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And hell, I’d bet Taylor would end up smitten, just like she won over every other person around her.
“So how are you going to get out of the questions?” I asked.
“No idea. Mom told me to bring ‘that girl,’but I can’t put her through that. Bringing people to meet my parents is what I do to people I hate, after all.”
“But if they don’t meet her, they aren’t going to leave you alone, right? Won’t that just make this all more complicated? We don’t want Taylor or anyone else in our business as we get closer to our goal.”
“Yeah, I know, but…” His voice trailed off, but I didn’t need him to explain, did I?
He didn’t want Kenz any more involved with us than she had to be. He didn’t want her to deal with the problems of our lives, with the stresses, and Vance had more than his fair share of them. The tabloids were one thing—they grew bored easily and moved on. His parents were another.
“I’ll go.”
Vance and I both jerked our gazes to the side to find Kenz there, in the darkness, having managed to come up on us without either of us noticing.
Sneaky girl…
“You really don’t want to,” Vance explained.
“Yeah, I’msureI don’t want to, but not everything is about what we want. They’re bothering you because of the interview, because of the news, so they aren’t going to let this go if they don’t meet me, right?”
Vance didn’t respond at first, darting his gaze back and forth as if trying to figure out any other options. Finally, he sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“So it’s fine. It’s not the first time I’ve had to dress up and put on a fake smile and meet people. I grew up doing it for my father all the time. If I can handle gangsters and mob bosses and assassins, I’m sure I can handle a few aristocratic parents. Plus, you did that interview as a way to keep me safe, so I sort of owe you.”
Having met Vance’s parents one time before, I knew she was severely underestimating the couple. I’d rather face a loaded gun than those two…
However, Kenz wasn’t the sort of woman to back down when she felt like she was protecting someone.
“You sure? Once we go, you can’t really get out of it anymore,” Vance said, offering one last chance to back away.
Kenz nodded. “Yep, I’m sure. I can do this for you.”
A sharp pain in my chest said I didn’t care for her smiling at Vance that way, and the petty, jealous part of me wanted to intervene. I wanted to grasp her chin and make her look atmethat way, wanted to separate them, to keep whatever was between them to stop growing.
However, that wasn’t fair, so I dropped my drink and pretended it didn’t bother me.
Just a little longer.
Chapter Six
Vance
The huge house in front of me made my head hurt. Just seeing it, just heading up the driveway set my nerves on edge.
Had this placeeverfelt like home? Despite having grown up in it, having played in these gardens and these hallways until I’d gotten shipped off to boarding school, it never held that nostalgia that others spoke of their childhood homes with.
“How many girls have you brought here before?” Kenz asked from the passenger side of my car. My mother had wanted to send Taylor to pick me up—probably because she didn’t trust that I’d actually make it here—but I’d refused.
Kenz was about to be subjected to enough without having me pile on more.
“Not many,” I admitted. “Maybe five?”
“That’s more than I figured. Meeting the parents is a big step, and you don’t strike me as the sort who would want to do that much.”
“Trust me, they weren’t because I cared about the woman. Usually it was because I fucked around with the wrong girl, with someone who had family in an important enough place to pressure me into a meeting.”
Kenz shook her head, the disappointment clear on her face. “You shouldn’t play with people like that.”
