Page 103 of Token

His arm tightened around her waist.

“In all my relationships, I’ve always seen myself as an equal. Even if the guy made more money than me, I was fine with it because we were still on the same plane. In the same league, so to speak. People wouldn’t look at us and think,Why would he settle for her when he can do better?”

Nate stiffened against her, his chest stilling beneath her palm. She knew he was about to interrupt and tell her she was being irrational. “Please, let me finish,” she urged softly. With those words, she felt his body lose some of its rigidity. “Then you came along. Twice. Once when I had no sexual experience to speak of. And I fell for you hard. Not in a married, happily-ever-after way, though. I was too young for that, and youweremy first. But I did hope it would last longer than a month,” she stated with a dry laugh.

“You couldn’t have wanted it more than me,” he said, his tone equally dry.

“But you were probably right to end it when you did. I needed to concentrate on school and you had your company.”

He tipped her chin with his finger and stared deep into her eyes. “Even if I wasn’t growing my company, you were too young for what I would have wanted.”

Kennedy’s whole body shivered at the huskiness in his voice and meaningfulness of his tone. She cleared her throat. “But this time—” She broke off, in search of the right words. “This time I decided to just go with it. See how far it went. But I knew I had to accept everything that came with. Your wealth, your looks—”

“You like my looks?” he asked with a look of feigned surprise.

“—your parents being who they are,” she continued, as if he hadn’t facetiously interrupted for an ego stroke. Vain,vainman. “And because we’re an interracial couple, we’d get the stares and the double looks. I knew it all came with the territory and I was willing to accept that.”

“If they stare at us, it’s because you’re so beautiful,” Nate whispered, briefly kissing her on the lips, no doubt in an act of repentance for his vanity.

“Okay, whatever,” she said with a small smile. “But you know what I mean. That’s our reality. And then I found out about the scholarship, and what I considered my biggest accomplishment—putting myself through college—wasn’t even mine anymore. It was yours. A degree from an Ivy League school opened doors for me that would otherwise have been closed. It was the foundation of everything else—my jobs, the agency, everything. I owed you so much and it made the gap between us wider, and I hated that.”

Sighing heavily, Nate briefly closed his eyes, his expression pained. Gently touching her cheek with the pad of his thumb, he said, “The last thing I ever wanted was to make you feel as if you’re somehow indebted to me. You’re not. That’s not why I did it. And everything you’ve achieved, from your degrees to the agency, is because of your intelligence and hard work. I didn’t do that. You did.”

Kennedy worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she looked into his eyes. “I knew that in a logical sense, but it was hard to change how I felt. Of all the people in my life, Ineededyou to see me as your equal, and the scholarship made me feel like a charity case. Like your personal cause. And that’s the last thing I wanted to be to you.”

“Sweetheart, you’re more than just my equal. You’re the love of my life.”

You’re the love of my life.

Kennedy shivered as tears pricked the backs of her eyes. She’dnevertire of hearing him say those words to her.

“Do you want to know what used to scare the hell out of me?” Nate asked, his expression solemn.

“Without question,” Kennedy replied. The more she learned about him, the more she wanted to know.

“I was afraid that one day you’d decide you wanted a nice quiet life with someone like your ex. A life where no one stared at you because you’re with me and all the other shit that can go with us being together. I was afraid one day you’d throw in the towel and decideIwasn’t worth the aggravation.”

Wow!She never would’ve imagined he’d harbored those kinds of fears. But then again, she’d subconsciously placed him in the driver’s seat of their relationship. He, on the other hand, had seen them as co-drivers, both equally capable of driving it off the road or stopping and getting out. Of course, she preferred the version where they drove off into the sunset together.

As she looked into his blue eyes, suddenly he appeared more vulnerable, making her fiercely protective of him. “Nathaniel Vaughn, you are wortheveryaggravation.”

His expression softened. “That’s exactly how I feel about you. I looked at the scholarship as a gift. Maybe it’s because I’ve been given so much in my life, but I think it’s natural to want to do the same for others, especially the people I care about. And if there’s one thing I’m one hundred percent certain of, it’s that if our positions were reversed, you’d do the same. You’d use your money and all your advantages to help others. You’ve always had that equal justice warrior streak in you. It’s what you’re doing right now with the agency.”

Kennedy’s heart swelled. She wanted desperately to believe she was doing good, but after what had just happened with Joseph Russo, she wanted to do better. Vowed she would do better.

“When I was talking to Sahara about this earlier, she said you were born on third base, and I—”

Nate interrupted with a barked laugh. “I’m surprised she didn’t sayfirst and goal. Didn’t she perform in the Super Bowl halftime show a few years back?”

“No, she sang the national anthem,” Kennedy corrected. “And she didn’t mean it in a negative way.”

“I know exactly how she meant it.” He smiled, indicating he took no exception to the remark.

“So in keeping with the baseball analogy, I changed it a bit. You see, in my scenario, you’re born on third base, but on your next time up at bat, you hit a home run.”

Chuckling softly, he kissed her on the forehead as his hand slid up her waist, coming to rest right below her breast. “I think you’re giving me a little too much credit. I’m only thirty-four and I have a lot more to do in life—things that have nothing to do with what’s in my bank account or how much my company is worth.”

“Things like what?”

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