Coffeerooms Passions

Chapter Three

Kay looked into the eyes of the boy she had loved nearly all her life and yet she couldn’t seem to get Reese out of her head. That kiss had knocked her for a loop as did the birds eye view she got after it. Who knew Reese had a body like that? She shook her head hoping to clear it of Reese’s naked image. It didn’t work. The image was still there burning a hole into her brain.

"Kay?" Miguel asked walking toward her and brushing her cheek with the knuckles of his right hand. "Are you okay?"

She froze in shock as his knuckles grazed her cheek. Miguel had never touched her like that. He unfolded his hand and placed it at the back of her neck then brought her face closer to his. He dipped his head to kiss her, but at the last second she turned her head and he ended up kissing her hair instead.

She stepped back away from him then looked into his shocked brown eyes and conveyed with her own eyes what her voice wouldn’t allow her to say. So many times she had dreamed of Miguel leaning in to kiss her, but it never once crossed her mind that the day he would she would no longer want him to. And today was the day that she didn’t. She didn’t want him to kiss her. She didn’t want him period. She wanted – Reese. She wanted him to be the one leaning in to kiss her. She wanted him to be the one to touch her face and look at her in concern... genuine concern.

She wasn’t sure what was going on but she knew whatever it was it had started last night when he held her in his arms. She had dreamed of him last night… of him kissing her and him holding her in his arms. And today he had… only he hadn’t looked like the Reese she knew. He looked like someone else. She wouldn’t lie to herself and say she wasn’t happy with the way he looked today. She was… but she also liked the man she saw last night. The one who lost his glasses in the sea after he had saved dozens of people aboard a sinking prom boat.

She no longer cared that people thought he was a geek. It no longer mattered to her. He had proven he was more than that. He had risked his life to save his classmates and she planned to make sure not one of them ever forgot it. He deserved their respect and she was going to make sure he got it. He already had hers. Why had it taken her so long to see what Reese hid behind those glasses? She had been so unfair to him. She had judged him so unfairly. She had apologized to him last night but she knew he didn’t understand the reasoning behind it. That was the main reason she had wanted to see him today. She wanted to talk with him about last night and everything that she’d learned about herself. She wasn’t sure why it was so important for her to come clean with Reese, but it was. Her dream last night had told her, he would understand. Her dream had told her that he wouldn’t hold what she had done against her. Her dream had also told her that by telling him what she had done, it would bring her closer to him. For some reason, that fact was the most important to her.

"Kay," Miguel said interrupting her thoughts. "I –"

She shook her head. "It’s okay, Miguel. At one time I would have wanted you to kiss me, but things are different now."

"Because of Reese?"

"Yes."

He nodded then backed away from her until his foot hit the bottom step. He swayed slightly and Kay reached out to steady him, which only caused her to fall right along with him. They hit the floor with a thud, Miguel taking the brunt of her fall. She felt him raise a hand to wipe the hair back away from her face and as her eyes met his, she felt none of the emotions she used to feel when she looked at him. Perhaps that was because what she had felt hadn’t been love, but obsession. She knew her obsession had gotten out of hand and because of that she had done something so despicable and so hurtful that she would never forgive herself for it. And of all people she had hurt it was her cousin Charity. Her own family. That made it that much more unforgivable.

"Kay? Miguel?" A voice called from somewhere behind them. "Where did you guys g –"

Kay turned just as a fully dressed Reese stepped into view. The shock and pain on his face was enough to cause her heart to hurt. "Reese," she said scrambling to get up off Miguel. "This is not what it looks like."

"What is it then?" Reese asked raising a hand to the back of his neck and locking his eyes onto hers.

"Miguel tripped on the bottom step and reached out to help steady him, but it didn’t work and I ended up falling with him." She said the words in a rush and she shook her head in the realization that what she said sounded lame even to her own ears. Yet that was exactly what had happened. She begged Reese, with her eyes, to believe her, but she wasn’t at all sure he would.

When he nodded and stepped toward her, she couldn’t contain the relief she felt and without stopping to think about what she was doing, she walked toward him and brushed a kiss against his lips. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked pulling back to look into her eyes.

"For believing me." She said with a smile. "For believing in me too."

"I’ll always believe in you Kay. I love you. Haven’t you figured that out by now?"

Her smile widened. "I think I finally have."

Reese smiled then leaned into kiss her. Kay met him halfway more than eager to feel his lips against her own again. She was so caught up in the kiss that she didn’t’ hear Miguel say goodbye or hear him shut the door behind him as he left. In fact, she didn’t even know he was gone until several minutes later, but by then she didn’t care because Reese had her full attention and she knew without a doubt that she had his too.

They spent the afternoon talking and getting to know one another better and Kay felt as if she’d finally found that special someone, the someone that she could tell anything to and he would understand. Because her belief was so strong, she told Reese the reason she blamed herself for the prom night disaster. He didn’t pretend to understand what she told him, he simply did. He understood her feelings toward Charity and toward Miguel. He said he had known she had feelings for Miguel and had no idea how to compete with them. Kay just smiled and told him he no longer had to. She told him of how Miguel had leaned in to kiss her and she had felt nothing for him. She even told him about wishing it were him. Reese didn’t seem to believe her at first, but after she leaned in and kissed him again he seemed to come around.

It had been a long time since she had held someone’s full attention and she had to admit she had missed it. But she knew she never would again. She knew that Reese would always be there for her. She knew that because he loved her and as strange as it sounded, she loved him too. Somewhere deep inside her told her that and she knew in her heart that it was true. She loved him and she didn’t care who knew it. In fact, she didn’t care if the whole world knew it. She was in love with Reese Durkey and she had the good fortune of having him return that love too. Could her life get any better?

A moment later it did, because that’s when Reese pulled her to his chest and brushed his lips across hers. "I love you Kay Bennett."

Kay smiled then ran her hand through his blond hair and returned his kiss. "I love you too, Reese. I never knew it, but it was always you I was meant to love."

It was true. Last night’s dream had told her that. Actually, she now knew it wasn’t just any dream. It had been a premonition. A premonition of things to come, because everything in her dream… everything including this very moment had come true. She was in Reese’s arms and it was exactly where she wanted to be. Now if only her dreams of being rich and famous would come true… Kay smiled against Reese’s lips realizing that she was already richer than anyone had a right to be - she was rich in love and that was more important that all the money in the world.