chapter twenty-three
chapter list
chapter twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-Four
We were back at my hotel room hours later.
“Are you going to come in tonight?”
“Yeah. I’d like to.”
“Ok.” I couldn’t hide my smile. I knew what I wanted to happen tonight and I only hoped Kevin did too.
We sat on the bed, as we usually do. This time, I sat closer than usual. I used my body language as much as possible, and I was rewarded when he leaned forward and kissed me. We’ve kissed before, but not quite like this.
He laid me back onto the bed. My mind was going crazy. My pulse was racing. I knew I wanted this, but I didn’t know if I was ready. Kevin had been wonderful about waiting. He had always been a perfect gentleman, but I didn’t know if I was ready. Just as I was considering this, Kevin sat up.
“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”
He looked me in the eye and said, “Nikki, I love you. I’ll wait if you’re not ready.”
“I didn’t say – “
“You didn’t have to. I can tell you are hesitant. I’ll wait if you’re not ready. I love you, and I want you to be sure you love me.” That was all I needed to hear to know I was ready. He loved me.
“I love you too.” I began kissing him again, this time with no inhibitions.
~<3~<3~<3~
My pager went off at 8 the next morning. I slowly pulled Kevin’s arm off of me and slid out of the bed. I put on one of the robes and found my cell phone.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Brian. You paged.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?” I knew what he was digging for, but I wanted to give him a hard time.
“Is he there right now?”
“Who?”
“Stop bullshitting. Is he there?”
“Yes.”
“And everything went well?” I saw Kevin starting to move around in the bed.
“Yes, but I’m going to go now. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and turned around to find Kevin watching me.
“Who was that?” I smiled.
“It was your nosy cousin.”
“Hey! He’s my cousin by chance. He’s your best friend by choice!” We were both laughing now. “I’m just playing. You know I love him.” I nodded. “So what did he want?”
“He was just being nosy, as usual.” He smiled. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him.
“I love you.” I gave him a big hug.
“I love you too,” He whispered in my ear.
~<3~<3~<3~
“It’s so good to be getting back to Florida. Our plane should be landing any time now. Are you read to come home, Nikki.”
“Yeah. I’m ready. It’s going to be strange. I hope Hailey likes it here.”
“I’m sure she will. We can take her to Disney World sometime.”
“Yeah, and how do you think you’ll be able to do that?”
“Well, I’ll pull out the old Aladdin costume and – “ I jabbed him in the stomach. “Hey.” I laughed at him. “Nikki, we’ve been together for almost three months now. I want you and Hailey to live with me.”
“Kev, we couldn’t do that to Nick. He should be able to live with his daughter, and they’ve become very close.” I motioned across the aisle to where Nick and Hailey were playing a game. “I wouldn’t want o confuse her either.”
“You’re right. Maybe someday though.”
“Yeah. I’m going to take a nap now.” He kissed me on the forehead as I leaned against him to sleep.
~<3~<3~<3~
“Aren’t there any smaller airports in Florida that we cold fly into? Maybe there wouldn’t be as many people?” Nick had just gotten into one of the vans to take us to the houses. They had nearly been mobbed trying to get out of the airport.
“Daddy, I sleep.”
“Sure, baby. Come here. You can sleep with me.” She toddled to Nick and he pulled her into his lap. Over the three months that Nick and Hailey had to get to know each other, they had become very close. She had grown very fond of her daddy and uncles.
“Do you think anyone realized that Hailey and I were with you guys?”
Kevin put his arm around me. “No. It just looked like you were one of the other passengers on the plane.”
“Good. I don’t want Hailey to be in the spotlight yet. I know it’s inevitable, but I’d rather wait. So is there anything planned for tomorrow?”
Howie pulled out his planner. “Nothing at all for one week. I will be sleeping through it all.”
“Sounds good to me.” Kevin leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
~<3~<3~<3~
“Nikki, I have another date with Cat tonight. Do you think maybe…”
“Sure, Nick. Hailey and I will stay with Kevin.”
“You don’t mind, do you? I don’t want it to be like I’m kicking you out or anything.”
“No. It’s fine. I know what it’s like to be a young single parent, remember?”
“Thanks. You’re the best.” He kissed me on the forehead and ran for the phone to call Cat. I grabbed my cell phone to call Kevin to make sure it would be ok.
~<3~<3~<3~
“Mommy, where we go?”
“We’re going to sleep over at Kevin’s. You had fun last time, remember?” She nodded her head and smiled.
We walked up to Kevin’s door and knocked. He opened the door and we walked in. I put my bag in his room and Hailey’s in the guestroom.
The three of us had dinner together, played a couple of games, and watched The Lion King, Hailey’s favorite movie. When she fell asleep, Kevin put her to bed in her room.
chapter twenty-three
chapter list
chapter twenty-five
