I take her hands in mine. “I wanted to pack as much into today as I could so we’re only here until lunchtime, but we have an official VIP guide who will get us right to the top of the express line so we should still get to go on tons of rides.” Having money and contacts definitely comes in handy sometimes.
She’s practically bouncing in her seat now. I laugh as relief washes over me. Helping her out of the car, I enjoy the opportunity to put my hands on her. I introduce myself to the guide, and he escorts us down to the park. Lana points out several things on the long walk, and I don’t miss how her eyes go out on stalks when she spots Bubba Gump. She was with us one time when we visited their restaurant in New York, and I know how much she loved it. That’s why I’ve reserved a table for lunch there.
But that look in her eyes is nothing compared to the look of wonder on her face when we reach The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Her eyes are glassy and awestruck as we stroll through Diagon Alley, and I pull her into my side, hugging the shit out of her. We go on the Gringotts ride and take the Hogwarts Express to Universal’s Islands of Adventure where we almost make ourselves sick as we rush to go on every ride. Lana’s as much of a thrill seeker as I am, and she doesn’t back down from any challenge, even if she screams her lungs out on a few of the scarier rides.
Our last stop is the Jurassic Park ride, and we disembark soaking wet and laughing our asses off.
After we’ve dried off, I escort her to Bubba Gump for lunch. As requested, the restaurant has booked us a table in a private corner, and they have decorated the table with balloons which is a nice extra touch. The smile hasn’t left Lana’s face all morning, and that makes me unbelievably happy. She leans into me after the waitress leaves with our orders. “I can’t believe you organized all this, Kal. I’m having the best time ever.”
“You deserve it, babe. And we’ve still got lots more to do.”
She takes my hand in hers, grinning. “I know what you’re doing.”
I pop a piece of bread in my mouth, not giving anything away.
“You remembered.” She squeezes my hand.
“I told you I remember everything about you, Lana. Every memory is permanently stored here.” I touch my chest in the place where my heart beats for her.
She pecks my lips, and I seize the opportunity, hauling her against me and kissing her deeply and slowly. The clearing of a throat has us breaking apart. The waitress sets our appetizers down with a knowing smirk.
Lana’s cheeks are bright red, and I bust out laughing. “Your face is hilarious!”
She swats my arm, lifting up her fork and waving it in my face. “That’s your fault.”
“If you think I’m ever apologizing for kissing the shit out of you, you can think again.”
“It’s impossible to stay mad at you.”
I kiss her cheek. “I’m glad you’ve finally admitted I’m irresistible.”
Her fork clangs on the table. “I said no such thing!”
“Aw, come on, baby.” I graze my nose up the column of her neck and she shivers. “Admit it. You know it’s the truth.”
She cups my face lovingly. “I can’t deny something that’s fundamentally true. You’ve always been irresistible, Kal.” She kisses me sweetly. Just once. “Why the hell do you think I’ve been in love with you my entire life?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lana
Kal demolishes his lunch and the remainder of mine after I push my half-eaten plate away. “I don’t understand how you look like you do when you eat like such a pig,” I remark.
“Genetics,” he jokes.
I sigh. “Can’t deny that. The Kennedy gene pool is something else.” My son is a part of that now.
The waitress clears the table and takes our coffee orders.
“You ready for the next part of our date?” He stretches back in the seat, snaking his arm around my shoulders. I love how touchy-feely he is with me. It’ll never grow old.
“Yep. Are we going alligator watching or to the Kennedy Space Station?”
“You’ve figured it out, huh?”
I nudge him in the ribs. “What kind of a dummy do you take me for? When we arrived here, I knew straightaway.”
That last summer in Nantucket, Kal and I had talked about our plans for the future. It’s where I first mentioned I wanted to go to college in Florida to be near my grandparents. Kal said he would come too, and we planned tons of cool things we were going to do. We each had a top five list of places to visit, and I know he’s trying to make that dream come true. Even if we were only kids on the cusp of our teenage years, he still understood how important it was to me.
“Is the reality stacking up?”
“Today it is.” I squeeze his knee as I smile up at him.
“But not the rest?” He sits up straighter in his chair, just as the waitress arrives with our coffees and the check. He hands her a snazzy black credit card, and her eyes almost bug out of her head.
“When we were kids, everything seemed so black and white,” I start to explain. “But reality is so many different shades of complexity.”
“Tell me about it.” He dumps four sugars into his coffee.
“That’s disgusting, and really unhealthy.”
“Sorry, Mom.” He winks, licking the froth off the top of his cup as I shake my head.
“I understand now why Mom had severed all contact with her parents. They’re not very warm people, and they haven’t treated her right.”
“In what way?”
I take a small sip of my coffee before speaking. “Mom got pregnant with me when she was eighteen, a few months shy of getting her high school diploma.” That had been a shock. Mom has always seemed so prim and proper and very strict when it came to dating and boys. Although, thinking about it now, it kind of makes sense.
Kal is waiting for me to continue. “My grandmother is deeply religious, so you can imagine how that went down. Even worse was the fact that my father was the butler’s son and older by four years. They were disgusted. Abortion was out of the question, even though I know my mom would never have considered that, and they were opposed to her marrying my dad, even though he assured them he loved her and would stand by her. They doubted his ability to provide for her. Marriage to the help’s son was not what they had in mind when they’d enrolled her in an exclusive private school.”
“Your grandparents have money?” Surprise is evident in his tone.
“My grandparents are wealthy. Not in the same league as your family, but they built a very successful retail business from the ground up. They sold it ten years ago and made a fortune—apparently—not that Mom benefitted.”
“What happened after they found out she was pregnant?”
An anxious fluttering feeling takes up residence in my chest. I wish I hadn’t opened this particular line of conversation now. It’s far too close to the bone, and my nerves are stretched thin. “They told her they’d support her if she had the baby and gave it up for adoption. That was the only option they were comfortable with.”
“Obvs, your mom told them to stick it.”
My lips curve up involuntarily. “Nicely put,” I tease. “Yes, she told them she was marrying my dad and keeping the baby, so they threw her out and cut her off.”
“Harsh.”
“I don’t know how anyone can do that to their own flesh and blood. Even now, grandmother only let us move in upon certain conditions.” I shake my head sadly. “She acts as though she’s come from old money, and she’s obsessed with how the outside world perceives her and her family. She seems to have forgotten that she was dragged up, pitifully poor, and fought her way out of it. It’s as if she’s erased her past.”
“And you only found all this out after you moved in with them?” he asks. I nod, unwilling to elaborate on how exactly that came to be.
Ram
pant guilt runs riot inside me.
I’m telling him tomorrow.
I’ve been dead set on it all week.
I’m not chickening out this time.
Kal is going to know in the morning that he has a son.
It takes about thirty minutes to get to the airboat rides place. We wait in line behind a young couple with two small children. A boy and a girl. Twins, if I had to guess. They look to be about five. “I’m very sorry, ma’am, but we’re fully booked,” the man behind the counter says. “You’ll have to wait until the next run in an hour. Though, the forecast isn’t good, and I can’t guarantee it’ll run to schedule.” The woman’s smile disappears as the little boy starts to cry. They move away from the counter, and Kal steps up.
We head outside where a private airboat waits for us. “How many can this boat accommodate,” I ask the driver.
“Up to six, ma’am.”
Kal’s smile is knowing as I pose my question. “Would it be okay if that family came with us?”
Hauling me into his arms, he kisses the top of my head. “Of course, babe. I was going to suggest it inside, but this is your day, and I had planned on going out alone.”
Glancing behind him, I see the little boy seated on a bench outside, crying his eyes out. His mother is crouched in front of him, offering soothing words. “I’ll go tell them if you fix things with the office.”
Ten minutes later and we are off. The little boy and girl, Cade and Camilla, are tucked between their parents, shrieking with glee as we take off through the murky waters. Water sprays us on both sides as we speed off.
After about ten minutes, the boat slows down, and the driver–slash–guide points out several interesting things in the swamp as we all keep beady eyes open for any sign of alligators. Our patience is rewarded, and a few minutes later, we happen across a female alligator and her two babies. Instinctively, I move closer to Kal, and his arm tightens around my waist with a low chuckle.
Momma alligator turns her stare directly on us as she slinks forward, edging unbelievably close to the boat. The driver assures us we are safe, but adrenaline is still pumping through my veins. We both take copious pictures with our cell phones. At this proximity, the magnificence of the animal can’t be mistaken. Its bulbous brown eyes observe us with a sharp intensity that sends shivers up my spine. Its maternal instincts are strong, the guide informs us as the first plop of rain lands on my forehead.
The driver reacts fast, turning the boat around and speeding away. More rain falls, coming down in heavy sheets, pelting my skin so hard it feels like a shower of stones bouncing off my arms. I bury my head in Kal’s shoulder as the heavens open up.
By the time we get back to the office, we are all completely soaked through. My hair is plastered across my face, and my clothes are stuck to my skin. Our feet squelch as we walk back to the car, laughing despite the unscheduled bath from Mother Nature.
“It’s crazy how humid it is even though the sky just emptied its guts,” Kal says from the dry, hot cabin of the truck.
“It’s always humid around here. Takes some getting used to.”
“I’m with ya, babe.” He tosses a pair of his sweats and a plain white shirt to me. “That’s all I’ve got, but at least they’re dry.
“Getting drenched twice in one day has got to be some kind of record,” I quip, squeezing water out of my hair.
We have to peel the clothes from each other’s bodies, which is fun. Of course, Kal can’t resist cracking a few smutty jokes, and when his hand makes a grab for my bare boob, I slap him away. Thank God for tinted windows. “Behave. We’re still in a public place.”
“No one can see,” he replies, making another grab for me.
“Kal.” I pin him with a serious look, and he returns it with a faux innocent one.
“What?” He raises his palms. “You can’t expect me to watch you stripping naked in my truck and not get turned on. You make me hard, baby.”
My eyes flit to the loose gym shorts he has on, noticing the discernible bulge. Heat swarms my body, and all my lady parts react enthusiastically. I lick my lips, and he growls. “Unless you intend on following through, you can’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” I smile sweetly, as if I’m completely oblivious.
“Like you want to feast on my dick.”
I splutter. “Oh my God. You are such a guy.”
“Last time I checked.” He smirks, adjusting himself.
“Drive, Kal,” I command. “You are not defiling me in a truck.”
“Can I defile you in a bed?” he retorts with a naughty glint in his eye. The engine hums as he thrusts the stick in gear.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On how well the rest of our date goes.”
“Oh, yeah, baby. We are so getting it on.”
Because we stayed longer than planned in the theme park, we’ve had to forgo the trip to the Kennedy Space Station, but Kal promises he’ll bring me back. The stupid, idealistic, romantic side of my brain kicks in, visualizing a family trip with Hewson. My heart swoons at the thought, but I can’t afford to indulge such thoughts. He may wash his hands of me for good after I confess.
I can’t afford to dream.
Because it may just be another one shattered.
Kal has checked us into a luxurious suite in a hotel in Gainesville for the night. I find a stunning strapless red dress with matching heels waiting for me in the room. Apparently, he’s got one more surprise up his sleeve.
After taking a long soak in the tub, and beautifying myself while he’s disappeared to God knows where, I get dressed and leave the room to find him.
I meet him down in the lobby, and he whistles low under his breath as I twirl for him. I’m not sure what the dress is made of, but the material is silky smooth against my skin, swishing gently around my thighs as I spin around.
“I knew that would suit you the minute I spotted it.” His lips graze my bare collarbone. He’s wearing a tux, and I’ve never seen him look so hot. His eyes are attentive and hypnotic as he slides a corsage on my wrist.
“What’s this?” I give him a puzzled look.
“You missed prom.” He cups my face, leaning in for a soft kiss. “So, I figured we’d do a prom makeover tonight.”
We step outside and I gasp at the stretch limo waiting for us. Once we are situated in the back, Kal pours me a glass of champagne, wrapping his arm around me as we toast. “Happy birthday–slash–prom, honeybun,” he purrs, clinking my glass.
“Thank you so much for today, Kal. I’ve had an amazing time.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I got to do this with you.”
“Did you go to prom?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Faye and Ky begged me to go with them, but I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it without you. Besides, we had sworn a vow.”
We had.
We’d agreed years previously that we would be each other’s prom date, although, I never expected him to follow through. Not once he started chasing after any female with a pulse. I assumed he’d ditch me for some sexy hottie who’d happily spread her legs for him. I’m flabbergasted that he didn’t attend. Kalvin Kennedy is one of Wellesley’s most notorious party boys.
He chuckles. “I fucking love that you’re surprised.”
“I am,” I readily admit, sipping the sweet, dry amber-colored liquid. “It’s not like you to miss a party.”
He stretches out his legs. “That was the old me. That person no longer exists.”
I know why, but I want to hear the words from his mouth.
“Tell me what happened after I left.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lana
He waits until we’re seated at our table in the restaurant, having ordered, before telling me. Some of this I’ve heard third-h
and from my attorney, but I need to hear this from him, even if I know it’s going to launch my guilt-o-meter into outer space.
“People believe what they want to believe, and I’ve made my fair share of enemies back home, so it’s not surprising that some people believed I was guilty.”
“I heard you were placed on house arrest.”
His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “Yep. You know Ben Roberts? He called me a rapist in front of a bunch of people at a party and I lost it. Rearranged his face a bit. A few others jumped into the fray, and it turned into a massive fight. Myself, Faye, Ky, Brad, and Keaton all got arrested.”
“Crap.” I sink a little in my seat. Indirectly, this was my fault. “I can’t believe Faye was arrested. Surely, she wasn’t involved in the fight?”
“No, but there was other stuff going on with her that night. Dad showed up with Dan, and no charges were brought against any of us, but the D.A. insisted I was put on house arrest, and I had to wear one of those fucking anklet things.” His face contorts. “Not the happiest few weeks of my life.”
“I’m sor—”
“Babe,” he interjects, reaching across the table to take my hand. “It’s not your fault, and we’re not discussing it any more. Not if it’s adding to your guilt. It’s over and done with, and I survived to tell the tale.”
I flick my lip between my teeth.
“Honestly, babe, it ended up being a good thing. Dad hired a private tutor. She was a fucking ball buster, but I earned enough credits to skip senior year and graduate with my brother and cousin. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be here with you now.” He massages my hands with his thumbs. “Sometimes, things happen for a reason.”
That makes me feel a teeny bit better. “You have such a good heart, Stinky.”
“You should know.” His adoring eyes pierce straight through to my soul. “You own it.”
“I didn’t know you had such a romantic side,” I admit, swooning under the glare of his adoring expression.
“Babe, I’ve been nurturing it for years, just for you.” He gives me a cheeky wink, and I laugh, all traces of my recent stress subsiding.
Loving Kalvin (The Kennedy Boys Book 4) Page 18
