Chapter 38
March 11, 2007
Kevin woke up and stretched. He rolled over and pulled the pillow to him and inhaled. It still held her perfume. He let out a sigh of animal pleasure and closed his eyes again. Last night had been a repeat of-no, an improvement on-the night before. He chuckled.
~ ~ ~
During the day yesterday, he had been hard pressed to stay away from her. He hadn't really slept in that much later than her. And when he had come downstairs for breakfast all he had wanted to do was touch her. She finally made him take Jemma to school, just to get him out of the house for a few minutes. And when he had returned, intending to whisk her upstairs to the bedroom, she had a list of chores ready for him.
"You've got to be kidding!" he groaned looking at the list in his hand.
"Nope," she smiled. "There's a lot that has to be done before the memorial service-I've got my own list."
"Rachel-couldn't some of these things wait?" He pulled her to him and bent down to brush her cheek with his lips. "Just for an hour or so?" he murmured in her ear.
She pulled away from him with a smile and was about to say something when Aaron walked into the kitchen. Kevin froze.
"G'morning, Daddy," he chirped. "What's the matter?"
"Oh-uh-Rachel got something in her eye." Kevin made a show of looking carefully into Rachel's eyes. She was grinning up at him, making it very difficult to maintain a straight face. "I was-uh-trying to help her take care of it."
"Are you okay, Rachel?" Aaron asked in concern.
"I'm fine now, Aaron," she smiled at him. "What do you need, honey?"
"Could I have a drink, please?"
Rachel got him a container of juice, and he went back outside to play. She turned to Kevin. "Now-you were saying-?"
He grinned at her and shook his head. "Never mind. Just give me a kiss so that I know that last night wasn't a dream, and I'll get to work." She came to him willingly then, and he spent the rest of the day in anticipation of the night to come.
And when they were finally in his bed again, and they came swimming up through the final waves of passion and fulfillment, he knew he had found what he wanted-needed. "Oh G-d, I love you Rachel," he gasped.
"I love you too, Kevin," she whispered.
He leaned over her and brushed back her hair from her face. "It's taken me a long time to figure it out-I'm sorry."
She smiled up at him. "Not as long as you think. Given everything else that was going on. I'm glad you took the time to 'look at things so carefully' too."
He pulled back to focus on her whole face. "So you did understand my thank you at the Grammy's." His head tilted to the side. "Why the tears then?" He smiled at her look of surprise and embarrassment. "Aaron told me," he said softly as he kissed her nose.
"He misunderstood," she said softly. "I was happy that you were moving forward with things-finding out where you wanted to be." She hesitated. "After New Year's, I knew it was what you had to do. It was important to me that you knew that too."
That had been the only dark moment last night. That reference to New Year's Eve. He had skirted the issue quickly, and when she had realized that he wasn't ready to talk about it, she had dropped it as well. They had fallen asleep in each other's arms again, shortly after that.
~ ~ ~
Kevin pulled his head from the pillow and squinted toward the clock on the nightstand. Sunlight from the window was shining on it, making the digital window difficult to read. Well, it was time to get up anyway. He felt rested. On top of the world. And downstairs somewhere, the woman he loved was waiting for him. How much better could it get? He grinned. She could be right here in bed with me. That would definitely be-.
The door swung open. Rachel was standing there with a tray table in her hands.
"Good morning, Kev. I brought you some breakfast," she said softly.
"Breakfast in bed?" he smiled, sitting up and settling himself against the headboard. "What's the occasion?"
"It's Tuesday," she grinned, setting the table down on his lap and kissing him on the cheek.
He took a sip of the coffee. "Tuesday, huh?" he grinned back, arching an eyebrow. She just stood there waiting. He set down the coffee cup and picked up the cover of the plate. And did a double take. "There's no food here, Rachel," he chuckled as he looked up at her.
"I know," she whispered as she pulled her shirt off and climbed into the bed. Kevin's eyes widened. She was naked. He hurriedly set the tray table on the floor and took her in his arms.
"Where are the kids?" he groaned softly as she attacked his neck with her lips.
She smiled up at him. "Jemma's at school, and I took Aaron to Tim and Tracy's to play with his cousins for the morning," she murmured against his skin. "Breakfast's going take a long time today."
* * *
Breakfast ran into lunch, but they finally did make it downstairs to the kitchen. Kevin picked up his list from the day before. "I guess I'd better finish this off," he smiled. "I've got the energy now."
"Batteries fully recharged?" Rachel grinned.
"Definitely. Just need a jump start," he grinned back wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a deep kiss.
As things threatened to go off the deep end again, Rachel pulled away and twisted out of his arms. "Um-no," she grinned. "List?" She picked it up and put it into his hand. "As your employee, Mr. Richardson, I feel it is important to remind you that we are having guests tomorrow and there are things that need to get done before they arrive."
Kevin laughed as he pulled on a jacket. "I think I'm gonna have to fire you again, Rach," he grinned. "I can't have people saying I'm sleepin' with the help." He kissed her again quickly and headed out the back door.
"Oh, G-d," Rachel whispered as she looked out the window, watching him disappear into the garage. "Can we have beaten the odds? Please?"
Chapter 39
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