Kenzie
It had been a few months since Jonas and I got back together. I had no idea how it would work with the two of us living in different locations, but we’d both been putting forth the effort to see this through. I had stayed in New York City that weekend before Jonas followed me back to Phoenix. The meeting between him and my sister was tense at first, but his boyish charm and infectious personality had her smitten with him within days. She was also relieved he had no plans to ever reveal his parentage, and Madeleine had given him assurances that she would start sharing things about her with him so he could get to know her, too.
There was no talk of marriage or anything as binding as that, but he had asked me to move in with him, so I technically moved back to Manhattan even though I commuted often to Phoenix. I had brought in three other chefs in the last several weeks, and each of them had been trained to not only prepare every item on my menu, but also to run the kitchen when I was gone. Because I didn’t train them all at once, it had been three weeks since I had been in Jonas’s arms. In the beginning, he would pop in, but as construction began on the resort in Seattle, it seemed to monopolize his time more and more.
I knew how important his company was to him. I had a single restaurant to concern myself with while he ran a multibillion-dollar hospitality company that had dozens of properties in its portfolio. He had told me the story of how he’d come to become CEO, and while he liked to think that he simply restored the Courtland Hospitality Group to its former glory, I knew he was the vital piece of its continued success.
“I’m so proud of you,”I’d told him the night before when he went off on a tangent about some minor upheaval at CHG Seaport. He sounded so down about it that I had reluctantly agreed to fly back to be with him. “You better be there to pick me up from the airport.”
He had chuckled, then assured me he would. I finished what I needed to do at the Desert Grille, spent a few hours with Tori, then headed to the airport for my flight. It cost me a fortune to fly there with no advance notice right in the middle of the Christmas season. I wanted to spend the actual holiday in Arizona, and I suspected he would follow if for no other reason than to be there with Tori. It would be our first one together with her, and I couldn’t wait to watch her eyes light up at the gifts we had bought for her.
The gleam I had come to know from her was mirrored in her father’s eyes. He usually gave me that sneaky look when he was plotting something, and as I tried to doze off on the flight, I recalled our FaceTime from the night before. That same expression lit up his face, and even in my sleep-like state, I still scowled. He was up to something; I just knew it.
I wouldn’t let that bother me because I had learned how much he liked to surprise me with things. Sometimes, it was flowers and candy, and on other occasions, he would give me jewelry. “I don’t need any of this. I only need you,” I would tell him, then he would shush me.
“I like to spoil the woman I love.” I would beam at that description, then surrender.
Something about the way he’d been even more secretive than usual did cause a little bit of concern for me. I didn’t think it was anything bad, but I knew it was something big. Thinking about it while high in sky wouldn’t help, so I forced my suspicious mind to quiet, then tried to sleep for the remainder of my flight. It worked because when I awakened, the plane was landing at LaGuardia.
I exited the aircraft and headed to the arrivals lobby, hoping to see him. Instead, there was someone else holding up a sign with my name on it. I walked over to the man. “Where’s Jonas?”
“He’s asked me to bring you home.”
I furrowed my brow. I had specifically asked him to pick me up, but something must have come up with his work for him to miss out on seeing me right away. I understood how demanding his job was, so I smiled cheerfully at the man and followed him to the waiting car outside. I would have plenty of time to spend with Jonas as I wasn’t expected back in Phoenix for a week.
I loved Christmas time in the city, and as we passed through Midtown and I saw the large tree in Rockefeller Center, it seemed a lot more joyous than in previous years. This was always a favorite holiday of mine, and I suspected Madeleine had told him as much. She had become quite the coconspirator with him, and while it made me happy to see them getting along so well, it also worried me because I was outnumbered. Even Tori was so enamored with the man that she was already calling him Uncle Jonas. I didn’t stand a chance of swaying her over to my side.
I let out a sigh of contentment. For the first time in a long while, I could honestly say I was happy. I had the love of a man I’d never quite forgotten, a restaurant of my own, and a family waiting on me. My parents still hadn’t fully come around, but Madeleine did tell me they dined at the Desert Grille a few weeks ago when I’d jetted off to Seattle and enjoyed themselves very much. I wanted so badly for them to be proud of me and my accomplishments. I was confident that one day they would be.
We arrived at the club Jonas’s best friend, Mason, owned, and I frowned. If he was in town and at a strip joint, why couldn’t he have picked me up himself? Maybe, he’d been celebrating and drank a little too much. It was possible, and it wasn’t as if I could fault him for it. I just hoped this driver would either stick around long enough for me to get him out of there or would come back to check on us soon.
When I got out of the car, I stuck my head back inside. “Would you wait on me?”
“I’ll be right over there, ma’am,” he told me as he pointed to a parking space at the end of the corner.
“Thanks. Hopefully, it won’t take us too long.”
I closed the door and tightened my coat around me. The weather in Phoenix was very different from New York City, especially this time of year. In my haste to get to my man, I had nearly forgotten my coat altogether. I managed to get it just in time, and for that I was grateful. The wind was gusting heavily, and I remembered the pilot had mentioned something about snow.
“Just my luck,” I muttered as I walked to the front of the club. The doorman immediately stepped aside which sent my hackles raising. I didn’t let it worry me, and I hurried inside to the warmth of the building. I walked down the hallway that led to the club and when I rounded the corner to enter, I noticed several people sitting near one of the stages. The only one I had my eyes on was my ginger lover.
He rose to his feet when he saw me, and he seemed lucid enough as he walked over to me. Jonas gathered me in his arms and pressed his lips briefly to mine. “I’ve missed you.”
I smiled at those words, even when he pulled away. I recognized a few of the women from newspaper clippings and his description of them. The men all seated around were Titans, and when I saw Kristopher, I forced myself to remain calm. Beside him was his wife, and it was obvious she had already given birth. Last I had seen of her, she was due to pop any day. I remembered that time well from my own pregnancy, and I smiled politely at the two of them before sitting down beside Mason and his girlfriend, Rhyann.
“Hello, everyone,” I said in greeting as I took a seat.
All of Jonas’s closest friends were there, and a sharp pang pierced my chest when I realized who had been missing from these New York City trips the last few times. I was sure that Paisley, Elsa, Rhyann, and Hayley were lovely women, but they weren’t my bestie. As I thought about her, my expression fell, and Jonas noticed it right away.
“What’s wrong, Kenzie?”
I tried not to be a Debbie Downer, but I also didn’t want to pretend as if all was suddenly fine. “I’m missing—”
Before I could get out her name, Jonas turned my head to the side. Standing on the other side of the stage was the one woman I couldn’t wait to hug and squeeze.
“Reece,” I murmured, then bolted from my seat. We met halfway and embraced each other so tightly. When we finally separated from one another, we were both crying happy tears. “What are you doing here?” I asked her.
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” she told me cheekily.