Page 177 of Keeping Kasey
Her sobs have slowed to shaky breaths, which is the only reason I’m willing to unwrap my arms from around her.
I help her into my car, and she lets me buckle her seatbelt and kiss her cheek before I climb behind the wheel. The hot air blasting from the vents is the only sound in the car, but that’s okay.
Enough has been said for now.
When we get to the hotel, Kasey waits in her seat long enough for me to open the door and offer her my hand. She accepts it, letting me lead her inside.
I unlock the door to my room and pull her in with me, unwilling to let her go now that the walls between us have crumbled.
Right now, I need Kasey, and I think she needs me, too.
I only release her hand to step into the bathroom and start a hot shower. Despite the heat blasting in the car, her clothes are still damp, and she hasn’t fully stopped shivering.
“I’ll get something for you to wear,” I tell her and press a light kiss to her forehead before stepping out.
I ignore the fact that her room—full of her clothes—is right next door and take one of my shirts and a pair of boxers to the vanity. While she showers, I take off my own damp clothes and put on a pair of shorts before sitting on the bed.
Minutes later, Kasey walks toward me, looking like every dream I’ve had since meeting her. Her hair falls in wet strands down her back, and her cheeks are bright red—likely from windburn. My T-shirt reaches her mid-thigh, and I can barely see the hem of the boxers peeking out beneath them.
It doesn’t matter how many times I see her. It doesn’t matter what she says or does. It doesn’t matter if she is my strongest ally or my most vicious foe.
Kasey will always be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
I pull her onto the bed beside me and tug the covers over us, satisfied beyond words when Kasey curls into my side. With our legs intertwined, her hands resting against my chest, and her head lying on my shoulder, I can’t believe I went a single day without her.
How had I survived going from sharing her bed to sleeping alone? Because I am not convinced I could do it again.
Holding Kasey is so much better than I remembered.
The feel of her soft body molding into mine is one I never thought I’d feel again, and I won’t take it for granted. I inhale her floral scent, committing each breath to memory.
Soon, memories are all I’ll have left.
If confessions could fix what’s broken, I would’ve told Kasey all of this already, but they can’t. The wounds we’ve inflicted, the complete lack of trust, my impending engagement, and whatever happened to Kasey while she was gone—the chasm between us isn’t getting any smaller.
“I lied earlier,” Kasey says.
I was starting to wonder if she’d fallen asleep, so hearing her low, alluring voice is music to my ears.
“Oh?”
“I didn’t lose my appetite.”
I feel her smile against my shoulder as I breathe a laugh.
“I’ll order room service,” I tell her. “What do you want?”
“Tacos.”
I text the hotel manager before turning my phone off. I don’t want any distractions. Just for tonight, I don’t want to be theConsoli boss.
I want to be Kasey’s.
“Did you tell them to remove the—”
“Sour cream? Yeah, I told them,” I assure her.
I imagine she hadn’t expected me to remember that little fact, but I remember everything about Kasey.
