“Hello, Bo. I hear congratulations are in order. Hailey-Jean, you look beautiful.” Ryker looked down at Kenzie, who managed to pull that off without a hint of bitterness.
“I’m surprised you came. I’ve heard you want Bo back. I hope it’s not too hard to see us so happy together.” Hailey-Jean and Bianca must have attended the same school because they both had the same mean spirit.
“You must have heard wrong,” Kenzie said with confusion. “I’ve never wanted Bo back. I have my own life in Charleston. Bo, Hailey, this is my boyfriend, Ryker Faulkner.”
“That’s right. Katie-Jane said you work on the docks. I’m the assistant manager at the factory myself. No more manual labor for me,” Bo said smugly.
Ryker wanted nothing more than to crush this jerk, but Kenzie started bopping next to him and looking out at the dance floor. “Katie-Jane is mostly right. I do work there sometimes, but I own the shipping company. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my angel wants to dance.”
Ryker turned and held out his hand. Kenzie grabbed it and as she dragged him to the dance floor he heard Katie-Jane telling them about Skye’s dress. “Was that too much? Should I have stayed a dockworker?” Ryker asked as soon as he had her in his arms.
“It was perfect. Now that that’s over with we can just enjoy the night.”
The music changed to a fast song and Kenzie didn’t leave the floor. Katie-Jane and several of their friends joined them and before long Ryker’s tuxedo jacket was off, his sleeves were rolled up, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d danced all night.
“Want a drink?” Ryker shouted into Kenzie’s ear as she jumped up and down to a song. She nodded and he made his way through the crush of people to the bar.
“I looked you up. Seems you can afford to buy a lady a drink.”
Ryker’s smile fell as Hailey-Jean sidled up against him. Her arm snaked through his and she pressed her breasts against his side.
“And I’m taken.” Ryker peeled her off him and took a step back.
“For like, what, a week? I’ve seen pictures of you with other women just a month ago at some charity event. We all know a man like you needs a real woman who can navigate society. Kenzie’s never known how to do that. She’s just a country bumpkin.”
“And you, a newlywed, can do it better?” Ryker asked, not hiding the disdain from his voice. “I don’t think so. Go back to your husband and don’t bother me or Kenzie again.”
Ryker turned to the bartender and ordered two beers.
“Kenzie couldn’t hold on to Bo in high school. She won’t be able to hold on to you either. She’s a boring little goody-goody who can’t run in the circles you need her to. She won’t understand your lifestyle. The first time she catches you with another woman she’ll throw a fit and leave. You need someone who will stick by you but let you do your own thing,” Hailey-Jean said as she angled in close to him.
Ryker may have dated a lot over the years, and he may have thought that was the ideal relationship at one point, but not any longer. Not after seeing his family find their true loves and certainly not after getting to know Kenzie.
“If you think Kenzie is boring, you never knew her. I’m not interested in your offer and I’m sure your husband isn’t either. As for Kenzie and me? Well, it’s none of your damn business.” Because he knew with certainty he loved her and he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell Hailey-Jean that before he told Kenzie.
Ryker tossed a twenty onto the bar, took the beer, and headed back to Kenzie with a big smile on his face. Kenzie was dancing, horribly, to some boy band hit from the time she was in high school.
“Come dance with us,” Katie-Jane said, grabbing his arm. “My husband won’t dance with me so you get to be the fill-in partner for all of us ladies.”
And that was how Ryker ended up surrounded by Kenzie and all of her girlfriends doing the Macarena.
Kenzie had never laughed as hard as she had when Ryker did the Macarena. Someone had to have taken a picture of it and she would laugh just as hard when it got sold to a tabloid. Billionaire Does the Macarena at High School Reunion. She loved him for it even more because he knew it could be in the news and he didn’t care. He was having fun and that meant the world to Kenzie.
“Kenzie, seriously, he’s amazing,” Katie-Jane said as they jumped up and down and raised the roof with their hands to the next song. “Uh-oh. Here comes Bo.”
Kenzie saw Ryker notice him, but he looked to her for instruction. Kenzie shook her head and Ryker went back to dancing with Seraphina, the dorkiest dork of them all in high school. Not that she’d changed much, but Seraphina had also been one of the nicest girls in the entire high school. Only Katie-Jane and Kenzie had known that, though. They’d been popular enough to withstand the teasing they got for being friends with her. Seeing Ryker dancing and laughing with her made her fall even deeper in love with him.
“You got one interesting date there. Hailey-Jean told me he tried to get her to go home with him. Promised to set her up as his mistress,” Bo said with anger.
“I doubt that,” Kenzie said. The old feelings of jealousy and questioning her trust in her boyfriend ended with Bo. Ryker didn’t play games. She knew that firsthand. He was blunt and to the point. He always told it like it was. “Bo, Hailey-Jean has always wanted what I had. It’s why she moved in on you in high school when we first started dating. It’s why you slept with her in junior year, when you both thought I didn’t know. Everyone just convinced me I had to stay with you because you were the best I could get. It’s why she joined the cheerleading squad. It’s why she did everything she did in high school. For some reason, she thought it was a competition between us when I never cared about her one way or the other.”
“I’m telling you, that scum hit on a married woman when she went to get a drink,” Bo said with his hands on his hips. Ryker moved closer with Seraphina, sensing something was wrong.
“And I’m telling you, Bo, he didn’t. I can guarantee it. I trust Ryker. I don’t trust Hailey-Jean.”
“He’ll just lie to you if you ask him,” Bo said, thinking she was going to ask Ryker.
Kenzie rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to ask him and we’re not going to ask Hailey-Jean. I will get to the bottom of it, but it comes with a price. When I have proof it was Hailey-Jean who hit on Ryker, I want you two to leave the reunion and leave my reputation and me alone forever. No more telling people I’m jealous. No more telling people I want you back. I left Hanover a long time ago and have made a happy life for myself. Just be happy for me like I’m happy for you. Okay?”
Bo was quiet for a moment. “You’ve changed, Kenzie.”
“No, I just stopped caring what you think of me. Come on.” Kenzie turned and headed to the bar with Bo following behind her. She pulled a ten out from her bra and waved the bartender over. “Ten bucks to settle a bet between my friend and me.”
“Sure thing,” he said with a smile as he looked her over.
“See that man and that woman?” Kenzie said, pointing out Ryker and Hailey-Jean. “We have a bet on what was said when they were getting a drink. I don’t want to tell you what we think, but I bet you heard them.”