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Chapter 7
PENELOPE
Later that night,Kai and I are lounging in my bed. He’s on his back with me laying between his legs. I’m on my side with my head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. We’re both naked, having just finished our second round of sex. For as young as Kai is, he knows all the right moves to have my body singing like a canary.
Using his pointer finger, he swirls the tip around the areola on my right nipple so lightly I can barely feel it. It pebbles into a hard peak.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, his tone low.
I shift around to my stomach so I can look at him. “What my brother said earlier,” I admit. “He was right. I know you like to think the age difference between us isn’t an issue, but it is.”
“Your brother and Jersey are doing okay. And isn’t Sheriff Erikson seeing his step-daughter, who’s barely eighteen, right? That’s a double whammy.”
“It’s different when the woman is older than the man.”
He tucks a lock of my dark hair behind my ear then cups the side of my face. “Unfortunately, that may be true, but it only becomes an issue if we let it. Do you honestly care what people will think?”
“Yes. No.” I drop my head to his chest. “I don’t know. Maybe? This is all so confusing to me.” I lift my eyes back to him. “I never thought I’d be in this situation before, so I don’t know how to feel.”
He sits up, forcing me to get to my knees. Once he’s settled back against the headboard, he grabs me around the waist and places me on his lap with my legs straddling him. He sets his palms midway up my naked thighs.
“Let me ask you something. And think about your answer before you give it.” He pauses a moment. “How do I make you feel?”
I hold his beautiful, blue eyes as I go over in my head exactly what I feel for Kai. Or rather, how he makes me feel. Several things come to mind, all of them good. Things I never thought I’d feel for a man his age. Regret should be one of them, but no matter how much I try to dredge up the feeling, it’s just not there.
“Desired,” I say at first. “Cared for. Beautiful.” His smile grows with each feeling I list. “Happy. Amazed. Young. But you also make me feel confused and flustered.”
“Let’s forget about being confused and flustered for the moment and talk about those other good feelings.” He runs his hands up my thighs until his thumbs rest where my legs meet my hip bones. “I know you’ve prided yourself on keeping a professional appearance, and it’s filtered over into your personal life. You don’t do drama and try to stay away from it as much as possible. Some people won’t understand our relationship and rumors will, unavoidably, be passed around. I wish I could keep you safe from that, but I can’t. What I can promise, though, is that you will not be alone. We’ll tackle whatever they throw at us together. And I swear, Penelope, all those feelings you mentioned, they will only grow stronger. I wasn’t just throwing those words out there. What I told Wesley about marrying you, I meant them. I have every intention of one day making you my wife.”
My heart flutters in my chest. It’s utterly insane to even contemplate being with Kai when there’s so many things stacked against us, but I can’t help the hopeful feeling from forming.
From the start of his internship, Kai’s shown his interest, but it wasn’t until recently that he really started pursuing me. As frustrating as he was, a small part of me, a part I ignored until last week, was thrilled that he found me desirous. Not because I don’t think I’m pretty enough, but because I’m an older woman. Young men don’t typically go for older women. But for some reason, Kai is interested in me.
Pulling in a deep breath, I refocus my eyes back on Kai and nod slowly. “Okay.”
His eyes light up. “Okay? You mean okay as in you’ll give us a shot?”
A smile spreads across my face. “I must be crazy to agree with this, but yes, I’d like to see where this goes.”
“Oh, baby, we’re going all the way.” He sits up and presses his lips against mine.
I lean back. “Speaking of going all the way. I know we haven’t discussed it, but we haven’t been using condoms. I’m on the pill, so we don’t have to worry about any surprises popping up. And I haven’t been with anyone since my last physical.”
We’ve been reckless so far by not using protection. It’s very unlike me to be so careless. I’m usually very adamant about using condoms with the guys I sleep with, but there’s something about Kai that makes me frazzled enough that I forget.
“No worries on my part either. I had myself tested before I started pursuing you. As for any ‘surprises’ that may arise, is it too early to say I wouldn’t mind seeing a rugrat made of us running around?”
Is it completely absurd for me to like his answer so much? Not that I’m ready for a baby right now. This thing between Kai and me is just starting. We may hate each other in a couple of weeks. But a tiny part of me is curious what our baby would look like. I’ve always wanted kids and marriage. It’s way too soon to imagine Kai in the role of husband and father.
“Why did you want to work in public relations?” I ask out of the blue. It’s been a question on my mind ever since his mother mentioned it the day in the salon.
Instead of answering me right away, Kai flips us so I’m on my back and he’s wedged his hips between my legs. His face hovers above mine.
“To get close to you,” he admits quietly. His eyes flicker back and forth between mine, as if waiting for my reaction.
“Seriously? You chose your career path based on mine so you could get close to me?”
He rubs his nose against mine in an Eskimo kiss. In all of my thirty-four years, I’ve never shared an Eskimo kiss with a guy.
