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“No, but I’d rather have my robe. Can you get it for me?”

“Sure.” Then Matthew did as she asked. “But if you’re not sick, then what’s wrong?”

“Exactly what did you tell your parents about us?”

“I told them that we’re friends.”

“Friends?”

“What’s wrong with saying friends? Wearefriends, aren’t we?”

“Of course, we’re friends,” Katherine managed, hoping that answering with a smile made her words more convincing. But her smile was forced and eventually faltered. When she got upto put her robe back on the chair, Matthew followed her to the opposite side of the bed.

“Don’t turn your back on me, Katie. That’s not going to help us.”

Katherine bit back a sob and turned to face him.

“Tell me why that bothered you.”

With a heavy sigh, she said, “Because I don’t wanna be just friends. I thought you wanted more than that. Have you changed your mind?”

“Not at all. But I didn’t wanna tell my parents too much about us. Honestly, I don’t wanna tell anyone too much about us. People can know we’re together, but they don’t have to know everything.” Matthew sat down in the big armchair, pulling Katherine onto his lap. “Look, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what Peter said how people will naturally have opinions about us—good, bad, or indifferent. But we don’t have to open the door to any of it. And for the record, I plan on protecting you from the bad ones as much as I can.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“Good. Because, like Peter said, the fastest thing to come between two people is other people and their opinions. It should be you, me, and God at the center of this relationship and no one else. And that includes our families.”

As Katherine’s fear subsided, she felt like she was falling in love with Matthew all over again.

“I don’t want what we have now or what we’ll have in the future to be influenced by anyone but us.”

Katherine leaned in for one of Matthew’s gentle kisses, but instead, his kiss grew possessive and demanding.

“Do you still trust me?”

“Yes,” she said in a breathy whisper. She didn’t know why he was asking, but she also didn’t care. All she cared about was him kissing her like that again.

“Then come with me,” he said, moving them from the chair to the bed. “I want you to lie down and close your eyes.”

Chapter 18

“Now, remember, you can always tell me to stop.”

“Why would I want you to stop?” Katherine asked, her body humming with anticipation.

“You’ll see,” Matthew said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Now before we start, I want you to know that I would never do anything that breaks the trust we have.”

“I know,”she said, unable to hide the smile on her face or calm the racing beat of her heart. “Our trust will never be broken.”

“I like your faith in us,” he said, then ran the tip of his finger down the length of one arm, causing her to shiver in response. When he reached the palm of her hand, he raised it to his mouth and kissed her with a gentle pressing of his lips.

“Oh, Matthew,” Katherine cried out, drawing in a sharp breath, her body arching upward as every part of her tingled from the sensation of his touch. Desperate to see his handsome face, her eyes flew open, and she gazed up at him longingly. “Please let me look at you.”

“Shhh…” he soothed, pressing the softest kiss to her wrist. “You said you trust me.”

“I do trust you,” she insisted, though she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him. She wanted to see everything he was about to do to her. But instead of continuing, he laid her arm down and backed away.

“Then relax and close your eyes,” he whispered, waiting for her to submit. “I promise it’ll be better this way.”