Chapter 26 Kennedy
TWENTY-SIX
KENNEDY
I LIKE ALL OF YOU, KENNEDY JONES.
Winter in Chicago wasn’t for the weak-hearted. But that didn’t stop me from wearing a tight burgundy mini dress with winter black tights and high black boots, even though I knew I had to bundle up with my gray winter coat once we stepped outside.
I had no idea what Henry planned for the evening, but for some reason, I was nervous and giddy.
This was stupid. Why was I so excited? This was just another regular old fake date.
I knew having sex with Henry was a really bad fucking idea, because I was feeling all these things I didn’t want to face.
Are we forgetting that he called you last night and told you he missed you? Or the fact that you told him you missed him, too?
I strode out of my room and found Henry, his elbows resting on the kitchen island, staring at his phone. My God, he looked good. He wore a long-sleeved knitted dark-blue sweater that hugged his muscles perfectly, black trousers, and dress shoes.
I cleared my throat, trying to push down the pathetic flop my stomach did at the sight of him.
He looked up, and his intense blue gaze pinned me in place. His eyes were calculating, and there was a heat to them, drinking me in like I was the only thing on the menu he wanted.
It was intoxicating, the way Henry always looked at me. I never wanted him to stop.
“You look...” He took a few deliberate steps toward me, interlaced one of my hands with his, and twirled me around. “Fucking stunning.” His gaze lowered to my legs. “Spring cannot come soon enough,” he murmured to himself.
I gaped at him. “Are you gawking at my legs?” I learned how to love myself despite the comments I’d gotten over the years about how tall I was, but insecurity took hold of me at the most random of times.
He nodded, still staring at them. “They’re one of my favorite things about you.”
That was…rather forward. But the compliment filtered through me like a slow pour of honey—thick, and sweet, and every bit addicting.
It shouldn’t have been surprising. This was Henry Anderson after all. He was an honest and notorious flirt.
“One?” I crossed my arms and kept my grin in check. “As in, there’s more that you like?”
He rolled his lips as his eyes found mine. There was a sense of playfulness and mirth he oozed. “What exactly is your question, Kenny baby? I like it when you’re direct.”
I tilted my head in contemplation. “What else do you like?”
Should I have been entertaining this? Probably not. But I think we’d all learned by now how reckless I was around him.
“Your eyes,” he replied without missing a beat.
I arched an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
He lazily slipped a hand into one of his pockets. “What do you mean?”
“You’re acting weird.”
“Am I?” His tone held a bit of amusement.
“Stop answering with questions,” I groaned.
“Why?”
I rolled my eyes as I strode to the small closet where we kept our coats and grabbed mine. “Forget it.”
I was about to put it on, but Henry stopped me and said, “Let me,” as he grabbed the coat from my hands and helped me slip into it.
Being so near to him made my heartbeat race. His usual bergamot and vetiver scent hit my nostrils, and I was suddenly dying to stay closer to him just so I could let myself be enveloped in it.
There was something seriously wrong with me.
I expected Henry to take me to a popular place. Anything public that would have helped get some exposure, so people could take pictures of us and circulate them.
Instead, we were on a winter rooftop bar and restaurant that overlooked the city’s busy lights, sitting inside a toasty igloo with a fire pit, some good Italian food, and delicious drinks.
It was quiet, and intimate, but really fucking fun.
“You jumped off a fucking roof into a pool?” My drink almost spilled out of my mouth as I tried to keep my laugh in check at the insane college story Henry was telling me. “Are you insane?”
He raised his hands in defense. “I was a bored eighteen-year-old, okay?”
“Thank God for the early draft. Though now I’m wondering what sort of trouble you would have gotten yourself into if you’d ever finished college.”
“Why wonder? We all know my reputation.” He winked before he took a sip of his whiskey.
I thinned my lips without a word. There had been so many questions on the tip of my tongue for a while, because the more I got to know Henry, the more I realized the whole “bad boy” center forward reputation was utter bullshit.
But I kept my mouth shut and instead took a sip of my wine and sighed. “This was nice.” I waved my hand around. “One of the best fake dates you’ve taken me on, for sure,” I quipped.
Why the fuck do you have to keep saying the word fake? Seriously. We get it, my brain mocked.
I was desperate to keep a sense of normalcy. More than anything, I needed to keep reminding myself this wasn’t real.
Henry’s jaw ticked, but he took a swig of his whiskey and dropped the glass on the table with a soft clunk. “The night’s not over.”
“No?” I stared at him, shocked.
He smiled. “I have a surprise. I think you’re going to like it.”
My heart quivered. This had already been too much.
I wasn’t used to this kind of attention.
To be honest, dating Joe consisted of going to work parties.
The intimacy of it all, going to a simple dinner just because, or going line dancing for the hell of it, was never a thing.
It was like hanging out by ourselves was a task, but I’d been so blind to it, I never realized it.
“This was more than enough, we don’t need to do anything else,” I said sheepishly.
“This was the bare minimum. If we’re going out, I will always make sure we have fun.”
My body froze for the slightest moment. He didn’t say fake, he didn’t mention the media attention or why we were really here.
And before I could form a question, he simply stood, grabbed my coat, and helped me put it on without a word.
I couldn’t speak, even if I tried. So many emotions were lodged in my throat.
Both exhilaration and fear rested against my ribcage, making it impossible to breathe, because I wasn’t sure if the prospect of this being a real date made me nervous or really happy.
It was a little after midnight when a car he had rented for the night dropped us off in front of Millennium Park.
It was starting to snow, so flurries dusted our coats, and though it was cold, the park was beautiful and surprisingly quiet.
Henry carried a gym bag on his shoulder, and he grabbed my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world as he guided us to an outdoor ice rink.
Goosebumps sneaked up my arms at the simple touch.
It was always electrifying, like lightning, but there was a comfort behind it now, too.
“Are we breaking in? It’s the middle of the night!” I whisper-shouted.
He smirked. “Are you scared, Jonesy?”
“Here I thought we were past that nickname.”
“That was rather naive of you,” he joked.
I took a seat on one of the benches, and he kneeled in front of me then riffled through the bag until he found my skates.
“Also, no. We’re not breaking in. I called in a favor. The rink is all ours for an hour,” he said.
I beamed. “Really?”
He nodded as he started putting my skates on.
I knew better than to fight by now. It was the little things Henry liked to do the most, like he wanted to be useful.
Part of me also liked these little acts of service.
In a world where I’d always had to take care of myself because I believed I was too much of a burden, it was a nice change of pace.
Being stubborn about it proved to be useless, because if there was one thing Henry knew how to do well, it was be persistent.
I liked that about him, you know? His tenacity. The way he showed the goodness of his heart without even trying. It was why I had been dying to ask him why, exactly, he kept this side of himself hidden. What was he running away from? Why was he hiding?
The man who referred to himself as the “king of the ice” and acted like the world owed him something was nowhere to be found. It was like he disappeared with a simple poof. So why not show his true personality to the rest of the world?
“I knew you had fun last time, and I thought it’d be cool to do it outside at night. The rink won’t be as nice, since it’s exposed to the elements and everything, but—”
I interrupted him with a slight squeeze on his forearm. “If I fall on my ass, no one will witness it except for you. This is perfect.”
“I won’t let you fall. Promise.” His eyes sparkled with earnestness. His tone was sincere, like the words carried a double meaning. I wasn’t sure where it had come from, but they settled deep in my chest and found their way through the cracks of my heart.
I dropped onto the couch with a tired sigh. Captain Sushi demanded his daily treat, which Henry so gracefully complied with and even gave him an extra, then he promptly retreated to his favorite cat tower, which was located in my room.
Skating in the middle of the night, while it snowed, was the most unique and fun date I’d ever had. I even managed to let go of the boards at some point without falling onto my ass.
Henry sat next to me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. “Tonight was really fun.”
He wrapped an arm around me, and the side hug alone made my heart thump painfully. “Yeah, it was.”
The air was thick with a suffocating tension I couldn’t explain.
Trepidation clawed at my throat like ivy wrapping around stone, slow and tight to the point of hurting.
I learned how to be comfortable around Henry and even looked forward to spending time with him. But uncertainty hit me all at once.
Did having sex ruin that for us?
Was it a mistake to break the rules?
A part of me believed it wasn’t. We wanted each other, and we acted in pure need. It was as simple as that.