CHAPTER 24
Kenzie
“So how are things really going with Dane?” Paige asked me as we freshened up in front of the mirror in the lavish powder room later in the evening.
Everything about the restaurant we’d gathered in that night reeked of money. Even the bathroom was classy.
I’d missed my best friend so much. I hadn’t seen her since I’d left our shared apartment for New York, right before Paige had moved to Denver to work for Walker.
She looked so happy now, something I was grateful to see. She honestly loved Sebastian, and the joy that exploded between the two of them was nearly palpable.
“The job is good,” I hedged. “I’m so grateful to you and Sebastian for setting it up.”
“How good?” she said as she shot me a quizzical stare in the mirror.
What could I say? I couldn’t tell her I was madly in love with her almost-brother-in-law. “Just…good. His island is incredible. You should visit sometime.”
“Do you like him?” she asked.
“Very much,” I answered honestly. “He’s a good man.”
“Come on, Kenzie. I see how he looks at you. And you aren’t exactly indifferent.”
“How?” I asked as I turned my stool around.
Paige swung with me until our backs were to the mirror. “I don’t know Dane well, but I can see how much he cares about you. He never even looks at anybody else. His attention is on you.” She reached out and gently touched the pendant Dane had given me. “Is this from him? It’s beautiful.”
I shook my head. “It’s not like that, Paige. We’re…friends. And the earrings and pendant are a birthday gift. You know my history. Dane and I understand each other.”
“You’re not just friends,” she said emphatically. “I’m in love with Dane’s brother. I recognize that look on your face.”
I sighed. “Okay. Yeah. I like him. He’s attractive, and he’s unattached. But I’m never going to go there. I like my job too much.”
Paige laughed, a booming, amused sound that rung through the tiny room. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.”
“Weren’t you afraid?” I asked, knowing Paige had probably risked losing her job if things hadn’t worked out with Sebastian. The difference was, Paige had an education. She was a Harvard grad attorney. She wouldn’t have lost her livelihood entirely.
“I was. Look, I know how you feel, but I’m worried about you. You have to open up and trust somebody eventually, Kenzie. Sebastian broke me down little by little. He proved to me that he could be someone I trusted. But I think you’re even harder to convince.”
“I trust you,” I shared.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. And it took years. You know it did.”
Paige was right. It had taken me a long time to tell her everything about my past. “It did,” I admitted. “But you know how my life has been. It’s never included a guy.”
“I understand why,” she explained. “And I wouldn’t want you not to protect yourself. Cynicism was actually good for us back in Cambridge. It kept us from getting distracted from our goals, and not allow anybody to hurt us. But if you pass up an opportunity with the right guy, it could really hurt.”
“I think I might have already done that,” I said unhappily.
“Did he make a move on you?”
“Third base, I guess. But we never hit the home run.”
“And was it everything you hoped it would be?”
“He’s so much more,” I confessed. “But it’s dangerous to sleep with your boss. You know that.”
Paige chuckled. “Don’t I know it. I thought the last thing I wanted was to have sex with Sebastian. But sometimes your heart won’t listen to your head.”
“Things worked out for you, but you were in love.”
“Aren’t you?” she queried. “Even a little bit.”
I should have known that Paige would apply a crow bar to my emotions. “A lot,” I answered simply.
“He feels the same way,” she said excitedly. “I can see it.”
“I let him buy me some clothes,” I grumbled.
“And you look fantastic,” Paige exclaimed.
My black dress and stiletto heels did look good on me, and it gave me a confidence boost. As Dane had predicted, the jewelry set off the little black dress perfectly. “I refused at first. But Dane is a hard guy to say no to.”
Paige frowned. “Why do you want to?”
“You know why. I’m scared, Paige. Nothing has ever really worked out the way I wish it would.”
“I know,” she said sympathetically. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t change. Dane isn’t really worldly. He’s been on that island since he graduated high school. He’s never had the chance to become an asshole.”
“He’s not. He’s talented,” I defended. “He’s smart and he’s kind.”
“Then you have no reason not to trust him,” she argued. “The only woman he let into his life crapped all over him. So he has good reason not to trust a female.”
“Dane had a girlfriend?” I asked breathlessly.
“I’m not sure you could even call Britney a girlfriend. She was more like a leech. All she wanted from Dane was to pay Trace back for dumping her. She found out where Dane was, and she used him to try to get Trace back. I think she wanted his money, too, since she made a career out of sucking guys dry for funds to keep up her expensive lifestyle.”
“Did she live with him?” I asked, my heart breaking from the fact that anyone had used Dane.
“For a while,” Paige said. “But Trace says that Dane knew she was using him, so he wasn’t that attached.”
I asked her more questions, and Paige provided answers, telling me the whole story about the Christmas that had ended his relationship with Britney.
“He didn’t deserve that,” I said in an angry voice. “How could she deliberately use a guy like Dane? Maybe he knew she didn’t love him, but that doesn’t make it right. Somebody like that isn’t good for him. He needs somebody who cares about him. He deserves that and more.”
Paige stood up. “I agree. Maybe somebody like…you.”
“I’d make him happier than she did,” I said confidently. At least I adored him.
“Then do it,” she teased.
All joking aside, I knew I could make Dane happy. But I didn’t know how long it would last. I was just too afraid to try, and then end up failing.
I was silent as I put my lip gloss back in my purse.
“I guess we should get back to the table,” I said regretfully.
“Think about what I said?” she answered. “Kenzie, I’m not in a bad situation anymore. I’ll always make sure that you’re okay. I love you, and you’re my best friend. We’ve always been there for each other, and I’ll always be there for you, whether you want it or not.”
I nodded as I fell into step behind her. I wasn’t going to ever take anything from Paige, but the fact that she offered to always have my back touched me.
I knew that I’d think about what she’d just shared, and it would continue to make me angry. Dane was any woman’s dream guy, and it pissed me off that some bitch had used him for revenge and money. Who did that?
“Was she pretty?” I asked hesitantly as I followed Paige out the door of the lavatory.
“She was,” my friend answered. “But not as gorgeous as you.”
I snorted. “I think you’re biased.”
We couldn’t have a private conversation with everybody around, and we were both quiet as we sat down again.
Four men rose as we returned to the large table, and it was rather charming. Dane pulled out my chair and sat me down again, his brother Sebastian doing the same for Paige.
I glanced around the table as all the guys sat back down again, noting that although I was a modern woman, I couldn’t hate the manners that the guys had been taught growing up in Texas.
Sebastian was sitting by Paige across from us. I’d met Trace and Eva earlier, who were seated on the engaged couple’s right hand side, and they obviously had the same loving type of relationship that my friend had with Sebastian.
I hadn’t known that Gabe and Chloe were also coming, but they were a lovely couple. They were seated next to Dane, and he’d introduced Gabe as his cousin. Another filthy rich Walker who seemed head over heels in love with his wife. I was beginning to think that when a Walker male fell, he went down pretty damn hard.
“Everything okay?” Dane asked as he put his mouth near my ear.
“Fine,” I whispered back to him.
“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I ordered you a girlie drink,” he shared.
I bit back a giggle. “What’s a girlie drink?”
“Something with fruit juice and whipped cream,” he said. “Paige likes them, so I was hoping you would, too.”
I was good with whatever he ordered. I rarely drank alcohol, but I thought it might help get rid of my nerves.
This wasn’t an environment I was used to, and although the couples were all really nice, I was afraid I’d do something socially wrong. “Okay,” I told him with a smile.
Dane looked so handsome in semi-formal clothing. He was wearing a sport jacket, dress pants, and a white shirt that he’d left open at the collar. He looked like he belonged here with his brothers and cousin. It probably wasn’t unusual for him to look confident in his surroundings. He might live on an island now, but he’d grown up in a very wealthy world in Texas.
“Relax,” Dane said in a hoarse whisper that nobody else could hear. “Nobody here is going to bite you except me, but only because you look so beautiful.”
I actually felt my skin flushing from the compliment. I tried to release the tension from my body so I could enjoy the evening.
Paige caught my eye as she smiled, her gaze moving from my pink cheeks to Dane’s cozy position.
I shook my head, trying to silently tell her that it didn’t mean anything.
To my surprise, she winked at me before her attention was drawn back to her fiancé.