His smug face falls away and I see the bead of sweat running down his temple.
“You can expect to hear more about this, Mr. Heart. All of it, including threatening me on my afternoon off,” he says and backs away before disappearing like the rat he really is.
I puff out air angrily, telling a store assistant I’m fine when they ask if anything’s wrong. Instead, I ask her to send everything to the hotel suite no point in wandering around with all these clothes once we’re done.
But it’s Katelyn I worry about. I don’t want pricks like that stirring up trouble, not for her. I can handle myself, but I won’t have anyone trying to come between us.
“Wes? What is it?” she asks, stopping me by grabbing my arm before we cross the road.
“Is it all the clothes? I knew I picked out way too many, but you did say it was-”
I let out a chuckle, amazed by her yet again. “It’s not that, Katelyn. It really isn’t,” I promise her.
You’d better tell her. No secrets, remember?
“I just ran into that security guard again, he just happened to be in the store.”
“So?” she asks, confused but sensing a problem.
“He’s just trying to spook me, threatening me about faculty staff dating a student, that sort of thing.”
“I see,” she murmurs. “Guess we’ll have to deal with it at some point. I only have a few weeks to go though, and then I’m off to my research grant-“
She stops herself again, a pained look on her face.
A stab of pain I share in my stomach.
“And where is this research, Katelyn,” I ask her, needing to know even though I won’t like the answer.
Her lower lip starts to tremble and I know her research grant isn’t in town. I never thought it would be, both of us just chose to overlook that little fact it seems.
“I don’t have to go,” she says, her voice trembling. “It’s just a stupid grant anyway, only a year or two of post-graduate nonsense,” she tries to tell me, but I know it means everything to her.
It’s what she does.
All that ‘stuff’ I’ll never understand, but I can just tell it’s her passion. It’s what makes her tick.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I inform her. “But at least tell me where it is?” I ask, wondering if I already have a house there.
“Boston,” she whispers, looking down at her feet, tears in her eyes now.
“That a fact?” I ask her, feeling like it’s not so bad after all. My smile returning and my heart swelling with excitement.
“I know a guy. Has a place in Boston,” I tell her, lifting her gaze up to meet mine.
“I’ll go wherever you go, Katelyn. I’m through with being a glorified gym teacher anyway. Whether it’s Boston or Bosnia, we’ll go together, I promise.”
She launches herself into my arms and I lift her up, hugging her so tight I’m worried she might break.
“You really mean it?” she sniffs, burying her face in my chest as I stroke her hair, kissing her head again and again.
“Of course I mean it, Katelyn. I… I…”
She looks up at me. “I… really mean it,” I tell her again, smiling and making a mental note to have the Boston house made ready for its queen.
“I love you, Wes,” she says. Telling me what I wasn’t sure she was ready to hear herself.
“And I love you more,” I reply, kissing her just as hard as I’m holding her.
She feels warm, soft, and something between us shifts. Like two squiggly lines finally connecting to make one straight line.
“Now…” she murmurs, making that whimpering sound she makes when she’s about to-
“Now?” I ask, feeling my own arousal answering before I can even think it.
“Now,” we both say at the same time, and I set her down just enough so both of us can make it back to the hotel as fast as we can.
It’s not far to go, and by the time we get to the lobby I’m at that stage where I don’t care if the whole world can see how hard she makes me, but we’re so close I think her body shields my raging arousal from having me arrested.
The concierge tries to tell me I have messages, but I wave him off and hope he remembers my strict ‘do not disturb’ instructions I gave him earlier.
Waiting for the elevator is too long for both of us, and I scoop Katelyn into my arms, making a dash for the stairs instead.
Everything, including the rose petals on the floor and the steaming bath with candlelight I ordered for the room on our return, is ready and a bit of a blur.
I can hear Katelyn gasping in surprise, but her arousal is more insistent than anything else I had planned.