Page 13 of Breaking the Limits

As I sit there I watch her as she sleeps. I never would have thought I could fall in love, but I had. Kynlee has tested me and pushed me. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. She saw something in me that no one else did. If I had any doubt about her feelings for me in the past I was proven wrong when my dad passed away.

Dad had suffered from a smoker’s cough for years, thanks to his years of smoking at least a pack a day. After losing mom that pack sometimes became two. However, the cough got worse over the last couple of years as well as his health. Dad would spend more time sleeping than working, an odd thing for him. By the time we finally convinced him to get his ass to the doctor, he had stage four lung cancer. He had bypassed the chemo treatments considering they couldn’t save his life. I think his was ready to join my mom but losing him had sent me into a tail spin. I said and did horrible things to Kynlee but she fought for me. She fought hard enough for the both of us and we were stronger now because of it. I loved her so much even if we never said the words we knew we loved one another.

Looking down I saw that it was midnight, officially Kynlee’s birthday. I light the candles and lean forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek. I watch her stir then I whisper in her ear. “Happy birthday Angel.” I watch as one of her brown eyes becomes visible. I sit the plate between us on the bed. “You better make your wish before the candle burns out.” Kynlee sits up looking confused for a moment but then she bends forward and blows out the candles.

“Are those chocolate filled croissants?”

“Of course, they are, they’re your favorite. Happy Birthday,” I tell her again.

She grabs a croissant and takes a huge bite, making a sexy little noise with it. “I can’t believe you went to Sweet Tooth. I would have paid to see that.”

“Anything for you, but I’m pretty sure the girl behind the counter thought I was going to rob her. I’ve never seen anyone’s eyes get so large.”

Sweet Tooth was a fancy little place with a bunch of French desserts on their menu. When I had went running inside minutes before closing with all of my tattoos and the fewpiercings I had added over the last year, I’m sure I scared the worker. I wasn’t their normal customer.

Kynlee smiles at me before crawling over to my side of the bed and straddling my lap. She grabs a croissant and holds it in front of my mouth. I take a bite. “See why they’re my favorites?”

I shake my head then lean forward and kiss her neck, “No, but I know you’re my favorite.”

****

Kynlee

The next morning, I wake up in my favorite position, curled up next to Ace. My head rising and falling with his chest, his soft snores filling the room, one of his hands tangled into my hair, the other holding my hand thrown across his abs, this was my favorite. Last night had been a great way to start my birthday, waking up like this was just icing on the cake.

I study Ace while he sleeps. It was the only time I can stare at him without it leading to some heated make out session or sex. He looks so much younger when he was asleep. His strong jaw relaxed instead of clenched, his hair in disarray, his cheeks flushed from the warmth inside the apartment. This Ace wasn’t guarded. Over the course of our relationship, I had grown used to seeing Ace like this but at first, I remember feeling overwhelmed.

Ace had suffered from nightmares of his mother’s death for years. It wasn’t a nightly occurrence but, on the nights, when they those memories came back to haunt him they were rough. Every time he woke up I could see the look in his eyes, the one that expected me to pack up and run. I won’t lie there were a few times when I was so sleep deprived I considered it, but then I’d remember how much I loved him. After a few months the haunting images of Ace’s childhood visited less often and nowwe had made it three months without a single appearance from them.

Ace and I had become so attuned to one another that it didn’t shock me when he stirred slightly after I woke up. I watch as he slowly opens his eyes. “Good morning sleepy head,” I tell him in a teasing tone, before I reach up to kiss his cheek, but he moves too fast and captures my face between his hands. His mouth comes over mine in an almost desperate need.

****

Afterward, we lie in bed for a little while, tangled up in one another, catching our breaths. Ace clears his throat before he leans over and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Well birthday girl, why don’t you take a shower and I’ll fix us some breakfast.”

I laugh but only because I know that Ace isn’t much of a cook. Ace cooking breakfast usually consists of pouring the cereal into a bowl and adding the milk. I watch while he pulls on a pair of PJ pants. He looks back at me and winks before leaving the bedroom. I shower quickly but find a shocking discovery once I step out of the bedroom. There is an entire plate of bacon (the only breakfast food I really like) and a large glass of chocolate milk (yes, I still drink chocolate milk and actually it’s the only beverage I drink this early) sitting on our small table. I stop and stare at him.

He cocks his head to the side, a piece of stray hair falling across his forehead. “What?”

“You actually cooked.”

Ace laughs, “Baby doll I don’t know if cooking some bacon qualifies as cooking.”

I take a seat, grabbing the glass and taking a sip of the chocolate milk before answering. “It qualifies in my book.” I lookat his empty section of the table, void of all food, just a mug full of black coffee, “Aren’t you eating?”

“Nope, you know I’m not much of a breakfast eater.”

He stands up and stretches and I take a moment to appreciate his body. Then he reaches over and grabs a piece of bacon from my plate. “I’m going to go take a shower,” he says with a wink.

Chapter 11

Kynlee

Ace went ahead and headed over to his family’s car shop, Carl’s, before heading to Inkredible. I knew he didn’t want to leave me on my birthday but his family needed his set of hands. He left reluctantly about ten minutes before a knock on the front door had me puzzled. Opening it I saw Kenndrix standing there with a box the size of Texas in her hands. “Happy birthday Kyn!” she exclaims, while walking into the apartment. She sits the box down on the couch then turns around and pulls me into a tight bear hug. “I’m so excited it’s your birthday!”

“Well that makes one of us,” I tell her solemnly. I have to try and act happy about my birthday when Ace is around but there was no use in pretending in front of Kenndrix. I didn’t have the heart to break Ace’s with my unenthusiastic reaction to my birthday, but it was hard to be excited. I’m just getting older which is nothing to be excited about and of course there is the matter of my family.

Kenndrix releases me from the hug with a heavy sigh before turning her eyes on me. “Is it the fact that you’re getting older or the fact that your family has failed to reach out to you on this special day?”

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