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

Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

KENNEDY

S haky and on edge, I sat around the table in the kitchen with Tate and Austin. Danny was gone and we’d cleaned up the broken glass, but he’d kept me in that room for a long time. My best guess was that it had been over an hour he’d insisted I sit there, listening to him formulate arguments for me to go back to him that ranged from pathetic to obscene.

The wildest of which had been that he would take Winrey and me away from here. He said he would buy a castle in rural Scotland and we’d never have to see my parents again, but the baby would grow up with the entire country as its backyard.

I wasn’t sure how he had come up with that plan, but it wasn’t so much the plan that bugged me. It was the fact that he’d looked like he meant it. So much so that part of me had been terrified that he was about to drag me to his car, kidnap Winrey, and drive us to the airport.

My hands were still trembling, and I was completely unable to believe the turn my morning had taken. It was so surreal that he’d kept me there for so long—and that he probably would’ve kept me there for the rest of the day if these guys hadn’t shown up.

Breathing in deep, I focused on the feeling of my lungs filling with air. Then I held it there for a moment before I exhaled. Austin sat beside me, his hand in one of mine and a worried furrow on his brow. He exchanged a look with Tate, whose presence I was still entirely confused about.

“Stop looking so concerned,” I said, rolling my eyes at him as I inhaled another deep breath. “I’m fine. I just need to pull myself together before tonight. The dinner is the most important thing right now. Nothing else matters.”

“Uh.” Tate swept his tongue across his lips, his eyebrows rising slightly as he stared at me from across the table. “It might matter a little bit for you to be in a state where you can attend the dinner. Are you okay? That looked pretty intense.”

“It was, but I’m going to be fine.” I held his gaze, not really sure what he was doing here but eternally grateful for the fact that he had been. “Thank you for what you did this morning.”

I turned to Austin. “Thank you, too. I’m really not quite sure what might’ve happened if you two hadn’t shown up, but I owe you. Big time.”

“You don’t owe us anything,” Austin said, glancing at Tate.

The guy pushed a gift basket across the table, clearly intending to give it to me. “If you’ll accept this, that’ll be more than enough for me.”

I peered down at the basket of goodies, making out all sorts of luxury candles and bath products, artisanal treats, expensive wine, and a collection of other odds and ends, like a bookmark and bracelet. Whatever this was about, it was obvious that he’d gone all out, trying to stuff anything a woman might like into one gift basket that had probably cost him a ton of money.

“Thank you,” I said, frowning as I glanced back up at him. “Uh, not that I’m not grateful, but what’s this for?”

“It’s for you,” he said, holding my gaze with a soft smile. It transformed his features completely, making him look less like a cocky dick and more like an actual human being. “To apologize for being a jerk in the office that day. I’m sorry, Kennedy. I’ve been going to counseling and I realized that I treated you horribly, so please accept my apology.”

As I thought about how he’d stepped up this morning without question to help Austin, my chin dipped in a nod. “Consider it accepted, and thank you for everything you did. And for the gift basket. It was thoughtful of you to bring something and to come in person. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.” He gave me a genuine, relieved grin, but then he drummed his fingers on the table and stood up. “Right. I’d better go. I’ve been making the rounds and Mindy is up next. Besides, it looks like you two could use a minute.”

As he turned to leave, Austin suddenly spoke up, stopping him in his tracks. “Do you want to grab a beer with me in a couple of days? We’ve got the dinner tonight and I’m out of town over the weekend to go to the farm, but we’ll make a plan before that?”

“I’m down, keep me in the loop,” he said, nodding and smiling some more as he left.

Once he was gone, I turned to Austin and arching an eyebrow as I looked into those deep brown eyes. “Where did that come from?”

He shrugged and slid about a foot away from me on the bench as if he’d finally realized how close he’d been. “Apparently, when the firm fires someone, they also offer to pay for counseling. Tate went and this seems to be the new and improved version.”

“Do you believe he’s actually changing?”

He was silent as he looked back at me, eyes moving from one of mine to the other until he finally nodded. “I think he might be. I suppose time will tell, but he seemed different today. That’s why I invited him out for a drink. I’m kind of curious to see what he’s like when he’s not being a dick.”

I chuckled. “I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback after your drink, then. I’m kind of curious now too. He looks weird when he’s smiling, doesn’t he? Like he could actually be a nice person.”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” he said, lifting his wrist to glance at his watch. “For now, though, we need to start getting ready for dinner. Are you sure you’re okay? Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No, I’m alright. I think I might be in a bit of shock, but it’ll wear off. Danny would never physically hurt me. Some of the things he said just rattled me a little.”

“Want to talk about it?” he offered.

I shook my head and reached for his hand to give it a quick squeeze. “All I want is to focus on the future. I’m not going to let Danny ruin this dinner for me. This is my moment and I’ve worked too hard for it to allow anything he said to get in my head right now.”

“Got it.” Austin entwined our fingers for a moment before he released me. “I’m glad you’re okay. If you change your mind about talking, let me know, but until then, it’s time to go get sexy for tonight. Do you have everything you need?”

I nodded. “I was going to head home to shower, and then come change and get ready here like we agreed, but I suppose deodorant will have to do the job. It’s too late to head home now and get back before the caterers arrive.”

“I can wait for them,” he offered. “Everything I need is in my car. I was planning on staying to make sure we were ready when I came to drop off that last stuff anyway.”

“Thanks, but I’d rather be here,” I said. “I might borrow some shampoo if you have it?”

He chuckled. “I don’t have conditioner, but I do have a two-in-one body wash and shampoo.”

“Guys.” I groaned but laughed as I shook my head and stood up. “How anyone can use that stuff is beyond me. It makes your hair feel like a pile of sticks, but I suppose it’ll have to do.”

“Funny,” he said as he followed me out of the kitchen. “I’ve never heard you complain about the way my hair feels before.”

“That’s because I saw the conditioner in your shower.” I winked at him over my shoulder. “You might not travel with it, but I already know you use it when you’re at home.”

He pumped his eyebrows at me. “Or maybe I just bought it so it would be there if you need it. You’ll never know.”

“I’ve got my ways of getting information out of you,” I said before I realized we were fast venturing into flirting territory. Pausing at the bottom of the staircase, I wrapped my fingers around the banister and nodded toward the second level. “I’ll be up there once you’ve gotten your things from the car. We’ll both have to use the state room at the far end of the hall. I’m planning on keeping it locked up for the night with all our personal belongings in it. The others are all ready for tours.”

“Got it,” he said, disappearing in the direction of the front door as I headed upstairs.

Since this was one of the smaller rooms, I’d decided people wouldn’t be missing out if we kept just this one off-limits to the guests this evening. Earlier this week, Austin had agreed it would be best for us to get ready for dinner here in case we were needed for anything last minute and to ensure we were here when the vendors arrived, and I’d picked this room to be ours for the evening.

One day, I envisioned it would be one of the more romantic rooms, the space dominated by the bed and an open-concept bathroom, which presented a bit of a challenge tonight since Austin and I weren’t an actual couple.

As I looked at the room, I decided I would race through a shower before he came in, and since I’d washed my hair last night, I figured I could forego doing it again today after all. If I washed it, I would also have to dry it, and since I hadn’t gotten to go home to do any of this, I was just going to have to make another plan.

Striding straight to the shower, I turned on the water and hung a towel across the glass door to at least attempt to shield his view of me.

Ultimately though, I supposed he’d already seen everything. Multiple times. If he got an eyeful this afternoon, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Stepping under the hot spray, I was careful to keep my hair dry. I rinsed off the cold sweat of the day before I remembered I didn’t have any soap to wash with. As if Austin had been summoned by the thought, the door opened a crack and a strong hand gripping a bottle of shower gel/shampoo appeared.

“Thank you,” I called into the steam. “I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take your time,” he said from the other side of the door. “I’ll just be here, not thinking about joining you in there.”

My nipples hardened at his words. I was very much naked in here, and he was right on the other side of a thin, glass partition, preparing to get naked himself too. Heat rushed between my legs, my core suddenly aching for him.

I bit my lip and washed, determined to keep my hands to myself. A determination that saw me all the way through my shower, but it melted as soon as I stepped out and found him in only a pair of black boxer briefs on the other side.

Our eyes locked, and the next thing I knew, I was in his arms. We’d surged together so fast that I wasn’t sure who had made the first move, but I couldn’t keep my hands off him. As his lips crashed into mine, I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him back, moaning when his tongue parted my lips.

We kissed hard and hungrily, stumbling backward toward the bed until we landed on the mattress in a pile of entwined limbs. His erection pressed against my core. The fabric between us did little to hide his desire for me.

I hooked a leg around his hips. He groaned but broke the kiss, pulling back to look into my eyes. He brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “We should stop, Kenny. I need to shower and you need to get ready.”

Breathing hard, I nodded my agreement. My eyes slid shut as I rested my forehead against his. “I don’t want to stop.”

“Neither do I,” he said, his voice tight with restraint. “We have to, though. Unless you’ve changed your mind about only being business partners?”

I sucked in a shuddering breath. “The dinner is here. We made it. Maybe just for tonight, we can be more than that?”

Maybe it was the adrenaline talking or the fluttery feeling in my stomach every time he was near, or maybe it was how protective he’d gotten when he’d seen me scared. Whatever it was, it was all too much for me to hold on to my own restraint. I slowly brought my lips back to his, making sure there was time if he wanted to pull away.

He didn’t, kissing me back with a burning intensity. Both so super turned on that we couldn’t help ourselves, we rolled around on the bed and made out until we had to wind ourselves down and get ready for dinner.

I honestly didn’t know why I couldn’t stop myself whenever I was with him, but I was getting really tired of trying. And as those smoldering brown eyes locked on mine as we finally broke apart, I got the feeling he was too.