Page 72 of Until Tomorrow Comes
Her cheeks flush and her mouth opens, no doubt ready to spew out all sorts of protests.
“Let me take care of you, Kitten. Please.”
“Why?” Her voice is barely audible, but I catch it. Shifting, I lay beside her and take her hand in mine.
“All I want is to take care of you. Every inch of my being wants, nocraves, taking care of you right now. You trusted me today, in one of the most intimate ways. If I’m smothering you, just tell me and I will scale it back.” I scratch the back of my neck. It’s hard to explain why Ineedto wait on her like this.
Memories of Molly telling me I was being too much or being too clingy after sex has me swallowing thickly. I close my eyes, go to pull my hand from Kat, and give her space but she stops me.
Tightly gripping my hand in hers, she smiles softly at me.
“You’re not smothering me, I’m just… I’ve never had someone pay attention like this after sex.” She squeezes my hand once. “I like it.”
I lean in, kissing her deeply until we’re both pulling away and gasping for air. Placing a gentle peck on her nose, I pull back and reach for the remote from my nightstand.
“Pick whatever you want to watch, I’ll get snacks.”
“Whatever I want?” A mischievous smile dances across her face and she takes it from me.
“Whatever you want, Kat. How bad could it be?”
23
Kat
When I finally looked at my phone after spending the entire day curled up in Jackson’s bed, I shot Thea a text to see if she would want to go shopping. Considering my wardrobe consisted of comfy clothes and the one dress she got me, I knew I needed to find some outfits appropriate for going to the wedding with Jackson. Her response was immediate, the entire day planned from the moment she read the text, going as far as planning out a whole day of shopping and what time she would pick me up.
“Okay, spill Kat.” Thea demands while scanning through the rack behind me.
“What do you mean?” I ask, focusing on the green sundress in my hands before hanging it back on the hook.
I know exactly what she’s asking about though.
My cheeks heat at the memory of everything Jackson did to me and I’m grateful my back is to Thea. It would be hard to play dumb if she spotted me blushing like a preteen meeting her first celebrity crush.
But since she hadn’t come into the house this morning, there’s no way she knew about the punishing kiss Jackson gave me before I left. I resist the urge to touch my lips and continue sifting through the dresses in front of me.
“Oh, are we ignoring the post world-changing-orgasm glow you’ve been rocking today?” Thea clicks her tongue and I whip around to face her.
“The… What?” I splutter.
She turns to me with her hands on her hips and levels me with a glare.
“Come on, Kat! You’ve been humming all day, that adorable smile hasn’t slipped from your face once, and you’re overall glowing.” She ticks off each of her reasons while I stand there gaping at her. It’s no secret that Thea is highly observant, but aside from the girls’ night last month, it’s rarely been turned on me.
“I, um, well…” I trail off, feeling my face burning. Thea raises a brow.
“Either you found the best vibrator ever and are trying to gate-keep that shitoryou and Jackfinallyslept together.” She smiles victoriously at me, waiting patiently for the answer.
Even with my friends in college, we never talked about sex so openly. We would talk about the cute guys on campus and make the odd vague comments about if a hookup was good or not. However, when I moved to the city, the women I was forced to hang around, only wanted to gossip about other women or brag about whose husband had the most money.
Yet here’s Thea, talking about sex and vibrators without batting an eye.
Zack would not approve of this friendship.
The thought alone catches me by surprise. He never hid who he liked or disliked when it came to people I interacted with, and it always felt like anyone I found myself genuinely liking, he would find something wrong with them. Or he would make up some excuse about why they made him uncomfortable, until my interactions with them became few and far between.
It became so exhausting trying to make new friends all the time, that I just stopped. Even when I attended luncheons or dinners, I would keep interactions to a bare minimum, and only business related.
