“Are you ready?” Dax asked as he straightened his tie. Perfectly groomed and dressed in his dark suit, he looked like he could hold his own with anyone’s family. She wanted to believe the strength she sensed in him, but he’d told her on several occasions he didn’t like complicated and that’s what her family was. “Dax, I need to tell you something. I should have told you earlier.”
He paused while putting his watch on. “I’m listening.”
Here goes. “My brothers heard you’ll be at my parents’ house, so they’re going to be there as well.”
He finished securing his watch.
“All of them,” she stressed.
He picked his phone off the table and put it into the breast pocket of his suit then held her gaze with a carefully blank expression that was often his first response. The man she wanted to talk to was the one he hid behind that wall. Kenzi waved a hand in the air for emphasis. “Imagine my father, but a hundred times worse. I don’t know what they’ll say to you, but some of it might not be very nice. You don’t have to put yourself through this if you don’t want to. It’s one thing to meet my mother, but you don’t know how bad my brothers can be.” When he still didn’t look impressed, she added, “Meeting them tends to end any relationship I’m in. I don’t want to lose you because they—”
Dax closed the distance between them and cupped her chin with one of his hands. “So tell them to shut the fuck up.”
The blunt way he said it had Kenzi choking on a shocked laugh. “I couldn’t.”
A smile curled Dax’s lips. “You’d say it nicer than I would, but I saw you with your father. You’re stronger than you think you are. You told him exactly what you needed from him. It sounds like your brothers need the same talk.”
“They’d never—” Kenzi stopped herself there. Dax was right. She had been focused on his reaction to her brothers’ behavior, but taking charge of her life wasn’t just about talking about the past. She needed to stand up to her brothers, not just for Dax, but for herself. “You’re right. I won’t let them drive you away.”
Dax ran a hand through her hair. “Let’s be clear about something: there is nothing they could say to me that would end our—” He stopped as if the correct word eluded him. “I won’t go if you don’t want me to, but if you do, remember that they don’t matter to me. What they say doesn’t matter. I’ll tell them all where to shove it if that’s what you need me to do, but I have a feeling that’s not what you’d want to see today.”
“I do want you to go, and no, I wouldn’t want that.” Kenzi wanted to throw her arms around Dax. He was walking into an emotional battlefield, and his concern was how it would affect her. The words “I love you” would have been easy to say in that moment, but Kenzi held them back. He wasn’t ready to hear them, and what they had was too new. Once said, those three words were impossible to take back. Kenzi looked down at Taffy who was giving her the saddest look from her dog bed. “Would you mind if I took Taffy in your town car?”
His answer was a snap of his fingers similar to how she’d called Taffy to her side so often. Taffy rushed to his side, favoring her still bandaged foot, but she was wagging her tail. He frowned down at her. “Do not make a mess in my car, do you understand?”
Taffy whined and wagged her tail harder. She could see past his tough exterior as easily as Kenzi could.
“I’ll bring a towel,” Kenzi said quickly. “Or we could call a different car service.”
He continued to look down at little dog. “No, Taffy and I have an understanding.”
“If you’re sure,” Kenzi said with a smile. She left the two of them briefly to put some treats, Taffy’s leash, and a towel in a bag just to be safe. When she returned Taffy was still looking up at Dax with open adoration. It was remarkable that Taffy trusted anyone, considering what she’d been through, but Dax had strength that was easy to trust. I like him, too, Taffy.
A few minutes later, Kenzi and Dax were settled into the backseat of his town car. Taffy was on a towel on Kenzi’s lap. Although she was headed off into what looked like it would be an emotionally charged family gathering, Kenzi wasn’t scared. Dax was checking his email on his phone, but he was at her side. Taffy still looked like she’d survived a war, but she trusted Kenzi and Dax enough to be excited about going somewhere with them. Kenzi laid her hand on the dog’s back and found strength in her visible injuries. You’re so brave, Taffy. I haven’t always been, but I’m working on it.
Kenzi looked at Dax and said, “You’ll like my mother. I’ve never heard her say an unkind word to anyone.”
Dax pocketed his phone and took her hand in one of his. “She passed that trait down to you.”
Kenzi shrugged. “Yes and no. I think nice comes naturally to her. I didn’t have much of a choice.”
Dax arched an eyebrow. “Is she mentally unstable?”
It was a harsh question to ask, but Kenzi had gotten used to Dax speaking his mind with her. His honesty was one of the many things she loved about him. “I don’t think so. She might have been right after my twin died, but that was a long time ago. Every year she falls into a kind of a depression during the month we were born, but I don’t know what I’d be like if I ever lost a child. Every year my brothers and I would spend a week at my parents’ house and wait it out. This past year, my brother Asher brought Emily home. My mother adores her, so it was a better year than most.”
“Do you like her?”
“My mother?”
“Emily.”
“I did when I first met her. Truth? My parents listen to her in a way they’ve never listened to me. If she says she thinks something is a good idea, we end up doing it. Asher has always been a bit overbearing, and I can almost handle that, but it’s hard to stomach being forced to jump every time his fiancée thinks we should.”
“Who is forcing you?”
“In our family we tend to do whatever makes my mother happy.”
“Or?”
Kenzi shrugged. “Or we’d shoulder the guilt of having disappointed our father and hurt our mother.”
Dax nodded. “My uncle who took me in after my father died was a very controlling man. It was his fist, not guilt, that he used to keep me in line. I wasn’t sad when he died.”
Kenzi laced her fingers with his and kept her silence. This was the Dax she knew he kept hidden from the world.
“I didn’t miss my father after he died, either. He was never there for me. The only time he spent with me was when he wanted a woman to believe he was a good father, and afterward he’d drop me back off at school. I wouldn’t hear from him until he wanted to put on a show again.” He looked out the window as he spoke. “I don’t know your parents, but your father seemed to care about you. I imagine he’d want a daughter who would miss him. Your mother sounds the same way. If you let them control you, you’ll rob them of that.”
Kenzi’s took a long, shaky breath. Whenever she thought she couldn’t be more grateful to Dax, he said or did something that revealed how much he cared. He wasn’t sharing his pain to make himself feel better, he was opening himself to her because he wanted her to have something he’d never had. Tears filled Kenzi’s eyes. Love may not be in your vocabulary, Dax, but it’s in your heart.
When they pulled up to her parents’ home, Kenzi handed Taffy and the towel to Dax. “Do you mind if I go in first? I need a few minutes alone with my family.”
Dax was probably the only man who could still look drop-dead sexy and perfectly in command while holding a half bald dog. “Take your time.”
Feeling spontaneous and more than a little grateful, Kenzi gave Dax a long deep kiss before moving toward the door his driver held open.
Dax smiled. “Or hurry. I told the office I wasn’t coming in today.”
And I’m dragging him to meet my family? Am I crazy? Kenzi flushed as her body hummed with anticipation of being in his arms again. She shook her head and reminded herself that all of this was part of her journey. If she ran and hid with h
im she would never become the woman she wanted to be.
“We don’t have to stay long.”
Dax didn’t say anything, but she knew he’d stay as long as she needed him to. Having him in her life not only gave her confidence, but it also changed her perspective about some things. She did resent the way her family overrode her plans. She resented how effectively they’d silenced her, how not wanting to disappoint them had guided so many of her decisions. No, she didn’t want to hurt them, but she didn’t want to hate them, either. She wasn’t a child anymore. But I’m letting them treat me like one. Dax is right, I’m resenting them for something that I do have control over.
She squared her shoulders as she opened the door of her parents’ home. Her father met her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Dale looked past her at the car in the driveway. “Your friend isn’t coming in?”
Kenzi met her father’s eyes with a boldness that was new to her. “I asked him to give me a few minutes to speak with everyone first.”
