“You!”
A slow predatory smile spread across his face and he saw Kenzie’s face turn five shades of red.
“Not like that,” she stammered.
“Too bad.” Ryker was dead serious about that. Her face turned so red he began to worry she might faint. “Tell me every which way you want me, angel.”
Kenzie gulped, but didn’t back down. “I want you to be my date for my high school reunion. It requires travel.”
Ryker’s face froze in complete shock. That was definitely not what any woman had asked him before. “You’d trade in seventy-five thousand dollars to get a date to your high school reunion?”
Kenzie nodded and then dropped into the chair behind her. He didn’t like the way her face fell. It made her look vulnerable and he immediately wanted to slay any dragons coming for her, just to have her smile again.
“Tell me what’s going on, Kenzie.” Ryker took a seat and waited for her to explain.
“I’m from a super small town.”
“So am I,” Ryker said gently with a fond smile for Shadows Landing.
“You are?”
“Shadows Landing is just thirty or so minutes from here, but it’s a world away. What happened in your small town that has you so worried about your reunion?” Ryker asked.
“I was the smart science girl who somehow landed the football star. My parents, my boyfriend, and everyone else in town expected us to get married right after high school. There’s a chicken product factory in Hanover and the men all go to work there and the women run the PTA, raise the kids, and serve on various boards and clubs. The rebels work in town running a diner, a small clothing store, and stuff like that. It’s not a bad life, it’s just not my life.” Ryker didn’t say anything as he waited for Kenzie to continue.
“My boyfriend, Bo, proposed in front of everyone after winning the last game of the football season in November of our senior year. Of course I said yes. Then in December the fighting began. I wanted to go to nursing school and over Christmas I was accepted to school here in Charleston. He wanted me to stay home and get married.
“I offered to stay home and get as much of my degree online as possible, but he said I’d be too busy with our future kids to fiddle with my little hobby. My parents sided with Bo. They refused any financial assistance for my education so I spent the next three months applying for every scholarship, grant, and financial aid package I could. When I got the money, which was mostly loans and some small scholarships, I showed my folks all of it. Told them they wouldn’t have to pay anything for me to go. They just needed to support me. They laughed, thinking I wasn’t serious.”
Kenzie frowned as she looked at her hands in her lap and then met his eyes with determination in them. “They figured out I was serious when I left the day after graduation and didn’t come back until Christmas. I told Bo graduation night that I wanted to marry him. He just needed to get a job in Charleston. I told him there were dock jobs he could do that would be similar to the factory job at home, but he immediately broke off the engagement. My parents didn’t speak to me for a year. I came home that Christmas and ended up spending the night with my best friend, Katie-Jane, and then driving back to student housing the next morning to spend Christmas alone.”
“And now you have a reunion and you need a date to impress?” Ryker was getting the picture.
Kenzie bit her lip and cringed. “I need a date, yes. Bo married my arch-nemesis, Hailey-Jean, a couple of months ago. They’re telling everyone I’m too pathetic to come because I’m still madly in love with Bo.”
“Are you?” Ryker asked, not liking the jealousy that roared to life.
“Lord, no,” Kenzie immediately answered with a grimace. “I want a man who supports my career, not one who holds me back. I would have gone back to Hanover as a nurse if he, or anyone for that matter, supported my career.”
“When is this reunion?” Ryker asked, wanting to charge in there and tell them all they were idiots for not seeing how amazing Kenzie was.
“Next weekend.” Kenzie looked so hopeful. “So, will you do it?”
Ryker would rather take a bath in battery acid, but the excited look on Kenzie’s face had him saying, “Anything for you, angel.”
Kenzie leapt up and flung her arms around him. “Thank you!”
“I don’t do anything half-assed, so we need to plan this out. Why don’t you come to my house tomorrow and let me show you my small town as you tell me everything I need to be ready for.” Ryker pulled out a piece of paper from his desk and scrawled an address on it. He didn’t know why he’d suggested this . . . well, yes he did. He wanted Kenzie. He’d thought of nothing but her and now there was a reason to see more of her without having to face those pesky feelings.
“Okay!” Kenzie said excitedly, and he felt better than he ever had closing any deal. “Thank you so much!”
Kenzie bounded from the office and Ryker headed back to his desk. With a couple clicks of a button, he pulled up his security cameras. A moment later Kenzie came on the screen with a huge smile on her face as she stopped on the sidewalk. She pulled out her cell phone and Ryker pressed a button to get sound.
“Hey, Katie-Jane. I just wanted to send in my RSVP for the reunion since I got my invitation late.” Ryker frowned at that. Why did she get a late invitation? “Yes, my boyfriend and I will be there.”
Kenzie’s face suddenly frowned. “What does he do?”
Ryker crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to really give it to her classmate. What does he do? He owns companies worth billions and is one of the richest men in the world.
“Um, he works at the port here in Charleston,” Kenzie said instead.
Huh? Ryker leaned forward even as Mary Alice came to stand behind him to watch.
“Yes. He works at Faulkner Shipping. It’s a very big company here.” Kenzie paused and then giggled. “Very hot.”
Ryker finally grinned and Mary Alice rolled her eyes as Kenzie finished her conversation and got into an old car that graduated from high school long before Kenzie had.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” Mary Alice muttered.
“Were you eavesdropping?” Ryker asked, giving his executive assistant one of her own patented stares.
“Never,” she said, even though Ryker saw her cross herself.
“Call Kale and have him find out the balance of her student loan. Then pay it off out of my personal account,” Ryker told her as they both watched the image of the rusting car drive away.
“Consider it done.” Mary Alice moved toward the door and stopped. “I like this one,” she called out before disappearing down the hall.
Yeah, he liked her, too. And that was the problem. Or was it?
7
It was two in the morning when Ryker left his port office. The investigation was complete and he had been overseeing the repairs to the damage the bomb had done. Ryker had sent a message to Fat Joey Di Maio tonight saying they needed to meet. He was curious to see how that went over, especially if Fat Joey was behind this attack. Normally Ryker let sleeping dogs lie so long as they didn’t piss on his property. He was rethinking his position as he drove.