AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Then I fingered the collar, realizing it was the first time I’d thought of it as something other than a lovely choker. “I can handle my father. You need to trust me.”
“Perhaps that’s the trouble. I not only trust you, I already know you far too well.” He moved in front of me, adjusting the placement of the collar then grinning. “You look stunning. Edible.”
“Don’t get any crazy ideas.”
“And don’t do anything that will get you into trouble.”
“You know I will.”
“As I said, I know you,” Kendrick stated with a gruff voice.
I tipped my hip, giving him a sly smile. “You don’t know anything. Yet.” As I walked through the now gorgeous lobby, my heels clipping on the marble floor, I thought about what I’d told him the night before. I was fighting for control for no other reason than I’d been bypassed like yesterday’s news. I would be perfectly happy living a normal life, not the epitome of Camelot. Besides, that hadn’t ended well for the couple who’d first represented it.
The silly truth was that I would prefer the house with the white picket fence and tiny yard to a mansion with servants. Somehow, I doubted Kendrick would ever go for it.
At least the receptionist was the same person hired by my father when I was a little girl. As soon as she saw me, she squealed. She knew exactly the kind of girl I was. My hopes. My aspirations. My dreams. Patty had been my sounding board, a very special person, and other than my sister, the only person I’d missed after moving to Atlanta.
“I heard you were in town,” Patty said with glee in her voice.
“Word travels fast.”
“I knew you wouldn’t miss your brother’s wedding. You two have sparred over the years but it’s an important event in his life.”
I hugged her, realizing there was a pang of melancholy. Where Jose had been like a second father, Patty had been old enough to be a second mother; she’d listened to my woes about school and boys, my mother never finding the time. “Why weren’t you at the engagement party?”
“It wasn’t considered appropriate. You know your father.”
“That’s bullshit!”
She winked then noticed Kendrick, a bright smile crossing her face. “This must be the man who finally captured your heart. I knew all along Christian wasn’t the one; you never brought him around to meet me, but I knew.”
“And I knew what you’d say if you met him,” I told her.
She offered a smile. She was easily able to handle my father and his mood swings given her good nature, but she was feisty as well. “It’s a good thing you divorced him.”
“Kendrick Gregory, Patty Wilson. Be careful, Kendrick. She’s a soothsayer. Once she touches your hand, she’ll know if you’re fit to be in my life.”
He lifted both his eyebrows, almost hesitant to extend his hand. The moment was actually endearing. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Oh, dear. I’m not a soothsayer, just a wise old woman that knows exactly what you need.” She grabbed his hand with gusto and oddly enough, her eyes opened wide before she walked closer. Her eyes never left his, searching for the man behind the mask he almost always wore. The expression on her face, the deep emotion had me locked in the moment. Her opinion had always meant the world to me. Perhaps now more than ever.
When she pulled away, there was a faint look in her eyes, an emotion I couldn’t read.
“What is it?” he asked, laughing.
“You’re a troubled man. Aren’t you?” she asked.
He glanced at me then said something else that surprised me. “I’ve always been.”
Patty nodded. “Yet you found your center. Suzannah. She completes you.”
If Kendrick was ever surprised, I hadn’t really noticed. At this moment, he was thrown into a state of mind where he wasn’t certain what to say. So instead of playing the game, talking about deals or how we enjoyed working together, he simply gave a one word answer.
“Yes.”
She looked away and nodded several times. I moved closer, touching her arm. “What is it?”
“It’s odd. I’ve never seen a man more in love with a woman.”
