Applause broke out around her. She thought Michael had finished his speech and had half-risen out of her chair to give him a standing ovation. But Michael waved with his good arm to settle the crowd. The room became as quiet as a meadow during dawn’s early light.
“There’s one more thing,” Michael said. “Bad stuff is always going to be with us, but so is the good stuff.” He pointed to Kennedy and Zach. “Like take these two dopes. My best friends. And they’re perfect for each other.”
Air whooshed through Kennedy’s ears. Her legs wobbled.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
She sank into her chair, turned and stared into Zach’s wide eyes, shaking her head.
“I’ve already got one good thing to show for this lousy disease.” Michael gave a lopsided grin. “They were engaged five years ago, but broke up.”
Michael’s voice dimmed.
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He shouldn’t. Michael had promised Kennedy he’d wait to celebrate her engagement to Zach until she could tell her parents. Though she’d prayed she wouldn’t have to tell her mother and father a damned thing about the cockamamie scheme.
“Thanks to ALS, I managed to bring their stubborn butts together and they’re getting married in June,” he announced with a triumphant flourish of his arm.
Her pulse skittered and skipped into double Dutch time. Michael continued speaking as Kennedy’s heartbeat ramped up in earnest. In his slow, deliberate, and careful cadence, her best friend had outed their relationship.
“To Kennedy and Zach,” he said. “I wish you a lifetime of happiness. You deserve each other.”
The crowd rose to its feet, roaring with thunderous approval. All eyes turned toward Kennedy and Zach as the spotlight shifted to their table. Clapping, tinkling of knives on glasses, and shouts for kisses rose up from Michael’s family members. Hannah already had her cell phone out and was snapping pictures.
“So much for keeping our engagement quiet,” Zach said under his breath.
She plastered a fake smile for another picture, then whispered, “Now what?”
“We minimize the damage.”
“Are you kidding?” she asked. “Michael’s parents are probably calling mine right now. Even if Shannon can’t get through the lousy cellular service, she can still leave a message. How in the hell can we minimize this nightmare?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
Her heart pumped wildly and she fought for self-control. As soon as her parents found out about this fake wedding date, she’d be toast. “You always think you can fix everything, but this problem won’t go away easily. Not without a lot of people getting caught in the crossfire.” Her parents would assume she’d finally told Zach the truth about why they’d lost their baby. How risking another pregnancy was not a gamble she’d ever take again.
“You’re right,” Zach said.
If only she weren’t, but all she could do was hang on and pray that they’d avoid causing too much grief. As the rest of Michael’s family approached their table, she pasted another false smile on her face.
“This is all your fault,” she said through clenched teeth.
“If you hadn’t fought the sparks flying between us, none of this would have happened,” he argued.
Her face heated and she curled her hands. “If you hadn’t been such an ass and tried to take over my company, Michael wouldn’t have known his original plan had fizzled.” She needed to rein in the information threatening to bubble out of the cauldron of lies they had created. “Tomorrow we’re confessing the truth to him. And we’re making damn sure he sticks with his treatment plan.”
Chapter Eleven
Kennedy’s wild waves danced around her flushed cheeks, tumbled to her bare shoulders, and slipped tantalizingly close to her dress’s plunging neckline. A low bronze V-neckline, which meant a barely-there bra would likely be hidden beneath the shimmering fabric.
She leaned forward and proved his hypothesis.
Zach’s mouth drained of saliva. He swallowed hard. “We’ll discuss this later,” Zach said, his voice rough.
They stood side by side to catch the parade of well-wishers descending upon them like eager puppies begging for treats. Kennedy’s rigid back and shoulders might have been a glacier for all the warmth she emanated.
“Relax,” he said.
“I can’t,” she said. “This is too real.”
“Not for long,” he reminded her.
The thought twisted a knot in his stomach. When Kennedy had announced she would tell Michael the truth, he’d known she had made the right call. Their lie had been spiraling out of control ever since he had given Michael a wedding date. Still, he couldn’t let her go to their friend and destroy his hopes. Not now.
Not when they had come so close to pulling off their charade. Not when he’d finally found a way to purge Kennedy from his system. And not when he’d come so close to regaining a foothold into the world he’d been happiest living in until…
No. So not going there. He clamped his reeling thoughts into a mental lockbox. They had to perpetuate the lie even though the consequences could be far worse than he’d anticipated.
He stiffened alongside Kennedy and braced for the onslaught of congratulations. But as soon as Michael’s mother wrapped her arms around them, the fight flowed out of Kennedy’s muscles. And his. He’d craved this kind of homecoming for years.
And his father’s conglomerate with all its power and respect paled in comparison.
“My dears. We’re so delighted. Lord knows we all needed to hear some good news. And this is the best news of all.” Shannon Sullivan pulled away and gave them a bright, cheery look. “You should book Sweetbriar Springs for the wedding. It would be so romantic.”
“Oh, yes. Great idea,” Kennedy replied, keeping her voice light. “But first let me clue my parents in. This all happened so fast. Mom might want a say in the planning this time.”
Her ring’s band cut into his skin. “I’m calling my father. Giving him the news,” he said, extricating his hand to dig his cellphone out of his pocket.
Better warn his father that the engagement was bogus. The last time he’d announced his intentions, his father had ranted incessantly like a bad recording without an off button. Dear old Dad hadn’t been thrilled to hear that his son had followed in his footsteps a little too closely. But unlike his father, who hadn’t stayed in the picture, Zach hadn’t walked away from his woman.
“I’m not sticking around to hear that call,” Kennedy said.
She moved toward another cluster of Sullivans, quickly escaping. He couldn’t hold her cowardice against her. Not when the first time he’d told his father he was getting married, Kennedy had been pregnant and she’d heard his father yelling through the phone.
The difference between them, father and son, zipped a line of pain along his temples. His father hadn’t known about Zach until he’d been located by social services via Zach’s birth certificate after his mother died. Daniel Warren Tanner hadn’t expected a child to come into the world after he’d paid to end the pregnancy. He’d only taken Zach into his home to maintain his reputation as a staunch conservative and trustworthy corporate executive. Then he’d shuttled Zach off to boarding schools and an elite Ivy League university to prepare his only son for taking over the corporation’s reins.
The same school that had given Michael an athletic scholarship and had put two complete opposites together in a dorm room. This had given Zach more than a best friend—it had given him a surrogate family.
Caleb clapped him on the shoulder, interrupting Zach’s train of thought. “I always knew y’all were made for each other.”
“Thanks,” Zach said. Suddenly, he didn’t want to tell his father the truth. A bitter part of his mind half-wanted to shock his old man again. Another part wanted to pretend the good feelings emanating in the room were based in reality. An even bigger part wanted his father to be happy for him.
“You’re next.” He jammed h
is cell phone back in his pocket. He’d settle for respect and touch base with his father in the morning.
“Not likely,” Caleb said. “Most women can’t handle the nature of my other career.”
Michael drove to their side and joined in the bachelor banter. “Only takes one woman strong enough on the inside to rope a special forces operative.”
A woman as strong as Kennedy.
Zach shook the thought out of his head. “You don’t have to re-up for another tour,” Zach said, diverting attention away from talk of love and marriage.
“It’s a done deal.” Caleb replied. “My unit heads for parts unknown next July. Kennedy’s already lined up my replacement.”
“Good. You’ll be here for the wedding.” Michael indicated with his index finger. “Hey Zach, you should make him a groomsman with Hannah on the big day. I’m sure Kennedy wants her to be the maid of honor, but since I can’t walk, it would be nice for Hannah to have someone to dance with at the reception.”
Caleb’s ears colored beet red. “Damn it, Michael. Quit playing matchmaker.”
“What’s the problem?” Michael asked. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. I know you like her.”
“I like her, but she’s like a kid sister to me. Geez.” He swiped his hand over his short blond hair. “I need another beer. Anyone else?”
“Nah, doctor won’t let me drink,” Michael said. “But have a cold one for me.”
Caleb left and Zach stood next to his best friend’s wheelchair. “She’s amazing,” Michael said, looking at Kennedy.
She lifted Michael’s niece Serena in the air and twirled the little girl around. The toddler’s laughter sounded like a bubbling brook on a clear spring day. An arrow shot through Zach’s heart and pinned it to his backbone. “Yes. She’s great with children.”
“Kennedy loves kids,” Michael said quietly. “She’d have a houseful if she had the chance.”
Zach inhaled sharply. That wasn’t what she yelled at him the day she jerked her engagement ring off her finger and threw it against the wall. “Guess I’ll have to give her another one.” The words nearly stuck in his throat and sounded raw even to his own ears. Zach curled his hands into fists.
Michael looked down and widened his eyes. “You have talked to Kennedy about what happened five years ago, right?”
“The past doesn’t matter,” Zach lied, relaxing his clenched hands. He’d never pull off this fake engagement if Michael doubted him.
Kennedy finished spinning Michael’s niece, then lowered the toddler to the ground. She brushed the blond baby curls from the child’s forehead and dropped onto her knees to give the girl a hug before releasing her to play with her brother.
When her eyes locked with Zach’s, clouds shadowed the sunshine he’d first seen sparkling in their emerald depths years ago.
And in that instant, he knew. With a sudden bolt to his spleen, he realized that Kennedy had never stopped grieving for their baby. Now he questioned the words she’d screamed at him the day she kicked him out of her life.
The ground slipped from beneath his feet. Everything he’d based his anger and frustration and grief upon five years ago, everything he’d clung to as justification for staying away from Sweetbriar Springs, unraveled with that one stark realization. A yearning to know what had driven her to push him away stirred in his soul.
He shook his head. No. Nothing more than a whisper of old memories that haunted him had slipped past the wall he’d erected.
They’d agreed to a friends-with-benefits reunion. They couldn’t go back to the place where they had once loved. Their worlds had only collided because of Michael, then and now. Still, he wanted her. Now. Moving with purpose toward her, he held her gaze. Her emerald eyes darkened.
His ears thundered with the rush of blood pumping through his veins. Victory enveloped his senses. Everyone evaporated. Only one person mattered.
Kennedy.
She flipped her fiery hair over her shoulders, then took one step toward him.
One more step away from the gathering crowd.
And one step closer to him.
The room’s clattering faded into the background with each step she took toward Zach in her mile-high stiletto heels.
He held out his hand and she stepped into his embrace. “You’re beautiful.” He swept his hands over her bare back, caressing higher and higher until he twisted her crimson strands into his fingers and anchored her neck.
A hush surrounded them as if the entire room had taken a breath.
Her coral-painted lips parted and she held his gaze. “You want to give them a little preview of what we’re going to finish upstairs?” she asked.
His heart thumped against his sternum. Primal male pride pounded deep in his chest. To claim Kennedy in front of the people he considered more like family than his own half-sisters and autocratic father brought a powerful surge of triumph.
“Anything for my fiancée.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, tasting. She sighed a soft surrender and curved into his body, slipping her tongue inside the seam of his mouth.
His Kennedy had returned.
She’d always been his from the moment he’d first flirted with her. She’d always been his from first time he’d stolen a kiss from her. She’d always been his from the first time they’d made love in the heat of the hot springs. And for the first time in years, a longing hunger, deeper than desire for physical possession, carved a bigger hole into the chink she had first carved through his emotional barriers.
…
Kennedy heard their friends laughing through the veil of Zach’s electrifying possession. She caressed his cheek and stilled his movement. “Take me to our room before they find a minister to marry us tonight,” she whispered.
He dragged his thumb pad over her lower lip and brushed her forehead with his lips. “Excellent suggestion,” he murmured, tightening his hold. “Folks, I’m taking my fiancée upstairs. We’ve got a lot to plan.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the ballroom to the elevator. Once the door closed, Zach swept his tongue inside her mouth and she clung to his broad shoulders. His tenderness, his unspoken cravings, undid her and unleashed a firestorm of desire, which wouldn’t ease until she was satisfied.
When they emerged from the elevator onto their penthouse floor, she’d lost all awareness of her surroundings. Zach dominated her senses with his powerful physique and passion. She dimly registered entering their suite when she felt him wrestle for the keycard and heard the door slam.
He wrenched his mouth from hers. “You’re driving me insane. I want you now.”
Her body hummed with urgency. “I’m not stopping you.” She panted and tugged his tailored shirt out of his waistband.
The atmosphere charged with their intense desperation to physically reconnect. All the years that had stretched between them, separating their bodies from each other, collapsed in their rush to touch and feel and know each other again.
Zach lowered her feet to the floor and braced her against the cool wall, cruising his masterful hand under her dress’s hem in one sweep. He slid a palm slowly up her leg, caressed the lace holding her thigh high silky hose, and snapped the elastic.
Kennedy arched her back. “Zach. Please.”
Zach circled his hand higher. “I’ve wanted to touch you like this for weeks.”
Liquid heat moistened her sensitive sex and her insides contracted in pulsing pleasure. Oh, to feel him stroke her once again and fill her with his sex. She raced her hands up the powerful muscles of his chest and around to the broad expanse of his bare back.
He deepened his kiss, tasting of scotch and man, then pressed his hips against hers. She could feel the ridge of his erection growing larger. Her nipples pebbled and she moved closer, wanting the feel of his hands on them, his body in hers.
An electric current streamed over her skin, raising every fine hair and heightening all her nerves. Raw, primal sensuality coursed throu
gh her veins. Only Zach could cause her bones to melt. Only Zach could leave her breathless. Only Zach could bring her to an explosive release.
A release she’d fantasized and dreamed about for years.
She tugged open his zipper, manic need fueling her desire, and stroked his impressive erection. “Take me. For god’s sake, please don’t make me wait.” It had already seemed like a thousand years since she’d known her lover’s intimate caress.
He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She twisted his curls through her fingers as he carried her to the bedroom. Kissing her, he lowered her slowly, then wrenched away to shift her dress over her hips and shoulders.
“Nice thigh highs,” he rasped, tracing a circular pattern on them, moving ever so close. “Very sexy.”
She moaned. “Zach. Please…”
“Please what?” He slipped his finger under the satin thong strap.
Anticipation zinged through her skin. A delicious ache tugged low. She grasped the duvet and twisted it. “I can’t wait.”
Zach spread her delicate folds and dipped his finger into her wet heat, then swirled her moisture over her clitoris. “I can.”
She trembled, pushed his pants over his hips, urging him closer. “Not for long.”
His obsidian eyes gleamed. “Long enough to touch every inch of your body,” he said, delicately probing her.
Her vaginal walls contracted. Need pulsed with aching tingles and her nipples tightened into taut points. She stroked him until his massive erection grew even larger and she longed for him to end his deliberate, torturous foreplay.
She wiggled and squirmed. “You win. Please—for the love of God.”
“Soon.” He covered her with his body and deftly unhooked her bra’s front closure. “After I get my fill.” He licked up the soft underside of her breast and sucked her elongated bud.
She murmured incoherent words of pleasure, panted mindlessly, tilting her hips upward. His length rocked against her pelvis; his velvet and steel were hers for the taking. She could feel the warmth radiating off his skin and the fine hairs of his chest brush against her naked breasts.
The Maverick's Red Hot Reunion (Entangled Indulgence) Page 11