Page 14 of Kaede
“Wow, you’re a little cocky.”
He stands and I gasp at the sight. He runs his hand the length of his cock. “No, honey, I’m a lot cocky.”
10
KAEDE
I didn’t think she needed to know my status when it came to sex, but I also didn’t want to start a relationship with a lie. And as the military had taught me, an omission is as bad as an outright lie, they both create suspicion and doubt.
The glow from the nightlight casts my dark shadow over her as I stand next to the bed. The way the light makes her face glow tells me it’s just the right amount of lighting. I can see what I’m working with, and what I’ll be admiring. Not that I can’t imagine already.
I slide back under the covers and scoot into the middle again. “I want to be honest with you, Willow.”
“Oh God, you have a girlfriend? Am I just a side piece?”
I chuckle. “No. You’ll never be a side piece to anyone. You’re mine now.” I swallow down thirty-six years of being alone and how I sacrificed what I wanted for what was expected from me. I’m not mad about the commitment, but I’m done with the obligation.
I slip a hand into hers. “I’ve never had sex.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Okay, the side piece thing was more reasonable than that. I don’t need you making up stories to make me feel—” She starts to scramble out of the bed.
“I’m not. I’m telling you the truth.” I grab for her hand. “Willow, I don’t lie and I’ll never lie to you.”
She stops. “How?”
“How am I still a virgin?”
“Well, yeah… Youhaveseen yourself in a mirror, right?”
I reach out for her again. “Yeah, and I didn’t have many opportunities in high school. I was that shy, gangly kid who didn’t have a lot of friends. I was in the foster system from age four until I graduated. My mom couldn’t take care of me. I don’t know her real circumstances, and my dad was never in the picture. So, I joined the military as soon as I could and I ignored every woman who pawed at me because part of me didn’t want temporary ever again. If someone was coming into my life, she would be permanent.”
With every truth, I realize how much I need this woman.
She is the oxygen in my blood.
She is the missing piece of a puzzle I’ve never known I was making of my life.
She is my soul’s match.
Her eyes clamp closed. “I don’t know if I can promise you forever. I have a life back in Helena.”
I knew the argument was coming, but I can tell Willow is close to finding a place for me in her life, too. She was the one to cross the room for that dick-rising kiss. She made the meal. She appeared in my bed… twice. Now I hunger to make hercomein my bed.
I’m not nervous. We are too perfect to feel like this is anything but right.
“I know, but I also know that my life will never be the same without you in it. Permanently.”
“Do you know how special you are?” she sighs through the question.
Her words warm me deep in my gut. “Sweetheart, right back at ya.”
“As long as you’ll promise that we’ll both be adults and you’ll never ignore me, if this doesn’t work out…”
“I’ll never do that to you. I would never do that to anyone.”
Her crisp white teeth glow in the dusky light. “I believe you, honey.”
“You ready?” I ask.
