Her family. And Ben was here.
“By the way, I hope you don’t mind but I didn’t get a hotel,” he whispered, his arm still around her waist. “You look fucking gorgeous, and now that the two of you are in a room together, I can’t believe I thought you were the same person.”
No one could tell when they wanted to play the other. Not even her parents, but she would give this to him.
Because he was here. “You can stay with me. We can get your things after the wedding, but you should know I might have to work some this evening.”
A brow rose over those intelligent eyes of his as he stared down at her. “I suspect you’ve discovered Manny put out a hit on your dad. I have some thoughts. And, baby, my things are already in your room. I broke in. I thought you would think it’s sexy that I can get through any security system you want to put between us. You should understand that everything changes tonight. I won’t let anything come between us.” He kissed her forehead. “And your dog is sweet. I’m going to go check on Dare. See you soon, baby. Kenzie. I like calling you Kenzie. I’m going to like whispering your name when I order you on your knees. When I tell you to serve your Master.”
A shiver went through her. It was everything she wanted.
She watched as he walked away.
Her epic love story was totally back on.
Chapter Six
Ben watched Kenzie with the group of bridesmaids. They were hovering around Tasha, making toasts and dancing in a circle. The whole ceremony had been filled with love and family, and he was so fucking confused.
There had been a piece of him that thought her light, that part of her that was warm and loving and offered such comfort, was nothing but a performance. As if Kara had two personas and she shifted between them, deciding which would work best.
Now he knew the truth, but wrapping his head around the idea that she could truly be that sweet and bubbly was hard.
“You okay?” a familiar voice asked.
Dare. His friend looked like a million bucks in his tux. It fit him perfectly, and he looked like he belonged in this ridiculously luxurious hotel. There had been a lot of talk about what would happen if an armed militia group tried to take over, but it was done in a jokey way that Ben couldn’t tell if they were serious or simply sarcastic.
He didn’t understand her family at all.
Still, he gave Dare his smoothest smile. “I’m great. Thank you for letting me come at the last minute.”
Dare put a hand on his shoulder. “The more the merrier. How arethings going with Kenz? That’s what I meant. We haven’t had a lot of chance to talk since the last time you were in Dallas.”
“The wedding took up a lot of your time,” Ben murmured, his eyes still on her.
He felt different than he thought he would. He thought he could treat this like any other mission. He was gathering intelligence. He had to since his own boss hadn’t bothered to tell him important details.
But then she’d jumped into his arms. Like his presence had lit up her world. In that moment when he’d wrapped his arms around her, because she would have fallen if he didn’t, and wouldn’t that give up his game?
Damn it. He had to try to be honest with himself. He’d felt better and bigger and more important than he had in forever the minute she’d jumped toward him. As if it never occurred to her that he might not catch her.
Of course it was her openness that had drawn him in, but no one seemed surprised.
“Buddy, I’m trying to ask you how you’re handling the whole Kenzie thing,” Dare said with a smile.
Like they were friends. Of course he was likely in on it. Whatever “it” was. Sometimes he worried he was paranoid, then he remembered his own history. The thing that annoyed him was he thought he was over this. Over the need to form bonds. He’d told himself he gave up those notions when his own parents—crappy as they had been—rejected him. Or maybe it was when he’d brought Deanna into his world and her life had ended.
“When did you find out?” They had talked that day at Top, but they’d been pretty careful about certain subjects.
Dare flushed slightly but didn’t hesitate and didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. “I found out when we were at The Station.”
So he’d known early on. The Station was a club in Sydney. The one he’d been taken to after Tasha drugged him. In her defense, he’d been trying to take her in for questioning. He’d figured out she wasn’t exactly what she said she was and had made the decision to extract her to find out more information, but she’d been smarter than him.
He was pretty sure everyone was smarter than him.
The news hit him hard, but he simply nodded.
“Ian brought me in because he thought offering me his mostclosely held secret would prove how serious the whole family was about supporting Tasha’s love for me. I mean he put it in terms I could understand at the time,” Dare explained.
