“You don’t want to go for the nursing degree? I’d bet you’d make a kick-ass nurse.” It’s like he knows everything about me. Unless my dad told him I was considering switching my major, and this year I added some extra classes to my schedule to see if I liked it.
“Did my dad tell you?” I peek up at him with a narrowed gaze.
“Mom might have let it slip that you were considering nursing.” He chuckles. “Do it, baby. You’ll be amazing at whatever you decide to do, but I think you should go where your heart is leading you.”
My heart is leading me to him.
“If I get pregnant, that would slow things down.”That’s a fact.“And what if I fall in love with being a mom and never want to leave them?”
Kai’s infectious laughter fills our bedroom, and he rolls over on top of me. “Is this like a money thing, Princess? Are you worried about not contributing and us not having enough money?”
Possibly.
I know it was a constant argument between my parents when they were married.
“It’s part of it. I want to contribute. Not everything should be on one spouse, especially because we live in California.” Kai hovers above me with a goofy smile on his face. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” Licking his lips, he lowers himself and presses them to mine. “Like you’re the most beautiful woman in the world? Or that you think even for a second that I would have us in a bad spot financially if we started having kids?”
“I don’t think that. But speaking of finances, I need to call and break the lease I signed. I can probably kiss the security deposit goodbye now.” I let out a deep sigh.There goes twenty-three hundred dollars.
“You should do that because you’re here for good, baby.” He kisses me again, then lifts himself back up and climbs off the bed. “Seriously, don’t worry about the money. My contract is really good and we aren’t hurting. I’ll be able to cover whatever life throws at us.”
“Where are you going?” I sit up, letting the comforter drop and the cold morning air hits my bare breasts.
Kai slides to a stop. “I was going to go make us coffee but…”
“No, no.” I grab the comforter and hold it around my chest. “Coffee…” I shoo him toward the door. “Go make the coffee.”
“See now, I’m conflicted.”
“Malakai!” I chuckle. “Don’t tease me with coffee.”
“Don’t tempt me with your gorgeous body, Princess. You’ll win every time.” He grabs his sweats off the floor and pulls them up. The sound of his bare feet padding down the hallway has me missing him already.
I throw the covers off and grab a t-shirt from my duffel and a thong. I never got around to unpacking last night, so in true Islafashion, I’m living out of my luggage. After getting dressed, I make my way down the hall to the kitchen, where the smell of coffee and the sound of Kai opening and shutting cabinets fill the space. Pulling out a stool, I watch as he makes oatmeal, puts toast in the toaster, and sets two bowls out.
Kai making me breakfast isn’t anything new. When we were in high school, both our parents worked early and it left us to get ourselves to school. He was the one who made sure that we ate breakfast, and I was in charge of lunch and our water bottles.
He’s been the dream boyfriend/husband since then.
I feel like such an idiot for fighting it all these years.
His naked back is to me and I look at all the tattoos covering his skin. All of them are just black and white ink, no color. I’m not complaining because the contrast is perfect with his skin tone. “So, about these tattoos that are for me? Does Mom know?”
Kai turns around, slowly pulling his thumb out of his mouth. It’s stained slightly with the juice from the berries he was putting in the oatmeal.Now I want to lick it off of him.
“Mmm. Right. I’ve never explained them to Mom, but I wouldn’t put it past her to have figured it out.” The coffee machine beeps, and he grabs everything to make our drinks. “You’ll have to come over here to see them, Princess.”
I give him a playful look but slide off the stool and round the island, standing behind him.
“Mixed in with all the other tattoos are daisies.”
Sure enough, among the skulls and other lines are methodically placed daisies of different sizes.
“Kai, why?” My fingers trace the tiniest ones on his back, feeling the tears creep into the corners of my eyes.
“They’re your favorite flower. You know how there was always a vase of daisies on the table after I moved out?” Kai stops what he’s doing and his palms flatten against thecounter.
