Shatter (True Believers #4)(49)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“What?” She smacked backward at me. “Hello. Three hot chicks just walked in.”

“I’m fixing your skirt; stop hitting me! Your underwear is showing.” God, that was a lot of fabric for a drunk man to deal with. I felt like my thumbs had disappeared into a flower garden.

“I would show my panties to these chicks.”

I glanced over her shoulder to the door to see who had attracted her attention and slipped on my stool, crashing forward into Miranda, who also stumbled. I grabbed her waist, ass, legs for support. “That’s Kylie,” I said, shock turning to pleasure. Kylie looked so good. So pretty. So sexy.

She was wearing tight jeans and a denim shirt she had tied in a knot under her br**sts, a white tank top showing how narrow her waist was. There was a little beanie on her head that just made me want to cuddle in a corner with her. Then on her feet were cowboy boots that made me want to f**k her with nothing on but those.

“That’s your girlfriend?” Miranda glanced back at me. “She looks even better in person than she did on camera in pajamas. Now you might want to take your hands off my ass before she raises the question of what the hell you’re doing.”

Good point. I dropped my hands and moved around Miranda to meet Kylie, smile on my face. I had really, really missed her. “Hey, what—”

“What the hell are you doing?” Kylie asked me, hands on her hips.

“Having a drink.” Or twelve. Why did she look so angry? I tried to lean over and kiss her, but she dodged my touch.

Huh. I waved to Rory and Jessica. “How is Girls’ Night?”

Jessica raised her eyebrows. “Drama filled, as always.” She leaned around me and held her hand out to Miranda. “Hi, I’m Jessica.”

“Miranda. Darwin’s very g*y friend.”

“You’re g*y?” Jessica asked, glancing over at Kylie. “That’s awesome to hear.”

Miranda was still holding her hand and her smile grew flirtatious. “Really? Glad to hear we’re on the same page.”

“Oh.” Jessica laughed. “No, sorry, that’s not what I meant. I have a boyfriend. I meant that I’m sure Kylie is happy to hear that you’re not creeping on Jonathon.”

Was that true? Did she actually care? Was she jealous? The thought made me ridiculously pleased.

“I am so not creeping on Darwin. We’ve been friends since our freshmen year as undergrads. He’s a great guy, but not my type. You know, not being a girl and all.”

“But you would totally want me if you were straight, right?” I asked, joking.

“Of course. No question about it. You are a man among men.” She rolled her eyes.

Kylie was just looking at me, her mouth set in a hard line. “I thought you were on a date. If you are, just f**king tell me.”

“Nope. No date. I would never do that to you.”

“Because you know, I wasn’t sure what was going on between us.”

Were we doing this right now, right here? Okay. And you know, I was offended, damn it. “I wasn’t either, but that doesn’t mean I would be such a gigantic ass**le that I would start seeing someone else without discussing it with you first.”

“The thought made me very, very angry.” She still looked angry. Her eyes were burning with emotion, her hands on her hips.

“I see that.” Rory, Jessica, and Miranda had taken seats at the bar and were talking. I fought the urge to smile. I really liked where this was going. “Why do you think it made you angry?”

“Because I don’t want you with another girl. It pisses me off.”

“Can I tell you what I want?” I asked.

For a second, her confidence wavered, but then she raised her chin. “Absolutely. What do you want?”

“You.” I put my arm around her waist and drew her closer to me. She dug her heels in, and kept her arms crossed. She leaned away from me, head turned slightly. I was undeterred. The fact that she had shown up at the bar told me everything I needed to know. I ran my lips over her ear, across her cheek. “I want you and no one else. I’ve missed you. A lot.”

Her shoulders relaxed, her arms going slack. “I needed space. I was confused and upset and I didn’t know if you would still want to be with me.”

“I know.” I wanted to point out that we could have just had a conversation about this, but I didn’t want to set her back up again. So instead I said what rum and my heart were telling me to say. “Kylie, there is no one else I want to be with. Not seeing you, not being sure where we stood, it was killing me.”

“Really?”

“Really. Because the thing is, I’m pretty damn sure that I’m in love with you.”

It was out. In the open. No taking it back. I didn’t regret it. It felt strong and right and honest. I was in love with her.

This was different. She was different. I wanted to spend every night on her twin bed in her micro-apartment holding her against me. I wanted to make her laugh. I wanted to hear her stupid chemistry jokes and answer every one of her random and out-of-context questions. I wanted it to be her and me. For real. Not because we had to be but because we wanted to be together.

Her eyes had widened, her arms had dropped. “You are?”

I nodded, solemnly, wanting to make it clear that this wasn’t a casual statement. My fingers brushed her hair behind her ear and my gaze drank in her features as greedily as my mouth had the rum. Her pert nose, her lengthy eyelashes, her high cheekbones, her soft, plump lips. “Yes. I love you.” I kissed the corner of her mouth. “They say it happens when you least expect it. When I showed up to tutor you, I had no idea that anything was missing from my life. Then I met you and I knew what was missing was you.”

Her fingers gripped the front of my shirt. “Oh, Jonathon. I love you, too. I don’t know when or how I knew it. It just feels like I always have. Like I’ve always belonged to you.”

Hearing that had me kissing her, hard, intensely. She kissed me back, eagerly, her mouth hungry for mine. She loved me. Kylie loved me. She saw something beyond the self-absorbed science guy. When we broke away, both breathing hard, she looked at me with shiny eyes, a grin splitting her face.

“Yay.”

That about summed it up.

I laughed. “Come sit down and we can have a drink with our friends. Then they can figure out Girls’ Night without you because I’m taking you home and I’m not going to take no for an answer. I’m not going to be polite, I’m not going to be nice. I’m not giving you any more space or time. I want you and I’m taking you.”