That was why when he could get her riled up—actually annoyed or frustrated or hot—it felt like a victory. He could get under her skin. That had to mean something.
Bennett didn’t see her right away as he approached the fireplace. Clearly, everyone was far more mellow now though. The later hour and the empty bottles of vodka probably had something to do with that.
“How’s everything?” he asked his uncle.
“Good,” Teddy answered with a smile. “Really good.”
“Yeah?” He glanced around. His cousins were slumped in the chairs, feet up, a couple still with plastic cups in hand but sipping slowly now. Charles was in the chair to Teddy’s right, his head tipped back, softly snoring.
“Charles had fun?” Bennett asked.
“Charles did. He kept right up with Kennedy. But he’s a little drunk.” Teddy gave a soft chuckle.
Bennett sighed. “Kennedy got the governor of Louisiana drunk?”
“She did,” Teddy confirmed.
Bennett shook his head. “Did she know who he was?”
“Not until after Flip Cup and several drinks. He finally confessed.”
“What was her reaction?”
“She was pissed that he might be sending you to jail.” Teddy grinned up at him.
Bennett’s eyebrows rose. “You told her about that?”
“Yep.”
“All about it?” he asked. Had Teddy filled her in on all the reasons he might be doing jail time and how that had all started?
“Yep. Everything.”
“Why?”
“She needed to know.”
“Did she?” Bennett asked.
“It’s who you are. If she’s going to fall in love with you, she needs to know who you are.”
Bennett felt like Teddy had just reached into his chest and squeezed his lungs. In love with him? He wanted Kennedy. He’d been thinking of long-term, hoping this weekend would turn into something more. But he hadn’t really put the L word to it. And hearing it out loud from someone else made it very real and very…huge.
“She’s over there.” Teddy pointed to the chaise lounge chair that looked like it was covered in pillows and a blanket.
But the pillows were actually Kennedy.
Kennedy was lying curled up on the seat, covered in a light blanket. She had her hands up under her cheek and her feet were tucked underneath her and the blanket, her shoes lying on the stones below the chair.
His heart kicked against his ribs. He cleared his throat. “You wore her out?”
“Surprised?” Teddy asked.
“Shocked.” Bennett leaned over and lifted her a little, sliding in behind her, letting her rest on him instead of the chair. She mumbled something but settled in against him without opening her eyes. He rested his hands on the curve of her hip and let the warmth of her body soak in.
“She’s a partier, huh?” Teddy asked with a grin. He lifted a coffee cup now instead of a plastic cup or bottle.
“Her whole family knows how to have a good time,” Bennett said with a nod. “She can outlast every one of them from what I’ve seen.”
“Well, she definitely kept up when we were playing. She kicked the boys’ asses,” Teddy said, glancing at his sons.
Bennett chuckled. His sons were hardly big partiers now. Maybe at one time they would have been able to hang with the Landrys, but one was a college professor now and one was a novelist. They both had wives and kids and had probably never been to a crawfish boil. Which was too bad.
“So the game didn’t last all that long really,” Teddy said. “Then the guys were grumbling that they were hungry since they hadn’t been too excited about the chicken. Kennedy headed into the kitchen and made us all po’ boys.”
Bennett was definitely surprised by that. “No kidding.”
“Yep. Made herself at home in the kitchen and had us all fed in no time.”
“How were they?” Bennett already knew that answer. Amazing.
“The boys swore they’d died and gone to heaven. Even Tawny ate two.”
“That’s…Kennedy,” Bennett finally said.
Teddy nodded. “She’s wonderful.” He frowned slightly though.
“What?” Bennett asked. “Something wrong?”
Teddy shook his head. “Nah. She’s sweet and friendly. Has a million stories. Loves to laugh and make others laugh.”
That was all true. Bennett felt a warmth in his chest that could have almost been pride. He loved having everyone here know that she was with him. He put his lips against her hair and gave her a kiss that he knew she wouldn’t feel but that he couldn’t resist.
“But…” Teddy said.
Bennett looked up at his uncle. “But what?”
“Sounds like she’s pretty wrapped up in the family business and what all’s going on with all of them.” He paused. “And you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were telling me about the tour business and all of the Landrys.”
Bennett nodded. Teddy had always been a big supporter of his and he kept his uncle informed on what he was up to. Lately, that had involved a lot of the Landrys.
“Sounds to me like those girls are all on an adventure. Coming to the bayou. Making a new life. Figuring their stuff out. Growing and expanding their horizons.”
“Okay,” Bennett said slowly.
“And now you’re planning the same thing. Uprooting things and going down there to pursue your passion. Doing something new and exciting.”
“Right.”
“And Kennedy’s just doin’ the same old stuff,” Teddy said. “Just seems…unfair, you know. She’s there for all of you to have fun and try new things. But she’s not getting to do that.”
“She likes the…usual stuff,” Bennett said. She shifted in his arms, and Bennett realized his hold on her had tightened. He took a breath and relaxed his arms. “She’s just already found her place,” he said. “She knows who she is, what she wants, where she wants to be.”
“And that’s why you’re drawn to her,” Teddy said. “You want all of that. You want a place to settle, where people do what you expect them to do, where you can count on them.”
Bennett was nodding even before his uncle stopped talking. “Yes. Definitely. Where people say what they mean and where you know they’ll stand by the right thing even if it’s hard.”
Teddy nodded.
“Is that bad?” Bennett and his uncle had always been close. In spite of his mother’s eye-rolling over this side of her family, she loved her brother and when she could relax and not worry about good or bad impressions made on her husband’s colleagues and supporters, she’d been known to kick her shoes off and lounge by a fire, too.
Bennett, on the other hand, had enjoyed this side of the family’s more relaxed approach to life. They laughed more, had more fun, seemed to worry less.
But the biggest thing was that when Bennett had disagreed with his father’s politics, had broken ties with the law firm his father had founded with his best friend, and had started supporting his father’s political opponents, Teddy had stood beside Bennett. Teddy loved his sister and he and Preston Baxter had always gotten along, but Teddy had immediately called Bennett with his support after his falling out with Preston. Furthermore, Teddy had been the first major donor to Bennett’s foundation. Over the past couple of years, Teddy had continued his financial backing as well as his emotional support of his only nephew.
“It’s not bad at all,” Teddy said. “I know that you really want all of that. Just don’t make Kennedy be something for you that she doesn’t really want to be.”
Bennett felt a stab of awareness in his chest. Was he doing that? Did he just want the Landrys and their lifestyle, to be a part of the family? Was he making Kennedy into something in his mind that she wasn’t really so he had a way into the Landry family?
But no. He never knew what she was going to say or do exactly—in a fun way—but he knew she’d speak her mind and she’d be the
re for the people she cared about no matter what. That’s what he wanted. Honesty, someone who knew who they were and what they believed, someone who believed the same things he did, and someone who would do what they promised they’d do every single time.
That shouldn’t be a lot to ask, but in the world he’d grown up in, full of politicians and powerful men wanting to be even more powerful, it seemed those things were hard to come by.
“She’s someone I know I can count on,” he said, as Kennedy stirred a little in his arms.
“That’s wonderful,” his uncle said. “Just be someone she can count on, too. If you’re serious about her, she can’t just be the soft place where you land. She should have a chance to do some of the flying and landing, too.”
Kennedy’s hand flexed where it was resting on his chest, gripping his shirt gently. He looked down at her. Her eyes were still closed. She was so damned beautiful. He wanted her. Period.
At least, he was ninety-nine percent sure he did. He wanted this woman that he thought she was anyway. But was he missing something? Was he only looking at their relationship and what he needed?
Probably.
Because it really didn’t seem that Kennedy Landry needed anything.
“Maybe we’ll just—” Her hand started moving over his chest, making him forget what he was going to say. Was she still asleep?
“I think you can figure it out,” Teddy said. “I’m not saying that you can’t. Just wanted to make you aware that I think Miss Kennedy is kind of used to being in the background and maybe she needs a chance to be up front, too, you know?”
Kennedy’s hand ran a little lower to his abs, moving back and forth across his shirt, and she turned her face, putting her mouth against his chest. He could feel the heat of her breath through the expensive fabric.
“She seems…loud and sassy and has this unique style,” Bennett said. His stomach tensed as her hand moved even lower, her fingers skimming the waistband of his pants. He put a hand over hers to stop it. “But yeah, if I think about it, she does do a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff—taking care of the business, helping her grandma, that kind of thing.”
He hadn’t realized that before. Or at least he hadn’t really thought about it before. Did that make him an asshole?
Teddy chuckled as Kennedy seemed to move closer, wiggling against him and nuzzling his chest. “Maybe we can talk about this more later. After you think about it. I think you need to get that girl upstairs.”
Yeah, he was going to end up embarrassing himself if he didn’t. Her hand wasn’t that far from a part of his body that was going to need reminding that she was drunk and half—or more—asleep and didn’t really know what she was doing.
“I appreciate you caring about this,” Bennett told his uncle.
Teddy looked at Kennedy and smiled. “Caring isn’t hard. I can see why you fell hard and fast. She’s something.”
Bennett nodded. He hadn’t always been the best judge of character in the people around him, but dammit, he’d gotten this right. Kennedy was special.
He shifted her in his arms, standing from the chair, and then lifting her. “We’ll see you tomorrow,” he said. “Are you golfing in the morning with us?”
His father loved to golf, so there was a big group going out first thing to his favorite course.
Teddy sighed. “I guess so. I hate hanging out with most of those guys, but if you and Steve are there, it will be tolerable.”
Bennett smiled. “You just want to golf with us because you can beat us.”
“I can beat nine out of ten of those fuckers,” Teddy said.
He was right.
“’Night, Teddy.”
“’Night, Bennett.”
Bennett carried Kennedy across the patio to the back doors that would lead into the kitchen. He shifted her slightly to manage the door but she kept her head on his shoulder, barely stirring. Well, he wasn’t going to get the chocolate sauce blow job or the multi-nozzle shower with her tonight, but that was his own damned fault. He again cursed his inability to walk away from someone saying “tell me more about that” when it came to the environmental issues he’d decided to dedicate his career to.
He was a scientist at heart. He’d gone to law school because that had seemed like the thing to do, and he knew he could use that knowledge to help further the issues that really mattered to him. He’d imagined that with his connections through his father and school, as well as his comfort in talking to people about donations to causes, he could better use his position and experience to work for the environment from an office with a foundation. He hadn’t found one that did exactly what he wanted them to be doing, so he’d started his own. But he had to admit, the idea of being out in the dirt, water, and air was always there, tempting him. It made his trips to the bayou even more fun. He really had the best of both worlds at this point. His foundation was doing great things and he’d garnered a lot of support.
In Georgia.
The thought that had been nagging him since he’d first set foot on the Boys of the Bayou dock niggled just then. Could he replicate that support in Louisiana? Where the last name Baxter didn’t mean anything? He knew, whether he liked it or not, he had Governor Ray’s ear, initially, because of Preston. Bennett was confident that he’d convinced the governor that he knew what he was talking about and that his foundation was worthy of the government’s attention, but initially, the man had sat down with him because of Bennett’s last name.
He nudged his bedroom door open, then shut it softly behind him. He glanced toward the door that led to Kennedy’s room. He should maybe take her in there and put her to bed.
But he didn’t want to. He wanted her in here with him. All night. Whether they had sex or not.
Just being with her, holding her, was making him feel less conflicted. His dad’s circle of friends and colleagues always made Bennett feel tight. Like he had to be on guard and watch what he said and how he said it. With Kennedy it wasn’t like that. He could be himself. He could say what he thought and act on his feelings.
He laid her down on the bed and stepped back, stripping off his shirt and shucking out of his pants, kicking his shiny shoes off to the side. He grinned looking at the shoes. She didn’t like them shiny? Bullshit. She didn’t want to like the things that reminded her that he was something new for her. But she did like him and all of those things about him. It shouldn’t surprise her that she was going for something different, something unique. Everything about her was unique.
He pulled the comforter and sheet back and then slid her over and started to cover her again.
She stretched and her eyes fluttered.
“Hey,” he said, bracing a hand on the mattress beside her.
Her smile was soft and quick. “Hi.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy.” She reached for him though.
He let her pull him down for a kiss. He meant to keep it short and sweet but, well, that was probably never going to be the way he kissed Kennedy. She ran her hand up the back of his head and into his hair, opening her mouth for him with a little sigh.
He kissed her deeply, wishing like hell they could have just come straight up here after dinner. He could still feel the hot silk of her pussy around his finger, and he wanted nothing more than to make her call out his name again the way she had in the bedroom earlier.
He’d loved everything about touching and tasting her so far, but he needed to hold back here or he was going to be hurting all night. He was not having sex with her when she was drunk.
Bennett pulled back and looked down at her, loving the pink in her cheeks and the way she smiled up at him.
“Come here.” She started to slide over and realized she still had her dress on. She sat up and reached for the zipper.
She was out of the dress a moment later, tossing it to the floor, sitting there in only her bra and panties as if that was the most natural thing. She held the sheet up and slid over.
B
ennett climbed in, knowing that he was playing with fire. He wouldn’t have sex with her tonight, like this, but being pressed up against her nearly naked body all night was going to be torture. And he was weak. Very, very weak.
Once he was under the sheet, Kennedy turned toward him, kissing him again and pressing the body he wanted more than anything against him.
He let himself enjoy it for about thirty seconds—probably twenty seconds longer than he should have—before grabbing the gorgeous hips that were wiggling against him and pushing her back, giving his cock some much needed space.
“Okay, girl, that’s enough for now,” he told her.
She frowned. “What?”
He tried to turn her. At least if he got her back to his front it might be slightly less tempting.
But who was he kidding? Her back to his front would be a very nice position to thrust deep and take her hard. His cock was all for that one.
It didn’t matter. Kennedy wasn’t letting him move her.
“I want to have sex,” she said, trying to kiss him again.
“No.” He said it firmly, wrestling with every excuse tripping through his head. He squeezed her hips. “Not tonight.”
“But…” She frowned again. “By the tree you said—”
“That was before you nearly drank my cousins under the table.”
“Oh, I’m fine.” She lifted her hand to wave that away and nearly whacked him in the nose.
He caught her hand, but that meant letting go of one hip, which she immediately pressed against him.
“Ken,” he said, firmly, but unable to keep the gruffness from his tone. “I’m not fucking you tonight. Not when you’re drunk.”
“I’m not…” She wrinkled her nose, thinking. “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
“What are you doing?”
“Proving I’m not that drunk. I remember all those words and didn’t even slur.”
She was right. Dammit. Bennett sighed. “Ken—”
“I really want to. Please.”
Normally Kennedy Landry begging him for something, especially an orgasm that he was all too eager to give her, would have been exactly where he wanted to be. He would have drawn it out, of course. Teased her a little. Made her say please a few more times. But he couldn’t play with her tonight. He wanted her too much and she was definitely going to be able to wear him down. He couldn’t let her know that.
Crazy Rich Cajuns Page 15
