Page 18 of The Last Key (Baker Girls #2)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KENNEDY
“That was so good,” I moan.
Devon rolls his eyes. “Again, you’re wounding my ego.”
I set the plate to the side and slide back under the covers. “The fact that we had sex before we ate should be a big ego boost.”
He pulls me into his arms and I rest my head on his chest.
“I guess I’ll have to take what I can get.”
“Give me a few minutes to digest and I’ll give you some more.”
“Mm. I love you. And this.”
“Just think, if we weren’t such chicken shits, we could’ve been doing this for years.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. My dick is so mad at me about that.”
I smack his chest. “Good to know sex is all you care about.”
He kisses my neck. “You know that’s not true. I wish we would’ve admitted it sooner. Yes, we could have been having years worth of amazing sex, but there have been so many times in the last few years where I wished I had someone by my side. A partner.”
“You know,” I say softly, “I would’ve come if you’d called. If you had told me you needed me, I would’ve been here. I can’t read your mind, Dev, but I’m always here for you. That’s the one thing that shouldn’t be changing from friendship to relationship.”
“You were working so hard. I didn’t want to ask you to take time away from that.”
My brows pinch together. “Well, that’s dumb. And whatever happens from here, you better promise me you won’t do anything like that again. No more struggling alone. I’m here.”
“I love that you’re here,” he whispers, tugging on my heartstrings and making me want to stay forever.
Right now, that’s still in the maybe category.
I mean, I know no matter what, I want to be with him—physically and in a relationship—but where and what happens next is what I don’t know.
Frankly, I have no desire to think about it.
I want to enjoy this. We waited long enough to get here.
I want to live in this stupidly happy, can’t-stop-touching-each-other, never-want-to-leave-the-bedroom phase for as long as possible.
“Devon?”
“Hm?”
“The other night, when you were talking about your future—love, marriage, kids—were you talking about me? Us?”
His lips are pressed against the side of my head, and I can feel him smiling.
“Always. You’re the one I dreamed of having it all with. I tried for so long to deny it, but I finally gave in after…”
“What?” I ask.
He sighs, then laughs and looks up at the ceiling. “After I called another girl your name in bed.”
My eyes widen. “Oh my god. Seriously?”
He nods. “Yep. Not one of my proudest moments, but that’s when I knew for sure. Maybe it’s what gave me the strength to finally cross the line.”
“I’m glad you started… having some fun.”
“I’m glad you played along.”
“It was fun. Hot. Terrifying,” I laugh. “And so hard to resist.”
“Funny, that’s how I felt when I heard you singing in the shower.”
I run my hand over my face. “Oh god. I was so freaking embarrassed. But then it turned into another way to tease each other.” Tickling my fingers down his stomach, I whisper, “Maybe we should sing together in the shower.”
He groans. “That sounds so good.”
Pulling me closer, he kisses me deeply. We’re a mess of lips and tongues and tangled body parts until my phone begins loudly playing Stacy’s Mom.
Devon pulls away suddenly and raises his eyebrows. “Stacy’s Mom? Really?”
“It’s Frannie and Hallie. It’s an inside joke. We were obsessed with that song in elementary school. We thought it was so funny.” I sit up and pull the sheet up so I’m covered, then grab my phone and answer the video call.
“Hello,” I say cheerily.
“Is that all you have to say?” Frannie demands.
“Well, I just answered, so… yes?”
“You can’t just send a text that says, ‘Hey, Devon and I are together,’ and then tell us nothing else. What is wrong with you?” Hallie yells.
“Sorry.” I’m not. “I was busy.” Having sex with Devon.
“I’m sure you were,” Hallie says knowingly.
We all giggle. “By the way, Frannie, you have no room to talk. You barely told us anything about Mark until you were home. We didn’t even know it was Mark Abbott until it hit the tabloids.”
“To be fair, I didn’t know that either,” Frannie says pointedly, looking off camera.
“Who cares? You love me regardless,” Mark yells.
We all laugh at that.
“Well, come on! We need details,” Frannie says .
“Right. Uh. Maybe not right now.”
Hallie leans in toward the screen. “Hold up. Are you in bed?”
“Perhaps.”
“Oh my god, are you like in bed?” Hallie asks.
“Mhm. He’s going down on me right now.”
At this point, Devon, who had been silently listening, leans in and grabs the phone, tilting it toward him. “She’s lying. If I was going down on her, she wouldn’t be able to talk.”
Hallie and Frannie shriek with laughter.
“He’s right,” I whisper. “Anyway… there’s not much to tell that you don’t know.”
“Bullshit!” Hallie says. “What the hell happened between our last video call and this one?”
“Uh… tell you what, I’ll give you the Cliff Notes. We almost kissed. He sang me Lee Brice. I got naked in the kitchen. Lots of sex. Oh, and I think there was some food in there somewhere. Anyway,” I say as Devon kisses my neck, “I should go. Love you guys. Talk soon!”
“Have fun being gross,” Hallie calls as Frannie laughs.
Devon grabs the phone from my hand and hangs up, then drops it onto the bedside table before climbing out of bed.
“Where are you going?” I pout.
He holds out his hand. “To shower. I thought we were going to do a duet.”
My eyes light and I jump out of bed, running ahead of him into the bathroom.
Devon and I are whispering and being handsy as we walk into the kitchen.
Again, Justin groans.
“Should I just leave early? Let you two have the house? ”
“Don’t you dare!” I protest. Dropping Devon’s hand, I walk over to Justin. “I’m sorry we’re being gross. We’re just happy, but I don’t want you to leave. I’ve missed you too. Just not like I missed him.” He gives me a massive pout. “Aw, are you jealous?”
Grabbing a glass from the cabinet, I fill it with water from the dispenser on the fridge.
“Well, that is why he became your friend in the first place. He wanted to…” Devon trails off, wiggling his eyebrows.
I spin back to face Justin and smack his chest. “Shut up. No. You became friends with me so you could screw me?”
“Believe me, I got over that urge very quickly.”
“Rude,” I say, taking a drink of my water.
“Hey, I stuck around for a lot longer than I would’ve if I’d hooked up with you. And now here we are. Ten years later. You two are finally together, and I have to hear you fucking in the shower.”
“Nah. We were just singing,” Devon deadpans.
I choke on my water, spitting half of it all over the floor.
Justin’s eyebrows go up, then he shakes his head. “Wow. What a tough code to crack.”
Devon is laughing as I wipe the spit water off my chin.
“This is going to be a thing forever now, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Probably.” Devon grins at me.
Whatever, let it haunt me till the day I die, because I’m too utterly happy to give a shit about anything else right now.