Samantha grabbed her arms. “Kenzi?” She searched Kenzi’s face with all the attention of a mother. “Oh my goodness, does he know you’re coming?”
Kenzi shook her head, wondering how this woman knew she and Nash had been apart.
“What are you waiting for? He’s been pining after you, girl—pining, I say.”
“But you should go first. You’re his mom.”
“Are you mad? You’re all he’s talked about the few times we’ve spoken on the phone. He’s so in love with you, and he’s been tearing himself apart without you around.” She plopped her purse in her lap and folded her hands over the clasp. “I’m not moving until you take your pretty little self inside that building and find my son.”
Kenzi glanced at the driver.
He shrugged. “She can sit here all she wants; I’m on the clock.”
Kenzi pinched her cheeks to make sure this was happening. She took three quick breaths in and then was light-headed.
“Go!” Samantha pushed her.
“I’m going. I’m going. I’m going.” She kept repeating the phrase as she walked through the doors.
Ben jumped when he saw her. “Where have you been?”
The world tilted as she caught Nash’s name on her office door. The crazy thing was that she didn’t care about that anymore. She’d had plenty of time to mull over Lunette’s words, and as much as she hated to admit that her sister was right, she was. He was the best person for the job … for now. She wasn’t going to give up on being a part of the company her family built. “It doesn’t matter. I’m back now.” She pointed to the open door. “Is he in?”
A slow smile spread across Ben’s face. “Oooooh.”
She laughed at his teasing. “Shut it.”
“He’s been waiting his whole life for you to walk through that door.”
“I’ve been gone a month.”
“I know.” Ben winked and headed back to his desk. With a happy sigh, he said, “I love where I work.”
Kenzi rolled her eyes and put one foot in front of the other. At the door, she paused to take in the sight of Nash. If she thought she was ready to see him again, she wasn’t. If she thought she could see him and be unaffected, she couldn’t. If she thought she could live her life without Nash in it, she was wrong. So, so wrong. Her arms ached to wrap around his solid frame, and her cheek begged to lie on his chest, and her lips? Her lips were tugging her into the room to be closer to him.
He was turned to the side, staring at the computer screen. His right arm rested on the desk, a pen poised over a piece of crisp white paper. He muttered as he jotted down information and clicked through screens.
He was delicious.
His dark hair was longer and he had a five-o’clock shadow that hinted at that bad-boy, alpha male side of him that created warm puddles of desire in her belly. He was just as fit, if not more. Ice cream and swimming would do that to a man. They wouldn’t do that to a woman, but a guy could get away with it. There were feathery lines around his eyes and faint circles under his eyes. His skin was tan but dull. He needed a weekend on the farm, where the sun and the fresh air and Gladys’s cooking could bring him back to glowing health.
She could stand there and stare at him all day long. And she probably would have if he hadn’t glanced up and seen her.
His pen dropped. His jaw dropped.
Kenzi’s heart pounded, and she knew without a doubt that Nash was worth whatever price she had to pay. She loved him with her whole heart, her whole soul, and her whole body. There was life before Nash and there would be life with Nash, and the time before him would fade in her memory as she built a family with this man.
If he would have her.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” he replied, his voice deep. The one syllable reverberated through her body and created a hum that stayed with her and gave her the courage to do what she needed to do.
