Chapter 35
Dae
“What’s this?” Kennedy asks as she turns to face me in our bedroom.
I take a second to stare at her.
She’s wearing a sleeveless, slim-fit, long, dark green dress that flares out at the bottom. The chest offers a tear-shaped cutout that moves up to form a cold collar. It’s classy and perfect for her.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she says, her red-tinted lips forming a playful grin.
“Like what?” I don’t stop eye fucking her.
As crucial as tonight’s event is for business and personal charity work, I’m so fucking tempted to rip the dress off of her and spend the night making her call out my name until she loses her voice.
“Like I’m a piece of meat.” She taps my chin.
“You’re more than a piece of meat, baby.” I brush my lips against hers and then take a step back before following through on my dirty thoughts. I hold the shoebox in my hands out to her.
She lifts an eyebrow, doubt written across her gorgeous features. “It’s in the shape of a shoebox, but these can’t be actual shoes,” she says, laughing. “The Dae I know would never buy me a pair of shoes.”
A chuckle spills from my lips. “That was the old me.” I place the box on the arm bench at the end of the bed. Then I take Kennedy by the hand and seat her next to the box.
I kneel on one knee in front of her as I open the box to reveal the black and gold sandal high heels. The gold and crystal band of the shoe spirals upward to coil around her ankle.
“I caught you looking these up on your computer last week,” I admit.
“You were spying on me?” She narrows her eyes on me.
“Yes.” I lift her foot, slip the shoe on, and adjust the band around her ankle. It fits perfectly. The way the gold band wraps around her ankle makes me think of another type of metal around her wrists. My cock twitches in my tuxedo pants.
“Dae.” Kennedy’s voice is a warning.
“Perfect,” I say, marveling at how amazing these shoes look on her.
I slip the second shoe onto her other foot and then stand, taking her hand to help her rise.
“You don’t think I’ll run away in these?” She kicks one heel up jokingly.
“Even if you do, there’s nowhere you can go that I won’t catch you.” I kiss the tip of her nose.
She closes her eyelids before opening them. “Thank you,” she whispers. “I wanted these but always put off buying new heels.”
“Why?” I ask because there isn’t anything I don’t want to know about her.
She peers down at the shoes. “At first, I said it was because my job isn’t necessary or convenient to wear heels daily. Plus, I have enough.”
“At first?”
She gives me a small smile. “That”s what I used to tell myself. The truth is that I stopped buying heels a few years ago when I realized so many men in my world only wanted me to dress up to be eye candy on their arms.
“They wanted a doll while they went off and did the ‘real work’ of running companies and whatever.”
She uses air quotes around the words real work.
“Most talked about me resigning from my job once we got married so I could stay home and be the socialite they saw their wife being.”
She shakes her head. “I kind of went in the opposite direction after realizing that. I didn’t want to resemble anything like what they made me out to be.”
Kennedy peers down at her shoes, and a beautiful smile appears.
“I missed the feel of a new pair of heels. Thank you.”
I cup her face in my hands. “If you want a chance to show off those shoes anywhere else besides over my shoulders, you’re going to have to stop looking at melike that.”
She tosses her head back and laughs. The sound is so enticing that it makes me laugh.
“I promise to show you how they look over your shoulders when we get home.”
An involuntary groan rips from my lips. “Let’s go, little warrior.”
Minutes later, I’m holding the door open of the town car that’s taking us to the downtown convention center where tonight’s event will be held.
I clasp Kennedy’s hand in mine, our fingers intertwined the entire forty-minute ride. She stares out of the window, her lips spread into a smile.
“I love this city at night,” she says, her eyes taking in the sights of Williamsport. She turns to me. “Remember when I told you I almost moved to New York after college?”
I nod.
Her smile widens. “When I went away to college, I was sure I wasn’t going to move back once I graduated.”
“Why?” I ask.
She looks down at our intertwined hands.
“I didn’t want to work in the shadow of my family.” She leans in. “In college and my first few years as a reporter, I went by my mother’s maiden name, Theirs. Kennedy Thiers.”
“Why?”
Shrugging, she looks out of the window again. I reach over with my free hand, taking her by the chin to bring her gaze back to me.
“I don’t like it when you’re not looking at me.”
She laughs. “You’re so greedy.”
“When it comes to you.”
“I have never been and will never be ashamed of my family.” Her voice hardens to convey how serious she is. “Not ever.”
I nod. “I know that.” Anyone who spends time with Kennedy knows how much she loves her family. “But?” I prod.
She pushes out a breath. “I’ve never said it out loud because it sounds like such a bratty thing to say or like I’m not grateful.” She rolls her eyes skyward.
“The poor little rich girl, complaining about everything she’s been given,” she says mockingly. “It’s a thing some people say.”
“Give me their names.” My voice comes out dark and heavy.
She slaps my arm.
“Stop it. I’m just saying … Anyway, I didn’t want anyone thinking I only got my position or any position because I received special treatment because I’m a Townsend.”
“What made you go back to using Townsend professionally?” I always wondered that. I knew she used her mother’s maiden name for the first few years of her career.
“A couple of years after I graduated college, I was having dinner with all my siblings at my parents’ home. One of my articles had just come out, and my mom was so proud she couldn’t stop talking about it at the table. My dad, too.”
She shakes her head like a person who knows they’re loved but is slightly embarrassed by the bragging of their parents.
A part of me envies that. Even from my mother, I never had that.
“My mom printed it out and showed it around the table. My little sister suddenly pointed to the name and asked, ‘Who’s Kennedy Thiers?’” Kennedy turns to me.
“I don’t think my dad even paid attention at first because he took the article from Stasi and read it over.”
She shakes her head.
“He never said anything, but I could tell by the way his face changed. He was still so proud of me. He still gloated, but a little bit of the light in his eyes went out when he saw the name I chose to go by. I started using Townsend after that.”
She looks me in the eyes, and I know she’s looking to see if I understand.
I bring her hand to my lips, kissing it. “I don’t know your father, but I know anyone who raised you would be proud of you, no matter what name you choose to use professionally.”
Smiling, she nods. “I know, I just hate that I hurt him or anyone else in my family because I cared too much about what other people thought.”
“You were young. It’s natural to want to form your own identity,” I reassure. I know all about the need to be your own person. To establish who and what you are apart from your past.
“At least a part of me always knew that,” she adds. “It’s why I never made the move to New York. The job opportunities were amazing, but Williamsport has always been and will always be my home. My family is my anchor.”
She squeezes my hand, and I squeeze it back. I’m glad she’s always had that anchor. She deserves to know she’s loved, supported, and, most importantly, taken care of.
An emotion passes through her eyes. Concern?
“Are you nervous about tonight?” I ask.
I think she might try to hide the truth and tell me no, but instead, she says, “You’re going to meet my parents tonight. You’ve briefly met Kyle Diego and Uncle Brutus, but this is different. This time …” She trails off.
“You’re mine,” I say because what else needs to be said? Tonight I’m meeting her family as her future husband because that’s what the fuck I am.
“You’re the first man I’ve introduced my family to in a few years. I’ve only introduced them to one of my exes back in college.”
The thought of any other man in her past burns in the pit of my stomach. “He didn’t deserve you,” I growl.
She laughs. “You don’t even know him.”
“I don’t need to,” I quickly reply. “No one is good enough for you.” Even me.
But I’ll be damned if I let anyone else get near her. The truth is, I do know her ex and the last bastard she dated. I was the one who made them go away. Like I said, they weren’t good enough for her.
“My father can be a little overprotective. He doesn’t mean anything by it. You know, he’s just used to protecting all of us.”
I press a kiss to her lips, silencing her. “I respect any parent who protects their children. Especially since I never had that from the person who fathered me.”
A sour taste forms in my mouth. Even though the man is dead, the bitter memory of his abandonment remains.
“But there isn’t anyone I’ll allow to scare me, run me off, or take you from me, Kennedy. Not a soul on this planet. I love you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you.” I kiss her again.
When I pull back, she stares at me. Her lips are slightly parted, and her eyes look glazed over.
“You love me?” she whispers.
“With my entire heart and soul.”
The car comes to a stop, and I realize that we’re outside of the convention center. Kennedy’s still staring at me.
“We’re here.”
She blinks and then peers out of her window with a nod. She squeezes my hand before the driver pulls open the door on my side. I hold her hand as she gets out. I can’t stop touching her.
Even though there are many important figures here tonight, for both business and charity, I don’t want to take my eyes off her. As we enter the event, I know I’m the luckiest bastard in the room tonight.