Page 64 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
“Sex without kissing is just sex, and I didn’t want that with you. I wanted to feel closer to you, even if only for one night, and to me, kissing is the most intimate thing you can do. It lets me feel everything you feel. A good kiss feels nice. But when we kiss, I feel it all over my body, like it, and part of you, becomes part of me.”
“Baby—” His voice got choked by emotions. “I’ve never felt closer to anyone in my life. Your kisses are unforgettable. They’re there even when we’re apart.”
“Forever kisses,” she said softly.
“What, babe?”
“That’s what our kisses are. They stay with us forever. Forever kisses.”
“That’s exactly what they feel like.” He had the urge to make their forever kisses more permanent, to memorialize this moment, the time she’d given him with her family and friends, so they’d never forget it. “I wish I had a pocketknife. I’d carve our initials in that tree. That’s a small-town thing to do, right?”
“It is, and it’s a family thing to do, too. But we’re already on here.” She took his hand and led him around the tree, pointing to an area that had been stripped of bark, where two hearts with initials were carved. One of the hearts had DR + AR carved inside it, and the other had SR + FK.
“My parents call this the Tree of Forever Kisses. Nana and Poppi have one in their yard, too. When I have kids, I hope to do the same thing. Lindsay doesn’t ever want to get married, so her initials aren’t on here, which makes me sad. But maybe one day she’ll change her mind.”
She pointed to the first heart. “This is my parents’ heart.” She pointed to the heart with her initials in it. “And this is mine. I carved it into the tree in middle school. Sophie Roberts and FK Forever Kisses. That’s you.”
He laughed and kissed her again. “That’s any man, baby. I need a knife to fix that up.”
“It’s not any man. You’re wrong. Only one man can be my forever-kiss guy. My father is my mother’s, and my grandfather is my grandmother’s. My uncles are my aunts’ forever kisses. It’s how things work.”
She was so sweet, but she wasn’t naive, and he felt compelled to ask a difficult question. The question that made him think about his own parents and the relationship he’d seen between them before Lorelei died. “What about marriages that don’t last? Those people who think they’ve found their soul mate, but their relationships fall apart? Are they out of luck?”
Her brows knitted, and she sank down to the grass. He sat beside her as she said, “Not out of luck, no. Relationships can go wrong for so many reasons. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how strong your love is. The things that tear the relationship apart are too hurtful or too big to see your way around. But that doesn’t change the love that was there. Lots of marriages fall apart because of outside influences. The husband or wife gets off on the wrong path, or they grow apart, or they’re tempted by someone else.”
“That’s messed up,” he said too sharply. “Think about it, Soph. Temptation? Cheaters need to grow up. If a man or a woman commits to marriage, temptation shouldn’t mean shit. And growing apart? Yeah, I can buy that to a point, but if your partner is doing new things, get off your ass and do them with her. I think those are poor excuses people use when they’ve grown bored with their partner or to give validity to their insecurities when they need an ego stroke and reach outside their marriage.”
“So, what do you think is an acceptable reason for divorce?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’m sure there are some. If you find out your spouse isn’t the person they led you to believe they were. Why do you think I’ve never committed to a relationship before this? Committing to anything means something to me. Marriage isn’t supposed to be disposable. The last thing I want to do is let down a person I care about.” The topic made him think of his parents, which caused him to be edgy. He pushed to his feet and paced.
“But your parents are divorced.”
“And? Do you think I agreed with that? They lost their daughter. A child they created together, a child they loved and raised for eight years.” His voice escalated. “How does tearing the family apart help?” He paced beside the tree, trying to get a grip on his mounting anger. “How can you turn your back on your other children? Or holler at your grieving wife until she’s ready to lose her mind?”
