Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“It’s not fine. I ache when I’m away from you.”
He ran his fingers down the fragile chain of vertebrae in her back. He leaned in, brushing her lips with his, never breaking the stare that kept them joined by an invisible, sensual thread. She swallowed his groan at the brief contact, gripping the sleeve of his well-cut sports coat.
“Am I really going to have to ask you two to get a room?” Jo asked from the seat beside him. He’d forgotten his cousin was even at the table. He’d forgotten everyone except Kerris.
“Sorry.” Walsh held Kerris’s hand on his knee.
“No need to apologize,” Uncle James said from the seat across the table. “Young love.”
Walsh searched Unc’s face for any sign of judgment. His uncle hadn’t approved of how things had unfolded with Cam, but ever since Walsh told him about his relationship with Kerris and that he intended to marry her, the older man had been nothing but supportive.
“Mom would be proud of Dad for this endowment Bennett is funding, huh?” he asked his uncle.
Uncle James looked down at his plate, nodding to himself before looking back to Walsh. “She’d be very proud. So am I.”
Walsh considered the range of emotions he’d ever experienced toward his father. Everything from hate to indifference. This emotion was new.
“Yeah, I’m proud of him, too.”
“Maybe you can tell him sometime.” Uncle James grinned as Martin Bennett walked up to the table.
“Well, I see you finally got her, son.”
“Dad, you obviously remember, Kerris. Kerris, my dad, Martin Bennett.”
“Oh, yes, we’ve met.” Martin took Kerris’s hand. “Not under the best circumstances the last time, huh, young lady?”
“I never got the chance to thank you for bringing Walsh home.”
“It was touch and go there for a minute.” Martin looked at Walsh and grinned. “Hopefully, my son won’t hoard your company, though neither of us is known for sharing. He’s already told me he’s holding you hostage this week.”
“A willing hostage.” She looked down at the table for a moment when both men laughed.
“Delightful.” Martin shared a knowing look with his son. “Hostile takeover, huh?”
“I don’t know who’s been taken over.” Walsh glanced over at Kerris. “But it doesn’t really matter anymore.”
“So it’s like that?” Martin Bennett asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Oh, it’s definitely like that. As soon as some loose ends are tied up.”
“Loose ends. Is that what you call him?” Martin laughed. “I’m being signaled that it’s time. I’d better get up there. Sorry you have to sit through this speech, Kerris.”
As proud as Walsh was of his father and as excited as he was about the Bennett endowment benefiting his mother’s favorite causes, impatience chafed him for the rest of the night. There was only one thing he wanted now. Only one place he wanted to be. Alone with Kerris.
In their new home.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kerris fought sleep, dropping her head to Walsh’s shoulder as they whizzed through the streets on their way to his place. She could get used to being driven around everywhere in a limousine if it meant snuggling like this.
She’d seen a side of Martin Bennett that night she had only suspected existed when she met him the first time. He had surprised her and most of the people in the room when he talked openly about his ex-wife’s lost battle with cancer, and the lessons she had taught him about giving back. He’d looked at Walsh, adding that his son had continued his education last summer in Kenya.
“Your father isn’t at all like I imagined him, like everyone said he is.”
“He’s changed a lot since Mom passed.” Walsh brushed one strong hand across her hair. “But he’s still Martin Bennett under it all. Don’t be fooled.”
She opened her eyes long enough to tease him. “And are you still Walsh Bennett under it all?”
“Yeah, that’s who you’re stuck with,” he said, his face more serious than her teasing comment called for.
She perked up when she saw the humor vacate the rugged lines of his face.
“Walsh, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He took her hand in his, studying her in the light provided by the city. “I’m just a lot like my dad, especially when it comes to getting what I want. I’m not sure you’ll like it.”
“I like you.”
“That’s good because, like I said, you’re stuck with me.” He paused before saying the next words as if he were weighing each one before it left his mouth. “When my dad retires, if the board doesn’t think I can do the job, they’ll find a way for me not to do the job. There are men older than me who’ve been at Bennett longer than I have, who feel they have just as much right to it as I do. And in many ways they’re right. Except it’s mine.”
The possessive word hung in the air between them. And Kerris could practically see the strands of DNA Walsh’s father had passed on to him.