Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend (Rock Bottom #3) - Holly Renee Page 0,37
She seemed sad, and I hated that I brought all this up.
I hated that anyone had ever made her feel this way.
“What about Kennedy?” There was someone she loved. Someone who could make her feel better.
“What about her?”
“How did the two of you end up together?” I couldn’t imagine a time when the two of them didn’t have each other. They were so opposite but so in tune with each other that it was crazy.
The two of them drove me crazy most of the time, but it was easy to see how much they loved each other. They treated each other like they were the only person they had, and I guess before Tucker came around, they were.
“When I moved to Pennsylvania, I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I had a limited income and needed somewhere to live.” She smiled like it was one of the best memories of her life. “I met Kennedy on the first day of my job when we were both waiting tables. She didn’t like me, and I most certainly did not like her.”
She chuckled and I could imagine the two of them completely clashing when they first met.
“What changed?”
“I don’t know.” She settled further against me. I was basically holding her now. “She’s too damn funny not to like, and I guess I just rubbed off on her. We decided to move in together within the first week.”
“The rest is history, huh?”
“Exactly.”
The silence between us amplified the gentle swirl of the wind, and I tried to think of what else to ask her. There were a million things running through my head, but none of them felt like things I should be asking her. None of it felt like I had any right.
“What’s your favorite color?”
She chuckled like it was the most ridiculous question, and I guess it was. “Green. You?”
“Green.” I couldn’t help smile at the similarity. “I honestly expected you to say pink.”
“Got to keep them guessing.” Her slender shoulder moved in a shrug against my chest. Her eyes were drifting closed, and I watched as her chest rose and fell at a gentle pace.
“Yeah. I guess you do.”
She didn’t respond. Her body was soft and molded to mine as if it was made to fit there. She looked beautiful as she slept. Her face free of her fears and the burdens she carried.
She didn’t move as I ran my thumb across her jaw, and I couldn’t stop myself as I shifted forward and pressed a barely-there kiss against her cheek.
The two of us were going to be working together soon, and it concerned me how happy it made me. Not because I was particularly excited about this business. Sure, I did think we could make money at it, but I was excited to be able to see her more often. To see her in her element when she wasn’t stressed and bored to death from a job that was killing her.
I couldn’t wait to see what she would do when the people around her didn’t assume she knew nothing. When someone believed in her.
Shifting her in my arms, my shoulder screamed as I lifted her and headed for the door. I didn’t give a shit how banged up my arm was, there was no way I was waking her up after she had finally opened up to me, even if just the smallest bit, then fell asleep in my arms.
The stairs creaked under my feet as I led us to my bedroom, and I bit back a groan of pain as I leaned forward and laid her on the bed. I expected her to let go of me then, to turn her back to me like she had every other night since we had been here, but she clung to me like I was a lifeline.
I settled down next to her, and I pushed her silky hair out of her face as she buried it in my chest.
I knew we probably shouldn’t have been doing this. I should have moved, not pulled her in closer and took a deep breath of her scent like I may never smell her again. I should have turned my back to her and redrawn the line in the sand before either of us got confused.
But I didn’t do any of those things. I pulled her closer to me, and I fell asleep while everything was still a blur.