“You don’t need to do that. I earn my own money. I can afford to buy things for myself.”
“I know you can,” I say, taking the candle from her hand and picking up the pink throw she’s eyeing lovingly. “But I want to get you something for your new bedroom. You have done so much for me, and I want to show my appreciation.” Taking a risk, I lean down and whisper in her ear. “But mainly it’s because I love you. I want to spoil you and take care of you. That’s what soul mates do.”
“Oh, Vander.” Emotion pools in her eyes as she stares up at me with complete adoration. I freeze frame the moment because I never want to forget it.
“I fucking love you so much, Kendall. I wish I could shout it from the rooftops.”
She subtly squeezes my hand. “We should go,” she says in a low tone, glancing over my shoulder. “Before I throw all caution to the wind and kiss you right here.”
The biggest grin graces my mouth. “I would have zero issue with that.”
Her tinkling laughter swirls around me, and I don’t think I have ever felt this happy.
Grabbing a second candle—to keep at my place for her—I walk to the counter and pay for all three items. Then we collect our takeout and head to my apartment.
“We should talk,” Kendall says after we have eaten, put the leftovers in the refrigerator, and stacked the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
“We should make out,” I coolly reply, winking as I hand her a chilled glass of Sancerre. I kick off my sneakers and flop down on the couch beside her, slinging my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into my body as I take a sip of my beer.
“You’re incorrigible.” She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling as she snuggles into me.
“When it comes to you, absolutely.” I tweak her nose and tug her closer.
She straightens up a little, twisting around so we’re facing one another with my arm loosely draped over her shoulders. “What are we doing, Vander?”
“Talking, it would appear.” I sigh before knocking back a mouthful of beer. I have a feeling I’ll need it for this conversation.
“What do you want from me?”
I quirk a brow and slant her with a lustful look. “Everything, sweetheart. I want everything with you. Your present. Your future. Your heart. Your soul. Your body.” I stop short of saying your hand in marriage because I don’t want to completely terrorize her, but that thought doesn’t scare me. Leaning in, I brush my thumb against her lower lip. “I just want you, Kendall. I can’t breathe if I don’t have you in my life.”
“I come with so much baggage, Vander.” She takes a sip of her wine while maintaining eye contact with me. “I’m a mess. My life is a mess. I don’t want to drag you into my crap.”
“You’re not dragging me into anything I don’t want to be dragged into, and I could say the same about my life. The only thing that makes any sense is you and me.” I link our fingers and stare into her beautiful blue eyes. “I know what I want, Kendall. I want you.”
“You can’t mean that. It would be so much easier for you to date someone your own age. Someone without baggage.”
I set my beer down on the end table and cup her face. I thought we had already settled this, but it’s clear she needs more reassurance. “Baby, I don’t want someone my own age. High-school girls have never appealed to me. They are all about the drama, and it’s so hard to have a meaningful conversation with teenage girls.” I don’t want to generalize because it’s not true of every girl, but I need to get my point across. “I have always gravitated toward older women, but even coeds are immature. I don’t know how to make you understand me more clearly. I’m attracted to you on so many levels, Kendall. We have this undeniable chemistry, this electric connection, and you get me. I love talking with you, and I feel like I can tell you anything. We have deep conversations about the meaning of life, and you never judge. You listen and support. Everything about you fascinates me, and the more I learn about you, the harder I fall. Nothing you can say is going to change that. You can cut me out of your life, and it won’t make any difference. I will always love you. It will always be you.”
She gulps, and her eyes turn glassy. “You say that now, but you are still young. How do you know what you feel now is how you’ll feel a year from now? Ten years from now?”
She has really put thought into this. “I have felt like this for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years, Kendall.” I press a kiss to her brow as my fingers tangle in her hair. “I know my heart. I know what I am feeling will never change. You’re the only one having trouble accepting this.”
“I don’t want to ruin your life. You have so much to look forward to.”
“That’s an impossibility, and I can still achieve my goals while in a relationship with you.”
“Is that really what you want?”
I have to remember she’s vulnerable because Curtis has done a lot of damage. While I feel like I have said this over and over and it’s a little bit frustrating when I just want to be with her, I understand her concern. At least she seems to have accepted the concept of an us, and she has moved past the denial stage, which is progress. “It is. There is nothing you can say that will sway my mind.”
“What about West?”
I dot kisses all over her face to buy myself some time before I reply. “I know my best friend, and I won’t lie. He’ll be pissed. He’ll get angry and lash out. But, in time, he’ll come around to the idea of us. As long as he sees that I’m treating you right, he’ll be happy for us.” I have given it a lot of thought, and I fully believe that. It won’t be easy. West is stubborn, and he will freak out, but I know it won’t be forever.
“We can’t tell him now.” She rests her head on my chest, and I fold my arms around her back. “He’s so angry about his father and the divorce. I can’t drop this on him too.”
“The timing isn’t right,” I agree, tilting her head back. “Why don’t we agree to keep our relationship a secret until graduation. The dust should’ve settled by then, you’ll be divorced, and West will be looking forward to college. We can talk to him at that point and explain. He’ll have all summer to come to terms with it and to see how good we are for one another.”
“He’ll hate us for going behind his back. He may never forgive us for that.”
“He will. He’s my best friend, and you’re his mom. He loves you. He is prone to emotional reactions, but he’s not unreasonable. As long as you’re happy, he’ll be fine. He will come around.”
She doesn’t look fully convinced as she shucks out of my arms and straightens up. “What’s the point of even starting something now? You’ll be gone in six months.”
“Me leaving for college won’t change how I feel about you or alter what I want to build with you. We’ll do the long-distance thing. I’m renting an apartment off campus so you can come visit me some weekends, or I can come home. It’s only a four-hour flight.”
Her mouth hangs open. “You seriously want to remain in a relationship with me while you’re in college?”