by Taylor Hart
Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Gently, he reached out and touched right above the smooth part. “You don’t get to be a hater because you have lived through something hard.”
She flinched, but held his eyes when they met hers. “Do not kiss me,” she said through gritted teeth.
This woman! Not only did he want to know why she didn’t want to be on this trip with him; he also wanted to know why she didn’t want to date him. Did that make him cocky?
They were both quiet for a few moments as the plane taxied down the runway and took off. Kyle heard a sharp of intake of breath next to him, and noticed her eyes were closed. “You don’t like flying?” he asked softly, resisting the desire to lean closer and smell that lemony scent even more.
Opening her eyes, Kennedy quirked her lips up. “Actually, I love flying. I just get a little nervous for the takeoff.”
Her cheeks were flushed, and he thought of how this woman, so vulnerable and fierce, was continually surprising him.
“Sorry about just a second ago,” she said quickly. “You probably didn’t even want to kiss me.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “I’m sorry. I just feel so out of sorts around you.” Then she squeezed her eyes shut. “And I shouldn’t have told you that other thing.”
Satisfaction surged through him, but he didn’t want to be too cocky. He liked this fresh kind of girl. The kind who wasn’t like the girls from the gym who hung out waiting for him constantly, only wanting one thing. That wasn’t his scene.
No, she was innocent. He liked it.
He narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that part of the whole princess thing? This insta fall in love makes you feel out of sorts.”
“This is clearly not that.” She snorted. “Like I would ever fall in love with a guy like you.”
“Ouch.” He knew he was probably turning red now. “Brutal honesty.” Okay, she put him out of sorts, too.
She batted her eyes dramatically. “I say all the wrong things when I’m nervous.”
Kyle laughed, but it was a little forced. He loved teasing her, but he didn’t like hearing she wouldn’t consider falling in love with him. “If I am cocky, you are putting me in my place,” he said quietly, staring into her clear blue eyes. “The thing I don’t think you realize is I’m not just a run-of-the-mill Prince Charming, ya know.”
For a second, she was quiet. Then she grunted. “Hey, I admitted I thought you could be on a romance novel cover.”
Yes, he did like that, but he sensed that wasn’t the kind of guy that impressed her. “Hmm. If there was a Prince Charming, the non-Disney kind, what would be your type?”
“Ha.” She sputtered, her eyes widening. “Really, you want to know my type?”
“Yeah.” He acted nonchalant. “Why not? The not-romance-cover Prince Charming type.”
Kennedy scoffed, before hesitating. “Maybe I don’t entirely know.”
“Hey, I’ll admit I wanted to kiss you. I’ve wanted to kiss you since I met you.” His heart raced and he grinned. Why deny it? “But you have known I’m not you, so that makes us both a bit vulnerable here.”
She scowled at him. “You shouldn’t kiss someone just because you want to.”
That was even funnier. “Oh, I shouldn’t?”
“Kisses mean something.” She sighed. “My grandmother always told me you shouldn’t just give them away, because that would make them mean less.”
This woman was beautiful and good. Kyle had to squirm a little, thinking about all the kisses he’d given away to the point of becoming meaningless. “What if you just like kissing?” he countered.
Letting out another laugh, she rolled her eyes. “Hey, I like kissing. Don’t worry about that.”
He hadn’t been worried about it, and this made him want to kiss her more. “So what kind of prince do you kiss, then?”
“I haven’t always chosen well.” She let out a light sigh. “My last … I won’t even call him a prince. He was an idiot. I guess that makes me want to be even more careful about who I kiss.”
He wanted to ask more about said idiot, but sensed it wasn’t the right time.
For a few moments, they sat in comfortable silence. He got up and stretched, wanting it to not be awkward. “Want a water or something?”
“Oh.” She still looked a bit out of sorts. “Sure.”
Moving through the cab, he went to the fridge at the back and got two waters out. He opened the cockpit door and poked his head in. “How’s everything going in here, Griff?”
“Good.”
Kyle kind of wanted to stay up here and give the girl a breather, but he thought that might be rude, and truthfully, he wanted to talk to her still. Turning back, he went to her, carefully holding the water out.
Smiling up at him, she took the water and gripped it between her knees, easily twisting off the water top with her good hand.
He sat back down and wanted to ask so many things, but he didn’t know where to start. This woman was different, and she had to be handled differently. He wanted to handle her differently.
Turning to him, she said, “I have to ask. Was it hard coming back after being captured?”
Not expecting this turn of conversation, he said, “Just getting to it, I see.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Hey, you’re the one that said you weren’t just a run-of-the-mill kind of Prince Charming.”
He cocked an eyebrow, seeing she was paying attention. “True. To answer your question, it was hard.” He stared into her eyes. “There were times I wondered if it was harder to be captured or to be home afterwards.”
She measured him for a minute, then turned away and let out a breath. “Survivor’s guilt.”
“I guess,” he said softly. “It’s more than that, though. It’s all those demons inside of you. It’s wondering if you can make it through the nightmares. Every vet goes through it.”
She looked down at her stump, then gently rubbed it with her other hand. “I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I do know about nightmares, though.”
He waited, wanting her to talk more about it, but not wanting to push. When she only blinked, though, he had to speak his mind. “What I really learned is you have to be okay with you. Right here—” He tapped the center of his chest, then tapped his head. “Right here. Then it doesn’t really matter what others think. From what you said earlier, you had a bad boyfriend.” Anger welled up inside of him. He wished he could beat the crap out of the guy who had said that to her. “But only you can decide if that defines you or not.”
Tears were in her eyes. “Please don’t talk about that.”
He felt her start to shake, so he waited patiently. It didn’t surprise him that she had a lot of pain inside of her. Shoot, didn’t everyone? War or not? What did surprise him was that she’d started to cry. Moments ago, she’d seemed tough as nails.
After a few beats, she sucked in a breath and pulled her hand back, staring up at him. Her eyes were sky blue and clear. She wasn’t the kind of woman who wore a lot of makeup. Her blonde hair looked bleached and perfect. Her skin was soft. She was young, and she had been through so much.
The center of his chest warmed, and he thought he had to be careful with this girl. She was tender, so he spoke with tenderness. “You just have to remember you are brave and there is so much good happening and …”
Kennedy did something that he never would have expected. She closed her eyes and said, “Oh, just shut up and kiss me.”
Chapter 10
Their lips met. His were so soft. Kennedy just leaned into him. It was sweet and good and sent chills rippling along her skin. This man wasn’t just a hot, cocky war vet. No, there was something else going on between them. He was different than other guys.
Pulling back, she gazed into his green eyes and smiled, feeling herself start to blush. “I can’t believe I just did that after the lecture I gave you about kissing.”
“You don’t gotta apologize for anything, honey.” Kyle grinned, t
hen leaned in again, and his hand cupped her cheek to pull her closer.
When their lips met again, it felt like she was on a magic carpet ride at a theme park she used to go to when she was younger—soaring, flying. Her heart hammered in her chest, and his smell intoxicated her.
Before she knew it, she pushed her hand into his hair. He deepened the kiss, and explosions went off all throughout her body. It felt like riding the perfect wave, the excitement and uncertainty of it all. This man was more than she’d ever dreamed of, and she thought of Jenna’s romance novels.
Kyle pulled back, just a little, and a breathless laugh came out of him. “What are you smiling about?”
Kennedy was embarrassed all over again. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have started the kissing.”
“Shh,” he said, meeting her eyes with a huge smile on his face. He trailed a path down her cheek with the back of his hand. “That was a good kiss.”
She knew it couldn’t be true. He’d had a fiancée and was so much older and more experienced than her. Then there was the whole spell casting over all women thing. But she smiled. “It wasn’t bad.”
“Oh yeah?” he said, a challenge in his tone.
“Yeah.” She giggled.
He focused on her lips. “Let’s try again, and maybe we can get more than ‘it wasn’t bad’ for the Yelp review.”
She found herself kissing him some more. His lips trailed kisses down her jawline and to her neck. He inhaled deeply again. “Mmm,” he said, drifting back to her lips as she giggled.
Forcing herself to pull back, she said, “We can’t kiss like this the whole trip.”
A slow, lazy smile filled his face. “Why not?”
The way his eyes looked her up and down made every part of her tense. “I don’t … I’m not that kind of girl.”
Furrowing his brow, he moved a strand of hair out of her face. “What kind of girl are you referring to, Ms. Dawson? I mean, other than the kind who kisses a man like he’s about to go to war and you’re vowing to wait for him.”
She sputtered out a laugh. “Is that what that kiss was like?”
“Hmm, almost. But just to make sure, let’s try again.” He leaned in.
She held him back. “I’m serious. I usually don’t do this. I usually don’t have instant relationships with lots of kissing. I’m waiting …”
He scanned her face. “You’re waiting?”
“For marriage.” She swallowed and looked away. “For intimacy.”
“Oh.” For a moment, it felt like he was trying to decide something. Then he reached out and took her hand. “I respect that.”
“You do?” She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Kyle Bones, ex-Navy SEAL and multimillionaire MMA fighter.
“I do.” He kept his hand over hers. “So we can slow the pace.”
She smiled. It felt like everything had changed between them. “And this is just a trip over this weekend.” She pulled her hand back.
“Right. To have fun and get to know each other, maybe some kissing, but just for the weekend.” He grinned at her. “After all, I’m leaving for a month after this trip, travelling all along the coast of California and through Utah and Nevada. I won’t be around anyway.”
Even as he told her that he wasn’t going to be around, she knew she was falling for him.
* * *
When they arrived in Jackson, it was almost eleven o’clock. After getting off the plane, they found a Jeep waiting for them. Kyle said goodbye to the pilot and put their bags in the Jeep.
Cruising out of the airport, Kennedy felt herself start to tire. It’d been a long day. It actually felt like two or three days with all that had happened.
Kyle pointed. “It’s about ten miles, and then we’ll be there. Then you can go to bed, Sleeping Beauty.”
It startled her a little that he would call her that. “Why would you call me that?”
Shifting into another gear, he frowned. “Because you’re falling asleep.”
“No, I’m not.” She leaned back into her seat, thinking about kissing him on the plane, thinking about how her friends would never believe what was happening. Heck, she didn’t even believe it, and she was living it.
They drove for a little while, and she closed her eyes, still unable to believe she was here.
“Are you going to tell me why it upset you that I called you Sleeping Beauty? Do you have something against that Disney princesses or something?” Kyle asked.
She smiled and thought about how everything felt so weird and so normal at the same time between them. It was strange to her that she trusted this guy so much that she was actually falling asleep. “I … the night at the dance club, Carrie said, ‘Maybe tonight you’ll meet your Prince Charming.’ And then you appeared right in front of us.” She let out a nervous laugh. “Oh my gosh, I need to shut up.”
“Oh no.” He reached over, and she felt his hand on hers.
Opening her eyes, she turned to see his smile was even bigger than normal. “You like this way too much,” she said accusingly.
“Hey,” he said, glancing at her, then back to the road. “I’ve been the one practically stalking you.”
She grunted. “Finally, the stalker admits to stalking.”
He laughed. “I’m not admitting anything. I’m just repeating what you said.”
“I still felt like you rigged that contest.”
He let out another round of laugher and his eyes shone in the moonlight when he turned to her. “Nope, just got lucky.”
No, no, no. This felt like it was getting way too intense between them way too fast. “I just don’t think this would ever work,” she blurted. He didn’t respond, and she felt awkward. “Never mind.” Why the crap had she just said that? Maybe he didn’t even want anything. Maybe he just wanted a weekend.
“Hey, don’t shut down on me.” He turned down a residential road.
“Forget I said that.” She pointed into the darkness. “Is this your house?” Distraction. Distraction. Distraction.
He hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, right up here. I built it last year when I was out here looking at some of their gyms.”
“So you haven’t been to the all-stars event before?” she asked quickly.
He turned to her. “You don’t want to talk about why you’re going hot and cold on me, do you?”
Keeping her expression neutral, she didn’t respond.
He let out a breath. “No, I haven’t been to this event before. I don’t want to go, truth be told, but Scar Walker insists I need to be there.”
“Awkward with the ex?” she asked before she could stop herself.
Sputtering out a breath, he took another turn down a long road.
She noticed there were lots of trees, but a sparse number of houses.
“It’s not awkward,” he said in a stilted voice.
“That was believable,” she said, trying to sound serious.
He frowned at her. “Famous people are just people that happen to be famous.”
The side of her lip tugged up. “Right. Money is just a tool, and famous people are just people.” She put a finger into the air. “But exes are exes, and that would be rough.”
He winked at her. “Things are only as big as you make them.”
“Sure. Keep telling yourself that.” She could tell something was off about his tone. It felt like he was trying to give her advice, but she wasn’t having any of it.
The house had black pillars and shutters, and it looked very stately. The lights were on, and it didn’t look empty. “Is someone here?”
“No, I had the caretakers prep it because you and I were coming, but no one should be here.” He parked the car right in front of the door and then hopped out and rushed around.
He did make her feel like a princess.
Opening the door, he held his hand out, and his lip twitched into a smile. “My lady.”
Tentatively, she took his hand. All the fatigue rushed away. The night was cool.
A bit too cool, she thought, as goose bumps started popping up on her arms.
“Jackson weather.” He let go of her hand and shivered, then went to get their bags.
When they reached the front door, he pushed in a code, and they stepped in. The first thing she noticed was the vaulted ceiling, and she tilted her head back to take it all in.
“I’ll give you a quick tour.” He kept her bag, but dropped his. “Then we’ll go to your set of rooms.”
She hesitated. “Set of rooms?”
He frowned at her. “I just wanted to clarify that you’re safely stowed away from me at night.”
“Okay,” she said, smiling.
She took his hand, and he took her through the house, going room to room. There was a library and a music room and more rooms than she could count. A huge deck opened up to a pool and a hot tub. Finally, they got to the winding staircase that led to her rooms.
“It is like a prince house,” she said under her breath as they climbed up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
They got to the top, and he turned to the right. He flicked on lights that lit up the hallway. He didn’t walk far, but turned to the first room on the right. He went in and flicked on that light too.
The room lit up. It was huge, decorated in pale pinks and soft greens, and the furniture was white. There was a sitting area, where he put her bag, and a large king bed.
Kyle motioned to the bathroom. “Everything should be in there, but don’t hesitate to ask for anything you need.”
A skittering laugh came out of her. She thought of growing up modestly, and after her parents had passed, the apartment where she had lived with her grandmother. The whole place had been the size of this room. “I think I’m good.”
Carefully, he let his hand drop and smiled. “Whenever you wake up is fine. I know it’s been a long day for you, but I am glad you won the trip. We’re going to have fun.”