Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

AUSTIN

A s we started prepping for the dinner and decorating the house alongside the team we’d gotten in, we received a bunch of acceptances of the invitations we’d sent out to business owners in the neighborhood. Kennedy gawked at her phone when it chimed again, those beautiful blues widening before they shot up to mine.

“Everyone around here has accepted,” she said with a hint of awe in her tone. “We’ve gone from almost no guests to more than we know what to do with.”

None of those people were investors, but I still grinned as I took in the excitement shimmering in her eyes. “That’s great news, bab—Kennedy.”

She held my gaze for a moment, obviously having noticed my slip-up but choosing to ignore it. Instead, she let out a relieved-sounding sigh. “I’m so happy. I think I’m really actually starting to get excited now. There’s a definite buzz in the air, isn’t there? I think there is. Let’s go chat with the vendors. We may need to make some adjustments to accommodate the extra people.”

I chuckled at seeing her all rambling and aflutter, but nodded and followed her to the woman overseeing the supply of tables and chairs. Kennedy strode right up to her, practically beaming as she tapped her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, but do you think we can add an extra table or two?” she asked as soon as the woman turned away from her team. “We’re going to have more guests than we were originally expecting.”

The woman blinked rapidly, opening her mouth and closing it once or twice before she finally forced a smile. “I’ll have to check whether we’ve got stock available. Let me get back to you.”

“Thank you,” Kenny replied happily. The woman hurried away, her phone already in her hand to make the call. “What do we do if they don’t have stock available?”

“There are always a few hiccups with an event like this,” I said. “Whatever comes our way, we’ll solve the problem together. Let’s hear what she says when she gets back and take it from there. We can get more tables and chairs from somewhere else if we have to.”

“Alright.” Kenny inhaled deeply, then bounded into the kitchen to speak to the caterers. After straightening things out with them, she spun back to me, that beaming smile never leaving her lips. “What’s next?”

“To breathe.” I chuckled and nodded toward the corner where the musicians would be playing. “Then someone needs to set up the stage. We could start with that.”

She nodded excitedly and pulled her hair into a bun on top of her head while we walked. I would never understand how women seemed to have an endless supply of elastic bands they could magically produce when the moment required, but as I watched her fingers slide through her long hair, I itched to offer my help.

I would make a mess of it but I just wanted an excuse to touch her hair. Seeing her in her element like this, finally gearing up for a night she’d been waiting for most of her life, was getting to me. It was making it real difficult to keep my hands to myself.

She reached the corner where we had determined the little platform that would be acting as a stage should be set up. “How do we start?”

I inclined my chin at the equipment lying in a pile on the floor. “We build it.”

“Build it?” She arched an eyebrow at me. “Do we know how to build it?”

I smirked. “Farmer, remember? We’ll figure it out.”

“Oh, excuse me, Mr. Farmer Man,” she teased. “I forgot how much of farming revolves around building a stage. Forgive me.”

“You’re forgiven.” I rolled my sleeves up to my elbows and dropped to my haunches to inspect what we had available to us. “We’re going to need a wrench.”

“I have one of those,” she said, surprising the crap out of me when she rushed over to a little toolkit she’d brought with her and produced one. “Do you really mean to tell me that you big strong farm boys don’t travel with these?”

Blinking hard, I couldn’t help but laugh. I took it from her, my head shaking, and I got on my knees to start putting the thing together. “Nah, we’re just the free labor.”

She giggled and knelt across from me to help but cast a dubious glance at the bits of scaffolding. “Are you sure we shouldn’t wait for the professionals?”

“It’s about a foot high and only five feet wide. We’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re setting up for Coachella.”

“Fair enough.” She leaned over to hold two metal tubes I was fitting together. The top of her shirt gaped in a way that gave me a pretty decent view of her cleavage. I almost groaned.

The other night had come as something of a surprise, and while I’d loved every minute of having her lips wrapped around my cock, it hadn’t been enough. I was starting to realize that with her, nothing ever would be.

I never got bored of her company. Never ran out of things to talk to her about. I never seemed to get enough of her body or the sound of her laughter, and it was becoming a real problem because, at this point, I also couldn’t have nearly enough of any of that.

Deliberately averting my gaze from her chest, I concentrated on the stage a lot more intently than I needed to. Eventually, Kenny chuckled. “It doesn’t look like it’s that hard.”

“Trust me,” I grumbled. “It is.”

And yet, I loved it. Frustration about not being able to touch her aside, I really, truly enjoyed every moment I spent with her.

Our day was chaotic and fun, a whirlwind of activity as we moved from the stage to setting up the bedroom. While the majority of our guests would be local business owners, we’d still decided to give them a basic idea of what Kenny had in mind for the hotel side of things.

The bedrooms hadn’t been renovated, but they were sparkling clean and had been deemed safe by the inspectors, and as such, we’d decided to use the existing furniture to give people a glimpse of what could be. While Kenny seemed to have somehow found peace with the fact that her dream probably wasn’t going to come true, she was still so optimistic and so excited to show off just a fraction of what could be done that I felt a glimmer of hope myself.

I just didn’t show that glimmer of hope while she and I were alone in what had been the master bedroom, a massive suite with a four-poster bed we were making. She sighed contentedly as we fitted a new sheet over the old mattress. “Can you just imagine this as a honeymoon suite?”

Well, I’d sure like to try the bed with you. “It would be great.”

She looked around, taking in the pressed ceilings and the picture windows. Her arms folded around herself in a way that made me want to gather her in mine. It hurt that she clearly wanted a hug and yet I couldn’t be the one to give it to her.

“It could also double as a family suite, you know?” she said dreamily. “We could bring in extra cots for kids if they’re needed and I would love to install a little breakfast bar right there.”

She pointed at an unused space near the corner of the room, in front of one of the windows. “It could also be such a lovely landing place for small families in need of a place to stay when they’re first moving to the city.”

Fuck. I love that she sees so much possibility in just one room. “It would work really well for all of that. You’ve even got space for a little sitting or living area over there where the kitchenette would be by the breakfast bar.”

She dropped down on the mattress just after fitting the last corner of the sheet. Hooking her arms behind her head, she smiled and closed her eyes as she dreamed out loud. “For an old bed, this really is uncomfortable. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize we could keep so much of the original furniture. Everything that was broken or posed a risk has already been removed, and it would definitely help with the budget if we kept as much as possible.”

I glanced at her on the bed. My entire body longed to join her, but I refrained and took a few steps back instead. “I’ve seen people do some amazing things with furniture, paint, and varnish. It’s definitely something we can look at when the time comes.”

She remained silent for a beat, her eyes still closed as she lay with her dark bun fanning out across the crisp white sheet. God, she’s so beautiful.

“When the time comes,” she echoed before she opened her eyes, propped herself up on her elbows, and grinned at me. “Do you want to come try the bed? It’s really not bad.”

“I’d better not,” I said honestly. “Me, you, and a bed? Probably not a good idea right now.”

Her eyes widened in realization. She laughed and hopped off. Winking, she strode past me to the door. “Great thinking, business partner. Come on, let’s go. There’s some garland to be hung out there that has our names on it.”

I groaned as I watched her go. Her ass swayed gently from side to side as she power-walked her way out of the room. I didn’t hate watching her at all, but it was a special kind of torture I was putting myself through.

Exhaling heavily, I shook my head and tried to figure out why I couldn’t just let this go. Clearly, I was infatuated with her in a way I had never experienced before. She held me in her spell even when we were sweaty and dusty moving old furniture around.

Maybe it was just the whole absence making the heart grow fonder thing, but the more time we spent as just business partners, the more I realized that Kennedy had gotten completely under my skin. She danced through my mind all day long, even when I was alone, making it impossible to concentrate on anything else.

I wanted more with her. More than just sex, work, or casual friendship. In fact, I was starting to suspect that I wanted everything with her—and I was finally beginning to understand what Slate had been talking about.

At the time, it had sounded like lovesick nonsense. I hadn’t bought into it at all. Now I was definitely feeling like I might just be done for. Like I’d found my soulmate in Kennedy. I just had to figure out whether she felt the same way, and if so, how to convince her to give us a try.