“I know. And thisispretty black and white for me.” River pressed her lips to Kennedy’s forehead. “I want you. I want us to talk about all of this. But the most important thing is that we’re together, and we’re talking about all of this like it’s going to happen. It might be that we move in together next year or a year after that, and that we live here, or in LA, or, hell, in New York, even. I’m not a big fan of the gray areas, either, but I’m okay with not knowing all of that just yet if it means I’m with you and we’re talking about it.”
“You make the gray areas sound good,” Kennedy replied.
“Want to share them with me for a little while until we start to get things figured out?”
Kennedy nodded and said, “I’m going to have my assistant extend the rental until I have to go to LA for pre-production, though. Is that okay?”
“It means you’ll be here, so, yes.”
“Can I make some slight alterations to your apartment upstairs, too, since you’re saying yes to things right now?”
River laughed and asked, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing. I just… I want some of my things there for when I stay over.”
“Oh. Yeah, leave whatever you want,” River replied. “I guess I could buy another dresser.”
“For me?”
“In general.” River shrugged. “The one I’ve got is small. I’ll have to move some of my stuff around to make room for yours, so I can just get a bigger one, and we can share. Black and white enough for you?”
“For now,” Kennedy said with a wink and kissed her. “Thank you.”
“You know how you can really thank me?”
“How?”
“Lean back and let me finish what I tried to start a minute ago.”
River knelt in front of her again, and Kennedy leaned back on her elbows. She knew she’d never felt this sure about anything in her life, and that included her career at every stage and her previous relationship, even in its best moments. She and Cameron had waited for two years to move in. Kennedy had gone ring-shopping at some point, yes, but she’d never actually bought one, and she certainly hadn’t asked Cameron to marry her. Now, with River, she’d been thinking and planning for the future, and it felt so right to her that she hadn’t even been scared to bring it up this early in their relationship. Kennedy knew she was in love and had been since they’d made fudge together in that kitchen.
As River licked her, Kennedy ran her hand through her hair and could see everything they’d just talked about. River wearing a suit on the red carpet with her at the premiere of this movie that Kennedy didn’t really want to do, but it was something, at least. She could see them looking at houses together, and she knew she’d have to be the one to pay for it, but she hoped River would consider owning it with her. Kennedy could see it all, and it was okay that it could all come in time and not immediately because with River, she could live a little in the gray right now. Maybe the gray was the best place for them to be in this early phase.
River was about to make her come in the back of her candy shop. Then, Kennedy would take her upstairs and use what she had brought in that bag of hers since River only had things she’d used previously with someone else, and Kennedy didn’t wantthem to use anything that they’d used while they’d been with other people.
“Fuck!” she said when she came.
“Want to?” River teased after she stood and wiped her mouth.
“Yes, I do. Now. Let’s go.”
“Why go anywhere at all?” River asked and cupped her.
“Here?”
“I just ate you out on the counter, babe. Why not?”
Kennedy gave River a playful shove backward and went to stand.
“I bought us something. Want to try it down here? You have never… I mean, back here, right?”
“Had sex? No. Well, now I have,” River said and licked her lips, causing Kennedy to laugh. “You bought us something?”
“Yes. I know you haven’t had the time to pick anything up, so I ordered things online and brought one of them with me because I thought we’d go upstairs, and I’d try to make you dinner. I didn’t thinkthatpart through, though, because I didn’t go shopping for actual food or bring anything with me. Can you cook something, and I watch? I’ll get better at cooking, I promise.”
“God, I love you,” River replied with a laugh.
Kennedy sobered, and River stopped laughing when she realized what she’d just said.
