“I need you to turn back the clock, keep your hands off of my mom, and stay out of my house,” Chris snarled. “Can you give me that?”
Kiersten’s eyes went wide. She’d never heard him so angry before. “Chris!”
“It’s okay. He’s mad.” Garrett held up his hand. “But I’m not going anywhere. And you’re going to have to accept that I care about both you and your mom.”
Chris seemed to deflate. He sank down on the couch and flopped back dramatically. “Are you two getting married?”
“No.” Kiersten sat beside him and rested her hand on his knee. “But we’ll still be a family, even without a piece of paper to make it official.”
Chris’s knee relaxed under her hand. “I guess it’s kind of cool, as long as my friends don’t make fun of me.” He gave a little shrug. “I’ve always wanted to be a big brother.”
Her heart clenched. He wanted to be a brother. She hadn’t even known that about him. And the way he always saw reason once he calmed down and thought about whatever had upset him in the first place never failed to impress her. In fact, he reminded her of Mike in that way. They shared the same temperament. A big, heavy weight lifted off of her shoulders. She could do this. “Well, now you will be.”
He hesitated. “Do you know what it is yet?”
“No. Not yet. That’s not until…” She broke off, realizing she had no clue when that was. She had a doctor’s appointment next week, but she doubted she would find out then. Did she even want to find out, or did she want to wait?
Garrett swooped in. “The fifth month. Twenty weeks. If we find out then.”
That was right around the corner. Holy crap.
“Cool.” Chris nodded, but was still avoiding Garrett’s gaze. “Can we stop talking about this now? I want to play my game again.”
“S-Sure.”
He un-paused his game and went back to ignoring them, even if he did grip the remote too tightly. She wanted to press him some more, make sure he was really okay, but she sensed he needed time. Time and space. He was a lot like her in that respect. Kiersten motioned for Garrett to follow her upstairs. Once they were alone, she leaned against her closed bedroom door and took a shaky breath.
Garrett grinned and leaned next to her. “That went well, huh?”
She laughed somewhat hysterically. “Yeah, I think so. But he’s still mad.”
Garrett nodded. “Yeah, but I think he’ll be okay.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, because she really didn’t know. “This is all such a freaking mess.”
Garrett pulled her against his body and hugged her close. “It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”
“Garrett…”
She placed her hands on his chest. She should push him away. Send him back to his apartment for the last night he’d live there. But instead, she curled her fists into his shirt and tugged him closer. He flexed his fingers in her hair, and his other hand fell to her waist. His lids dropped, and he stared at her mouth as if he were starving for her.
As much as she was starving for him.
She tilted her chin up, and he was on her, his mouth devouring hers. Their tongues intertwined, and she clung to him as if he was the only thing keeping her on Earth. As if she couldn’t stand without him. And she was starting to fear she couldn’t. Even though she kept trying to push him away, it seemed he kept getting closer and closer. He was like a knight hammering a door with a battering ram. The door would break eventually…and then what would happen?
She would be completely vulnerable.
His hands swept over her hips and he hauled her against his body, her belly brushing against his hard erection. She moaned into his mouth and cupped his butt. He grinded up against her and lifted her until her back was against the door. She wrapped her legs around him, and he groaned when he pressed against her heat. Reaching down, she yanked his shirt over his head, breaking contact with his lips for as long as it took to rip his shirt off of him. Then she was kissing him again, even hungrier for him than she’d been moments before.
“Fuck,” he growled, his fingers scraping down her thigh and creeping toward her core. When his fingers brushed her inner thigh, he stopped. His harsh breathing filled the silence of the room. “We can’t do this. Not like this.”
Her heart stumbled to a stop, and then sped up painfully. He was right. They couldn’t do this. What had she been thinking? That’s exactly the problem. She hadn’t been thinking. She’d been feeling. And feelings were…God, she had been over this enough times. They were stupid. That’s what. “Put me down,” she whispered, letting go of him.
He gently set her on her feet and then stepped back, running his hands down his face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
She swallowed hard. He’d actually meant it. He was done with her. He didn’t want her anymore. If he did, then he wouldn’t have stopped. They’d be having sex right now, and he’d be buried inside of her where he belonged.
Except he didn’t want to belong there anymore.
“It’s okay,” she managed to say through her clogged throat. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Of course not.” He shot her a hard look she couldn’t read, then grabbed his shirt and yanked it over his head. “It never is, is it?”
“Never.” She hugged herself and averted her eyes. Trying to insert a light tone into her hollow voice, she said, “You should go home now. It might be Friday night, but you should go to bed early. Big day tomorrow.”
He stood there for a minute, looking as if he wanted to say something to her. She held her breath, waiting for him to open his mouth and say something that would show her he didn’t want to be apart. Something to indicate he still wanted her, like Brianna said he did.
“Okay. See you tomorrow.”
She finally looked back at him, then wished she hadn’t. He looked so confused and lost. And sad. That one hurt the most. “Yep. I’ll be here. Working.”
“On a Saturday?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Deadlines. I’ve got three books due back to the authors by the end of next week.”
“Okay. I’ll try to be quiet.” He opened his mouth, closed it, and then nodded. “Bye.”
He turned on his heel and walked out of her room. And once again, she wanted to chase after him…and yet push him away at the same time.