“West is still so angry,” I admit as we walk toward the elevator. I flew to Hartford on the red-eye so I could attend my meeting with the Yale financial advisor first thing this morning. Then I drove my rental the twenty minutes to Bridgeport and wandered around for a few hours before checking in to our hotel. “I’m scared of how he’s going to react.” Truthfully, I don’t know whether we will be able to fess up when they graduate. Though I know there is never going to be a good time to admit our relationship.
“He told me he didn’t speak to Curtis the entire time you were at OU.”
I spent last weekend in Oklahoma with Curtis and West, visiting the campus where my son will be attending college in the fall. I only saw Vander on Monday at our self-defense class, and we couldn’t really talk with the others there. He flew to Vermont on Wednesday morning to see his mom, so we haven’t had an opportunity to talk about last weekend. “He didn’t. It was extremely awkward, even if a part of me loved how angry it made my ex.” We’re still not divorced or even close to an agreement, but I always refer to Curtis as my ex because he firmly occupies that space in my head. “It’s not good though. I don’t want West to hate his dad. He’s the only one he’s got.”
We step into the elevator with another couple and a family. Vander pulls me into the back and slides his arm over my shoulders. I look up at him the same time he looks down at me, and we grin. We’re like two kids let loose in Disneyland for the first time, and it makes me giggle. I bury my face in his chest to stifle my laughter.
We’re still grinning like loons when we get out on our floor, and my euphoria expands when Vander pushes me up against the wall in the hallway and kisses the shit out of me. I moan into his mouth as my libido instantly kicks into gear. “I need you,” I whimper against his lips. “But not here.” I draw the line at exhibitionism too. Shoving at his shoulders, I force him to step back.
“I’m warning you now,” he says, taking my hand as we stride toward the end of the corridor where our room is. “I won’t be able to take my hands off you this weekend. We don’t know when we’ll get to do this again, so I’m going to overdo it to keep me going until this becomes our norm.”
“I have no objection to that,” I say, reaching into my bag for the key card.
Vander cages me in from behind as we stand in front of the door, leaning down to press a kiss to the underside of my jaw. “Thank you for being here, Kendall. It means everything to me.”
I turn around and kiss the corner of his lips. “I want to support you. You’re my everything, and I don’t always get to demonstrate that the way I’d like.”
Vander’s eyes blaze with heated emotion as he swipes the key from my fingers, opens the door, and shoves me inside our room. Two minutes later, he’s driving his cock into me as I stand facing the wall with my legs spread and my dress bunched up around my waist.
“Damn, babe.” Vander hugs me tight, with his chest to my back, as we come down from our mutual high. “Sex with you gets better and better every time.”
Angling my head, I lean back and kiss him. “It’s because we’re in love and you’re taking the time to understand my body and teaching me how to understand yours.”
“I love being your teacher,” he says, moving us around so we’re facing into our room. “Holy fuck, Kendall. What did you do?” His eyes are out on stalks as he takes in the lavish suite with separate bedroom and an outdoor balcony.
“I got offered an upgrade when checking in I couldn’t turn down.”
“I want to pay half,” he immediately offers, like always. Vander is very generous and a stickler for paying his own way. I love that in a man even if I wish he was a bit more selfish. He needs every penny for college.
“Nope.” I take his hand as I pull him over to the large floor-to-ceiling windows facing onto the gorgeous balcony. “I got a bonus at work, and it’s my treat.” I don’t feel bad for my little white lie. I did get a bonus, but that’s not how I’m paying for our upgrade. Vander got the invoice for the security systems made out to me, so I was able to take more money out of our savings account than I actually needed. I’m not sure Vander would appreciate that truth, but I get an enormous kick out of knowing my ex is partly paying for my weekend away with my new lover.
Take that and stuff it up your cheating ass, Curtis!
“I wish I was married to you already,” he blurts. “Shit.” He chuckles, spinning me around in his arms and fixing my dress down over my hips. “I didn’t mean to get intense. I’m just excited to spend three days and nights with you.” He brushes his nose against mine. “This is what it will be like for the rest of our forever.”
Be still my heart. How is he so romantic? He slays me each and every time. “I can’t wait.” Although I’ll have to because Vander is going to be at college for the next four years, and I don’t know what will happen after that. Whether he will want to return to Colorado Springs or settle someplace else. I can’t leave until Ridge has graduated, so it limits our options. My thoughts take the shine off my current euphoria, so I force them aside. There will be plenty of time to focus on the future in the coming weeks and months. Right now, I want to remain firmly grounded in the present because I don’t want anything to ruin this weekend.
40
KENDALL
“I don’t want to go home tomorrow,” I whine as we enter our suite after a gorgeous dinner in a Middle Eastern restaurant a short Uber ride from our hotel.
“Me either,” he says, circling his arms around me from behind and pulling me back into his chest. “I legit feel like I could cry.”
“This has been an amazing trip.” A fruitful one too because the financial aid advisor confirmed—off the record—that Vander would get full financial support. I’m so excited, and I thought about telling him, but I don’t want to get his hopes up until he receives the confirmation in the mail. I’m also not sure he’d approve of how I laid it all on the line, explaining in no uncertain terms the nature of his dysfunctional upbringing and the abusive hold his father has over him. She was shocked and sympathetic, offering reassurances his application would be reviewed on the basis of his own financial situation and not based on his father’s considerable wealth. I turn around and hug him tight. “I have loved spending all this time with you.”
As well as an official tour of Yale, we explored the town of Bridgeport on foot and bicycles, made out at the movies, held hands walking along the shoreline at the Seaside Park Beach, swooned at the Housatonic Museum of Art, and fawned over one another every night at dinner like giddy newlyweds. When we weren’t overdosing on PDAs, we were tangled in the sheets and if it’s even possible, I’m more in love with him now.
Vander holds me close while tilting my head back so he can look at me. He peers deep into my eyes when he presses his lips to my wrist, igniting a flurry of delicious tremors across my skin. “I have loved going to sleep beside you every night and waking up with you in my arms.”
“I love our morning sex.” I rub my thumb across his lower lip. Waking up to Vander’s hands and mouth all over my skin is another first, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world to open my legs and welcome him into my body. My core tightens as I recall the many different ways he has taken me this weekend, and I know it will take a long time before any experience tops this one.