Playing for Kinley (Cruz Brothers Book 1) (34 page)

“I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just think you deserve more.”

I shook my head. “You need to leave. Right now.”

He nodded his acceptance, grabbed his jacket, and headed for the door. I followed and watched him turn back to look at me as I stood in the doorway. But he must have read something on my face because he swallowed whatever he was going to say and began to turn back around.

I started to close the door but decided to leave him with one last parting shot. “And by the way, I hate sushi.” Then, I slammed the door shut.

I collapsed onto the couch, more than just the soup now making me nauseous.

So, imagine my astonishment—and disillusionment—when I was once again woken up on the couch by knocking on my door almost three hours later. I didn’t bother getting up this time, deciding to just yell in case I didn’t want to talk to the person so I didn’t have to get up at all.

“Who is it?”

A few beats of silence passed before he spoke in a low, quiet voice. “It’s me, Kin. Open up.”

Parker.

Parker

My chest was constricting and my stomach was in knots.

The anger had receded into the foreground just a little, enough to hop on a plane to New York and go straight to Kinley’s place, rather than hunting Ryan down and having a little talk with him.

The second I’d heard his voice on her phone, I’d wanted nothing more than to reach through it and choke the life out of him. I had been so incensed that I thought I was going to pop a damn blood vessel.

Who knew I would have such a crazy jealous streak in me?

Okay, I did.

But only when it came to Kinley. Because when it involved another guy sniffing around her, all bets were off.

I’d been telling the truth over the phone, too. The worst part wasn’t that he was over at her place when I wasn’t there. It was that she hadn’t told me how sick she was. It was the fact that I had to hear it from another man. It was my responsibility to take care of Kinley. A boyfriend was supposed to be there for his girlfriend in her time of need, and that didn’t come from a sense of obligation I felt toward her. That came from a desire to protect her, comfort and love her, and be whatever she needed me to be.

If something was wrong with her, whatever it might be, I wanted to make sure that I was always there watching over her. My possessiveness—my love—for her wouldn’t let me do otherwise.

And I’d felt so completely useless and inadequate when I heard that another man was doing my job. Not to mention the fact that I was worried as hell that something worse than a minor stomach bug was going on with Kinley. Worried that she’d been sick at her apartment for over two days and had nobody to care for her.

Until
Ryan
.

That prick.

I snapped back to reality when I reached Kinley’s door and knocked. When there was no answer I knocked again, my heart pounding in my chest.
Oh God, what if something is really wrong?
I didn’t have a key to her place. That didn’t really matter, I supposed, because if she was in trouble I would just break down the damn door.

Finally, I heard her voice. “Who is it?”

I had to take a deep breath of relief. “It’s me, Kin. Open up.”

Silence.

It hadn’t occurred to me until right now that she might not let me in. She’d be justified in that, too. I hadn’t exactly been understanding over the phone and then I’d hung up on her.
Dick.

I heard feet shuffling toward the door, heard her locks unbolting, and then she eased the door open. A sharp pain pierced my heart when I got a good look at her.

Oh, baby.

She looked like she’d been through the ringer, so frail and weak and I was worried she might crumble before me any second. Her hair was up in a messy bun, her skin was pasty pale, and she was gripping the edge of the door like her legs might buckle underneath her if it wasn’t there to prop her up.

My anger disappeared.

I figured that I would later remember everything that happened earlier, but right now it was a distant memory.

“Hey,” I said softly, reaching forward to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear and caress her flushed cheek.

Her face contorted into one of anguish, almost looking as if she might cry, and basically fell into my arms, her weak limbs trying to hold me tight. I caught her, needing to feel her close and assure myself that everything was okay with her and with us. I physically hurt at the realization that she not only felt awful but that we had also fought.

I hated fighting.

I mean, who really liked it? But growing up in my parents’ household, I truly despised yelling and arguing and being mad at the people you’re supposed to love. And anytime words of that nature were flung between Kinley and me, a chunk of my soul was ripped out and destroyed.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

I felt her shake her head against me. “No, you had a reason to be mad. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you what was going on.”

She pulled away from me and attempted a smile. “Will you come lay down with me? I might fall over if I stand up any longer.”

I hadn’t even thought about how late it was, and more guilt piled on. No doubt, I’d woken her up and in her state she really needed her sleep. I nodded, wrapping my arm around her waist, and led her back to the bedroom.

“Let’s get you to bed. Do you need anything? Water or crackers? Have you taken your medicine recently?”

She pointed to the coffee table where her cluster of prescription medication sat. “It’s probably about time for more. Can you grab that water, too?”

I carefully tucked her into bed and went back for the meds and water. She swallowed the pills and drank some water before falling back onto the bed. She was out not even a minute later when I returned to the bedroom with my bag that I’d left near the front door.

I turned off all the lights, shucked my shirt, and climbed into bed next to her. It took me forever to fall asleep because I couldn’t take my eyes off her as I stroked her hair, her arms, her back. I wanted to be awake to help if she got sick again.

After a while, though, long after her breathing had evened out in sleep, my eyes drooped closed too.

##

I was baffled at how much of a one-eighty Kinley’s health had done by the next morning. She hadn’t gotten up once throughout the night to get sick, and she had inhaled her breakfast, without throwing it back up. The color had returned to her cheeks—almost to its normal golden hue—and she had bounds more energy.

“It’s a flippin’ miracle,” she’d said. “For the first time in days I don’t feel like the
Alien
is about to burst out of my belly.”

There’s an image I didn’t need.

“I’m just glad you’re feeling better,” I told her, giving her a quick peck on the lips before I started to clean up our lunch, almost all of which she ate. Getting her appetite back was a good sign.

“Much better,” she replied. “I really appreciate you coming down here. I know it’s your day off and you could probably use the rest. So it means a lot that you wanted to take care of me.”

I stopped what I was doing and walked back over to her. “Kin, I would have been here from the beginning if you’d have told me. I would have figured something out with the games.”

She lightly shook her head and gave me a sympathetic smile. “But you can’t always be here and you know that. You were in Texas at the time and your manager wouldn’t have appreciated you trying to leave just because your girlfriend was sick. This is part of it, Parker. We both have jobs that require us to travel, and there will be times where we may not be able to physically be there for the other person. But we have to understand and accept that. This was the deal we made when we got together. I wasn’t upset that you weren’t here when I got sick because I knew you didn’t have a choice. But I knew that if you had you would have been here in a heartbeat.”

How had I gotten so damn lucky with her?

I would have expected most women to sulk and cry and use my guilt over the situation to their benefit. But Kinley just looked at me with quiet understanding and unfailing love. That whole speech of hers just made me feel like an even bigger ass over the way I’d handled things with Ryan.

“I know, and again, I’m sorry for how I behaved,” I said, staring down at the kitchen countertop. “It’s just…I knew it was going to be hard but I hadn’t thought about stuff like that before. Like when you’re sick or your car breaks down and I’m not there to help you. Not being there for you when you need me the most is what’s killing me. And the whole thing with Ryan just made it worse.”

She put her hand over mine and squeezed, causing me to lift my chin and look up at her. “But you
are
there when I need you the most,” she insisted. “You were at my show on New Year’s, you went to the wedding with me when I was dreading going alone, and you’ve talked to me on the phone countless times when I’ve had a bad day and you’ve always made me feel better. You gave me the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

I smiled brightly and kissed the back of her hand. She continued, “You make me smile and laugh every day, Parker, whether you’re with me or not. When I need you the most is not necessarily during the bad times or when something goes wrong. It’s the good times, too. The moments when I want to share my happiness with you. Those are the times I want to remember most, and you’ve been there for every single one.”

I pulled on her hand and brought her face closer to mine, giving her a hard kiss that she would hopefully remember for a while. “How do you always know the right thing to say?” I asked her.

She gave me a coy smile. “I’m just that
good
.”

My lust for her flared. I was around the other side of the counter in half a second, lifting her up into my arms and carrying her back to the bedroom. “Oh, baby. I’ll show you how good.”

I swallowed up her giggle when I connected our mouths again, our tongues dancing wildly. I spread her out on the bed, her shiny hair the color of an amber summer sky fanned out across her pillow, her green eyes darkening with need. I ripped my shirt off over my head and looked down at her prone body.

“Are you sure you feel well enough?”

She copied me and pulled her thin shirt over her head, throwing it at my chest. “I feel well enough to go a few rounds right now. Think you can handle that, Mr. Cruz?”

Christ, this woman is going to kill me dead.

“I think you know the answer to that, Miss Masterson.” I lazily crawled up her body, dotting kisses along every inch of exposed skin.

I reached her bra-covered breasts and yanked one of the cups down, immediately covering the rose-colored peak with my mouth, sucking it in deep and eliciting husky moans from her. I moved to the other one, flicking my tongue over the hardening nipple, causing goosebumps to cover her skin.

Her hands went to my hair, pulling me closer, so I gave her what she wanted. I picked up my pace, forgetting about being slow and gentle. I took her whole breast into my mouth, loving when her body arched against mine, seeking more of that pleasure. I took the opportunity to reach behind her and unhook her bra, tossing it to the side.

I quickly rid her of the loose pants she wore, along with her flimsy underwear. When she was finally exposed to me, I pushed her legs apart and dove between her thighs, burying my face in her sex without warning.

“Parker! Oh…
God
…”

Hearing her gasp my name like that in the throes of passion was the sweetest sound I could imagine. Within minutes, I was giving her what she needed, lapping up her taste with my tongue, and sending her into a powerful orgasm.

After I lost my pants and sheathed myself, I slid into her easily, suddenly having no desire to make this quick. Last night had been an emotionally exhausting event and I just wanted to lose myself in her. Shut ourselves away from the rest of the world and just for this moment, pretend we were the only two people in existence.

“You feel so good,” she breathed, moving her eyes from my face down to where our bodies were joined and back up again.

“Yeah?” She nodded. I grabbed one of her pillows and lifted her hips as I slid it under her butt. The angle allowed me to push deeper, drive farther into her heat. “How about now?”

Her eyes rolled back and she grasped the sheets. “Oh, shit. That’s even better.”

The sounds of our slapping skin echoed through the room as we became a sweaty, tangled mess of writing body parts. I loved watching her firm, rounded tits jiggle with every thrust of my hips and the way she practically begged for more by grabbing my ass and pulling me in tighter.

“Harder,” she pleaded.

No problem.

I went harder, faster, and by the time I felt my dick grow with the threat of my release, my legs were on fire from the force of my movements. “Fuck, Kinley.
Fuck
…
baby
…”

Her breathing matched mine when my panting became harsher. She was getting close, too, and her heat began pulsing. A few more drives and a little contact with her clit and she was clenching around me, screaming out her pleasure, with me only seconds behind her.

My legs gave out on me, bringing our lips within kissing distance and we took advantage. I nibbled on her lips because I missed them like crazy when we were apart. We ended up falling asleep like that, with our mouths only centimeters apart, until we woke up about an hour later to the sound of her phone beeping with an incoming text.

She growled, making me chuckle into my pillow because it sounded more like an angry little kitten. She snatched her phone off the nightstand and read the message. Her forehead creased and her eyes flickered over to me briefly. I could tell she was a little worried about whatever she was going to say.

“What is it?”

She bit her lip and then sat up in bed, turning to face me as she pulled the sheet up under her arms. “Do you remember the event I told you about tonight? The photography convention?”