Compromising Kessen (The Vandenbrook #1)(51)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

Had to marry her came rushing back in an instant. Would his family look down on him for taking her down to the courthouse now?

“My shirt!” A yell came from behind them.

“My favorite shirt!”

“Get it, Duncan! Get it!” Nick yelled, as Duncan looked like he was about to cry.

“It’s too late, my friend … we weren’t fast enough,” Duncan said, burying his face in Nick’s shirt.

“There, there. It will be okay,” Nick said, sending a scalding look in Christian and Kessen’s direction. “My, my. What have we here? A little midnight camp out?”

“Murderers!” Duncan yelled, still fake-sobbing into Nick’s shirt.

“Shhh,” Nick crooned, patting Duncan’s head. “They know not what they do, my friend.”

Duncan looked up, noticing the marshmallows, and smiled. “Hey, Kessen, did Christian ever tell you about the time I threw a marshmallow and it hit—”

He looked at Christian and paled. “Never mind. Sorry, I thought you were over it.”

Kessen nudged Christian. “He was over it until I threw my marshmallow at him just a few seconds ago.”

“He screamed like a girl, didn’t he?” Nick piped in.

“His voice does get high-pitched when he’s frightened,” Duncan agreed, sitting down on the chair nearest Kessen. “Mind if I use your skewer?” He gave her a charming wink that would have melted a candle. The guy had no shame.

“Sure.” She handed it over, but not before Christian let out a little grunt of manly frustration. How dare they interrupt what could have been the best experience with marshmallows he would ever have in his entire existence.

As if reading his thoughts, Kessen leaned over and whispered, “We can finish our dessert later.”

There is a God.

He relaxed as Duncan and Nick went on to describe their treacherous trip back to town, where they discovered they had no money and several items to pick up which demanded the money they left back at the house.

Duncan explained they went to Lady Newberry’s house and asked her for money to get some of Kessen’s things, promising they would pay her back once they beat up the Vandenbrook heir and stole his lunch money to see how it made him feel.

Lady Newberry, always the classy lady, merely cracked a smile and gave them twice the amount they needed and told them to enjoy a nice dinner on her.

Which they did.

“Even though we were the victims,” Duncan said between bites of his burning marshmallow, “we decided to take a shot at sainthood and allow you two to spend some quality time together without interruption.”

Christian rolled his eyes. “Which by my calculations only lasted around five hours total.”

“Sorry for being a good friend,” Duncan cried.

Then he threw a marshmallow at Christian’s face.

Christian lost it. He grabbed the closest bag of marshmallows he could find and began firing away at Duncan’s head. Kessen grabbed her own bag and began hitting Nick.

Neither of them had any defense; both of the bags were next to Kessen and Christian. They ran back inside with vows of revenge and locked the door.

“I hope they don’t intend to keep us out here all night,” Kessen said, laughing.

Christian suddenly felt hot. He wrapped his arms around Kessen from behind and whispered in her ear, “I’m sure we could keep ourselves busy if they do.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Was it possible to fall in love in seven days? Kessen silently wondered as Christian’s hands burned what felt like permanent marks into her sides.

It was as if each finger was trying to mark his territory on her person, one by one, slowly making the agony of his presence clearer as time ticked by.

Neither of them moved. She doubted he even wanted to breathe for fear she would pull away. And maybe a few days ago she would have. She would have done a lot of things now that she was truly thinking. A few days ago she would have laughingly pulled away while teasing him about something ridiculous, if only to get a rise out of him, so he wouldn’t touch her anymore.

Not that she ever shied away from his touch; she was much too aware of what his touch did to her, or rather how it undid her.

But now, facing the locked door, feeling Christian’s arms around her. Everything felt … right. Kessen turned slowly, so she was now facing Christian head-on. His eyes were blazing. This was what it felt like to be in love, yet she couldn’t find the guts to say it.

It was obvious she was being a coward, but what other choice did she have? People liked to watch others fall in love, but when it came to their own lives, it was a totally different subject. Weeks ago she would have killed to have this feeling, the feeling of being in love. She was familiar with it only because she longed to have the type of romance the Vandenbrooks were famous for.

Why were those three little words so difficult for her to utter? Of course, it wasn’t as if Christian was helping, with his incessant staring and ogling.

Why didn’t he say it first? Unless maybe he didn’t feel it. Maybe he just felt passion for her, nothing more. Because when she stopped and tried to be logical, she realized it wasn’t logical. Nothing about her relationship with Christian made sense. She had to be out of her mind to think he would confess his love to her right now.

“Kessen.”

“What?” Her head snapped up, nearly knocking him in the chin.

“If you keep squinting like that you’re going to get wrinkles.” He touched her forehead lightly with his hand, but he might as well have been searing her. His hands were like a torch she could feel all the way down to her belly.

Not good. Definitely not good, especially if he wants me to stay up with him all night.

“I was thinking about the ball tomorrow night.” She quickly broke contact, so a coherent thought would be present. Christian looked at her thoughtfully and made a waving motion with his hand.

“It’s not a big deal, Kessen. Just a whole bunch of our old family friends and important people in society. If you play nice and dance with me more than once, I promise to help you fake a sickness, so we can go somewhere else and watch a movie or read…”

He said the last word with all the emotion he apparently could muster, making reading sound more like eating nails than enjoying a nice romance novel.

Kessen beamed. “So you’re saying you’ll read to me if I go and play nice?”

“Did I mention reading to you? No, I don’t think I did.” He grimaced. “How about I’ll show you a few of the spots the book took place in, and then if I feel generous I will read one line of your choice.”