I watch Kendall from a distance for a few beats, just drinking her in. She always looks hot, but goddamn, she looks straight fire tonight. Her long blonde hair hangs in soft waves over her shoulders, and she’s wearing more makeup than usual. Her lips are a vibrant red, and I want to suck, bite, and lick the lipstick off until her mouth is swollen and bruised from my kisses. A tight, strapless, little black dress hugs her gorgeous curves, stopping just above her knee. Her shapely slim legs are encased in a pair of black and gold high heels, and visions of having them wrapped around my shoulders as I fuck her instantly surge to the forefront of my mind. In my head, I have fucked her in all manner of ways and locations. Blood rushes south, thickening my cock behind my jeans, and my fingers twitch at my side, itching with the craving to touch her.
No other woman has ever stood a chance with me. From the moment I met Kendall, she is all I see and everything I want.
I am done fucking waiting.
Her eyes lift, and her head turns in my direction, as if I called her name. We stare intensely at one another, like we have so many times before, and I know she feels it too. Sparks explode in the gap between us, like the fireworks streaking across the sky outside. The crowd gasps, oohing and aahing as people make their way out onto the balcony.
Shirley walks off, and June moves to follow her, grasping Kendall’s hand and breaking the spell enchanting both of us. I move on autopilot, sobering up as I walk toward her with purpose.
I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m doing it anyway.
“Don’t go,” I whisper, circling my fingers around her slender wrist. I press my mouth to her ear. “I need to speak to you. We can do this in private or here. I really don’t fucking care. I would happily shout my truths for the entire world to hear, but I don’t think you’d like that.”
Her eyes pop wide, and her mouth forms an O as June stops, turning to look at us with curious eyes.
“I’ll follow you,” Kendall says, rapidly composing herself. She flashes her friend a convincing smile. “West needs me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I chuckle under my breath as I take her hand and lead her toward the door to the hallway.
She rips her hand from mine, pinning me with a warning look, and I chuckle again. “Vander,” she whispers in a breathy tone that turns my dick to steel. “You’re drunk.”
“Guilty as charged.” I grin as I steer her into the hallway. A few people are out here, but I ignore them, walking past closed doors until the hallway clears and we are out of sight. Grabbing Kendall’s hand, I pull her into the library, closing and locking the door behind us.
She slams up against the door, flattening her palms on the wood and staring at me with panicked eyes. “What are you doing?” she asks in a sexy tone that does weird things to my insides. I know she isn’t aware of how seductive she sounds when she lowers her voice, but it never ceases to turn me the fuck on.
“What I should have done a long time ago,” I purr, caging her in with my arms and leaning down to press my face into her neck. I inhale her intoxicating scent. At the first smell, it’s a delicate, light, floral scent until darker notes of spice tickle my nostrils, and I growl against her smooth skin. It’s the perfect perfume for her. Scintillating goodness mixed with an undercurrent of naughty deliciousness. Just like the woman wearing it. “God, you smell divine. Like sunshine and temptation.” My tongue darts out, and I lick a slow path up the column of her elegant neck. “You’re perfect.”
“Vander. No.” She tries to sound commanding but can’t pull it off.
My tongue laps at the pulse point throbbing in her neck. “Don’t lie to me, Kendall. I know you want me the way I want you. Your body betrays you every time.”
Her small hands land on my chest, and she pushes, trying to dislodge me. “Stop it,” she hisses. “We can’t do this.”
“Why?!” Reluctantly, I raise my head and step back. Her hands fall off my chest, and I instantly miss her touch. I won’t ever do anything to make her uncomfortable. No matter how badly I want her and that I can see all she is hiding from herself.
“Why?” Her face mirrors the disbelief in her tone. “You know why! I’m married. You’re my son’s best friend, and I’m far too old for you.”
I notice she doesn’t deny our connection or refute my feelings or hers. I can work with that. “You can’t deny you’re attracted to me. That you have feelings for me. I know I’m not alone in feeling this.” I take her hand and place it over my chest, where my heart is pounding like crazy because we both love being this close to her. Imagine what it would be like to be able to touch her at will? The closest feeling to euphoria settles deep in my chest, my body thrumming with the righteousness of the emotion and her. “I see you, Kendall. I see what you try to hide from yourself. But you can’t hide it from me. I know.” I pierce her with the full intensity of everything I feel for her.
“It’s wrong,” she whispers, forcing herself to look away.
“Nothing is ever wrong, just more or less correct.”
Her head picks up, and she whips her eyes to mine, shock splaying across her face. “Did you just quote Marcus Aurelius?”
I grin, nodding. “Thank you for the book. I have highlighted it to shit already.” My actual birthday was on Monday, and Kendall gave me the book as a gift when I came over to hang out with West that night. She had also baked me a cake, and if I wasn’t already in love with her, that would have sealed the deal.
Her features soften, her eyes blaze brightly, and her mouth curves into a smile, and I’m transfixed. She is the most beautiful woman in the whole world. When she looks at me, nothing else matters.
Only her.
Fuck it. It’s all or nothing now. I hold her hand over my heart as I lower my face to hers, leaving only a tiny gap between our mouths. Her chest visibly heaves, and a rosy hue creeps up her neck and onto her cheeks. I swear she has stopped breathing. “My heart beats only for you.” I squeeze her hand. “Do you feel that? You sustain it. You make it grow. You fill it so fully that none of the other shit in my life matters. The only thing that does is you.” I rest my brow against hers, peering deep into her eyes as I admit the ultimate truth. “I love you, and there is absolutely nothing wrong about that.”
6
KENDALL
Vander is staring at me, but his mind is gone, and I suspect he’s reliving the night of his eighteenth birthday party, like I just was.
“I love you, and there is absolutely nothing wrong about that.” His words are etched in my brain, and I think of them, and him, often. The memory provides both comfort and pain. Comfort because, when I’m at my lowest, I think of the way Vander looked at me when he admitted his feelings, and I have never felt more loved or cherished than in that moment. Pain because it can’t happen, no matter how we feel.
I might be unhappy in my relationship, but I’m still married, I’m no cheater, and I won’t disregard my wedding vows because I won’t be responsible for tearing our family apart. No one would understand, even if I did. Least of all, West, and my kids come first. That’s why I fled Vander’s house after he uttered those words, without replying for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing.