Someone to Love (28 page)

“A what?” He pulls back clearly confused by
my bizarre request. His brows pinch as though the entire concept
were vexing in nature. “No thanks. This is the first time I’ve gone
natural, and there’s no way I’m ever going back.”

“Oh, right.” I close my eyes a moment as he
hedges his way near my procreation station sans the appropriate
Cruise missile shield. “But I can’t truly appreciate it like you
can,” I say it weak because for one, its sounds stupid. “Don’t you
think I should try it both ways? You know, see how the other half,
lives.”

“Other half lives?” He spikes up on his elbow
and examines me—most likely for signs of head trauma.

“I probably just advanced too quickly,” I
add. “You know what they say…the grass is always greener and all
that good stuff.”

“It’s not good stuff. It’s bad stuff.” He
brushes a kiss just behind my ear. “The grass is definitely greener
on this side. It’s that fake indoor, outdoor crap on the other side
of the fence. Trust me, you don’t want to go there.” He nestles his
hips over mine, and I can feel his rather large protrusion pressing
against my thigh like a reproductive menace. “Believe me—what you
gave me was a gift, and I won’t let you take it away.” His lids are
closed partway, but I can still see the flames reflecting in his
eyes as his smile morphs into a seductive promise. Cruise is glazed
over with his lust for me.

He swiftly moves us past the talking phase of
the evening and well into the potential conceptual phase, where the
lottery of life will eventually conduct itself in my uterus for a
pair of lucky sperm and ovum if it hasn’t already.

Think,
think
!

I grab a hold of his overeager member, and a
thought springs to mind. My lips trail a stream of volcanic kisses
down his chest, his belly, and straight for the launcher that has
the potential to rocket us both into parenthood.

“Kenny.” He moans because he knows what’s
coming—him, mostly likely.

I brace myself as I slather him with kisses.
Obviously, I should have paid extra attention that day in the
coffee shop when Lauren was sexually mishandling a banana. I glance
down at it a moment. Ally was right. It sort of does look like a
Storm Trooper sans the arms, and legs, and assault rifle.

Cruise could be gargantuan in size compared
to other men and I have no idea. Nevertheless, that’s research I
don’t plan on conducting,
ever
. I lay my lips over him and
try to mimic Lauren’s motions, riding my tongue over the hard
ridges. Cruise exhales so quick his stomach cinches. I must be
doing something right.

“No teeth,” he says it so fast, it refutes my
theory.

He lands his hand gently on the back of my
neck and guides me for what emerges as a season of loving Cruise in
a way I hadn’t imagined until now.

“Hey.” He tries to pull me off, and I keep at
it like a good little sexual soldier. “
Kendall.
” My name
chokes from him like a dull ache just as an explosion of warm
salted liquid fills my mouth. “
Kenny.
” He pants it out in a
fit of ecstasy this time and less of a warning. I wait until his
throbbing ceases before spitting it out onto my T-shirt.

“Sorry,” I say, making my way back up to him.
“That might be something I have to work up to.” And even that seems
doubtful at the moment.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Cruise grins
through his erratic breathing and pulls me in. I try to give him a
kiss, and he’s quick to deflect my efforts.

“No fair,” I whisper. “You kissed
me
after.”

“That’s because you’re different.”

I trace him with my finger, his rough
stubble, the sharp M of his lips, his filament-like lashes.

Cruise peers over me while resting on his
elbow. His sharp features catch the light and bless him with all of
the adulation the flames have to offer. His skin washes out in
bronze, and he looks like a statue that’s miraculously animated to
life.

“Turnabouts fair play.” He dusts the curves
of my body with his mouth and a beautiful ache erupts in the pit of
my stomach. Cruise melts over me, pulling my thighs up over his
shoulder. He buries a kiss in my most intimate part, and everything
in me surrenders to Cruise.

Cruise

Friday morning, snow blankets the earth like
manna from heaven while all of Garrison disappears in an Arctic
layer of fog. Our world is unreasonably beautiful, but just as
cold, and I’ve got two hundred dollars cash waiting to turn into a
winter coat and boots for Kenny. That’ll have to wait until the day
is through. If I manage to have anything left, I think I’ll throw
in dinner—hell, I’ll throw in dinner anyway.

She spent all day yesterday helping my mother
get settled. I gave Kenny a tour of the B&B and she loved every
square inch. I’ve always known I’d inherit the place one day, and
walking Kenny through those hallowed halls felt like I was giving
us both a glimpse of the future.

“Professor I-Don’t-Bang-Chicks-Anymore
Elton!” A caustic male voice booms from behind.

I turn to find Cal following me into Hoffman
Hall where my newly minted office is located.

“What are you doing here?” I don’t slow down
my pace for him.

“Consulting. They asked me to help renovate
the weight room.”

His bald scalp is dusted with snow, and it
gives him that dignified asshole look he’ll achieve in about twenty
years.

“I owe you something.” A shit-eating grin
hedges on my lips. I walk up—clock him in the jaw and feel a
satisfying pop beneath my knuckles.

“Shit,” he barks, nursing his wound. “I think
I lost a filling.”

“That’s because you’re a pussy.” I head
upstairs, and he continues to tail me like the stray dog he is.

“What the hell was that for?”

“For being an ass. Why the hell did you hit
on Kenny? And don’t deny it,” I say, stepping into the glorified
closet which officially houses a plaque lucky enough to bear my
moniker. “I saw you with her at Starbucks.”

“That?” He falls in the seat across from me
with a dumbfounded, albeit slightly injured, look on his face.

“Yes, that.” I pluck out my laptop and fire
it up. “Look, if you’re going to cheat on Lauren, pick on someone
else. Kenny is off limits.”

“For your information,
she
was hitting
on
me
.”

I give a little laugh at the thought.

“And what’s this ‘Kenny’ business?” He balks.
“As far as I know, the rest of the planet refers to her as Kendall.
Don’t go down the thorny trail of pet names, my friend. It only
leads to more misgivings.” His nostrils flare as he slides down the
seat.

“Kenny fits her. It’s cute, like
Kenny
. You’re not allowed to call her that, by the way.”

“Cute.” He mocks. “You know what’s not cute?
The ex-great love of your life stalking me.”

“I have no ex-great love of my life.
Therefore, I know not what you speak of.” I pluck a stack of papers
from my briefcase and scan them.

“Blair, you moron. We’re talking about
Blair
.”

“
You’re
talking about Blair. I
wouldn’t classify her as any great love. More like an unnecessary
evil.”

“Evil? A bit harsh don’t you think?” His
brows peak as though suddenly her virtuous standing were a matter
of personal interest.

“I stand by my statement. Although, I retract
the word ‘unnecessary.’ She was very much a necessary evil on many
levels. First and foremost to contrast what true happiness is. And
that, my friend, is what I have with Kenny. Things are
progressing.”

He shakes his head. “Never mind,
Kenny.
When are you going to have the big pow-wow, with
Blair? You know it’s coming. Blair is like a piranha when she gets
her mind set on something. And right now that something is you.
Besides, she assured me she just wants to be friends.”

“I don’t need any more friends.”

“You guys have a history together. You lasted
longer than my father’s last three marriages. I don’t know. I think
you should at least have a sit down. It’s going to be a long life,
and Blair Lancaster just so happens to run in the same social
circles.”

“Then I’ll find new social circles. Look, I’m
not interested in any kind of relationship with her. I’ve moved on.
I wish her happiness, success, and someone else’s dick to occupy
her time. My body is quite content with the woman I intend on
spending the rest of my life with.”

Cal jerks back like he’s having a seizure.
“You talking marriage?”

“I don’t see why not. Kenny is beautiful and
sane, so already she’s two up on Blair.”

“Low blow.”

I consider it for a moment. “You know all
those girls I rolled around the sheets with these past few months?
I never once felt satisfied.” A sigh escapes me. Countless hours,
countless fruitless pleasures I subjected myself to just trying to
fill some hole. I wonder what it would have felt like with Kenny if
I had waited for her—if I hung on until I met her that night at the
party, and we shared everything together for the first time. My
skin electrifies at the thought, and my dick ticks in my boxers
like a bomb. “Anyway”—I blow out a breath as I scan through the
stack of papers in front of me—“I have no intention of fucking
things up with Kenny, so you can tell Blair to beat it.”

“She’d love to beat
it.
Just listening
to her blabber on about her bodily regrets is making me insane. Why
don’t you bend her over your desk and put her out of her misery
already.”

“
You
bend her over your desk.” I fire
back, not quantifying his diction with so much as a glance. “I’m
over her. In fact, I’d go as far as saying I was never that into
her compared to what I feel now.”

A shadow sweeps across the door, and I peer
out to find a familiar red coat dashing down the stairs.

“On second thought, you don’t have to tell
her,” I say. “Looks like she heard, firsthand.”

Kendall

Dinner Theater

The Student Union café smells almost as
heavenly as Starbucks, but misses the mark in both scent and
coffee. It’s nothing short of a bad knockoff, a near miss,
something that I once accused love of being. I wonder if all those
marriages my mother sunk under like weights were nothing short of
knockoffs for something pure she was trying to emulate—something
special like what Cruise and I have. I wish I could gift that to
her. Wrap up all of these wonderful feelings and ship them off to
her with a shiny red bow. My mother deserves to have this.
Everybody does.

I spot Lauren and Ally huddled near the
window and head on over. A vagrant hand snatches me by the wrist,
and I trace the red pea coat up to find Blair staring back at
me.

“Boy, you left in a hurry the other day.” She
reaches into her bag and pulls out a stack of loose papers. “I got
your stuff.”

“Thank you!” I take them from her. “My
boyfriend had an emergency. His mom broke her leg.”

“So, you two are pretty close, huh?” She
sours at the thought. Couples like Cruise and I probably make her
want to vomit, especially after coming off such a miserable
breakup.

“Very close.” I shrug almost apologetically.
“He’s amazing. I never thought I could have something like this
with someone like Cruise. He’s the nicest person on the planet.” I
can’t seem to control my urge to gush.

“I don’t know.” She shakes her head. “Don’t
you think you’re too young to settle? And guys like,
Cruise
,
did you say? When you’re that good-looking, you’re always getting
hit on. They say ‘pretty boys’ are ninety percent more likely to
cheat than some average Joe.” Cal walks by outside, and she points
a finger in his direction. “Now take that guy for instance. He
would make much better boyfriend material in the long run.”

“That’s not what his girlfriend says.” I’m
quick to correct. “Anyway, I’d better go. Hey! It’s your special
day,” I tease. “You ready for the big reveal?” Blair is scheduled
to collect two hundred bones after class today and most likely just
as many boners while conducting the semi-indecent exposure. Blair
is pretty. I’m sure any of the guys in art class, or Garrison in
general, would love to get to know her better. But she’s totally
been burned, so I doubt they have a chance. Wounds like that need
serious time to heal. When you hurt that deep, you’re probably
still emotionally clinging to the person that hurt you. It’s that
whole power exchange thing Cheryl hit on in class. Someone still
very much holds all of Blair’s power, and she needs to take it back
before she could ever hope to move on with her life.

“The big reveal?” Her forehead wrinkles. “Oh,
I’ve changed my mind.” Blair slits me with a look that could cut my
throat. “Unlike some people, I’d rather keep my dignity intact.”
She walks out the door with the verbal snipe still fresh on her
lips.