by Taylor Hart
“I have projects, opportunities for expansion for my gyms. You can’t keep growing if you don’t keep growing.” He sputtered out the excuse.
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“Can I take a crack at her?” Russell asked quickly.
“What?” Kyle stared at the phone. “What do you mean, take a crack at her?”
“The woman is gorgeous, available—”
“I’m so gonna rip your head off.”
Russell laughed. “And I went down to the surf shop the other day, and guess what she was doing?”
“You went to talk to her? I just spent this whole time telling you all this, and you went and talked to her behind my back.” Kyle felt a surge of jealousy. “Why?”
“For you, nitwit. Why else?”
“Hm.” Kyle still felt suspicious. “What did she say?”
“We actually didn’t have a chance to talk about you because she is trying to figure out how to buy the surf shop. Apparently, the owner has to sell and Kennedy doesn’t want to lose it. She wants—”
“To teach lessons to disabled kids out of it,” Kyle filled in for him. “Start a nonprofit.”
“Yep.”
“Hmm.” Kyle’s mind was churning at a million miles an hour. “Can she buy it?”
Russell laughed. “No, no capital, no credit. The poor girl is trying to tap resources; the problem is, she doesn’t have any resources. But I thought of this guy who might need a surf shop in Miami. He might want to figure out how to run a nonprofit and stay put for a while.”
“Oh yeah.” Every part of Kyle was alight with fire. Yes, yes, yes!
“Strike that—he might need a surfer who has a dream.”
Chills washed over Kyle, and he felt the same way he’d felt when she’d sung “Amazing Grace.” Kyle blinked and then laughed. “Yeah, I might know someone.”
Chapter 23
Three Days Later
It was early, but Kennedy loved early. She plunked her board down into the water and paddled out, trying to escape the swarm of thoughts buzzing around her head.
Yesterday, the owner of her surf shop, Rex, had told her it had officially sold. Dang. She’d gone to banks. She’d spent hours Googling nonprofits. She’d reached out to everyone who might be able to help her—to no avail. She wondered who the new owner would be, and if they would want to plow the shop down and build something else or what they would want to do.
Continuing to paddle, she thought about everything that had happened since she’d been back from Jackson. She’d gotten the internship with Ray Ray, who had been totally cool about her trip with Kyle. He hadn’t teased her on the air, which she was thankful for. It was impossible to get Kyle out of her mind, even though she’d tried.
The first thing she’d wanted to do was get rid of all the pictures she’d taken in Jackson, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do that, either. At night, when it was late and she would finally give up trying to forget him, she would look at the pictures. It had felt real.
Had she really fallen for him?
Kyle kept trying to text and call her. Eventually, she’d blocked his number.
Maybe it was her pride, maybe it was her insecurities with her last relationship, or maybe it was the fact that Kyle Bones appeared too much like a Prince Charming. Whatever it was, she wouldn’t accept he could ever be real.
Seeing a nice wave coming at her, she turned the board and started paddling for shore. When the wave was at that perfect pinnacle, she hopped up and rode it. Soaring, floating, flying across the water.
When she was almost to shore, she saw something. Or someone. Her stomach leapt into her chest. She knew it was him.
The Prince himself had returned.
Chapter 24
Kyle stood on the shore, watching Kennedy surf that wave, and every part of him wanted one thing: her. He’d only been gone a month, but it felt like a lifetime. After getting to know her so intensely that weekend, he’d already had a vision of what a life with her could be like.
And he was ready for it. Even if it meant slowing down and staying in one spot for a bit, even if it meant facing the things that he’d been holding on to for so long and letting them go.
As Kennedy approached the shoreline, he saw the exact moment she realized it was him. He knew because she kind of froze. She managed to surf in, though, and then hopped off.
He walked toward the beach, still wearing his swimsuit. He’d taken his shoes off but kept his T-shirt on, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate it if he took it off. Which was refreshing to him. The woman really wasn’t about superficial things.
She picked up the surfboard.
“Have you started a rehab program for the ankle?” he said, feeling like an idiot because he had a thousand things he wanted to say to her, but he didn’t know where to start. When she didn’t respond, nervousness pulsed through him. “Look, I need to talk to you.”
She let out a breath. “Really? Because I think you might want to talk to Cassidy.”
At the sound of her name, Kyle wanted to curse, but he didn’t. He raked a hand through his hair. “Kennedy, I’ve tried to call and text.”
She lifted and lowered her shoulder. “I’ve been busy.”
He had been thinking about her since she’d left, yearning to have her in his arms and hold her. Yearning to be held by her. Now, she was so close that all he wanted was to take her into his arms. But she clearly wasn’t ready for that.
She crossed her arms. “Plus, aren’t you supposed to be working?”
Hating the anger rolling off of her, he shoved his hands into his pockets so he would quit wanting to reach for her. “I’ve decided something.”
“You have?” she said, and a little smile played at her lips. “Always so certain, aren’t you?”
“See, that’s the thing. I don’t feel certain at all around you. In fact, since I met you that day on the beach, I’ve been on a roller coaster.” He threw his hands up. “And I never feel that way.”
“You’ve been on a roller coaster?” She looked doubtful.
He was already doing this all wrong. “Kennedy, will you listen to me? I realized I’m not a prince. Certainly not this idea of Prince Charming we’ve discussed. I’m a wreck.” He blinked. “I know saying Cassidy’s name isn’t the issue. I’ve been pondering and …”
“You’ve been talking to Russell,” she said softly.
“Yes, I’ve been doing that too. And I’ve realized that what you said was true. I hadn’t let go of this idea of Cassidy. I didn’t understand why, and now I do.”
Rubbing her hand across her forehead, she looked tired. “Kyle, I just don’t think we’re a good idea.”
Kyle took her hand. “You’re the first woman I’ve opened up to since Cassidy. You’re the first woman I’ve wanted to build a life with. But I don’t think of you as Cassidy. That’s the furthest there is from the truth. You see, I don’t think I really ever thought of Cassidy, the real Cassidy, as the Cassidy in my head.”
“I don’t understand.” She tried to pull her hand back. “And you’ve said Cassidy way too much.”
He scrambled for the words to explain. “I’m sorry. I’ve just had this idea of what she and I were together. See, I met her, and we fell in love. Then I was deployed, and I got captured. We were away from each other for a long time. Now, I realize when I got back it wasn’t just that she’d hooked up with an old boyfriend and fallen back in love. It was … we weren’t real. Not the real that I’d built up in my head. When we didn’t work out, it was easy for me to put up walls. It was easy for me not to let women in. The strange thing was, when I met you, I wanted to let you in. For the first time since that relationship, I wanted to know someone, spend time with them.” He chuckled ruefully. “And, as you’ve mentioned, I was a bit stalkerish about it.”
The side of her lip turned up. “Very stalkerish.”
He saw his opening in her defenses and laughed, feeling encouraged that she was rela
xing a bit. Reaching out, he gently moved a piece of hair out of her face. “Cassidy, I’m not the movie type of Prince Charming, but all I can see is this dream of a future with you.” He blinked. “Look, I just want to be dancing to our song and not have you leave me right when it’s at the good part.” The side of his lip tugged up.
Warmth filled her and her eyes misted up. “You do?”
“I do.”
Kennedy blinked, then shook her head. “Why?”
Wanting to get this right, he sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “Because you’re good. Because you call me on my cockiness. You help others. You work hard for the things you want. You have gone through a lot of pain, and you’ve done a helluva job coming out of it.”
After a long moment of thought, she looked away and blinked. “I lost the shop. I lost my dream.” She shrugged. “I mean, I can still teach lessons, but I lost—”
“I bought it,” he said simply.
“What?” Jerking her head back to him, she focused on his eyes. “What?”
“Russell told me what was going on, and I bought it.”
“But—”
“I thought it was about time I stayed somewhere. And what can I say? I liked the idea of funding something that matters.”
She blinked. “Really?”
“All I know is that there’s this surf girl I would really like to run it. Also, maybe I could do a better job of proposing to her this time …”
Her eyes fluttered, and she said nothing. That was encouraging, in a way. At least she hadn’t cut him off or left already.
He reached for her hand. “Maybe this time I could tell her that for the first time in a long time, I see a future with someone. That I want to be better for someone. That I want to live up to this idea of this—what did you call it? Knight in shining armor kind of thing?”
Kennedy silenced him by throwing herself at him and pressing her lips to his.
Laughing through the kiss, he felt the spark, the delight, the excitement.
They kissed, and she melted into him and the world felt right again.
Pulling back, he pushed her hair out of her face.
Tears washed down her cheeks. “I won’t leave you again in the middle of our song, okay?”
His eyes fluttered. “Really?”
She kissed him, again.
“That means you’ll marry me, right?” He muttered through her lips on his.
She laughed and pulled back, loving this man, loving the future she could see with him, loving….this moment. “I’ll marry you.”
He let out a whoop and picked her up, twirling her around.
Staring down at his warm, chocolate eyes she knew…she would never let him go.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
“Do you think it’s too soon?” Kennedy stood in her wedding dress next to Carrie and Jenna on the beach, standing in a tent the wedding staff had put up next to the surf shop.
The guests were on the beach and a long red carpet extended to a preacher. Kyle stood at the end with Russell next to him.
Carrie scoffed. “Too soon? If a man that beautiful wanted to marry me, I would elope to Vegas in a heartbeat.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes.
Jenna shook her head. “No, it’s not too soon. But if I hadn’t seen how you guys are together, I wouldn’t believe it.” She waved a strand of hair out of her face. “I actually didn’t believe it until last week when we came back from summer break and witnessed firsthand the … the …”
“Fairy-tale-ness of it all,” Carrie filled in for her with a bit of distaste.
Kennedy laughed. It was true. She never would have believed how in love she was with Kyle Bones. Never would have believed how he’d stolen her heart and how she’d feared she would never get it back.
The wedding march started. Both her friends linked arms with her. Since she didn’t have parents, they’d both insisted on walking her down the aisle.
“Let’s do this.” Carrie winked at her.
They’d practiced the night before, but Kennedy felt shaky. Why had she picked these heels?
She started down the red carpet and ignored all the others in the audience. She ignored Ray Ray and a bunch of Kyle’s friends, including the famous Anthony and the now very pregnant Cassidy Kincaid, who she’d happily invited. She ignored a bunch of students she was friends with. She only had eyes for him.
Man, he was gorgeous. He wore a tux, but even in the tux, he still had that dangerous look. The kind that said, If you mess with me, I’ll take you down.
Butterflies erupted inside of her, and she thought about how she couldn’t wait to share everything with him tonight.
She thought of all the plans they had. Of course, she would finish her degree, but the surf shop was already under construction. Kyle had come to the table with her idea and his creative business sense. He’d found more investors, and now, they were getting calls from all over the world. Surf clubs wanted to donate their time and resources to children with special needs who were interested in surfing. The project had been in the papers and on The Ray Ray Show.
Warmth filled her, and she thought about how this man had made everything in her life better than a fairy tale. He’d made it the most real and wonderful life she could have ever imagined.
She got to the front, and the girls ceremoniously delivered her to Kyle, who took her hand and smiled down at her.
“Hey,” he said softly. Seeing her tears, he frowned. “Are you okay?”
She blinked. “I love you, Kyle.”
“I love you too.” He gave her a confused look.
The preacher went through the ceremony, and soon she found herself being announced as Mrs. Kyle Bones.
The crowd cheered, and Kyle kissed her. He held her close and asked, “Are you really okay?”
Staring into his beautiful eyes, she answered, “I just realized that you were right. God’s plan is better than I’d ever imagined.”
He pulled her in, pressing his lips to hers. “Yes, it is, and I’m just the lucky Prince who gets to be on this crazy ride called life with you.”
She smiled. “You mean the lucky Prince Charming.”
“Fine.” He kissed her again. “Prince Charming it is.”
I hope you enjoyed The Prince Charming Groom: Texas Titan Romances: The Lost Loves
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The Fake Fiance Groom: Texas Titan Romances
Walker Kent sat in the fishing canoe he’d sat in most mornings for the past year. It was early, but he liked early. Growing up, he’d always been an early riser, and when he’d flown helicopters in the army, he’d loved feeling like a bird in the sky. It was peaceful, and he needed peace. Even though he had an apartment in the city, he’d secretly been camping by this lake and mansion house. He didn’t know who owned it, but they were never here. He knew this because he rowed the lake almost every morning.
Looking around the lake, he thought about the past year. His thoughts flitted to the fact that today was the anniversary for officially getting dishonorably discharged from the army. It amazed him that he’d been able to walk on for the Titans two weeks after getting discharged. It’d been a miracle, some would say.
He grunted and thought about how it hadn’t felt like a miracle when he’d been court-martialed. Even though his actions had saved eight of the men and women on that special ops team. Pain clenched his chest. But he hadn’t been able to save Tams. He blinked and kept rowing. She was the best gunner he’d ever had. She was an honorable soldier, willing to lay down her life … and she had.
He rowed harder. This was what had saved him for the past year. This was why he had camped out here. He needed to be on a lake every morning. Looking up, he
scanned the large house that sat by the lake. It was posh. A large, immaculate, fancy house—the upper fifty million kind of fancy. He’d been on the lookout for a house of his own with access to a lake so he could work out his demons, but he wasn’t quite there yet. Another couple of years, maybe.
Finding this lake had been perfect. It reminded him of his favorite lake in Colorado on his grandfather’s property. It didn’t have a house this huge, but that lake was as good as this one. The property had been left to all the Kent brothers, but none of them were currently using it. He would go back to Colorado one day, but for now he would stay in Texas.
He was grateful he’d been given a nice contract to return and play with the Titans again. He hadn’t known what to do when he’d first come home, but fortunately, football had worked out. It had surprised him as much as anyone else that he’d been lucky enough to make the practice team and even luckier to be so good they had pulled him up to first string. He’d helped take the Titans all the way to the Championship last year. Boo-yah!
His thoughts shifted to another professional football player, his brother Will, who was only three years younger than him. He was second string for the Denver Destroyers. Walker thought of the last time he’d seen Will, or any of his brothers. It had been when his mama had passed away nine months ago. They’d all gathered back in Colorado when they’d received news from the hospice nurse that she was fading.
He rowed faster, feeling the familiar anxiety starting in the center of his chest. Breathe in. Breathe out. Long breaths. The therapist had told him it didn’t surprise him that rowing helped. It required controlled breathing.
Closing his eyes, Walker thought of his mother—her soft hands, her caring face. Of the way he and his brothers had all stood by her casket. Of course, one funeral brings up other funerals, and as always, his thoughts went to his wife, who had passed away three years ago. Laura. He’d been on leave and they’d gone to dinner. It’d been raining and that semi had come out of nowhere. There had been glass all over, and he remembered how loudly the horn blasted. He shook himself. These thoughts did not serve him. That was another thing the therapist had told him.