AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterTwenty-Six
ALL TOO PLEASED
Bentley
My weary eyesglance at the clock when Kenzie and I stumble into my bedroom. Two-in-the-fucking-morning. My sister is lucky I love her. We’re supposed to be well-rested for tomorrow—today, really—yet I haven’t heard Kenzie form a coherent sentence since midnight.
Drinking with her friends and then doing manual labor equals a zombie Kenzie, but she’s rather adorable so I haven’t complained. Not even when I had to carry her up the stairs.
“Come on, gorgeous. We need to clean up or we’ll be hating life even more when the sun comes up.”
Maybe she wouldn’t, but I would. Sleeping in filth isn’t my idea of a good night’s rest.
She mutters something I can’t understand, then leans harder against my side.
I grip her hip tighter to keep her standing as I turn on the shower and try to figure out how to get the both of us naked without laying Kenzie on the ground.
I hold her shoulders and give her a slight shake. “Kenzie. I need you awake for five more minutes. That’s it.”
Her eyes flutter, and she blinks several times before nodding.
“Can you stand here long enough to get undressed?” I ask.
“Yea-nope.”
She sways, but I catch her and turn her around, positioning her hands on the towel rack. “Hold on to this. Really good for me.”
Her forehead rests against the glass shower, and she seems to be balancing well enough, so I quickly strip out of my now white-dusted clothes, thanks to all the flour I handled.
As soon as I’m done, I unzip Kenzie’s dress, thankful there aren’t more clothes to remove from her body.
“Ti-werd,” she whispers against my chest when I guide her under the warm water.
I brush her hair out of her face before turning us sideways. “I know. Almost done.”
I don’t bother with soap and opt for just rinsing both of us off.
By the time I’m done, Kenzie can’t keep her eyes open anymore. I’ve never seen someone so exhausted in my life. I’m actually impressed with her right now. Slightly annoyed but impressed, nonetheless.
It’s a struggle to get her dried off enough, but I manage it better once I settle her on the mattress instead of trying to do so standing up.
When we’re both as ready for bed as we can get, I situate Kenzie onto the pillow, and she burrows in as I lay the comforter over her naked body.
Before I head to my side of the bed, I kiss the top of Kenzie’s head, soaking in the shared electricity between the two of us.
Talking with Owen earlier and realizing that I don’t just like Kenzie, but that I love this crazy woman, was an awakening I didn’t expect.
I see her in a different light now. How caring she is for the people she allows into her life, how hard she tries in everything she does, how no matter how much snark spews from her full lips, she has a heart as big as all the oceans.
I also take in how perfect her round nose is, how the part in her hair always curves to the left at the back, and how her creamy skin glows under the moonlight coming through the bedroom window.
Fuck, how did I not see this before?
I mean, I had, just not all together. The longer I stare, the more I want to wake her up and show her my true feelings.
Except I know that’s not going to happen. Not tonight anyway.
Instead, I settle for crawling into bed, holding Kenzie tightly against my chest, and falling asleep to the steady thrum of her heartbeat.
