Landslide (20 page)

Chapter 19

I’d been pacing the hall for nearly half an hour, thinking about what I was going to say and trying to gather up enough courage to knock.

I’d never done anything like it before. I never thought I would, either, but I had to. It would hardly make up for what I’d done, but at least it wouldn’t make it worse.

Assuming you live through it.

The voice was back and he was right. I considered leaving, but I knew I couldn’t. She was worth it. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Carter answered, standing in the doorway. “Can I help you?”

His tone was pleasant, but his words hurt. He’d been my best friend for the past ten years, and now he was treating me like a stranger.

“I um
…
can I come in?”

He swung the door wide and walked away. It wasn’t quite an invitation, but I followed anyway.

“I um, I wanted to talk to you about Kenzie.”

“You really did a number on her, you know. She left here in tears, but at least she’ll be spared tonight’s spectacle.”

I knew what he meant. He meant me proposing to Tiffany, but I had no intentions of doing that. The ring that was currently in my pocket was not for her.

“I can’t do it.”

“You can’t do what? Marry DuPree? You got yourself into this man.”

“I know, but I can’t live without Kenzie. That’s what I’m here for. I’m sorry that I went behind your back before, and I’ll tell you anything about it you want to know, but I’m here asking for your permission.”

His face turned purple. “Are you fucking kidding me? You are here asking me permission to fuck my daughter? Excuse me, to
continue
to fuck my daughter?”

“I um, no. I mean, yes, but
…
oh fuck.” My hands were shaking. I went over to his mini fridge and grabbed a small bottle of vodka, unscrewed the cap, and downed the whole thing.

“Get out.”

“I love her.”

“You don’t fucking love her. You love pussy. And it just so happens that you like my daughter’s at the moment. Go fuck one of the dozens of other women I’ve set you up with over the past few months and you
…
and you
…
” I could tell he was thinking as his words trailed off. “Wait. Is she why?”

I stared at him, afraid to speak.

“Is she why you haven’t asked me to set up a date for you?”

I nodded.

“Are you telling me that she’s the only woman you’ve slept with for the past, uh, how many months?”

“Six. And yes.”

He sat down on the edge of the couch and put his head in his hands.

“Carter, I know you don’t want to hear it, but I love her. From the moment I found her in my hotel room on my birthday, she had me. I didn’t want to admit it, but she was all I wanted. Then at Thanksgiving, things changed. I realized that my feelings went deeper than just
wanting
her. Christmas Eve had been what I thought was the best day of my life until we went to Paris. There, we were just ourselves, and I’m sorry, Carter, I fell in love with her. She told me she loved me, too. The whole time I thought it was impossible, that there was no hope, but fuck that. This is my
life
and all that I want is her.”

“And how is that going to work with DuPree? Keep Kenzie as your little dish on the side? I think Kenzie deserves better than that.”

“Fuck Tiffany! I’m not going to marry her. Kenzie
does
deserve better than that. Hell, she deserves better than me, but I’m going to be selfish and accept her love anyway, because it would be easier to live without oxygen than to live without her. I really don’t care what DuPree does. I’ll deal with it, and if I lose my career, so what? I’ll have Kenzie and we’ll work it out.”

He just stared at me. “So what is it you wanted my permission for?”

“I wanted your permission to marry her. I mean, if she’ll have me, and I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. Like I said, I know she can do better. If she wants me, though, I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I want to wake up every morning with her, I want her to
…
” I gulped, “I want her to carry my babies.”

Carter’s face paled. “Is she pregnant?”

“What? No! She’s on birth control.”

“What?”

“Um, yeah, and
…
do you really want to hear this?”

“Probably not, but you’re going to tell me anyway.”

I swallowed hard. “Well, up until Paris I always used a condom, so um…no, she’s not pregnant.”

“But you’d like to get her pregnant. Is that what you’re saying?”

I couldn’t read the expression on his face so I didn’t know if I should duck or not.

“Well, yeah, but not yet. I mean, I’d want to be married for a while first. I don’t know. I haven’t even talked to her about this. I just, well, she makes me want things I’ve never wanted before.”

When I looked up at him he was smiling, though he sighed heavily. “As much as it pissed me off—and let me tell you, I’m still pissed off…” He walked over to the table next to the couch and held up a picture I hadn’t even realized he’d taken. The photo was of Kenzie and me on the balcony in Paris, looking into each other’s eyes. “
…
the more I thought about it, the more I realized
that you two
are
in love. It’s so obvious.”

He set the picture back down. “And then I thought about what I really wanted for her—what kind of guy I’d be alright with her dating—and I realized that no one would ever be good enough for her. If anyone ever came close, he would be someone like you. Not like the you that I’ve known for the past ten years, but the you I’ve seen for the past six months. I guess what I’m saying is, as long as you don’t go getting your fucking eyebrow pierced, you have my permission to ask Kenzie to marry you.”

I exhaled loudly. “Thank you, Carter. You have no idea what this means to me. I just hope Kenzie will say yes.”

“You better get her one hell of a ring after what you put her through.”

I reached in my pocket, pulled out the velvet box, and opened it.

“HOLY SHIT!”

I smiled at his reaction. “The center stone is just over a karat and is a princess cut.” I was proud I’d learned the lingo with Liv this afternoon. “There are two smaller stones, also both princess cut at about a half-karat each, and then baguettes on the side of those.”

“I bet that cost more than my first car!”

I laughed, “I bet it costs more than your current car, but she’s so worth it. I wanted to get a bigger ring, but Liv said that anything larger would appear gaudy and wouldn’t look good on Kenzie’s hand.”  

He was smiling. “And when do you plan on asking her? I hate to burst your bubble, but she’s on a plane right now.”

“Actually, I hope she isn’t. Liv went to talk to her at the airport.” The smile faded from my face. “I didn’t want to pressure her, but Liv went to tell her how I feel. If she wants this, then my sister is going to bring her back. If not, Kenzie will get on the plane and I’ll have to go through with Tiffany’s deal. It’s not that I want to, it’s just that I can’t let those pictures get out for Kenzie’s sake.”

“If you don’t marry DuPree, those pictures will likely get out. You realize that, right?”

“I know, but I was thinking, if Kenzie
does
show up, and she
does
want me, I can show them to the press tonight. It will take the scandal aspect out of it, and if you and I choose which ones they see, maybe people will understand how much in love we are.”

I knew it was a long shot, but one thing I’d learned in politics was that the truth always came out, and the public seemed to like it better when it came out sooner rather than later.

“Hey, just in case my daughter is insane and does come back, let’s go get a drink at the bar and look through those pics again.” He smiled. “I’d like to buy a drink for my best friend.” His smile turned to a grimace as he added, “and my future son-in-law.”

“Does that mean I can call you Dad?”

“Do you like your teeth?”

“Just checking,” I laughed.

“Tell me one thing, though,” he said as we walked out of his suite and toward my room to get the envelope. “What did you mean when you said, you
found
Kenz in your room on your birthday?”

My hands started to sweat. “I um
…s
he was there when I got there—kind of offered herself as a present.”

He shook his head. “Okay, I don’t want to hear any more. Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“You won’t have sex with her in my house.”

“Um
…
I promise I won’t ever do it
again
.”

He stared at me, and I was sure he was going to punch me for the second time today. “Sorry. Uh, how about I buy the drinks?”

He just shook his head. “Yeah, for starters. You just wait. I’ll let you know when we’re even for that one.”

I swore the clock had never moved slower, and a few times I thought it had even moved backward. I hadn’t heard from Kenzie or Liv at all. I didn’t dare call Kenzie in case she’d decided to fly home, but Liv could have at least called to tell me what was going on.

I tried her again, but it went straight to voicemail. “Hey, this is Liv. Leave a message.”

“Hey, Liv. This is Max again. Um, I left a few other messages. I just want to know what she said. Is she okay? Call me back. Please.”

After two more hours of waiting, I tried again.

“Hey, this is Liv. Leave a message.”

“Liv, I’m getting worried. Did you talk to her? Are you okay?”

My phone buzzed with a text.

I’m fine. We’ll talk later.

I texted back.
Did you talk to her? Is she ok? Is she here?

I said I’m busy. I’ll talk to you later.

Sometimes my sister could be a bitch. I couldn’t take it anymore.

Please Liv, did you talk to her?

There was a long pause.

I’m still talking to her. Please stop interrupting. You will know when you know.

She was still talking to her. That was a good sign, right? It meant she hadn’t gotten on the plane. Though, on the other hand, Liv had left hours ago, and if she was still talking to Kenzie, maybe it meant that she wasn’t convinced. My sister was a prosecuting attorney, and she could make a damn good argument, but Kenzie was strong-willed. I’d never seen her as broken as I did this morning; it would take a hell of a lot of talking to convince her to give me a second chance.

I was nervous as fuck when I put my tux on to head to the party. There were hundreds of people there, but not the one I wanted to see. I scanned the crowd over and over again, but I was disappointed every time.

“Have you heard from her?” I asked Carter.

“If I had, you’d ask me to betray my daughter’s confidence to tell you?”

“Well, no, I mean. Jesus, Carter, I just want to know that she’s alright and not sitting on a plane or in the corner of an airport crying her eyes out.”

“Look, go and do your thing. She will talk to you when she’s ready.”

Well, if that didn’t fucking sound ominous, I don’t know what would have. I was lost in thought until I felt a hand on my arm and heard a voice that made me cringe.

“There you are, Darling.” How could a beautiful woman touching you make your skin crawl? I was ninety-nine percent positive that my dick had just shriveled up inside my body.

“Tiffany.” I said by way of a greeting.

“Don’t you look
handsome? I can’t wait to see what’s under that tux later when we celebrate our engagement.”

I really couldn’t say the same. Everyone could see what was under her dress—with what little of it there was. It was strapless, hot pink, and barely covered her ass. Honestly, it looked like a bottle of Pepto Bismol threw up on a strip of material. Her breasts, which were clearly
fake, were pressed up and together, and I wasn’t sure
how
her nipples weren’t showing.

If she thought that I was going to fuck her, she was out of her ever loving mind. She might make it so I had to be engaged to her, but like hell if I was going to stick my dick in that, even if Kenzie
didn’t
show up. The thing was, she might have actually been attractive if her insides weren’t so ugly that you couldn't see past it.

I’d eaten dinner and mingled with half the people in the room. Several politicians spoke, wishing everyone a happy New Year. When I
realized that it was 11:30, I’d all but given up hope. Liv hadn’t called or messaged.

“Are you ready?” Carter asked.

“Do you think we should still do this? I could just tell them I changed my mind.”

“That would be political suicide. No matter what happens, you will roll with it and be fine.”