Huge Deal - Lauren Layne Page 0,66

hell don’t remember saying that.”

“It’s fine,” Kate said with a smile. “I’m well aware that I’m no femme fatale, especially not back then.”

“It doesn’t excuse me being cruel.”

“Well, you didn’t know I was there, so—”

“Would you shut up and let me apologize properly?” he said in exasperation.

She held up her hands. “Fine. I’m listening.”

He eased closer but didn’t touch her, his eyes intense on hers. “I don’t know what the hell that idiotic version of me was thinking. But I do know what the version of me now is thinking. Has been thinking for weeks.”

Kate swallowed nervously. “What’s that?”

His hand lifted as though to touch her face, then dropped again, his fist clenching. “That I can’t stop thinking about you. About putting my hands on you. About how we can’t seem to get our damn timing right, because you’re telling me that night on the yacht was the end of something, when for me, it felt like just the beginning.”

She tried to calm her racing heart and couldn’t. She’d waited so long to hear these words from him, and yet she couldn’t forget just how much that initial rejection had stung.

“I’m sorry, Kate—more sorry than I possibly have words for. Back then, the man you heard didn’t have the right understanding of the word irresistible, but the man sitting beside you right now does. And you should know—you must know—you are the most irresistible woman I’ve ever known.” His hand tentatively touched her cheek. “Do you trust me?”

Kate studied him, studied his every feature, determined to read the truth.

She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been a little distrustful of Kennedy in the past. Or rather, maybe not distrustful of him as much as of herself when she was around him. That much was still true. He, of all people, had the power to hurt her. Not because he’d want to or ever intend to, but simply because she’d given him such a big part of her heart and hadn’t gotten all of it back yet.

But . . .

This was the guy who’d never let her down. Who’d driven her an hour to her family’s house, then handled the aftermath of her father’s death, all without expecting so much as a thank-you in response. He was the type of person who took care of other people. Who cared for his own. So yeah, she trusted him.

Which was why Kate gave in to an urge she’d been trying to stifle for years. She leaned forward and kissed Kennedy Dawson.

24

Sunday, May 19

Had he really gone years without kissing Kate Henley? Because right now, Kennedy couldn’t remember how he’d survived the past month since he last had his lips on hers.

Kate sighed, her breath warm and sweet as it mingled with his.

Kennedy’s hand went to the back of her head, and he lowered her slightly back to the picnic blanket. He followed her down, settling his body against hers. Everything had changed that night on the boat and in the weeks leading up to it. He’d realized that he didn’t just want Kate, he needed her. She’d been all he could think about, the only important thing. He’d seen it happen with Ian when he met Lara, watched it brewing for years with Matt and Sabrina.

He’d thought he’d understood it on a rational level. Thought that even if that sort of all-consuming obsession with another person didn’t happen for him, he’d known what they were going through.

He hadn’t. Not until it had happened to him with Kate.

Kennedy now realized that he’d do anything just to be near her. Even if it meant making out in Central Park.

Especially then.

She was shy at first, her kiss chaste, her body tense, and he let her set the tone of the kiss. Eventually, when her hand lifted to the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his hair with a touch of frustrated urgency, he rewarded her by tangling his tongue with hers. Her small body arched up, her mouth opening to his.

Kennedy was right there with her. He lost himself in the kiss, forgetting they were in a public place, on the fucking grass. He hadn’t even opened the wine, but he felt drunk on the moment.

Drunk on her.

His thigh moved farther over her, pinning her legs to the blanket, and Kate folded her arms around the back of his neck, pulling him in. Kennedy’s hand drifted over her waist, over the shirt, because they were in a public place, for God’s sake. He’d