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“Why do you actually look worse than I do?” Ian asked as I shut the front door behind us. “I’m the one who was tackled by a linebacker and a quarterback last night.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” I admitted with a yawn.
He set the pizza he’d brought with him on the dining room table and pulled me into his arms, and I just melted against him. This was what I’d been wanting all night, and it was the whole reason I hadn’t slept. I knew it was stupid, but between watching him get beaten up by those monsters on the field and then my mom picking a fight the second I’d walked in the door, I’d been too upset to sleep. All I’d wanted in the world was his arms around me. His voice in my ear. The sense of security I always had when I was with him.
“I know we need to talk about what happened yesterday, but can it wait?” I asked in a small voice. “Between what happened at the game and my mom starting in on me when I got in last night, I can’t handle anything else right now. I just need you today.”
He dropped a kiss on my head and squeezed me a little tighter. “I need you too, baby. More than you know. We don’t have to talk until you’re ready.”
I stood on my toes for a kiss, and now that we were finally alone for the first time since Friday afternoon, he held nothing back. He groaned a little as he swiped at my lower lip with his tongue, and I happily granted him access, moaning into his mouth as his tongue stroked against mine with a desperation that mirrored my own.
I didn’t even realize that a few tears had trickled down my cheeks until Ian pulled back and wiped them away with his thumbs, brushing his lips against my forehead.
“We’ll get through this, baby,” he whispered. “No matter what happens, we’ll deal with it together. And we’ll win, because we have something they don’t.”
“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Love.” He gave me another peck. “They think they can intimidate me into backing down or abandoning you because they have no idea what it’s like to love someone the way I love you. And they can’t imagine Melissa, Izzie, and Braden loving you enough to stick by you, no matter how ugly this gets. They’re not capable of caring about anyone but themselves, but we’re a family. And family protects each other, no matter what.”
If he thought that was going to help with the crying…well, it had the opposite effect.
My mom and her relatives had always used the word “family” as a guilt trip, only pulling it out when they wanted something, so I’d come to view family as an obligation, not as people who would love and support me unconditionally. With the way my mom did her best to completely isolate me, she’d ensured that I felt completely alone in the world, even before I was assaulted.
But Ian was right. He was my family, and so were Melissa and Braden and now Izzie. And even Gary and Maya and Hillary, though I barely knew them. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t related to them.
“My mom…last night, she tried to tell me that this wasn’t real. That I was too young to even know what love was,” I sniffled. “I know it’s stupid that it upset me so much, but after everything else that happened yesterday, having her pick another fight with me over you just sent me over the edge, you know?”
Ian kissed my forehead. “She’s wrong, baby. I don’t care how young we are. Thisisreal, and it’s forever.”
“I love you,” I said, my voice thick with the emotion that was threatening to drown me.
His answer was another kiss that took my breath away.
“Okay, enough with the heavy,” he said with the most adorable smile. “Let’s grab some plates and drinks from the kitchen, and then we’ll hang out with Cosette, watch movies, and eat pizza and junk food for the rest of the day.”
* * *
After we ate and I took our plates back to the kitchen, I curled up against Ian in bed, wrapping myself around him like a vine. I knew it was stupid, but all I wanted in the world right now was to be close to him. Rolling onto his side, he pulled me close and brought his lips to mine, kissing me slowly and thoroughly. I slid my arms around to his back, slipping them under his shirt and pushing the fabric up, wanting it gone. When I couldn’t get it any further, he pulled back, chuckling quietly and giving me a playful smirk.
“You know, if you wanted me shirtless, you could have just asked,” he teased.
My cheeks heated in embarrassment, and he laughed again before sitting up and pulling his shirt over his head. Then he lowered himself back down and kissed me so deeply I saw stars. I let my arm glide around him, moving it up to grip his shoulder, and he slid his arm under me, slipping it back under my shirt as he held me close.
God, I needed this after yesterday. Time alone with him, where we could just be us without worrying about anything else. To be able to kiss him and touch him and not have to worry that I was taking it too far. To be able toshowhim what words didn’t exist to express.
“You okay, Ky?” he whispered.
I nodded. “I’m not afraid of you, Ian. You won’t hurt me.”
“Never,” he promised with another kiss. “Can I take your shirt off too?”
I gave him a small smile. “You don’t have to ask.”
“I need to hear the word, baby.”
Seriously, where had he come from? It was like the universe had taken everything I’d ever hoped for in a boyfriend – and everything Ineededto feel safe in a relationship – and then put it all into one guy and thrown him into my life in a way I couldn’t ignore.
“Yes.”
