She nods, reaches for another cup. “I started that when he was eight. Some little jackass pushed him out of line at school and Ransom broke the kid’s nose. Got suspended and I brought him home, sat him down in front of the piano. I made him stay there and play until he was calm and it just sort of worked. If his attention is distracted and he’s moving, even if it’s just his fingers, then he’s not as angry.”
Kona steps behind her, needing to touch her, to let her know he would never judge how she raised their son. Keira drops the cup in her wet hands, back straightening even further as he circles her waist with his hands on the counter at her hips. “You’re a great mother, Wildcat. He loves you, I can see that and he respects you.” Kona rests his chin on the top of her head and can’t help the quick inhale, the scent of her hair that hasn’t changed. “I’m proud of you and I’m so thankful that he has you.”
His praise seems to relax Keira. The straight bearing in her shoulders and back eases and Kona can feel the tension leaving her body. “I didn’t have a choice. I knew what kind of mother I didn’t want to be.” She shrugs but he can feel a small tremble working in her arms. “I just did the opposite of my mother had done to me.”
He moves the hair off her shoulder thinking about how strong she’d been, how it kills him that he wasn’t there to help her. He’s missed so much and right then Kona promises himself he’ll never let her struggle on her own again. He will be there, hopefully at her side. She looks up over her shoulder, her eyes catching his, and then she quickly turns back around. “What are you doing?”
The day hadn’t been just a stroll into the past. Kona had watched Keira, saw how she’d returned his stares, the way she didn’t bat his hand away when he led her into a room or opened doors for her. She had eased since the night of the party, didn’t seem so opposed to his attention and now it was just the pair of them in his large home. Kona couldn’t stand not touching her for another second.
“We’re alone for the first time in weeks and I’ve had to be around you all day, walking down sidewalks where I held you as a kid, in hallways where you touched me and all I wanted to do is kiss you again.”
“Kona…”
His hands go to her hips, around her stomach. “I’ve been thinking about the party, about kissing you, that song, and how you didn’t hate it. How you kissed me back, how you touched me. I know I’m obvious. You know what I want.”
“You can get that from anyone.”
She is testing him, he knows; it’s in her tone, in how straight she holds her back and Kona can’t help the frustrated growl that leaves his mouth. “You’re not just anyone.” He takes a chance, eases down to kiss her neck, slides his fingers at her nape to expose all of that skin to him and she doesn’t push away from him. “I realized something that first day in the Market, even after I saw Ransom, after I realized you’d kept him from me all this time.”
“What… what did you realize?” Her voice sounds like a whine, then a moan when Kona kisses behind her ear.
“That I haven’t breathed in sixteen years. Not since you, sweetheart; not a real breath once since that day I pushed you away.”
“And… you… you can now?”
His breath moves down her neck and Kona loves the blanket of chills that covers Keira’s skin. “Like my lungs are wide open. Every time you walk in a room, every time I hear you sing, see you smile, touch you… it’s like breathing for the first time.” He pushes her hair out of his way, kisses further down her neck, moves the thin, linen shirt she wears to get to her back, then lowers to kiss her again, right on the spot he’d missed all this time and then, eyes widening, he takes his mouth from her skin. .
“You little liar.” She tries turning around but he keeps her still, lowering her shirt more to see that bright Hibiscus tattoo. “Thought you got rid of it.”
“I… I tried to.” She comes around, hands on his chest. “I meant to, but there was never enough money, then when there was, I just… couldn’t.” When he shakes his head, Keira laughs at him and he loves the sound, loves how easily it comes to her. “Look who’s talking. I know you covered yours up. I saw that spread you did in GQ. You have that massive tattoo over your chest now, all down your arm.” He backs away from her and his fingers go to his buttons. “What are you doing?”
One cock of his eyebrow silences her and Kona grins at Keira’s widening eyes, at how they lower onto his chest as each button comes loose. “I added to my tattoo, Wildcat. I didn’t cover it up. You didn’t see that in the spread because I didn’t want my chest shown. That tattoo is for you and me. No one else.”