‘I know that,’ he said, sounding slightly offended.
She felt something tight in her chest loosen. ‘It’s just all been such a whirlwind,’ she said. ‘You were engaged to someone else only a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve only just met again, and now Poppy knows you’re her father … it’s all just moving so fast.’
‘On paper, it sounds completely insane,’ he said, nodding as he examined their intertwined hands. ‘And maybe it’s just me, but how I’ve felt in just a handful of days with you, I know for certain I never felt that in the entire time I was with Sasha. I felt it back then too. I remember feeling something unexplainable from the moment I first set eyes on you, an instant connection. You have no idea how many times over the years I wished we’d met at any other time but that night.’
‘I know what you mean. It wasn’t my finest moment,’ Kenzie muttered.
‘That’s how I know it was something special. Even when we should have been too drunk toeven rememberthat night, I can replay it minute by minute.’
It was as though he’d been reading her mind. Everything he said, she’d always felt too. The regret that they hadn’t met and done things differently, taken their time to get to know each other …
Exchanged names, that little voice added drolly.
‘It’s like we’ve been given a second shot at it. I want to do things differently this time. We don’t have to rush into anything. That is, if you feel the same way.’
She felt exactly the same way. He was right—itwascompletely insane—and yet, itfeltright. ‘I do. I’m just worried about Poppy. She’s had so many things thrown at her lately, it’s a lot to process for a little kid. Then adding in a new relationship.’
‘She’s taken everything in her stride so far. Mind you, discovering she had a dad wasn’t nearly as exciting as discovering she had two cousins,’ he said, sending her an off-centre grin. Kenzie chuckled. ‘She’s so stoked about that. They haven’t stopped playing.’
‘Let’s just take it one day at a time then. We don’t have to make it a big deal, we’ll just do what we’ve been doing and see where it goes?’
That sounded sensible. ‘Okay,’ she said, suddenly feeling shy.
Did they just decide to become boyfriend and girlfriend? She inwardly rolled her eyes at herself.What are you, twelve?
Thirty-two
The next morning when she woke up, Ewan was in bed beside her. She immediately kicked him out.
‘I thought we agreed to give this thing a chance?’
‘I draw the line at Poppy coming in here and seeing us in bed together. That’s just too soon.’
He let out a long, drawn-out breath before throwing back the covers and gathering up his clothes from the floor. ‘Okay. I get it and I agree, but I draw the line at pretending we’re not attracted to each other when it comes to everyone and everything else. We have limited time together and I’m not going to waste it hiding how we feel just because of everyone else around us.’
‘Fair enough. Just keep it G-rated around Poppy.’
‘I wasn’t planning on bending you over the kitchen table during lunch,’ he said.
‘Good to know you can practise such restraint, Mr Campbell,’ she murmured.
‘Sneaking down to the kitchen in the middle of the night, however, is a whole different story,’ he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Later, as Kenzie was getting dressed, her phone rang. ‘Michelle, hi. How are you?’ She’d been planning on calling her to check in about the launch set for the next day and make sure everything was on track.
‘Oh, not too bad,’ Michelle said cheerfully … a littletoocheerfully. Kenzie immediately went on guard and stopped pulling on her shoes.
‘What’s going on?’
‘I didn’t want to worry you while you’re away, but Tara’s out at the McAllister’s, and I can’t reach her because there’s no reception out there.’
‘That’s okay. What’s the issue?’
She heard Michelle draw in a long breath and immediately prepared herself … this was going to be something big. ‘The venue just called to say they’ve had a small fire overnight, which set off the sprinkler system. Everything’s drenched. There’s no way we’ll be able to use it for the EnoVision launch tomorrow morning.’
Shit, shit, shititty, shit.This was a major client they’d been hoping to get repeat business from, with this launch being the showcase event.Don’t panic … focus.Kenzie closed hereyes and took a calming breath. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s think through our options. We need to find an alternative venue as close as possible to the original. Try The Harriot, Garden Keys and The Palms Resort first. I’ll get my contact list and go through it for anything else I can find, but you make a start. Explain what happened and see if there’s any spaces available that will fit the criteria.’
‘Okay. Do I contact the client?’
