rental. I’m such an idiot. I was searching for his car.

  “I want to have lunch with you,” he whines into the phone.

  “Not today. It’s been a bad day, and I need to head over to Nana’s to take care of her,” I tell him as I start my car.

  “Okay. Can I come with you to meet her?”

  “No, you can’t. Listen, I know you’re trying, and I don’t know how to tell you this so you’ll understand, but it’s not going to happen.”

  He cuts the call without saying anything more. I quickly pull out of my parking space and take off up the street before he has a chance to turn around. I don’t need him following me to Nana’s house.

  When I pull into the driveway, I find Uncle Jasper working in the yard with no sign of Nana or anyone else. “Hi, Uncle Jasper. Where is everyone?”

  “Hi, sugar. The nurse is inside with your nana, and your aunt is at the grocery store buying some food for the week,” he continues with the weeds.

  Running up the steps, I find Nana sitting in the living room with her plate in front of her, she’s half-asleep. I decide to tiptoe by her. “You can’t sneak in, Joanne.” I roll my eyes at her calling me by my mother’s name.

  “And don’t roll your eyes at me, young lady. I will ground you until pigs can fly.”