“What?” His lips curl and his eyes twinkle. He hasn’t ever looked more handsome, including the times I have seen him bare-chested.
“You look different.”
“Good different, I hope.” He winks at me, and I think I just died for a microsecond.
“What the heck, Keith? You are like…a different person. Some warning would have been good,” I squeal, my heart thundering and breath escalating in excitement.
He laughs. “I told you it’d be different.”
“I didn’t know it would be so different.” I lean back in my seat, trying to calm my rapid heart.
“I can be as you want, Clem.” He points to the beautiful bouquet on my lap. “If that’s too much, I’d understand.”
I watch as his grip on the steering wheel tightens. The hint of insecurity gives me a peek of the Keith I’m familiar with.
My hands tentatively press on the bunched muscles of his forearm, and his gaze, for a brief moment, shifts from the road to me.
“I love the flowers.” I gulp deeply, especially when the car slows and his eyes stay on me a little longer this time. “And I love what’s happening between us since last week. I don’t want to change anything.”
“Me either.” He grabs my hand clutching the flower stems over the thick paper. I’m sure he can sense my wild pulse as my hand stays in his grip throughout the ride to the Kings Security campus.
Keith opens the door of the apartment and I’ve never been so nervous. I worry I’ll pass out just at the doorstep. But when I step inside, my heart races for all different reasons. The birthday decorations I put up for Merida are still in place, albeit the balloons are mostly deflated and the streamers dangerously drooping, ready to fall any minute.
“You didn’t remove anything,” I murmur.
“I did pull on a few streamers, but nothing else.” He nervously looks around. I know he’s remembering our last face-to-face meeting.
“I’m sorry, Keith.” For a second, all I can see is myself standing not too far from where I am now. Keith’s face red and torn like he had just witnessed the biggest betrayal of his life. His eyes red, screaming at me, telling me…all that he told me that day.
He takes a step closer. “I’m sorry for how I acted.” His green eyes fill with so many emotions. “You did nothing wrong. It’s been over a decade.” He has said those words to me a couple of times in text, but it’s different hearing him say them to my face. Texts don’t show his anguish. “I should have learned to deal with this day until now.” He grabs his neck in frustration and I can’t hold back.
I throw my arms around him. It takes him a few seconds to get over the surprise before he crushes me in his arms.
“You don’t have to explain. You deserve another decade if that’s what it takes to move on. Life screwed you and you have every right to screw it back.”
A pained chuckle leaves him. “I’m not only screwing my life but also the lives of those I love.” Before I get a chance to recover from the shock that I might be one of those people, he says, “But now I just want to live.” He presses a kiss to my forehead before pulling back. “And I don’t want to start this day with this difficult discussion, unless that’s what you want to talk about.” He again looks unsure of himself.
I shake my head. I do want to talk more about this. But certainly not now. Today, I want to talk about us.
The foreign smile that has been on his face since morning reappears. “I have a small surprise for you.”
I follow him into the kitchen. “Mere’s at school?”
He nods. “Yes. Just a heads-up, she’s going to pick your brain, asking all the details of the show. She’s been yammering about that since you left. And before you ask, Snowy is in your bedroom.”
“My bedroom?” I reach the dining table and gulp loudly at the sight of two champagne glasses and a bottle of Bollinger 1999.
“I thought I should surprise you as you did me.” His smile is breathtaking as he smirks at me. “Or should I say seduced?”
My heart melts watching this playful side of him. “You are overly dressed for any sort of seduction, or did you forget what I was wearing that night?”
How I managed to form that full sentence without pausing for air is still a mystery to me.
“There was nothing forgettable about that skimpy nightdress and that hot, black lingerie. Images of you with it and without it are plastered in my brain.”
My breath hitches.
Jesus! Is this the real Keith Adams?