Stripped Raw (25 page)

I look up, but he’s not looking at me. His eyes are fixed on the proposal box. He catches me staring and quickly flips me over. “I think I promised you hours, baby.”

*

Tessa and I
slip Zoe into her costume, laughing uncontrollably as we try to attach the dozen strands of hair into the bone of her Pebbles costume. Even Michael chuckles at the sight. We load up her wagon, thinking it will be easier to get Zoe in and out of that and hoping no one will have to carry her the whole time.

The doorbell rings, and Tessa answers it. She bursts into a fit of laughter. “Kenzie, we have our first trick or treater.”

I grab the bucket of candy and head towards the front door. As soon as the front porch comes into view, my hand flies to my mouth. I almost pee my pants, I’m laughing so hard. “I love that you did this,” I say as Kane steps inside, wearing an orange tunic with black spots. A huge blue necktie and a fake wooden club tossed over his shoulder complete his Fred Flintstone costume.

“Yabba Dabba Doo,” he says, tickling Zoe.

I shake my head at him—my sexy hunk of man candy now dressed like a caveman. “You are crazy.”

He pulls out something from behind his back. “For you.”

“You did not,” I cry, putting the candy bucket down.

Kane holds the one shoulder white dress with tattered edges up to me. “That’s awesome,” Tessa screams. “Your hair color works almost. We can pull it up in a bun—a perfect Wilma Flintstone.”

Kane jingles the costume. “Don’t forget the white stone necklace.”

I laugh. “I’m going to look as ridiculous as you.”

He swats me on the butt with his caveman club. “My hot cavewoman.”

“Thank you, Kane,” Tessa says. “Zoe’s first Halloween is going to be so memorable.”

“Hold on a minute,” Kane says, opening up the front door and reaching outside. “You don’t think you are off the hook, do you?” He pulls out a blue dress with a belt made of bones and a brown wig. “Wilma needs her best friend.” Tessa’s eyes fill up at the Betty Rubble outfit, and she reaches for my hand. He’s right. Tessa is my very best friend. “Besides, I always thought Fred, Wilma, and Betty had a little something behind Barney’s back,” he says.

Tessa and I both laugh and sandwich Kane in a hug. He swats me on the butt with his club again. “Go get ready. I can’t wait to see you in that short little dress.”

“Think you’re enjoying this caveman bit a little too much,” I say, winking at him.

Tessa pulls me towards the bathroom. “You two can play caveman and cavewoman later. Let’s get ready.”

*

Kane links one
arm with me and one arm with Tessa, who’s holding Zoe on her hip as Michael snaps a picture of us all dressed up for Halloween.

“Just one more,” Michael says.

Suddenly, I feel Kane turn quickly and grab Tessa by her arms, bracing her and Zoe. “Tessa!” I gasp.

“I’m fine,” she says, gripping Kane’s shoulders, her eyes thanking him. If not for him, she would have dropped her daughter to the floor.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Michael says, taking Kane’s place as Tessa’s brace. “Just all the commotion getting ready has tired you out.”

Tessa’s eyes lower to the ground. “I guess so.”

“No,” I say and walk to the living room and push Tessa’s wheelchair over. “Just one house.”

“Kenzie, now’s not the time to push or plow through,” Michael says, lowering Tessa into her chair.

“Now is exactly the time to push through,” I say. “Because tonight is all we have.”

“She’s right,” Tessa says. “I’m not seeing any more holidays. This is it.” Hearing her say that breaks my heart.

“You could get sicker,” Michael says.

“I’m going. I can die tomorrow and at least I won’t regret missing this.”

Michael nods and pushes the chair out the door. Kane and I follow with Zoe in the wagon. Michael picks the closest house without stairs leading up to the front door because Tessa insists she walk her daughter to the door. We all watch as Tessa and Zoe knock on the door, one of their last memories being made together.

“Say ‘trick or treat,’” Tessa says.

The door opens, and Zoe claps her hands. “Ta Ta Ta.” We all laugh, and Zoe is rewarded with a bucket full of candy that she can’t eat, but it doesn’t matter. When Tessa turns around, her eyes are full of peace. She walks towards me and Kane and holds my eyes as she passes Zoe to me. It feels strange—somehow different this time. Tessa steps back and looks at Kane, Zoe, and me. She takes a deep breath. Something is wrong. I can feel it.

“We’ll make sure Zoe has a good time,” Kane says.

I turn around, watching Michael disappear into the darkness with Tessa. “Did you see the way she looked at us?”

“Baby, she doesn’t have long. You know that, right?”

“It’s not that, though. She’s not telling me something.”

“I thought the same thing when I met her for coffee that day,” Kane says.

“What do you think it is?”

“I’m sure she’s got a lot going on in her mind.”

I shake my head. “She usually tells me everything.”

“Ta Ta Ta,” Zoe squeals out, shaking my Wilma necklace.

Kane kisses us both on the forehead, takes Zoe in his arms, and lifts her high into the night sky. The baby’s dimples pop out. “Let’s get more candy.”

We walk the entire neighborhood until the wagon is filled with candy. Zoe can’t eat a single bit of it, but Kane eats enough for all of us. “I didn’t know you had such a sweet tooth,” I say, taking a seat on Michael’s front porch. With Zoe now back inside and fast asleep, we decide to sit outside and pass out candy so the doorbell won’t wake up the baby or Tessa.

Kane rips the wrapper off a chocolate bar. “I can’t remember the last time I ate candy. Guess I missed it.”

I giggle and unwrap a cherry blow pop. I lean my head down on Kane’s shoulder. “Tonight was fun.”

He looks down at me sucking on my treat. “You know, sometimes the stereotypes about being a guy are just true.” I laugh, knowing he is thinking about just one thing. He really is a caveman.

I slide the pop out of my mouth slowly and lean in close, letting my cherry lips tickle his. “Thank you for tonight. For making it so special.”

“Don’t you know this is what I want?” he whispers. “You and me, a house, Zoe, and. . . .”

He pulls his lip between his teeth. “What?”

“I almost said a family—babies.”

“Babies?” I ask, seeing his serious face. “How many are we talking about?”

“I’m not sure I can do that again, Kenzie,” he says, almost a whisper. “Could you be happy if it were just us?”

“I thought you wanted kids. You said that you and Lily. . . .”

“I do.” He gets up from the front porch and looks up at the sky. “But if something happened again. If something happened to you. . . .”

“Kane?” He turns towards me. I’m not going to promise him that nothing could happen—look what happened with Lily—look what is happening with Tessa. I won’t give him empty reassurances. Plus, I know he really wants kids one day. I’ve seen him with Zoe. “I could be happy with just you, but I don’t think that’s really what you want.”

The corner of his mouth curves up just slightly. “I always thought I’d have a huge family—five or six kids. I hated being an only child. Deacon was always a brat, but I liked having a brother. I used to beg my mom and James to have more kids.”

“I don’t think Deacon could’ve handled that.”

He laughs. “Probably why it didn’t happen.”

“Five or six kids isn’t going to happen, either.”

He wraps his arms around me. “You know I’ll be an overbearing asshole if you get pregnant, right? I won’t be able to help myself.”

“If by overbearing you mean a maid, a chef, and foot rubs every night, I can handle that.”

“And no exercising or. . . .”

“Oh, I’m sold.”

He chuckles again. “And I’m going to watch you like a hawk. Every little hiccup and you get a checkup from the doctor.”

I give him my best military salute. “I’m in no hurry, Kane. I’m still in my twenties. I’ve got plenty of time. You’re the one pushing thirty-five.”

He captures me in his arms. “I still fuck like I’m in my twenties, though.” I bust out laughing, feeling his dick twitch against my stomach. “More like your teens.” He chuckles, and I run my fingers through his thick, dark hair. “I would never intentionally do anything to hurt myself—never. That goes double if I was carrying your child. I love you too much. You have to trust that.”

He plants a little kiss on my lips and whispers, “I do.”

My stomach does a little flip flop. The next time I hear him say those words it will be under different circumstances. I know that. I want that. Now I just need to figure out the perfect time to let him know.

KANE

“Big day today,
babe,” I call out to Kenzie, stepping out of her bathroom. “Almost ready?”

“Yeah,” she says while pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

I’m going to miss this. My little vacation is coming to an end. It’s time to face the real world. I much prefer Kenzie’s world to mine, so I’ve got a little plan in the works, and I’m hoping she’s as excited about it as I am. She walks over to her stacked boxes of shoes, but I know her eyes are on the proposal shoebox on the television. I hold my breath, hoping. It hasn’t been long since I asked her, but still, the waiting is killing me. But I don’t need to pressure her—having that box sitting right where she sees it every time she walks in the room is doing the job for me. She opens up a box and slips on a pair of running shoes. Not today, I guess!

I walk over and kiss her on top of the head. “What do those shoes say?”

“That we’ve got a long day of walking ahead.”

“You ready for this?” I ask.

I know she’s not sure if she’s ready or not, but we’ve got a few places lined up for her to look at. It’s time she expanded her business. She has plans to hire some interns, so a bigger storefront in a prime location just makes good business sense. Sometimes I wonder if I believe in her more than she believes in herself.

She holds my hand and looks up at me, her nerves shooting out. “Yeah, I’m actually a little excited.”

We spend the entire day driving all over Dallas, but the places are either too big, too small, or need too much work. The last place we looked at, we didn’t even bother to go in. We didn’t want to wake up the poor homeless man sleeping on the curb. I should fire the real estate agent for even suggesting it.

Kenzie tosses the MLS sheets on the dash of my Porsche. “I think I’m done.”

“We’ve got one more to look at,” I say. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one. The agent is meeting us there.” Kenzie reaches for the real estate sheets, searching for the last place. I quickly try to grab it from her, but she snatches it away.

“Kane, did you look at the price?” she gasps. “And it’s for sale, not for rent. This is useless.”

“But it’s perfect,” I say, pulling into one of the most affluent neighborhoods of Dallas—Park Cities. It’s exactly where Kenzie’s store needs to be. I find the small building. It looks like something you’d find in Paris with its glass front door flanked by two huge display windows. The outside is a vintage white with delicate, hand-carved architectural details. At least that’s how the real estate agent sold me on it. I quickly find a parking space and open up Kenzie’s door. Her mouth is open slightly, but her eyes tell me everything I need to know—she’s fallen in love.

I take her hand, but she doesn’t move. “I don’t want to look at this one.”

“But I can tell you love it. It’s perfect.”

“Not the perfect price,” she says. “And I don’t want to fall in love with something I can’t have. It hurts too much when you lose it.”

That’s it in a nutshell—the reason why she hasn’t accepted my proposal. There seems to be no way I can convince her that I’m hers, and I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got no choice but to just keep showing her, and this store is a big part of that. I see the agent waving at us from inside and tug Kenzie forward. “This place is our future, come on.”

“Our future?” Kenzie asks, finally moving towards the door. “You planning on coming to work for me full-time?”