The Maverick's Red Hot Reunion (Entangled Indulgence) (16 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Zach glanced around the ballroom, trying to catch sight of Kennedy. The resort’s newly hired staff had transformed the grand space into a fairy wonderland. Tiny lights and sparkling crystals decorated the white-clothed tables and covered dining chairs. Sprays of evergreen and holly and silver branches had been tucked into elegant, tall vases. The room had an ambient glow of candlelight, and each table held champagne bottles chilling in pewter ice buckets.

He touched Michael’s shoulder. “You see Kennedy?” he asked.

His best friend blinked and a recorded voice answered, “Not yet.”

Zach’s throat tightened. Michael sounded different. Yet by using previously taped computer backups, his friend’s special speaking device mimicked his tone and inflection. Zach had given his friend the ability to talk, but he wished for more.

He swallowed, then straightened Michael’s tie. “Picture looks good clipped to the wheelchair.” After he’d unearthed the time capsule they’d buried and opened the rusty lid, he’d discovered everything they’d put inside was intact. Everything including the photograph of Michael with his two best friends.

“You should have waited.”

“Screw that,” Zach said. “We don’t have time to wait.”

“True,” Michael said. “Good thing you found the notes. Otherwise you might have hauled your stubborn behind back to New York.”

He’d have let pride and ego drive away the one woman he couldn’t live without. “No way am I giving up on Kennedy.”

Zach had come prepared. First he’d gone to his friend and confessed everything, but Michael had already connected the dots. After eating a generous portion of suck-it-up-shithead-pie served with a high dose of guilt, Zach had convinced Michael he was serious about winning her back.

He’d spent the better part of three days formulating a plan to win her over. And, after getting the doctor’s permission for Michael to travel again, they’d returned to Sweetbriar Springs with Zach’s scheme in place.

One Zach prayed would convince Kennedy to give him a third and final shot to get it right.

He tugged his collar. “I’ll signal you if she says yes,” Zach said.

“Quit stressing,” Michael’s recorded voice admonished. “Focus on perfecting your groveling.”

“Thanks. I won’t let you down again.” Zach should have known he’d never fool Michael. His friend had almost died, and he’d lost his natural speaking ability, but he hadn’t lost his keen intellect.

“There’s Kennedy,” Michael said, moving his head slightly to the left.

Zach’s lungs expanded and he held his breath, fixated. Her fiery hair cascaded in waves around her face and accentuated the angles of her high cheekbones. She’d painted her lush lips a deep shade of crimson. Her long, strapless dress draped perfectly over her sleek build. The champagne colored beads glittered at her bodice, catching the lights and shimmering like stars.

He blew out the air he’d trapped. “She’s incredible.”

“You betcha,” Kennedy’s dad said, joining them. “You think you can convince my little girl to take you back?”

Zach had also gone to Kennedy’s father with the truth. Asked for forgiveness. And officially begged for acceptance as his son-in-law. After eating another large serving of humble pie, her father had given his approval.

“Damn straight.” Zach accepted the glass of fortifying scotch from her father and downed a healthy swallow. “I want Kennedy to grow old with me.” He was no one without her. She was the safe place he’d yearned to discover.

He finished half of his scotch, then put the glass on a passing waiter’s tray. “Wish me luck.”

“Son, if you’re honest with her, and willing to compromise, you won’t need luck.” Ken clapped him on the back.

“Thanks, sir.” Coming from her father, that meant a lot. Zach looked at the man he wanted to keep in his life, and the friend he prayed would stay longer on the earth than all the dire predictions foretold. “Michael, no offense, but get lost. Ken, make sure he’s out of sight until I give the signal.”

“Will do,” Kennedy’s dad promised.

Zach waved them off and moved through the crowded floor space. He heard cutlery clinking against the china, the hum of chatter and laughter. The clatter faded with each step he took toward the woman he loved.

A group of local business people circled Kennedy, talking about upcoming plans and renovations for her company.

“The event planner you stole from the Palms Resort in Orlando has outdone herself,” he said when he reached her side.

“Yes.” She played with a strand of her hair. “She can spin gold out of air under an incredible time crunch.”

The people surrounding her nodded. “Yes. Lovely job,” a stout woman with a pug-shaped nose said. “Would you consider letting her provide outside services?”

Zach shifted closer, inhaling Kennedy’s unique scent of spring water rushing over verbena leaves. “Absolutely.” He pressed closer. “As long as you use our catering staff.”

A dusty rose flush crept up Kennedy’s chest and neck. “We’ll want you to refer Sweetbriar Springs to them,” she said, not missing a beat.

“Of course,” the woman said.

Kennedy smiled. “She’s by the chocolate fountain if you’d like to meet her.” She pointed to the other side of the room.

“Gentlemen, follow me.” The stalwart local matron, wife of the mayor and the power behind the small throne, marched away with her companions.

“Thanks for getting rid of her,” he said, wanting to touch her but afraid to move too quickly.

“I was ready for a break,” she admitted, giving him a direct gaze.

Bruises shadowed Kennedy’s emerald eyes, a translucent white pallor crossed her cheeks, and the thin lines of her tendons stretched taut in her neck’s slender column.

His stomach clenched. She’d been suffering and he was the sole reason. “I’m sorry I coerced you,” he said. “And for the problems our fake engagement caused.”

She indicated the back of the room with her chin. “I don’t want to talk about it tonight. This can wait until the morning.”

“No. I’ve waited too long as it is,” Zach said. “Please, Kennedy. Hear me out.”

Tears filled his strong princess’s beautiful green eyes. “There’s too much between us to go back. I can’t pretend that I haven’t been changed by everything that happened to us.”

His breath temporarily bottled in his chest. Us. She’d used the word freely. She hadn’t completely booted him out of her heart. How could he convince his strong, beautiful woman that she was the only one for him?

Around him the noise dimmed and time stretched wide. “I don’t want to go back.” He closed the scant distance between them. “I propose a different scenario.”

Her breath hitched. “How different?” she asked.

“One with no strings attached. One which would lead to a lifetime of happiness if you’ll take me back. If you’ll forgive me.” He clasped her hands, afraid to let her go, to let her escape again. This time he’d bind her to him for all the right reasons. “I want to walk into the future with you.”

She swallowed, and her eyes gleamed. “I’d like that but…”

Her cold palms chilled the blood flowing through his veins. Ice spiked his vocal chords. For an instant, the fear of losing her threatened his ability to voice the love blooming within his heart. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, counting to ten, refusing to surrender to doubt.

He raised her hands to his mouth, released the warm air in his lungs, and heated her fingertips. “I was wrong to push you to have another baby after we lost our daughter.” A tear slipped down her cheek. He swept the tiny drop away with his thumb. “And when you told me why you had been terrified to try again, I acted like a bullheaded fool.”

She blinked and the moisture dewed her dark lashes. “I shut you out,” she whispered, tucking her chin down. “I was a coward.”

His heart pumped faster. “You’re the bravest person I know,” he said. “Nothing could have prepared us for that kind of devastating loss.”

Another shudder traveled through her body. “When you returned to Sweetbriar, I wanted to hope. I wanted so much more,” she said. “But I thought it was impossible.”

He tilted her chin up and caressed her cheek. “After we broke up, life was gray and dull and old. I was living, but I wasn’t alive. When I’m with you, I’m at home. You’re my best friend, my lover, my heart, and my future.”

“Zach, I…we…” Tears trailed down the planes of her beautiful face. “What if…”

Her unfinished question suspended between them like a wrecking ball. Silence surrounded them as if everyone in the room had inhaled a collective breath.

“A future without you would be like living in a never-ending winter.” Zach stroked her hair and brushed a strand from her temple. “You’re the spring meadows and warm golden sunshine sparkling off the Tennessee River on a clear day. You’re all the seasons of my life.”

“I want you to have the future you deserve,” she said.

Her voice wavered. He heard the indecision and the fear behind her courage. “I don’t want to live with anyone else. I only want you.” He kissed the top of her head, then gazed into her crystal green eyes. “I never really left Sweetbriar Springs five years ago. I couldn’t when my heart still lived here.”

She touched his lips with her finger, shook her head slightly. Everything in Zach’s body tightened, seized, making him want to force her to say yes. But he knew if she were to deny him, he’d have to let her go.

…

Kennedy held her breath and waited to speak the words she’d planned so carefully. “I never expected you to understand the depth of my anguish after I lost Brianna. I blamed myself. The world. The heavens.” She bit her lower lip. “You.”

A muscle twitched in Zach’s cheek. His arms tightened around her. “You had every right,” he said. “I wasn’t there when you needed me most. Please tell me you forgive me for all of the pain then and now. I’d rather spend a lifetime with you and never have children than lose you again.”

“I do forgive you,” she said. “But it’s too late.”

His beautiful cocoa colored eyes filled with the sorrow she’d carried in her heart for days, months, years. Her heart turned over and a lump lodged in her throat. He thought she was going to say no. When all she’d ever wanted and yearned for was a lifetime with him.

The clattering of forks and knives on china faded. Nothing mattered but the man standing in front of her. Kennedy lifted her finger from his lips and caressed his cheek.

“I’m pregnant.”

A myriad of emotions crossed the planes of his handsome face. Joy, fear, elation, doubt. “How?” He tightened his embrace.

“The usual way.”

“But we were careful.”

“Apparently not careful enough,” she said, pressing her hand on her belly.

He looked down at her abdomen and back into her eyes. Concern tracked lines across his brow. “How many weeks?” he asked.

“Four.”

He raked his hand through his curling hair. “Oh, God. Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What do you want to do?”

Kennedy heard the anxiety and fright in his voice. And hope. Hope for her and the child she carried. Her heart fluttered and warmth spread throughout her body. A small measure of happiness skipped over her internal dread.

“I’m fine. So far the baby is doing well. And I want to do everything possible to make sure our child arrives safely.” She hugged him, and turned her face to look up at him. “But I won’t lie. I’m scared.”

“I only know of one way to hold off the fear,” he said. “And that’s with love. That’s how Michael faces the ALS. That’s how we’ll face what’s to come in the future.” He cupped her face in his powerful hands and brushed his full lips against hers. “We can’t control everything, but we can love each other and help each other get through whatever happens.”

“I’m hanging up my hardhat and taking off my construction boots.” She laced her fingers into his. “I’m taking every precaution.”

“This time you won’t have to do it alone.” He pulled her closer. “You’re not going through any part of this pregnancy without me. Where I go, you’ll follow. Where you go, I’ll follow. If the worst happens, we’ll get through it with each other.”

Kennedy rested her cheek on the solid wall of his muscular chest. She heard his strong heart pounding. For the first time in days she relaxed, secure in the knowledge that she’d never be alone as long as she had Zach’s protection and love.

She held his hand to her belly and covered it with hers. “Starting now?”

“This baby will know love for as long as we have her in our lives.” His palm splayed possessively across her stomach.

“Or him,” she whispered, allowing herself the dream of the tiny life within her womb to become real.

The ballroom’s chatter and low music hushed. She looked into his eyes. They gleamed black as night. Slowly, he lowered his head and planted his full mouth on hers, sealing her lips.

He kissed her with the fever of a man who’d finally found refuge. Heat filled her and her bones turned molten. She clung to him, knowing that this time they’d entered into a new bargain. One filled with love, hope, and commitment through good times and bad.

Alone, they would falter.

Together, they could fly over any obstacle.

Kennedy registered tinkling stemware, clapping and cheering. Slowly, the cacophony burst through her bubble, making her giggle before ending their connection.

“We’ve got an audience,” she said, stroking a curl off his brow and grinning.

Zach’s smile lit his face, creasing the corners of his eyes. “I’m not finished entertaining them.”

She gave him a sideways glance and quirked her brow. “What are you up to?”

“It’s about the ring.”

She no longer cared about the gargantuan stone. What pleased Zach pleased her. “If you want me to wear it…”

“No,” he said. “I’ve got something different in mind.”

He nodded his head toward the conductor. Soft music played and the crowd parted. She heard a soft whirring noise and another hope zip lined inside her heart. “Is it?” she whispered.

Zach turned her and held her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Yes.”

Their best friend drove toward them with a flank of her cousins and friends on either side of his wheelchair. By the time he reached Kennedy, tears streaked freely down her cheeks. She couldn’t speak.