AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t thank me.” I shook my head. “I was the one who told him. Not that it wasn’t going to come out, but it probably made it worse that it came from me—”
“No,” she said, a thread of resignation in her tone. “It didn’t matter who it came from, he would’ve responded the same.” Her gaze drifted blankly to the window, worry fogging her features.
“I won’t let him do anything to hurt you—to keep you from Jake,” I said and reached for her hand. “I promise.”
I shouldn’t make that kind of promise, but I had to. I had to just as surely as I had to breathe. I’d do whatever it took to protect Kenzie, and it had nothing to do with my pathological need to help people and everything to do with my selfish desire to be a part of her life for as long as I could.
* * *
We stoppedfor Chinese food on the way back, our sparse conversation drifting through various superficial topics. The whole time, all I wanted was to pull her to me—to hold her like I could erase everything that was said earlier this afternoon.
God, I wished I could.
Stan’s words looked like they’d cracked her open. Split her right down her most vulnerable seams and exposed her to me—the one man she’d trusted to help her.
I never took the honor lightly, but after meeting her ex, holy hell, did I appreciate what it must’ve taken for her to ask me for help. To willingly tie her future to someone else’s control.
But she had. For me.
And before I knew what I was doing, my blinker was on, and I made an early turn off of Coastal Highway onto an unmarked road.
“I want to show you something,” I said.
“Down a road with no road sign?” she asked, sliding a glance in my direction.
I chuckled. “There is a road sign back there… it’s just buried in the brush. A truck hit it a few years back and knocked it over. I guess the township has more important things to spend their money on than fixing it.”
I didn’t say it, but it was better that the road was unmarked. Then it went mostly missed by everyone who drove by it, so I didn’t have to deal with trespassers.
“Where are we going?” she asked another minute later as the road turned from pavement to dirt and gravel.
“Almost there.” For a moment, I second-guessed myself for bringing her here.
There was nothing here—nothing but a possibility. And it was one I wanted to share with her.
I put the car in park when we reached the end of the gravel drive on top of the hill, trees encasing the clearing like spruce statues. The daylight was almost completely gone, so most of the property she couldn’t see, but behind us…
I got out of the car and walked to the back, stopped short by the sight of the ocean stretched like onyx silk in front of us, trapping on its surface both the last flickers of the sunset and the first glitters of stars.
“Wow.” Kenzie came to stand beside me, her eyes greedily consuming the lavenders, royal blues, and deep navy of the sunset’s dying breath.Higher, stars twinkled in the clear night sky.“Zeke, this is…” She stopped and looked at me. “What is this place?”
I swallowed, feeling my chest tighten, and then confessed, “Mine.”
Her gaze widened. “What?”
“The property is mine,” I said, a distinct husk to my voice. Aside from the man I’d bought it from, Kenzie was the first and only other person to know about it. “I bought it a few years ago when Addy and Ace finally got together.”
Seeing my sister reclaim another piece of her life had given me hope for myself. But it was a hope that hadn’t lasted when the waves of my work and responsibility pulled me back into their clutches.
“The view is incredible. The sunset from here…” She stared at the glimmering ocean, her eyes shining with a similarly wet surface. “Breathtaking.”
I hummed low. As beautiful as it might be, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. Kenzie was the most breathtaking thing about this moment.
She glanced over and caught me staring. I cleared my throat and replied, “You should see it in the daylight; it’s like you’re in a whole different world.”
The sea appeared an impossibly bright blue. The green trees and foliage wrapped around the clearing, and even though we were just minutes from the highway and the beach, being up here felt like you were the only person on the coast.
“Well, if it’s even half as good as this, I’m sure it feels like heaven,” she murmured. “Are you going to build your house here?”
