All the Pretty Poses (Pretty #2)(18)
Author: M. Leighton

Several minutes after they’re gone, minutes during which I can’t get that gnawing sensation to leave my gut, I get up and make my way down the stairs and down the hall to the bow of the ship where Kennedy’s room is.

As I walk, I find myself imagining Sig threading his fingers into Kennedy’s hair, kissing those sexy-as-hell lips, pushing her back into the darkness of her room. My steps get heavier. I get angrier the closer I get to her closed door. My chest is tight and my pulse is pounding as my body prepares for me to beat the shit out of my brother’s future in-law if he has made the grave mistake of being in Kennedy’s room.

Bang, bang, bang, I thump on Kennedy’s door. I’m aware of how furious and aggressive the knock sounds. When I left the lounge, this was not how I pictured things going, but damn if she hasn’t managed to piss me off anyway.

When Kennedy answers the door, barely cracking it to peek out, I struggle to keep my sudden rage in check.

“Are you alone?” I ask gruffly.

Kennedy frowns. “Of course,” she replies as if I’m being ridiculous. I don’t let her see the way my lungs deflate as I release the breath I was holding.

“Can I come in?”

She eyes me suspiciously for a few seconds before she nods once and steps back to let me in.

In the low light, I can see that she’s already changed clothes. Now she’s wearing some tiny little cut-off sweat pants and a worn gray tee shirt that says Exotique across the front. It draws my eye to the lush curves underneath and I clench my fists to keep from pulling her into my arms and letting the feel of her skin soothe my irritation.

“What do you want, Reese?” she asks as she sits on the edge of her bed, crossing her arms over her chest.

As agitated as I am, I can still find room to tease her. “Now that’s a loaded question if I’ve ever heard one.”

She gives me a withering look, but I can tell by the way she’s flicking her fingernails, something she did when we were younger when she got nervous, that she’s not as immune to my presence as she’d have me think.

Her next words surprise me. “Why did you give me this room, Reese?”

“Why not?”

“Because no other room is this nice.”

“You haven’t seen the staterooms then.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Is it so wrong that I’d want you to be comfortable? To have a little extra space and a window?”

“It is if you’re expecting something in return.”

“I told you what I want, Kennedy.”

“And I told you that it’s not going to happen.”

I can tell my smile surprises her. “God, I love how feisty you are. You’ve changed a lot, haven’t you?”

She raises her chin a notch. “I’ve had to.”

I can’t keep myself from moving closer. I don’t want to. Waiting one second longer to put my hands on her is just too much. I have to touch her.

Kennedy doesn’t move until I stop right in front of her, my knees brushing hers where she sits on the bed. She tilts her head back to maintain contact, but otherwise, she doesn’t move a muscle. I’m not even sure she’s breathing. I’m not even sure I’m breathing.

I reach down and push one long, silky strand of hair over her shoulder, my fingertips grazing her neck. I feel her twitch, like she got a jolt of the electricity that seems to always be moving between us.

“But some things never change, do they?” I ask her softly, feeling more and more like that nineteen year old kid the longer I’m around her.

Kennedy’s eyes freeze over. “That’s where you’re wrong. Everything changes, Reese. Everything.”

I give her a wry smile. “You’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean everything changes for the worse. Some things only get better.”

“But most don’t.”

“That’s not true. And especially in our case.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Yes, I can. You can try to pretend that you don’t feel it, but I know you do. There’s something between us, Kennedy. There always has been.”

“You’re mistaken,” she says boldly, but I hear the tremor in her voice. I see the forced bravado in her eyes.

“I’m not. Never about this. About us. I know you think you should resist it, that this is a road you don’t want to travel, but trust me, you would enjoy it.”

“There’s more to life than pleasure, Reese.” Kennedy stands, her body sliding up against mine in a way that makes me ache to toss her onto the bed and tear her tattered little t-shirt off. “And I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could pick you up and throw you.”

“Maybe you will. If you’d just be a little more open to me, you’d see that I’m right.”

“Maybe I don’t want to.”

“But you do. And you will. I’ll prove it.”

“Prove what?” she asks.

I don’t answer her. I simply smile as I bend forward to brush her lips with mine. It’s a small taste that only makes me want more. But the shiver I feel run through her at the contact makes it easier to pull away. It just reiterates what I already know in my gut—eventually she’ll be mine. She’ll come to me. And I’ll be waiting.

“Here’s your schedule. You might need it.” I give her the piece of paper that I brought for her and I turn to go. I leave the room, leave her standing.

Leave her wanting.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – Kennedy

“So are you gonna tell me what’s going on with you and Prince Charming?” Brian doesn’t even pause as he leans into my leg to stretch it.

“What are you talking about?”

He rolls his brown eyes at me. “Oh come on! You didn’t think I’d notice?”

“Notice what?”

“The way he looks at you…and the way you try not to look at him. Girl, you don’t have to play Snow White with me.”

“I’m not playing anything with anybody.”

“And why not? This is a fantasy cruise. Don’t you want a little fantasy for yourself?”

“That’s not a fantasy. That’s a train wreck.”

“Wow, you don’t sound bitter at all,” he mocks with a smile. “I take it you two knew each other before?”

I feel my guard come up, like it always does. “Something like that.”

“Well, maybe that’ll give you an advantage. You’re sure going to need one. I’ve never seen that man not get what he wants. What or who.”