Page 96 of Miss Matched

“You won my time,” I say, looking back over at the stage and stepping back. “Say what you came here to say.”

“Would you like to go outside?”

“No.”

I want to, but I can’t trust myself alone with him.

“Okay,” he says, grinning like he’s down for the challenge. “You were never business to me, Kennedy. And that was terrifying.”

His cool demeanor crumples the slightest as he straightens his tie.

“After my mom walked out, I stopped letting people in. I figured if I kept people at a distance, then I couldn’t get hurt again. I focused on business, and I was damn successful because nothing got in the way or came first. And then I met you in that hotel lobby and it scared the shit out of me.”

“You aren’t the only one who was out on that line,” I tell him. “I let you in; I trusted you. After everything. And you walked away just like everyone else.”

“I know,” he says with a flash of pain in his eyes. “You were the best thing to happen to me. I mean, fuck, Kennedy, you’d be the best thing to happen to any man. You’re independent, confident, brilliant, and look at you.” He scans my body, and the look in his eyes strips me naked.

“Incredible enough for you to end it,” I point out, really trying to bury the pain.

He tucks his hands into his pockets. “I was a mess. My dad was in the hospital, I was failing my company. And then that article hit, and I realized all my shit was going to spread to you. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sit around and watch you be ruined by me.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” I say. “We both knew what we were getting into.”

“I know that now.” He steps in and places his hands on my elbows to draw me closer. “You’re the most magnetic woman I’ve ever met. You’re strong—so fucking strong. I was an idiot not to see it. To think I had to save you. I mean, look at what you’ve done with this place, Hearts Inc. You’re incredible.”

Zac reaches up and cradles my jaw in his hand. Tears sting behind my eyes as I fight to hold them back.

“I’m nothing without you,” he says, running his thumb over my cheek. “I don’t care what anyone says, if I lose my company, my money, my penthouse. It’s all empty when you’re not there anyway.”

Inside, I hear clinks of my defenses slipping. I’m not sure how I haven’t thrown myself into his arms already.

“From the moment you refused to let me buy you that first drink, I knew you were different. You didn’t care about my money, my celebrity, or my possessions. You saw through all the bullshit. You saw me, and I pushed you away because of it,” he says. “I was an idiot.”

I nod in agreement and he let’s out a nervous chuckle.

“I was scared and I let it get the best of me. I should have been honest instead of pushing you away that night. If I had, I would have told you how much I wanted you. Needed you. How your laugh, your eyes, your stubborn-as-hell personality levels me. How I can’t imagine my life without you in it.” His face sinks. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said. I’m sorry for not calling. But most of all, I’m sorry for making you think I’m another person who would just walk out on you. Because even if I was physically gone, I never left. I’m yours, Kennedy James. I’ll always be yours.”

The hole in my chest fills with his words, with his touch. With everything my body has been missing and craving. And in his eyes, I see the man who lit the torch I needed to see through the darkness. Who is more than what the world sees of him. Who is a force, powerful, caring.

My safe space, if I let him be it.

“You promised to find me the woman of my dreams and you did. You.” He draws closer. Our lips are inches apart, his hard body clouding my thoughts. “I missed you. Say I still have a chance.”

“I—” My mouth tries to argue, but my head trips over my heart in the process. I could lie to myself, say I haven’t missed his arms around me, that I haven’t woken up desperate for his comfort. That I don’t replay that night and undo it, over and over. Picture myself going to him instead. Telling him it will all be okay, that I will keep him safe from his storm, just like he kept me safe from mine.

Grabbing onto his lapel, I lift up on my toes and close the distance in answer to his question. I press my lips to his and melt. His scruff scratches against my face as he kisses my lips, then my cheeks, then my forehead. Like he can’t get enough.

Can never get enough.

“I’m sorry,” he says again, but I place my hand on his jaw to stop him.

“I am too,” I say. “I’m so used to walking away that I forgot how to stay in place for a minute. I forgot how to fight for someone who wasn’t myself.”

He dips down and buries himself in my neck, cradling me in his arms and bringing my heart home.

“Stay with me now,” he says, squeezing me tighter.

For the first time in my life, I understand the depth of doing just that. I nod against his chest, knowing the risk and wanting to take it. “I’ll stay.”

Zac pulls away and looks me in the eyes, tracing the line of my jaw with his thumb and pressing the pad against my lower lip.

“I love you, Cupid,” he says, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on mine.

I sink against him, wrapping my arms around his neck so I can listen to his heart beating in his chest.

“I love you too, Zac. I love you too.”

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