He studied my face a brief moment. “What about your parents?”
I frowned a little, backing away enough to see his whole face. “What about them?”
“I’m not allowed to come around them anymore. They’ve made that perfectly clear. Your father threatened that if I ever came near you again, he’d kill me this time. Probably not kill me, but beat my ass to a pulp. I don’t want you to have to sneak around with me. You shouldn’t have to go through that shit. You’re too young and shouldn’t be a secret, Kandy.”
“My parents don’t understand what we have.” I grabbed his hands. “They don’t understand how much I truly love you. They never will, Cane. I was trying to keep the distance with you too because I thought I had to choose…but I shouldn’t have to. My heart hurts when I force myself to try and forget about you.”
“Kandy.” He exhaled, giving me a sincere once-over while squeezing my hands. “My Kandy.”
“What?” I asked, blushing.
He tipped my chin, bringing my eyes to his again. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have. I would never make you choose.” He exhaled. “But if this is what you want, for things to be private until we settle all of the shit around us, so be it. But I think you deserve better than to be a secret.”
“I don’t mind being your secret. Just…promise not to let me go again.”
He cradled my face, dropping his lips on my forehead. He wrapped his fingers around the back of my neck and I looked up into his beautiful green-flecked eyes. “I will never let you go again. Do you hear me?”
I nodded.
“Never,” he asserted. “What we have will be complicated. You know that, right?”
“Yes…but it’s been complicated from the start.” I put on a sad smile and his eyes softened, like he knew all to well what I was getting at. “As long as I know you’re there, I’ll be okay.”
I suppose my response was good enough for him because he nodded and placed a kiss on my cheek. I wanted him to know that I could handle it this time. Even though I had my doubts, and what he’d told me about Kelly made things even more complicated, I was willing. I missed him too much. Craved him too much.
I’d let my parents down once before for wanting Cane. But they already knew how much I wanted him now. Just because things had blown out of proportion, it didn’t mean it would stop my desire for him.
Suddenly, all of these questions came to me, hitting me like a train. Why did I have to fight it? Why did I have to deny myself happiness and pleasure? Was I being selfish for wanting him so badly? Was it wrong to love him the way I did? I wasn’t sure, and as we got dressed and he drove me back to the campus, I kept thinking about it.
Loving him was wrong…but at this point in my life, I didn’t care about being right anymore. I would have done anything for Cane, and by him showing up and coming to my school, I realized he would do anything for me too. We’d had a small setback, but we’d found our way to each other again.
Fate hadn’t been against us. Fate was with us. I could feel it. We’d sacrificed so much for the sake of other people’s happiness. It wasn’t fair that we had to give up on each other, just to keep others content.
Cane kissed me long and hard before letting me out of the car. Our hot breaths mingled when I gasped and his fingers lightly tickled the hairs at the nape of my neck. This kiss completed me—almost like it was set in stone that we were going to do this…again.
“I’ll text you,” he told me as I opened the car door.
“Okay.” I smiled at him, but before I got out, I leaned in for another kiss. I loved the softness of his supple mouth, the way his breath ran over my upper lip and my nose. I got out of the car and gave him one last wave goodbye before walking off. He had a flight at four in the morning and I knew he needed rest. After all, it was nearing 10:00 p.m. I had definitely broken the Sunday night curfew, but I didn’t care. It was worth it with him, plus I was sure I could convince Henley that I was studying and got caught up.
When I made it to the door of my building, he drove away slowly. I watched him go, and then grabbed the handle to open the door to my building, but a deep voice called after me, stopping me in my tracks.
I gasped, turning toward the darkness. The shadow got nearer, and when it came into the light, I caught sight of the brown skin and whiskey eyes.