Page 91 of Perfect Chemistry

When we were almost back to Andie’s, he pulled over on the side of the road and put the car in park. I just sat in my seat, and began to fidget. This was it. I was too broken to make this work. I held my breath and waited for the inevitable heartbreak.

“Katie, I don’t want to get married again,” he whispered quietly.

I felt my heart crumbling as a tear slid down my cheek. I knew it.

I didn’t wait for him to say anything else. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. I promised I wouldn’t do this to myself again. I wouldn’t let Kai break my heart again.

“Katie! Wait!” He yelled from behind me.

I didn’t slow down or turn back. I just kept walking. When I had just turned up to Andie’s house, two arms wrapped around me.

“Stop,” Kai whispered.

I stiffened and attempted to shrug his arms off of my body, but he wouldn’t let go. I could feel the tears beginning to stream down my face, but I couldn’t wipe them away because my arms were pinned to my body.

I heard Kai’s breath hitch and he began mumbling against my neck. ”Shit. I am fucking this all up. You completely misunderstood.”

I tried again to shake his hands off of me but managed to be turned around instead. Kai held me tight against him, his head tucked into the crook of my neck.

“Katie, I don’t want to get married. I did that before and it was for all of the wrong reasons, and I don’t want to do that again.”

If he thought this would explain it better, it just made it seem worse.

He continued anyway. “Katie, I have been in love with you for most of my life,” he quietly confessed, afraid to look at me as he made the decision to tell me everything in his heart. “I don’t want to get married. But I do want to be with you. I want to spend every single day with you. I want to wake up with you every morning and listen to your snoring every night.”

I punched his stomach, sniffling, “I do not snore!”

He loosened his hold on my arms and peeked down at me. I tried to wipe away my tears and process everything that he was saying.

“I knew the moment that I saw you last weekend that things would never work out with anyone else,” he whispered, watching my every movement and reaction to his words.

“When you are ready,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I want all of you, Katie.”

I stared back at him like he was stupid. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“Please don’t push me away, Kat,” he begged.

We stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I never said a word, staring at either my fidgeting hands or up at the windows of the houses around us. I couldn’t even make eye contact with him…

“Can we drive somewhere else and talk?” I asked quietly, while staring up at the darkened windows of Andie’s house.

“Do you want to go back to mine?” He asked. “We don’t have to do anything. Just talk.”

I had been there before, and could get back if I needed to. I nodded my head and let Kai lead me back to his car. I didn’t say another word until we pulled into his drive.

“Is it okay if I use your bathroom?” I asked. My mind was a swirling mess of doubts and self deprecation.

“Sure,” he nodded as we walked up to the house and unlocked the door. Opening the door, he let me go in first, “After you.”

I nodded and walked past him into the house and went straight for the second floor.

Chapter 32

Kai’s POV

I let her go upstairs, while I grabbed two glasses from the kitchen and a bottle of scotch from my stash in the pantry for when Bradley watches the games with me.

I poured two glasses, one with scotch and the other with water, and waited at the kitchen island for Katie to join me so that we could talk. I heard her feet padding down the stairs and my breath caught for a second when she came around the corner. She was wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of my boxers as shorts. Fuck. Seeing her in my clothes made me hard.

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