Page 45 of Waiting Forever
She tucks her hair behind her ear, revealing a dark blush on her cheek and a tiny smile.
I make a mental note to compliment her more and then think better of it. I don’t want to lead her on when nothing can happen between us. But damn, if I don’t love the way she reacts to my flattery. This is so hard. I need to keep it simple. “There’s a restaurant on Park Avenue called Sugarloaf. It’s one of my favorite breakfast places. If memory serves me right, you used to love flavored pancakes. They have a raspberry lemon cream I thought you might like.”
Her eyes connect with mine. “Raspberry lemon? That sounds amazing.”
I can’t keep from smiling. There’s the girl I remember.
Her lips part with a huge grin. “I love when you do that.”
Love?I quirk up a brow. “When I do what?”
“Smile. It’s like the whole world brightens when you do.”
My chest tightens with a strange sensation. Suddenly, I want to give her everything. Whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. If my smile is it, I’ll make sure to give it to her at least five times a day. But I fear that won’t be enough. She deserves more, better, bigger—everything. “Please have lunch with me.”
“Do they serve pancakes for lunch?”
I laugh, the feeling genuine and real, and one I’ve missed. “Yes. They serve it all day. When are you free?”
“I have a class at nine and another one at twelve. Is one o’clock too late for lunch?”
“Not at all. I’ll be here at one thirty to get you.”
She gives me a teasing smirk. “Right here in this same spot?”
“Yes.”
“What if it’s taken?”
“I’ll park on top of the car. My Hummer is like a tank.”
She cracks up and it’s the best sound. “The curb is fine.” She inhales a deep breath and peers at me from the corner of her eye. “See you at one thirty.”
I nod, excitement buzzing through me like a freaking live wire. “Have a good class.”
She hops down to her feet and turns to me with a sarcastic expression. “Thanks, Dad.” The door shuts before I can respond and she walks away, her bag hung on her shoulder, her magenta hair swaying with her steps.
For a moment, I’m on cloud nine, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world. It dawns on me then. Every girl I’ve ever been with, including Harper, has always been a relationship of sex. Without it, we’d have nothing in common. That’s not the case with Kensington. I could see myself settling down with her and being happy. Based on the kisses we shared last night, I have no doubt we’d be sexually compatible. The problem isn’t us or what we could be; the problem is our parents. Our dads aside, I couldn’t disappoint her mother or mine. My mom thinks of Kensington as a daughter, the girl she never had. Not to mention her disappointment with my—as she says—promiscuous ways.
Kensington’s mom has always been kind to me. It’s her nature to be nice to everyone. I could never give her a reason to hate me and defiling her daughter would certainly do that.
I release a heavy sigh. How ironic that the one woman I could see myself with long-term happens to be the only woman I can’t have. And a woman she is. After the way she kissed me last night and then stripped, it’s clearer than ever.
My phone rings through the speakers in the car. I hit the Answer Call button on the steering wheel and back out from the parking spot.
“Hello?”
“Wanna stop by for a quickie?” Harper asks.
“Good morning to you, too.”
She mock-laughs. “I know you’re on your way to the office. I have class in an hour, but I always have time for an orgasm.”
I tense at the thought of her catching me with Kensington on campus. At one thirty Harper will be in class, but you never know. “I can’t.”
She huffs. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t. I have a lot to do today.” I pull onto the main road and head toward the interstate and downtown Orlando.
