Page 102 of Token

If Nate had known when he’d promised to give Kennedy space that after three days he’d be going out of his mind missing her, he would have insisted on a time limit.

Checking the time every hour didn’t help; it just made the day longer. Work kept him relatively busy during the day. Markham had finally agreed on a settlement amount, and four of the company’s former employees would be getting their old jobs back—with a nice raise. Jack was gone and Nate was on the hunt for a new CTO, and he was implementing significant changes to human resources personnel and their entire recruiting and in-house promotion process. The face of management at the company had to change, and that wasn’t going to happen if they continued to do the same thing that had landed them in trouble in the first place.

Nate checked his phone again. Nothing. What he needed was to get out of his head and his bloody apartment. Take a walk. Get some fresh air. Maybe take a drive across the Brooklyn Bridge and grab a bite to eat at Junior’s. He could go for a slice of strawberry cheesecake.

Mind made up, he grabbed his keys and headed for the door. Sometime during his half-hour trip, he took a turn that bypassed his intended destination and somehow ended up at Kennedy’s. Five minutes later, he rounded the corner to her apartment to find her turning the key in the lock of her door.

“Going somewhere?” he asked.

Kennedy gave a startled yelp as her head swiveled in his direction and her hand jumped to her throat.

His heart received the same jolt it had when he’d first laid eyes on her. God, she was beautiful. And for some reason she looked younger. It took a moment to pinpoint what was different about her today. She wasn’t wearing makeup, or if she was, not much of it.

“You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here?” she asked, her hand dropping to her side.

He slowly approached, stopping when they were only inches apart. “Answer my question first.”

She visibly swallowed. “I was on my way to see you.”

“I was hoping you would say that,” Nate said, breathing a little easier.

Gently brushing her hand aside, which was gripping the key still in the lock, he unlocked the door and led her inside.

“I guess I’m not going anywhere after all,” Kennedy said, as she turned on the lights in the tiny hallway, toed off her sneakers, and made her way to the living room.

Nate followed closely behind and had to rein in the compulsion to touch her. It was too soon, he told himself. He needed to proceed with caution. For all he knew, the reason she’d been going to see him was to break up with him for good.

Although, that wasn’t what he was picking up from her. Something in her eyes told him their days apart had been just as hard on her as they had been on him. Added to that, she’d been about to head into the city in a pair of leggings and sneakers, with her hair in a messy ponytail. Very uncharacteristic of her. It was as if it’d been a spur-of-the-moment decision and she’d been in a rush and threw on whatever was close at hand.

He drew in a breath and followed her down onto the sofa as she settled in among the cushions, her gray-blue eyes intent on his. “Before you say anything,” he began, “first let me say I’m sorry. I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things. I shouldn’t have done what I did with the scholarship, and I shouldn’t have asked Aurora to keep it from you when she found out. And I was wrong about Jack and you were right. You were right when you said I had blind spots where he was concerned.”

Reaching out, he cupped her smooth cheek in his palm. “I’m sorry I dismissed your feelings about him. I’m sorry for saying that shit about you looking for enemies in every corner. You were seeing what I refused to see. It was an arrogant and condescending thing to say. I hope you can find it—”

“Shh,”she said, her voice soft.“It’s okay. I understand. He’s your friend and you’ve known him a long—”

“No, none of that matters,” he said, cutting her off. “Youmatter to me. Kennedy, you’ve got to know I’m head over heels in love with you.”

At that, her lips parted and her eyes became glassy. “I love you too. I’m crazy in love with you and I’ve never felt like this about anyone before in my life.”

“Thank God for that,” he said against her mouth as he kissed her. Then he quickly pulled back, the sweet taste of her still on his lips. They needed to talk, and if he started kissing her now, he wouldn’t be able to stop, and he didn’t want to make love to her without clearing the air between them.

Nate inhaled a deep breath. “Let’s get through this first. Now, about Jack. He and I have been friends for a long time, but it’s obvious there are things about him I didn’t know. Or maybe I didn’t want to know.” Hindsight being 20/20, he was sure there had been signs. But he’d been too busy building and expanding, too concerned with the big picture to pay close enough attention to many of the details. He’d forgotten that companies like his needed constant vigilance if they wanted to keep the advantage diversity gave them.

“Or maybe,” she offered gently, “he was careful to keep that side of himself from you. Have you ever thought of that? Remember, he knows whoyouare. You’re Mr. Equity and Equality for All. If there was anyone he’d do his best to hide it from, it’s you.”

God, he loved her.

Nate stole another kiss, her heart-shaped lips plush and pliant against his. He pulled back again. “Well, he’s gone. I let him go. He’d been lying to me, and if it weren’t for you, God only knows how long it would have taken me to figure it out.”

“Not long. People like him eventually out themselves. Now, are you going to ask me why I was coming to see you?” Kennedy asked, smoothing her hands over his shoulder as she sat pressed against his side, practically in his lap. Forget the sex for a moment—she’d also missed the sound of his voice, the ocean breeze scent of him, and simply having him within reach, being able to touch him.

He peered down at her, brow arched. “Do I want to know?”

“I wanted to explain about the scholarship. Why I reacted the way I did.”

Nate covered her hand and held it still against his chest. “You don’t have to explain. I understand—”

“No, I do,” she insisted, planting a kiss on his jaw. “Hear me out.”

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