Page 111 of The Sweetest Devotion

When I agreed to let her come through to do yardwork with me, I wasn’t expecting her to show up in her usual conversative gear, but I didn’t see the gardening outfit coming either. The hat may have been overkill, but it fit her. Made her look cuter than she was already beautiful.

It was non-sexual, and I wanted to kiss her, to wrap her in my arms, and crush her mouth with mine.

Suffice it to say, outside of the sex…I liked her.

I wasn’t one of those people who got caught up in all thatsoul-tiestalk, but there was something about Kennedy. Her inexperience. Her trust in me.How natural it felt when we were together.

My mind was flush with the image of her running her soft hands up my chest. Her kissing my tattoos. Her cradling my face in her palms as she came on top of me.

“Keith!” she’d whined for me, calling out my name as her body shook against mine. Wrapping her arms around me and holding me close for comfort as pleasure washed over her.

I thought about her slipping my T-shirt on, padding barefoot out to my kitchen to learn to cook breakfast the wayIliked. She stole smiles at me the whole morning, blushing and radiating this glow. She’d looked so proud when she properly flipped her eggs for over easy. She’d never had grits before, or apple butter. Thursday morning in my kitchen she greedily ate slice after slice of toast covered in apple butter after realizing she liked it. Even more, she decided she liked her grits the same way I liked mine after eating from my bowl.

Only when she got dressed to go did she come down from cloud nine and lose her spirit.

Outside of the sex, I caught myself slipping and wanting to kiss her for other things.

I wanted to teach her everything under the sun. Be her only source of knowledge. But that wasn’t enough.Iwanted to learn her just as well. Learn her body, every curve, every pulse, every spot. Learn what made her laugh, smile, scowl—learn what made Kennedy tick and operate the way she did.

It was pathetic. I knew what it tasted like between her legs, yet I wouldn’t kiss her. Maybe I was punishing both her and myself for this ridiculous agreement we had.

“Careful, man,” Savon seemed to warn. “I don’t want you getting caught up and she just be using you for a taste of the wild side.”

I quickly shot that down. “It doesn’t seem like that with her. She’s not some stuck-up rich girl trying to have a little rebellion. The way she looks at me…it’s like she sees the world.”

Savon clasped my shoulder. “You better leave her now, because once you’re in it then you’re gone.”

He was right. We couldn’t get in it—at leastIcouldn’t afford to.

“Heard you.” I slapped my palm against his before reeling him in close for a hug goodbye.

My phone began ringing as I walked over to my Tahoe. As late as it was, a tremor of panic ran through me. Phone calls in the middle of the night were never any good.

My panic dissolved when I pulled my phone from my pocket to see that it was Kennedy calling.

It was almost midnight. She could only want one thing. As tired as I was, I might’ve been willing to give it to her.

I answered her call before she hung up. “Yeah?”

“Keith?” She sounded nervous. Uncertain. Shy.

“Is this a booty call?” I asked as I leaned against my truck and rested on the hood.

“No!” Kennedy was quick to say. “This…is me breaking the rules.”

That was all we’d done from the beginning. “What do you need, Kenny?”

“God, your voice,” she breathed out. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving a bar.”

“And getting into a Lyft, right?”

I chuckled. “I’m not drunk.”

“Keith.”

“I just had a couple of beers. Nothing too heavy.”

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