by Amelia Shea
They spent the next hour at Cassie’s place discussing her hard-headed overprotective husband. It was strange how seeing a person through someone else’s eyes could change how she saw T. Through Cassie, he didn’t seem like such an awful guy, more like Bogs said earlier, just rough around the edges. And the middle maybe.
“So, you’ll be at dinner on Sunday?” Cassie asked her as they walked through the door.
“Um…” Kenzie didn’t know how to answer that.
“Yeah, we’ll be there. Didn’t know anything was planned though.”
Cassie blushed, looking between Kenzie and Bogs, a guilty smile curling her lips. “Well, technically, I just planned it.”
“When?”
“About ten seconds ago.” She curled her arm around Bogs’ waist. It was a familiar brotherly hug that he returned.
Once he agreed, they drove over to the office.
“She’s great.”
“There you go again, sounding surprised.” Bogs chuckled, turning onto Main Street. He gave her a side glance. “You know, T’s actually a good guy. He just has no bedside manner. And he’s got no time for people he doesn’t care about. That’s the thing, when you’re in—when he takes you into the fold as family or friend—he’d do anything for you.”
She nodded and turned to look out the window. She doubted she’d ever be taken in by T.
»»•««
They made it downtown to his office ten minutes later. He parked in his usual spot and grabbed her laptop bag before she could. She actually looked surprised when he grabbed it. He hoisted both his and her bags over his shoulders and rounded the front of the truck.
“I could have carried my own bag,” she said.
“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t have been able to show all my gentlemanly skills.” He winked and walked to the back door.
“You got a lot of those?”
He unlocked the door and swung it wide and stood back. “Pretty girl, I got skills you don’t even know exist.”
Kenzie blushed taking his innuendo exactly how he meant it. He may be playing the part but all gentlemanly manners went out the door when she strolled down the hall in front of him. His gaze landed on her ass. Perfectly round and thick, but not overly big. He’d always been more of a breast man but her ass had him rethinking it. Her sway, which he figured wasn’t intentional, stirred a tingling sensation straight down to his cock.
She slowed down as they got closer to the lobby and turned around, holding out her hand. He reached over his shoulder and released her bag, handing it to her. She smiled. “Thanks.”
Even a simple gesture of thanks had him turned on. Maybe it was the sweet spread of her lips, or the coy way she looked down at her feet. He’d fucked her twice, made her come at least four times and scream out for God, yet she still seemed a tad shy around him. He liked that, but he also assumed she was shy because she didn’t see this as anything more than sex.
He might have thought the same thing if not for the extreme desire to know more about her, have her spend more time in his house, with or without clothes, but just be there. There was something about her that made him feel connected in a way he’d never felt before.
“You’re welcome.”
Kenzie veered off from the hall and moved down to the conference room. He stood frozen for a second before grabbing her arm and hauling her against his chest. She gasped, caught off guard, but it gave him the perfect opportunity. He leaned forward, taking her lips in a strong, forceful kiss. His tongue swiped over hers, a small moan emitted against his lips. He wrapped his arm around her back, getting no struggle. She fell into place as if she wanted it as much as him.
He’d never been one for public displays of affection. Grinding on the dance floor, a hand on a knee at the bar, a woman draping herself over him in hopes of her taking him home had been the extent of display he was interested in. Making out in public, and more importantly, the hallway of his office. It went against every rule he’d set up for himself.
With this girl, the rules didn’t apply.
His shirt bunched at his waist and she tugged him closer. His response was natural without thought. He crushed her against his chest, containing a groan when her tongue circled his slowly. Kissing had always been a mere foreplay to the real deal. But with Kenzie, kissing her got him hard and on the edge of unloading in his pants like a senior at prom. The weight of her body pushing forward had his unsteady feet wobbling.
He was the real sucker here. He started the kiss determined to knock her off her feet, and she was doing the exact same thing to him. Her lips spread further apart into a smile against his mouth when they parted an inch. That fucking smiling.
“Making out in the hall is frowned upon at most workplaces.”
“Being the boss has it perks.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Come in my office. I wanna show you something.”
Her gaze immediately dropped to the crotch of his pants. She pushed away with faux shock, but he read her eyes. “I bet you do.”
“Boss’s orders?” He cocked a brow and watched her lips tighten, trying desperately to refrain from laughing.
Kenzie shook her head and giggled. “You’re forgetting, Bogs, you’re not my boss. You’re just my captor.” She winked, stepped into the office and closed the door. He stepped forward. He wanted her. Again. And again.
Moral and ethical integrity didn’t stop him, the ringing of his phone had saved her from being bent over the conference table in ten seconds flat.
“Yeah,” he answered, making his way into his office. He flicked on the light and waited for a response. He looked down at his phone to a blocked number.
“You have something that’s mine, and I’d like it back.”
A chill ran down his spine. It had nothing to do with the tone of the voice or the man it belonged to. It was the words he had used. Kenzie was not his, she was his. He had to play this right. Going off on the man claiming Kenzie as his own would relieve him of the upper hand he currently held. He sat at his desk and chuckled.
“What would that be exactly?”
“Don’t insult me. You know what I’m fucking talking about, mainly who.” There was a frustrated edge Bogs hadn’t picked up on before. Dante may play the part as the man in charge, but he wasn’t. The money they stole wasn’t his, but he was certainly responsible for it, and if not returned, that fell on Dante’s shoulders. His frustration stemmed from desperation, and a desperate man was a dangerous breed.
“Ahhh…you mean the girl.”
“I may not scare you but I should. This girl stole from the club, a club that is run by me but owned by someone else. Someone I can guarantee you do not want to cross paths with.”
Bogs smirked. “You’re a cryptic motherfucker.”
A heavy sigh from the other line was drawn out dramatically. “I can see this isn’t getting us anywhere. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Hold up, Dante. I get that you want your money and ya got people to answer to, but this girl? She’s not the one you want. She was merely caught up in someone else’s shit.”
“Not my problem.”
“It kinda is ’cause even if I handed her over now, you’re still out the twelve grand.”
His nasty snarl put Bogs on edge. “Then she can work it off to pay us back. On her back and on her knees.” That struck a nerve in Bogs.
Hold it together, man. His hand clenched into a painful fist. Men like Dante lived for throwing people off guard, for intimidating and getting into his head. Dante was smart, but Bogs was smarter.
“Twelve grand is a lot of cash. It’ll take some time. And while you may eventually make that money back, I’m thinking the man you answer to isn’t going to be patient. If I had to guess, your ass is going to be demoted, quick as fuck, and you’ll be back to doing bitch work.” Bogs forced a snicker. There was nothing funny about this, but he had to make Dante think.
With the silence, Bogs knew he had him.
“I’m willing to offer my he
lp locating Taylor.”
Dante scoffed. “And why would you do that?”
Bogs leaned forward onto his elbows. “It’s not right this girl goes down for something she was never really a part of,” he lied. “I help you nab Taylor, you back off Kenzie. Deal?”
Dante said nothing and Bogs waited. Corissa walked through the door holding a folder and eyed him suspiciously. He could just imagine how wound up he must look. His muscles were threatening to split.
“Fine. One week.”
“Done.”
“You’d do best not to cross me, Mr. Garrison.”
“No worries, man.” Bogs ended the call and sat back in his chair.
Corissa inched forward. “Um…you okay?”
“Yeah.” He took a deep and laughed. “Just making a deal with the devil.”
Corissa widened her eyes and dropped the file on his desk. “So, the usual?”
Bogs laughed and reached for his laptop. The whole story he gave Dante was bullshit. When they did find Taylor, he wouldn’t turn her in, but for now, that was the story he’d go with to keep them both safe. He didn’t fully trust Dante to take his word. He would stick to the plan of keeping Kenzie close and hidden at Jonah’s until it was all settled.
Chapter Twelve
They sat at the outside table by the street watching people filter by. It was easy when she thought it shouldn’t be. If she took away her situation and it was just her with Bogs, it still shouldn’t be this easy. After all, she was sitting across the small table from the hottest man on the planet, who was the best sex she’d ever had in her life. He probably ruined her for any man who would come after. He was smart, successful, gorgeous, and funny. He was everything. She should be freaking out, but instead, she sat quietly, eating her ice cream cone with complete ease.
He was leaning back in his seat with his legs extended straight, ankle over ankle, licking his cone. His eyes shifted to her as she licked the drop of ice cream sliding down the cone. It wasn’t meant to be erotic but his eyes heated and narrowed.
She gave him a small smile and winked.
He sighed. “No more ice cream cones in public.”
“Why?”
“’Cause with you it’s like foreplay. I’m imagining all the ways you could lick that cone.”
“Change of subject.” She averted her eyes to a couple walking by with their dog.
“What’s your family like?”
She turned back to see he finished his cone and had balled up his napkin, tossing it on the table.
“Awesome.” She grinned and watched him tilt his head.
“You wanna elaborate, or is that all I’m gonna get?”
Kenzie shrugged, ignoring the spark of excitement. She liked him wanting to know more about her outside the bedroom. “How much do you want?”
“I want it all.”
“Are we talking about something else now?”
Bogs chuckled. “No, we’ll get to exactly what I want when we get to my place later. For now, let’s keep it PG.”
“Okay, well, my dad is a bit of a hardass, but he’s amazing. My mom died when I was younger, so he kinda had to take that role of Mom and Dad.” She chuckled. “Poor man. Bought me my first tampons when I was too embarrassed to go buy them myself. Took me to get my first bra. I think he’s still scarred from the experience, but uh, he’s always been there, ya know, for me and my brother.”
“Was your mom sick?”
She stared back at him. This had always been a hard topic, not just because she died, but how she died. She’d come to terms with it years ago, but most people became unnerved and uncomfortable when she talked about it. Kenzie shook her head, uncertain if she should tell him.
“Don’t like talking about it?”
She wasn’t even sure how to answer him. She didn’t know if it made her uncomfortable to talk about her mom because she never got the chance. Once people found out how she died, they immediately shut down the conversation. Maybe it was out of respect for her, or their own uneasy feeling about it. Either way, the conversation always ended.
While most families were able to reminisce about someone they lost, her family seemed to shut out the memory. It was hard on her dad, and her brother was so young, the only memories he had of her were in pictures.
“I don’t know…” She shrugged. “No one likes to talk about it. It makes most people uncomfortable.” She sighed. “She was murdered when I was twelve.” She expected surprise and shock. Instead, she got silence. This was another common response she had grown to expect, then sympathy, then an immediate change to the subject.
“I’m sorry.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. She always hated when people said they were sorry. Saying thanks seemed awkward. She shifted in her seat, glancing up.
“You must miss her a lot.”
She nodded, fighting back tears. Losing her mom cut her in ways she hadn’t thought possible, and the first year without her was heart-wrenching. To say she had come to terms with it was true, mainly because she pushed her mom and her death to a dark corner in her mind. The tears welled in her eyes, and she drew in a deep breath.
“You look like her?”
The question caught her off guard. Aside from Taylor, no one had ever asked about her mom. Sure, there were questions about exactly what happened, but those usually came from people who were only interested in the sensationalism of murder. They didn’t care about her mom personally. She dodged those questions.
Bogs was different. He wasn’t asking about the murder, he was asking about her mom. She sat back in her chair thinking about her mom. Whenever she did, which wasn’t very often, the memory of her on the beach during vacation popped in her head. Sitting on a chair with a book in her lap though she wasn’t reading, enthralled with the pitiful sand castle Kenzie had constructed. It was awful but the best she could do at nine. Her mother’s wavy hair flying around her face.
Kenzie didn’t even realize until she looked back at Bogs and he was smiling at her that she, too, was smiling. “Yeah, I look like her. Same hair, same eyes.” She chuckled. “My dad always said I was her mini-me.”
“Then she must have been beautiful.”
“She was,” Kenzie whispered wondering what she would have looked like today. Older, definitely, a few gray hairs, maybe a few more pounds and wrinkles, but in her head, she would have been beautiful.
Remembering the beach trip again she giggled.
“What?”
Kenzie glanced up at Bogs. His head was tilted watching her, his face calm. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just thinking of her and…” She stopped. This was the most she’d talked about her in so long.
“Tell me.”
“It’s nothing really.”
“If it gets you to smile like that it must be something. Tell me.”
She chuckled. “I was just thinking about a beach trip we took. My dad was bummed because there wasn’t any wind to fly our new kite. My brother and I were so excited, and then it was a major let down, too. My mom kept insisting the wind would pick up we just had to be patient. But seriously,” she smirked, shaking her head, “no wind, the air was still, hell, not even a friggin’ breeze but she kept insisting that the wind would come. Hours later when we were packing up she announced it was time to fly the kite. Her and my dad went back and forth bickering, but like they always did. With a bit of humor.” She grinned. “Then boom, it got windy. Like outta nowhere.”
Bogs chuckled. “Mom was right, huh?”
Kenzie laughed, feeling her wide smile spread. “Yep.” She bit her lip and stared down at her feet. “We flew that kite for hours. Probably my most vivid memory of the four of us together.” She gazed back up at him. “Now, every time I feel a big gust of wind, I think of her. Like she’s nudging me saying, ‘Hey baby girl.’” Kenzie snorted. “Kind of silly, right?”
“No.”
She glanced up to see him staring at her without any mocking just a soft smile.
&n
bsp; It felt good to think of her mom. Thanks, Bogs.
“One brother, right?” he asked.
“Yep. Carter, he just turned eighteen. He graduates from high school in June.”
“You get along with him?”
“Yeah, better now that we’re older. He was a pain in the ass when we were kids.” She chuckled and smiled thinking of her brother that she didn’t see too often.
“Most little brothers are, just ask T and Stone.”
She snorted with a vision of a young Bogs popping in her head. “I bet you were super annoying.”
He burst out laughing, “That’s putting it mildly. Man, the shit I used to pull with them, it’s a wonder they didn’t kill me and hide my body behind the house.” Bogs lifted his brows with a cocky grin. “Once they started dating, that’s when the real fun started.”
Kenzie laughed imagining all the shit he must have pulled. “So, you’re the youngest?”
He reached for his water and shook his head. “Of my brothers. Ethan’s the oldest, and I got a little sister, Roxanne.”
Rox would be short for Roxanne. There was a burst of relief spreading over her chest. The purchaser of the placemats wasn’t an ex. It was his sister.
“Five kids? Damn…” She smirked. “You mom and dad are troopers, huh?”
“Troopers, saints, glutton for punishment. All of the above. There’s only seven years between E, the oldest, and Roxanne. We were a handful, lucky for them they missed the toddler years. That would have been brutal, I think.”
Missed the toddler years?
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“We were all adopted when we were around ten to twelve. Except Rox, she was five.” He was quiet. Then he continued. “I was nine, almost ten when I was adopted.”
“Oh.” She almost cringed at her response. She didn’t know what else to say. He caught her off guard. She had never met anyone who was adopted. What was the protocol? Could she ask him questions or would it be awkward? He didn’t seem uncomfortable talking about it, but it was kind of sad. If he was adopted, that meant his real parents weren’t around. Did they die?