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“Oh my god, are you pregnant?” Eve screeched. “Because I can show you some really good stretches and poses—”
“No!” Kenzie beat me to the answer, her face turning beet red.
“It’s okay if you are,” Eve was quick to assure her. “Miles got me pregnant the first time we were together, though marriage was definitely not the first thing on his mind.”
I groaned. Not what I wanted to hear about my little sister. “She’s not pregnant, Eve.”
“Then why wouldn’t you tell us?” Addy demanded, never one to beat around the bush.
Her hard stare and straight spine would never give away how hurt my twin was, and I couldn’t blame her. This wasn’t how I envisioned getting married back when I still figured at some point I’d settle down. But things changed. Life happened. Dreams adapted. And for me, marriage was nothing more than Kenzie’s means to an end.
“Did you not want us there?” Eve asked, sadness clouding her soft face.
“Evie, no,” I rumbled.
“I get it. Eloping is so romantic,” she said, but her smile was weak and her eyes watery. “But we were right here…” She brushed a tear from her cheek. “It’s okay. I’m happy for you. You deserve to be happy.”
Shit.I could feel Kenzie drawing back—retreating because she felt like this was her fault. It wasn’t. I’d offered—insisted. She wasn’t to blame.
“I’m sorry, Eve,” I rasped. “I didn’t do this to hurt you.”
“I know.” Eve nodded slowly, always ready to forgive. The world would be such a better place if everyone practiced the kind of grace that Eve possessed.
“Why, Zeke?” My twin, on the other hand, remained undaunted.
In some ways, Addy’s flat tone was worse than Eve’s tears. Her hardness existed to protect the softest parts of her that had been betrayed before. I was one of the few who knew the depths of those parts, and now I was one of the few that had hurt her.
“It was my decision,” I said, meeting Addy’s similar gaze. “For how long have you tried to get me to break off just a sliver of my life for myself? Everything I do is for you—for both of you. For Blooms. For the women. You… our business… it’s my whole life; it’s in every piece of my life. And I don’t want to change that. But when Kenzie and I…” I swallowed and looked over my shoulder at my wife—a mistake because then all I could see was her. The warm color in her eyes. The flush of her cheeks. The way she held her breath, wondering what I was about to say. I wondered, too, because this wasn’t part of my plan.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. She was in the program and then started working with me, and it shouldn’t have happened…”
“We would’ve supported you,” Addy said lowly, the hard edge in her voice softening.
“Dammit, Addy, it wasn’t about you—either of you. It was about me. For once, it was about me. I wanted something for myself,” I rasped, letting out a rough breath as I looked back at my sister. “Why do you think I let you make the decision on her application? Because the things I felt… the things I wanted… Kenzie came into my life, and for once, I wanted to be selfish. I felt something that was only mine. I felt the love that you found with Ace and Eve with Miles, and I wanted that to be all mine… just for a little.”
I felt Kenzie’s shocked stare, and I couldn’t blame her; I’d not only admitted to wanting her from the moment we met, but I’d used the word love. Sure, it was part of the plan, but goddamn it hadn’t felt like a lie. I wanted Kenzie selfishly.My wife.I wanted to keep her all to myself and pretend like I could have her forever.
Addy was silent for several long seconds, her strength only matched by her stubbornness, and her gaze like a litmus test to my claim. And when she stepped forward and pulled me in for a hug, I didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried that she believed me.
Because either I was miraculously good at lying to the one person who knew me better than anyone…or I wasn’t lying at all.
“I’m not happy about it, but I’m happy for you,” she said softly, and I pulled her tight with one arm, my other hand refusing to let go of Kenzie. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I murmured as she drew back and turned her attention to my wife.
There, her expression relaxed even farther—enough to allow tears to glisten in her eyes. Kenzie stood frozen, afraid to have hurt one of the women she admired most.
“I’m glad it was you,” Addy said to her, and Kenzie’s jaw dropped a little.
“You don’t have to say that,” Kenzie assured her. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t,” Addy warned and took Kenzie by the shoulder. “I said it because I mean it. And I won’t say that this isn’t going to hurt for a little bit, but never apologize for being the person who makes someone else happy, especially when that person is my brother.” Her eyes flicked to me. “He deserves every ounce of happiness, and so do you.”
She hugged Kenzie, and it was only then did I release my wife’s hand so she was free to embrace her old friend and new sister-in-law.
“What’s going on down here?” Miles’s voice boomed down the hall. He strode toward us with his daughter, my niece, Arielle, in his arms, his focus solely on his wife and their unborn baby. Behind him, his twin brother, Mick, and his wife, Jules, followed.
Addy and Eve stepped to the side, both of them looking to me to share the news.
