14. Kate

Chapter 14

Kate

W e had a fun night at the pizza place where Bull gave Emma and her friends way too much money that they spent in the gameroom. Charlie and Chloe even showed up and it helped me so much having Bull there with me. Charlie has been a completely different person, and I can’t help but wonder if Bull has something to do with it.

It’s later and Emma went home with her grandparents, so I’m lying in my bed with Bull. I’m sprawled across him, looking up at him, running my hand across his hard chest. “So there’s something we need to talk about.”

He looks worried for a minute until I smirk at him, and he knows it’s going to be okay. He pushes the hair off my face. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

“I think if we’re really going to make a go of this –“

He interrupts me. “There’s no question. You said it. You love me. There’s no take backs.”

I chuckle against him and he pulls me further across him, until his hard shaft is positioned between my legs. “Again? How are you hard again?”

He just looks at me full of cockiness. “I’m always ready any time I’m around you.” He tickles my sides and then groans when my leg grazes his cock.

His hands slide down my back to rest on my ass, holding me still and against him. “Really. What is it? What do we need to talk about?”

“Well, I think I need to know your real name.”

He laughs, opens his mouth, and then closes it again. “You promise not to laugh?”

I run my fingers across my chest. “Cross my heart.”

He looks up at the ceiling. “Oliver. My name is Oliver.”

I gasp, never having expected that. I do my best to hold it in, but he can feel my body vibrating against his.

“Is it that funny, Kate? Really? You promised not to laugh.”

“I’m not laughing!”

At the look he gives me, I bust out, unable to hold it anymore. He rolls me underneath him and I try to contain my laughter, but I can’t. “Oliver? You don’t look like an Oliver.”

“Har, har. You’re funny.” But then the smile drops from his face. “Now I need to talk to you about something.”

He looks so serious that I start to slide out from underneath him, but he makes me stay put. “Okay.” I take a deep breath. “What is it?”

“I can’t give up the Heartlands. They’re like family to me. I can’t just walk away from them.”

I push him away and I do sit up then until I’m cross legged in front of him, and I pull the sheet up my body to cover myself. He looks so worried after making that announcement that I grab on to his hand. “I never asked you to leave the Heartlands. I wouldn’t do that.”

“I know. But I want you to know everything that’s going through my head. I am going to quit the bar. But don’t worry, I’ll get a job at the garage or the hardware store, something.”

I hold his hand between the two of mine. “I don’t care where you work, Bull. You should keep your job if that’s what you want to do.”

“I want you to trust me.”

“I do. I apologized for the other night. That was more about me than anything else. I trust you and if that’s what you want to do, you should do it. I’m not stopping you,” I assure him, wanting him to know that I accept him for who he is.

“I’m glad you said that, but I’m still going to get another job. I want to be able to see you at night. I don’t ever want there to be a reason for you to doubt me. I want to be available to you, and I don’t want to miss stuff. Working at Ride or Die, I would. So I’m on the hunt for a new job.”

I start to argue with him, but I can tell he’s already made his mind up. “Fine. Whatever you want to do. But I love you as a bouncer, I love you as Bull, Bulldog, Oliver, whatever. I’m here for it.”

He pushes me backwards and lowers himself on top of me. “That’s good, baby, because I wasn’t giving you an option.”

Putting my arms around his neck, I pull him down until my lips touch his, but he pulls back really quick. “I love you, Kate.”

I smile. “I know you do.”