Part 7
One of the hazards of his occupation was forgetting where he was but as the smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon frying drifted in to him, his surroundings slowly began to register. He was at his mother’s and he’d fallen asleep on the couch…with Sarah. The warmth of her body next to him registered now and it eased the stiffness of having slept in the same position all night.
Slowly, he opened his eyes to gaze at the woman in his arms and he felt his heart skip a beat. She slept peacefully, her head on his shoulder, her hand on his chest and a leg draped across his. He cherished his time with her like this and he wondered how long he would have it. Would this weekend bring him a lifetime of this or would it just be a weekend for them both to remember when they were with someone else? He loved her more than he could ever tell her but he hoped that after this weekend, she would realize it.
Taking her hand in his, he placed a kiss in the palm, his mustache and goatee tickling her. When she tried to pull away, he held on to it.
“Kevin?” she mumbled sleepily.
“Good morning, baby.”
“What time is it?”
Glancing at his watch, he answered, “Seven-thirty.”
“What time do you have to be at your lawyer’s office?”
“Nine-thirty and I need to get moving so I’m not late.”
“Mmmm, I wanna stay right here.”
“I promise, once I’m done, you’ll have my complete and undivided attention,” smiled Kevin. She wanted to stay in his arms…that had to be a good sign. “I take it you don’t want to go with me this morning?”
“You don’t mind, do you?”
“I guess not.”
“What time are you gonna be done?”
“Not sure. Hopefully by noon so I can take you to lunch and then shopping.”
“Shopping? For what?”
“Well, you’re gonna need a dress for tonight. We have reservations at ‘Snug Hollow’ and you’re gonna need some sexy negligees for after dinner.”
“Ya know…I could have BROUGHT all that if you’d just TOLD me,” scolded Sarah. “There’s no sense in you having to buy me new stuff.”
“Yeah, I know but I want to do this and besides, I didn’t have time for you to pick out clothes because you would have obsessed too long and we’d have missed our flight,” teased Kevin earning him a scowl. “I’ll leave you my credit card and if I can’t get back in time for lunch, I’ll call Mama and get her to take you to town shopping.”
Sarah frowned, “I would rather wait for you. I’m not sure I want to buy the kind of gowns YOU want me to buy with your mother watching.”
“That’s fine, baby.” As Kevin eased out from Sarah’s hold, she settled in to go back to sleep and he nudged her. “Hey, lazy!! Get up!”
“NO!” protested Sarah.
Laughing, Kevin sat back down and ran his fingers through her hair. “You’re so cute when you pout but it won’t work. Mama’s fixing breakfast for us and I know you don’t want to disappoint her.”
“I hate you,” pouted Sarah as he offered her a hand.
“No, you don’t.” As she stood, he pulled her to him. “You love me, you just don’t want to admit it.”
Sighing helplessly, Sarah reached up to run her fingers through his hair. “Yeah, I do.”
Leaning to her, Kevin kissed her, a deep, breath-taking kiss, as he pulled her tighter. Breaking the kiss, he gazed into her eyes to say, “What you do to a man should be illegal.”
Sarah laughed, “And what YOU do to a woman is innocent?!”
“Of course,” smirked Kevin. From the hall, they heard his mother calling them and Kevin said, “Let’s go eat. I asked Mama to fix your favorite breakfast.”
“You really are pulling out all the stops this weekend!”
“Yeah, I am. I’m going to show you that I can love you just as….”
Kevin stopped himself but Sarah knew he had wanted to say Howie and her heart jumped into her throat. Shyly, she said, “I never doubted that, ‘Boo’.”
I’m such an idiot! Kevin silently reprimanded himself. She wasn’t even thinking about him!
Sarah looked up at Kevin and knew he was kicking himself but she couldn’t help letting her mind go to how nice all of this would be if she were with Howie instead.
Kevin cupped her face in his hand and forced her to look up at him. “Sarah, I…” he started tenderly.
Hearing Mrs. Richardson, Sarah put her hand on his. “Let it go….please? You’ve done so much to make this weekend special…let’s just enjoy it.”
Placing a soft kiss on her lips, he whispered, “Thank you.”
