The Maverick's Red Hot Reunion (Entangled Indulgence)

by Christine Glover

  “You knew me. That should have been enough.”

  “No. I didn’t understand why you felt so compelled to propose until now. I’ve met your father. I know he’s difficult, and that discovering your existence was a shock, but what about your mother? What happened to her?” The words were out. The question had been asked. And much depended upon Zach’s answer.

  Did he trust her enough to tell her? If he did, Kennedy believed she could have faith in his ability to understand all that she had suppressed these long years.

  His chest expanded, then he blew out the air he’d held for close to ten seconds. “She died in a car crash on her way home from work after her Saturday night shift. I was twelve.” His voice was devoid of emotion, deadpan, but his grip around her shoulders intensified as if only she could anchor his emotions.

  A sudden coldness hit her core. She locked her gaze with his dark, serious eyes. She touched his face, cupped one hand around the back of his head, and stroked his brow with the other hand. “Oh, Zach.” She weighed her reply carefully—she understood how well-intentioned platitudes often failed to deliver real comfort. “There are no words, only tears in my heart for all you must have gone through.”

  “I was sleeping over at a friend’s house when the sheriff arrived to break the news.” His voice cracked. “But a few days later, social services took over.”

  “You didn’t have any family there?”

  “No,” he replied. “There wasn’t a will either. I thought I’d be placed in a foster home in my small town, that I’d be able to stay in West Virginia with my friends. Keep some things the same.”

  Her vision blurred. Kennedy envisioned the boy Zach once was—alone and afraid in ways she couldn’t possibly imagine. And she finally fathomed why he had always wanted to return to Sweetbriar Springs. The resort reminded him of the happiness he’d once had with his mother. But falling in love with Kennedy had caused him to lose all that he really wanted: security and a family to call his own. No wonder he’d pushed so persistently to convince her that they could have another baby.

  Kennedy blinked, a tear trailed down her cheek. Oh, how she desperately yearned to give Zach that gift. “But then everything changed,” she said. “How did your father find you?”

  “He didn’t.” Zach’s grip tightened. “The authorities contacted my father when they discovered his name on my birth certificate.”

  Her stomach clenched and shock strangled her throat. “He never knew about you?”

  “He knew my mom was pregnant, but he thought she’d taken care of the problem,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Imagine his shock when the social services department in Podunk, West Virginia called him and told him about his bastard son.”

  Tears pricked behind her eyes. She couldn’t fathom not being wanted, accepted, and loved no matter how a person came to be conceived. Nor could she understand hiding a child’s existence from his parent, but she could understand the desperation that had driven Zach’s mother to make her decision. For hadn’t she been guilty of hiding a similar secret from Zach? How could he ever forgive her for pushing him away?

  All Kennedy could do now was offer comfort. She stroked Zach’s back, pressed her lips against his mouth. “I’m so glad your mother realized the gift she carried when she found out about you.”

  She felt his shuddering breath go through his body. The intensity of his pain was magnified by the loss they’d shared. When she caressed his cheek, the dampness she found shattered her. Zach had never been this vulnerable or this emotionally exposed to her. And here, in this stolen moment of time, she’d found the man she could trust with her heart.

  But now she wasn’t sure he would ever trust her with his, should she tell him the truth.

  One day she would. She owed it to him, if only to release him to live the life he deserved. For now she only wanted to hold onto the moment and soothe him. Kennedy wrapped her arm around his waist and nestled her head in the welcoming crook of Zach’s strong arm. “What was your mother’s name?” she asked.

  His heartbeat pounded rapidly in her ears. “Brianna,” Zach said quietly.

  Her nose tingled, stung with unshed tears. “Our daughter’s name,” she whispered hoarsely. Until today, she’d never known why Zach had chosen it when she’d first read it aloud to him from the baby-naming book. “She’s still with us—they’re watching over us.”

  “I’d like to believe you’re right,” he said. “But I hate that they’re gone.”

  “So do I.” If only she hadn’t been so angry when he’d travelled to Milan. Maybe she wouldn’t have lost their little girl. But she could give him a genuine second chance. And maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t lose everything. “Tell me about your mom.”

  He relaxed his hold, dropped his chin on top of her head, and stroked her hair. “Mom worked at the Dixon Line Diner. Top fry cook in the region. Truckers would take side trips to have one of her cheeseburgers.”

  She held him and braided her leg through his. “I’m sure I would have loved one of her burgers, too.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he spoke again. “She liked to take me to the mountains. We’d hunt for tadpoles and catch fireflies. We camped. Made s’mores. Just ordinary stuff.” Zach’s voice cracked as if the recollection frayed his thoughts.

  Her throat constricted and searing heat jabbed behind her eyes. “She sounds like a remarkable woman. Tough and strong and loving.”

  “Yeah.” He propped himself up on an elbow. “She’d left her family behind when she was sixteen and never looked back. Mom had a knack for making friends out of strangers. Didn’t matter where she was or who was there, she’d strike up a conversation. She’d ask questions. Then she’d really listen to the answers. Mom always made everyone feel like they were special.”

  A sob clutched her chest when she heard the unspoken yearning in his voice. A pang deep and low in her breastbone pushed painfully. How she ached for the man who’d lost so much. “Nothing,” she said, “can make up for the loss of a loved one.” Her arms still yearned for the child she’d borne and held for only a few precious minutes.

  “Thanks for not spouting the usual clichés,” he said. “But then you know about those, too.”

  The future frightened her, but she had to forge ahead. Zach deserved love. And so did she. But she couldn’t tell him the truth and risk driving him away before Michael finished his clinical research trial at the Tallahassee University Hospital and returned to Sweetbriar Springs to give his next ALS fundraising speech. She and Zach had committed themselves to this fake engagement for Michael’s sake. She’d tell Zach the unvarnished truth about her infertility issues after the benefit was over.

  Kennedy stopped Zach’s trip into the thorny past with her mouth. All that was hurt and grieving inside her melded with his pain when she sealed his lips with hers.

  He kissed her slowly, tenderly, then pulled away to twine her hair in his forefinger. “I want to feel you around me again.” Zach’s pupils had grown into large, black disks of desire.

  She caressed his cheek, stroked her hand down to grasp his length, felt him grow larger. Her nipples tightened and her sex tugged, sending rivulets of agonizing yearning through her.

  “I need you inside me,” she whispered.

  Zach kissed her with the hunger of a starving man. He parted her folds and slipped his finger inside. Kennedy widened her legs, a languid heavy feeling moving through her. There was nothing but this time, this man, this moment.

  He slid into her, his length filling and completing her. Then he moved within her in a sensually slow rhythm.

  Waves of pleasure flowed through her. Everything within her yearned for more. More of him. More of the man who’d let down his guard. More of the man she’d grown to love all over again.

  Kennedy coiled her arms around his waist and held him close. Here was a man she could love forever. But could he return that love once she revealed her secret? Would he forgive her for her lie? In this mom
ent, joined as one, she wanted to believe anything was possible.

  He quickened his movements. “Kennedy. Sweet Kennedy,” Zach said, thrusting deeper and invading her with his possession.

  “Zach, I’ve missed you so…” she cried. “I…” love you still. She thought she’d lost him forever, and now he’d returned. And maybe, just maybe, given the right words and the best timing, she’d hold on to him forever.

  “Stay with me,” he rasped. “Stay with me, and we’ll ride it together.”

  She raised her hips. “I will.”

  Hot shudders of excitement coursed through her. Her muscles trembled as she clung to his back. He dizzied her with the feel of him moving inside her, maximizing the intensity rising between them.

  Oh, how Kennedy had missed him. She’d missed this emotionally charged physical connection. And most of all, she’d missed feeling this loved.

  “I’m—oh, Zach.” She arched her back and met his slick, wet torso with hers, grasping for his strength. Needing him to carry her through the final barriers to her release. “I can’t bear it. Please.”

  “I’m with you,” he cried.

  His release pulsated through his length and her body contracted, taking him deeper and fusing them as one. Uniting them. They crested over the last edge of reason and cried each other’s names in unison as they shattered into a million starbursts of light together.

  Chapter Sixteen

  A week before the ALS fundraising benefit, Zach had contacted his father’s board of directors and arranged to stay longer in Sweetbriar Springs. He’d conferred with his father about opening additional offices in Atlanta and Asheville. While he’d still travel a lot, Zach had made it clear that he planned to stay in the southeast. Now Kennedy nurtured a smidgeon of hope. Hope that had taken root and bloomed in her heart. Hope for a different future with Zach. A future filled with love and laughter and life. If she couldn’t bear Zach’s children, they’d adopt. Of all people, Zach would understand that there were children in the world who needed to have a family.

  Stepping lightly, she entered the resort’s kitchen. “Is my basket ready?” Kennedy asked the new chef.

  “Sure thing.” The chef pointed. “It’s on the counter next to the fridge. You think the weather’s warm enough to go to the hot springs?”

  Kennedy had asked the new culinary genius Zach had stolen from the competition in Asheville to prepare something special. The chef assured her that everything in the basket had been carefully selected to promote romance, love, and new beginnings.

  Flurries of snow flecked across the window pane that overlooked the resort’s restored grounds. “We’ll be fine.” Nothing could mar her enthusiasm. Not even a dip in the temperature. “There’s a heated pavilion and the waters are always hot.” As was the fire burning bright between her and Zach.

  “I packed a thermos of hot chocolate just in case,” the chef said. “Though I doubt you’ll need it.”

  Kennedy crossed over the gleaming floors and picked up her picnic. “Thanks for doing this,” she said. “I owe you.” And she owed her crew for decorating the gazebo while she’d supervised the addition of red, white, and pink poinsettias as well as the installation of twinkling white lights twirling around evergreen garland.

  “Not a problem.” Her sassy chef lifted an eyebrow. “I’m all for aiding and abetting a romantic rendezvous.”

  Her cell phone vibrated in her back pocket. Ignoring it out of courtesy to her chef, Kennedy teased, “You’re next.”

  “Just because you’re all goo-goo eyes and in love doesn’t mean that I’m in the market.” She cracked an egg and dropped the contents into a bowl of ground meat. “I’m single, free, and loving it.”

  Kennedy laughed. “One day you’ll find the right man and you’ll change your mind.” After all, she’d found hers. Not once. But twice.

  She waved good-bye, then hurried to the lobby past a towering evergreen tree topped by a winking star and bedecked with red ribbons and shiny baubles. Outside, the lodge had been wrapped in draperies of green with bright holly berries and tiny lights. Inside, flames blazed in the oversized fireplace and filled the air with the scents of pine, smoke, and earth.

  Kennedy glanced through the windows to the left of the entrance. Winter storms had coated the grounds with a blanket of snow, and each tree branch had been covered with white lace. Frigid winds whipped flecks of ice across the parking lot. Gray skies accented the skeletal trees shorn of their leaves, but a patina of festivity enveloped Sweetbriar Springs.

  Her belly dipped and rolled. Nerves tingled and a lightheartedness ballooned inside her lungs. Tonight had to be the perfect time to tell Zach everything. After all, Christmas was a season filled with possibilities. She gripped the handles of her basket and tried to dismiss her lingering doubts. Yes, they had obstacles to overcome, but Zach had changed and so had she. Together, they would be an unbreakable force.

  Her mother waved from the other side of the lobby and called, “Your dad’s challenged your cousins to a pool tournament. You want to join in?” Everyone had booked rooms in the renovated resort and Kennedy welcomed the giant family sleepover.

  “No.” She raised her basket. “I’ve got plans with your future son-in-law.” And for the first time in weeks she believed the words would come true. “Tell everyone I’ll kick their tushes tomorrow.” Michael was scheduled to come to the resort in a few short days along with the rest of his family. Hannah had already started stocking the wellness spa with her exclusive line of massage oils and skin creams.

  “Will do,” her mom answered.

  Tonight had a bigger and better payoff than liberating her cousins from their money. Tonight Kennedy had decided to risk her heart one more time. And tonight she banked everything on giving her and Zach a genuine second chance at love.

  But first she had to pry Zach away from his computer. Food provided an excellent lure. As did the sexy tights, short skirt, and figure-hugging ribbed sweater she’d changed into after work.

  Smiling, she stepped into Zach’s office. “I’ve got sustenance,” she said, carrying the picnic basket to his desk.

  “Is there scotch in there?” he asked, gripping his cell phone so tightly she could see the whites on his knuckles.

  His voice was flat, devoid of emotion. Trepidation crept into her heart. “What’s wrong?” She placed the basket onto his desk with trembling hands, remembered the earlier buzz on her cell phone, and a sudden, sick feeling settled low.

  Kennedy drew out her phone, read with growing horror the message from Michael’s mother. The ground shifted beneath her feet and air whooshed through her ears. “Oh my god, it’s Michael.”

  Zach’s face was pale, grim. “He’s taken a turn for the worse. The specialist’s not sure if he can save him.” He stood and held her gaze with serious dark eyes. “He might not make it through the night, let alone get to the fundraiser at the end of the week.”

  Her heart pounded and roared through her veins with denial screaming through every artery. “No,” she cried.

  She heard her phone clatter to the ground. Zach was with her in an instant, enveloping her in his comforting arms. “I’ll go up there,” he promised. “Hire more doctors. Bring him home.”

  His voice was choked, thick, as he wiped her tears with his thumb. She fought for the courage to be brave in the face of this news. Pulled valor from a wealth of suffering she’d endured and cloaked herself with the faith she’d gained.

  Finally, her heartbeat steadied and a strange sense of calmness washed through her. “Zach,” she said, “we all knew this day might come. If not today, then one day. We have to prepare ourselves for his loss.”

  More tears pricked behind her eyes. Her friend could die tonight. The boy who had hunted frogs with her. The teenager who had taken her to prom as his date to support her. The man who had brought Zach into her life could leave forever.

  But she refused to say good-bye until he was gone.

  Zach hit the wall behind
his desk over and over and over. “I hate this damn disease. I hate that it’s taking him away. I hate that I can’t fix what’s broken.”

  Kennedy stopped his flying fists, held his bruised and bleeding hands in hers. “We already know how unfair life is, but we can’t change reality.” A wave of sadness washed through her. “Loss is inevitable.”

  “I refuse to believe he’s going to die.” Zach jerked out of her grip. “I won’t give up trying to save him.”

  A hollow feeling settled behind her breastbone. “I don’t want him to leave, but I don’t want him to suffer either. I’m trying to hold onto the now. To the fact that he’s still here.”

  “Why, Kennedy?” He stepped back, his face a mask of anger, grief, and frustration. All the years between this moment and the worst time they’d endured carved harsh lines across the planes of his handsome features. “Why is it so easy for you to let people go?”

  She had to believe in the unknown, because not believing gave no meaning to the suffering she’d already endured. “I don’t say good-byes easily.” Kennedy pressed her palms over her barren womb. “I’ve just learned I have to accept life’s cruel blows.”

  A muscle jumped in Zach’s temple. “That’s not what you yelled at me five years ago.”

  The crushing loss of their stillborn daughter hung in the air between them. The moments stretched into longer minutes as they held each other’s gazes. She’d yelled horrible lies the day she’d ended their relationship. But the words had been born out of grief and guilt and terror.

  And Zach had never given her an opportunity to tell him why she had been so afraid.

  “That was a terrible argument that spiraled out of control,” Kennedy said quietly, her heart aching.

  Though she’d planned to tell Zach why she’d been so afraid to risk another pregnancy. And she’d hoped he would understand why she’d withheld the information and love her enough to give them both a second chance. But now she realized a part of her had been waiting for Zach to ask her why she’d been so desperate to avoid getting pregnant again.