Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 140184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 701(@200wpm)___ 561(@250wpm)___ 467(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 701(@200wpm)___ 561(@250wpm)___ 467(@300wpm)
Kennedy smiles tenderly, reaching up and threading her fingers through my hair. I turn my head and kiss her hand, her wrist, her arm—anything I can reach.
“I’m happy you’re happy,” she says softly.
“I’m fucking thrilled. I would’ve dealt with it, of course, but it’s a relief to know Jonathan has interrupted us for the last time.”
Kennedy nods solemnly. “Unless he brings up those sandwiches.”
I laugh, and she smiles. I lean down and kiss her one more time before I roll off her, then off the bed. “All right, let’s get you into the shower.”
“I feel so bad that my body has cockblocked you again. I’m going to give you a savage blowjob once I’m clean and the bed sheets are changed.”
“Oh, yeah?” I ask, amused.
She nods enthusiastically, reaching back for my hand as we walk into the bathroom together. “I don’t suppose you’re secretly really into period sex, are you?”
I shake my head. “Afraid not.”
She nods grimly. “That’s what I figured. Damn body.”
“It’s mad at me for all the teasing. Now it’s decided to play hard to get.”
“It’s usually such a fan of yours, too.”
“It’s gotten cocky,” I tease, locking an arm around her waist and tugging her back against me. “Once this rebellion is over, I’ll have to spend some time reminding it who’s boss.”
Kennedy grins and tilts her face up so she can look back at me. “Mm, please do.”
I break away from her to peel my clothes off, and Kennedy turns on the shower.
I steal a glimpse of her as she grabs her girly soaps and shampoos off the counter to bring into the shower.
There’s enough room on the shower shelf for her things and mine, but she still behaves like a visitor and keeps hers separate, as if she might need to pack up and go at any given moment.
“You can keep those in there, you know.”
She looks back at me, startled, clutching the bottles against her chest. “I just didn’t want to hog all your shower space.”
“It’s our shower now, not mine,” I remind her.
“I guess that’s true,” she murmurs, looking at the shelf before stepping inside and arranging her things on it.
It’s a small thing to fixate on, but I feel better once her toiletries live on the shelf next to mine.
Kennedy’s quiet as I follow her into the shower and pass her a washcloth since her hands were full with the soaps. Turning around to face me, I can see she has something to say, but she’s hesitant.
“Everything all right?”
She nods, then looks up at me, a glint of vulnerability in her eyes. “It’s just funny that you addressed that. I know it seems unimportant, but it’s the little things, you know? And you notice them, too. That’s one of the things that almost made me cry when I spent the night in Jonathan’s room.”
Her gaze flickers to me uncertainly. I know she’s probably not sure about bringing that up, but I let her see it doesn’t bother me.
It can’t bother me.
Making him off-limits would only foster distance between us, not closeness. For things to get back to normal, Jonathan has to become a non-issue, not a subject she’s careful to avoid.
Not least of all because he lives here and would be impossible to avoid.
She’s also a teenage girl, at the end of the day, and while I know she loves me and she’ll be much happier with me than she would be with him, I am a realist. I’m aware of the age gap between us, and that in a sense, I have taken on the guardian’s role in Kennedy’s life.
The absolute worst thing I could do is make Jonathan a forbidden fruit—especially if he was serious about trying to tempt her away from me. I didn’t think he was, but Jonathan can be volatile, and his recent actions make me wonder if he does have a little crush on Kennedy.
I trust her, of course, but I’ve also witnessed the dynamic between them and the dynamic between us. Jonathan is right that Kennedy is sexually submissive at her core. She responds to a dominant man who exhibits the confidence to lead her. She prefers me, but I’m sure she responded to him, too.
Ultimately fine if he bows out now and stays out of the way.
Less fine if he decides to actively try to change her mind.
Since I let him not only establish a sexual dynamic with her, but also be her first, I’ve given him all the tools he needs to confuse her.
I only hope he won’t be that selfish.
I’ve never seen Jonathan serious about a girl before, and I don’t think he’s truly serious about Kennedy, either.
At best, maybe it’s the unfamiliarity of feeling protective over a girl and not knowing where to put her. Kennedy isn’t actually family, so why does he feel protective toward her? Perhaps he has misinterpreted that affection as something romantic—an easy mistake given their sexual experience and the way she triggered a new response from him that no other girl has before. Perhaps there was even a biological element to it when he thought she might be carrying his child. That’s a big fucking deal, whether you’re with the girl or not.