“Where did it end?”
He studied me, his brow furrowing. When he swallowed it was strained, and he glanced down at my chest. “Somewhere far less beautiful than this.” His eyes teared, and he swallowed over a lump as he looked away again.
I put my hand on his cheek. “Hey—”
“Please don’t ask me to think about it right now?” His eyes flashed to mine, and his expression was pleading. “Please. I’m … happy. Just let me stay in the beautiful place with you.” He ran his palms down my arms, and then he lifted them, running them down the sides of my face to my shoulders and down my arms again. He leaned to my shoulder, nestling against my neck as he wrapped his arms around me. “I can do this,” he whispered. “I can stay in this place with you.”
His voice was distant, and I couldn’t say I wasn’t confused by his words. He held me for a long time, and I rested my cheek on his shoulder, letting my lips touch the side of his neck. I closed my eyes, and my body tried to relax. I was tired. I wanted more than anything to be curled up somewhere warm with him. But cool air was tickling my naked butt, and goosebumps were popping up on my skin—never mind the ache in my hips and my lower back.
“Do you want to come home with me?” I sat up straight on his lap.
He sighed heavily. “Not tonight. I’m going to call Shawn, force myself to apologize, and beg him to come back and help me finish the floor in the bathroom.”
“Doesn’t the man work?” Did I care?
He chuckled. “He’s laid off at the moment. And he’ll pretty much take any excuse to get out of the house and away from his wife. You remember Leslie Tipton?”
I gasped. “That’s who he married?”
Kane nodded.
“Do you remember she tried to beat me up once on the playground in elementary school?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, I do remember. I threw pea gravel at her to make her stop. I ended up getting in trouble and being sent to the principal’s office.”
I smiled. “So chivalrous.”
He chuckled. “Do you have an extra house key?”
I nodded. “Under the planter that sits by the garage.”
“The one with that big dead bush growing out of it?”
“That thing had no will to survive. That’s not my fault.”
He laughed, squeezing the cheeks of my butt in his hands. “I’d like to come over after I finish up. It will be late—morning even.”
“Okay.” I started to stand, but he clutched my hip, holding me in place. I watched him. His eyes were distant again as he stared at my mouth.
“I was going to ask you to homecoming.” He glanced up at my eyes. “Back then. You should know that.” He nodded, looking back at my mouth again.
“I would have said yes. You should know that.”
He looked at my eyes again, biting his lower lip. When he smacked my butt, I jumped and squealed.
“You better get going.” He kissed me, and that time when I stood, he let me. He inched my skirt down my legs back to my knees, and he walked me to the door.
I woke up the next morning to Kane sleeping soundly beside me. His hair was slightly damp, and it smelled like my shampoo. I crept from bed, pulling the door closed behind me. When I entered the kitchen, there was a piece of paper propped up in front of the coffeemaker. I picked sleep from the corners of my eyes and yawned as I walked toward it, and when I snatched up the piece of paper, I saw something very closely resembling the flower Sienna had drawn on the wall of Hilde and Mark’s house—that is to say, it looked like a large flaccid cock.
There were words printed on the page. A short paragraph at the top, and a short paragraph written at the bottom. The bottom paragraph was written upside down. I shook my head as I laughed quietly. And then I read.
This is a flower. It is not unlike the flower I’d have given you at homecoming. Turn the page upside down, Hell, and get your mind out of the gutter.
I giggled as I turned the sheet upside down, so the bottom paragraph was now at the top and the words were right side up. The … flower … was now rigid, erect, and pointing straight up.
This is also a cock. A very large one. A very hard one. It is not unlike the cock I’d have fucked your brains out with after homecoming.
Good morning, my sweet Hell.
I bit my lip, feeling heat burn through my cheeks.
I spent the morning scouring LexisNexis’s philosophy databases, reviewing articles and journal publications. The books and research weren’t the problem. That was in the bag. I could research like a motherfucker. What I was failing to do was crawl out of my shell and bring this thing to life in any valid, applicable manner that impacted the real world.