Page 18 of The Tempo of Truth
The conversation drifted off as Lowe focused on the movie.As if she had a sixth sense, Winnie appeared just as the little boy was starting to nod his head like he was too sleepy to keep it upright.She grabbed him and wrestled him away to get him ready for bed.I heard them arguing about a bath, but eventually, the large brownstone was quiet.I also struggled to keep my eyes open as I sprawled on the couch and let the weight from the day press down on me.It would be nice to get some sleep so I didn’t have to think about how much my hand hurt or how pissed I was that my friend ended up seriously injured because of my dumb choices.I threw my good arm across my face and inhaled the sweet scent of the leftover popcorn and whatever floral smell that seemed to cling to Winnie and permeated the cozy space.This was hands down the nicest house I’d ever been in, but it still felt lived in and welcoming.With my eyes shut, the feeling it gave wasn’t too far off from the one-bedroom apartment my mom raised me in.It was small as hell, but it always felt like a real home.
I jolted when I felt someone hovering over me.I looked up at Winnie, who was laying a blanket over me.She had her hands out like she was going to shift my busted arm into a more comfortable position, but she pulled away when she noticed I was watching her.
Her hair was wet, the red appearing several shades darker than normal.She had those gold glasses on her face, and she was wearing a jersey from the very first team I played for when I was a teenager and had just moved to Spain.I couldn’t find an ounce of corporate executive in her at the moment.
She straightened up and cleared her throat.“Do you want me to get you a pillow?Or you can get up and move to one of the guest rooms.I think you should eat something and take the medication the ER sent home with you.There’s no reason to stay uncomfortable all night.”
I rubbed my eyes and sighed.“You seem like you’re a really good mom, Winnie.”
She laughed as she moved to clean up the sticky popcorn Lowe left on the couch cushions.I belatedly realized that I should’ve cleaned it up earlier.What a lousy houseguest I was.
“Don’t sound so surprised.I might not have had my mom around, but Channing was there every step of the way.She gave me a great example to follow.”
Being so close to her and feeling the heat radiating from her damp skin made me slightly lightheaded.All the irritation I held onto when she showed up at the hospital was nowhere to be found.
“That night,” I waited until her eyes turned to mine, “I was drunk and don’t remember very much.I’ve never had unprotected sex with anyone.I’m always careful.How did things between us get so out of control that we didn’t use protection?”I wondered what had happened since I found out about Lowe.Regardless of how messed up I might have been, she was sober.And she’d always been more responsible than me.
She sat on the edge of the heavy wood and stone coffee table.I sat up and shifted so her bare legs ended up caged between mine.I was irrationally annoyed when I noticed the dirty fabric of my sweatpants rubbing against her freshly washed skin.
“I didn’t have anything with me.Believe it or not, I wasn’t there to seduce you that night.I asked if you had a condom, but you didn’t even have your wallet with you.I was on birth control.I’d just started it, so I thought we were more than likely safe.It was a gamble that I lost, but I’m thankful every single day I took it.I wouldn’t change anything that gave me Lowe, even if it wasn’t exactly fair to you.I know if the roles were reversed, people would be screaming about consent from the top of their lungs.And I’d deserve that judgment.I did take advantage of you, Ky.I’ll always be sincerely apologetic for that.”
I reached out a hand and tapped my index finger on the number on the chest of the jersey.“I knew it was you that night.It doesn’t matter how deep into a bottle I crawled; you’re the person I followed out of it.There were a lot of mistakes made for us to end up in that same bar that night.I can hold myself accountable the same way you are.”
She caught my hand with hers and gave my palm a light squeeze.“It would be best if we could find a way to start over from square one.I don’t want our son to see us as combatants.You have enough people trying to fight you as it is.”She looked pointedly at my jacked-up shoulder.
If I decided we were on the same side from here on out, it meant I had to get over her thinking I was capable of helping to kidnap her, and she would need to come to terms with the fact that I was never going to be on her level again.What I had to offer was always going to pale in comparison to any other option she might have, but it had to be enough.
“Do you really want to call a truce?”I nudged her with my leg.It would be nice if things could go back to the way they were before everything got so complicated.We might never recapture our youthful infatuation, but it would be nice to return to a place where she didn’t doubt me, and I didn’t hate her for her suspicion.In that scenario, I still had too little and she had too much, but the gap between the two of us didn’t feel as insurmountable as it always seemed to be.
She nodded and watched me with sincere eyes behind the lenses of her glasses.“I do.”
I lifted the sling slightly and asked, “Do you want to kiss it and make it better?”
I was playing around, trying my best to reset the clock.Something flashed in Winnie’s eyes that suggested she didn’t get that I was joking.
Before I could get my footing and tell her I was teasing, her hands shot out and clasped my cheeks between her palms.I felt her thumb brush over the abrasions left behind from the earlier fight.Her touch was warm.The heat and softness radiated throughout my body.I’d never been handled with such care before.It was like our roles switched, and she now saw me as the breakable one.
There was plenty of time to pull away or dodge her as she leaned closer to me.My eyes locked onto where the old jersey started to ride up along her pale, creamy thighs.I stayed as still as possible as her lips hovered over mine.All it would take for a kiss was one of us moving the last few centimeters.We both stayed frozen in place as our breaths started to mingle.
I meant to pull away before things shifted in a direction I wasn’t prepared to deal with.
Winnie didn’t give me a chance to retreat.She closed the distance between us, her lips settling over mine with the lightest pressure possible.I was immediately thrown back to the single night we spent together.It might’ve been a big blur, but there was no forgetting how quickly things ignited and how quickly she was capable of making my insides burn.
I wrapped my good hand around the back of her head and tugged her closer.Our bodies pressed together, and the smell of flowers wrapped around me.Everything about Winnie Halliday felt rich and indulgent.Kissing her made me feel like I was getting away with something I should never be allowed to do.
Her damp hair clung to my hand, and her slender fingers gently stroked my battered face.I thought it was a kiss meant to comfort, to relieve some of my pain.I figured it was an easy way to reset our relationship back to something less contentious and toxic.I had no problem letting her lips move against mine as the kiss deepened by the minute.
It was all fun and games and innocent flirtation until she tilted her head slightly and licked the seam of my lips, silently demanding I let her inside.Once again, I was helpless to resist.
This time, there was no blaming alcohol for my weak resistance to this woman who was never meant to be mine.
Winnie
Between one breath and the next, I crawled into Ky’s lap and wrapped an arm around the back of his neck to keep him in place so that I could kiss him to death.I was careful to maneuver around his injured arm and hand.I knew he wouldn’t be controlled as easily as he was at the moment if he wasn’t hurt.He’d always been a handful and someone hard to pin down.It said a lot about me that I only dared to make a move on him when he was either too inebriated or maimed.The fear of rejection ran ice-cold in my blood, making me hold onto the heated moment for as long as possible.I savored this kiss because it was the first one where he was well aware of what was happening between us, and he wouldn’t be able to pretend like it never happened or was an accident we were both better off forgetting.
I flicked the tip of my tongue against his lips until they parted and let me inside.He tasted like the caramel popcorn he’d been snacking on with our son.His breathing was labored.His heart was racing.And I could feel his tense muscles quivering under my hands and along my bare thighs.Ky shifted his weight underneath me and reached for the top of my leg with his good hand.His fingers dug into my skin as he took over the advance and retreat of the kiss.I felt the tip of his tongue flick against the roof of my mouth as his fingers skimmed along the outside of my leg until they reached the curve of my ass.
All I had on under the well-worn jersey was a pair of boring cotton underwear.I didn’t have seduction in mind when I came down to put him to bed.I knew he’d had a long day and wasn’t in a good mood.Finding a way to meet in the middle after all the time and secrets that had passed between us was a huge win.I’d always longed for him to forgive me for doubting him and wanted him to trust me.And I needed to believe he was going to stick around and not run when things got difficult, not only for me, but for his son.With the world insisting he wasn’t good enough, I desperately wanted Ky to know that who he was had always been more than enough for me.I never minded his imperfections.His flaws were what drew me to him and kept him on my mind throughout the years we’d been apart.After that night in Portugal, and considering I couldn’t keep my hands to myself when he was unable to fight back, it showed I was far from the ideal role model others viewed me as.I made a lot of mistakes where this man was concerned, and it didn’t seem like those missteps were going to stop anytime soon.
