Page 122 of Mad Rivals
I gasp.
“Once that was done, which was just this morning, I went to talk to your father. I asked him for his blessing for the two of us to be together, and then I proposed another idea.”
I gasp again. “Did he give you his blessing?”
He shakes his head and hands the flowers to me, and I take them in my hands.
“No. But I told him it didn’t matter.” He bends down onto a knee right in front of me, right there on my front porch in my doorway, since I still haven’t invited him in. “I told him I was going to ask you to marry me either way.”
His words prompt my third gasp in the last thirty seconds.
“This may not be the most romantic time or place to ask you this, but I can’t wait another second. I love you, Kennedy. I thought I could keep you safe by pushing you away, but it turns out I just needed to pull you closer. The last month has been the worst in my life, and I realized it was because I didn’t have you by my side. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’ve never had anything so powerful and incredible, and I never want to let you go. Will you marry me?” He pulls a box out of his pocket and flips it open, and my eyes fall to a ring with a huge round-cut diamond inside.
My hands fly to my mouth.
I haven’t spoken to him in a month, and he shows up here today out of the blue to ask me to marry him.
I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I’m equal parts confused and giddy and unsure and positive.
“This is all so fast,” I say, and it sounds very much like ano.
“I know it is, and I’m not expecting you to answer right this second. Take your time. Think about it. I’m just running short on time, and I had to ask before it was too late.”
I blow out a breath, reach out to pull him up from the ground, and slip the box back into his pocket before I slide my arms around his waist. “I feel like I need some time to be sure I can trust you after you walked out on me.”
He pulls me close as he wraps his arms around me. “I’m back, Ken.”
He’s back.
But I don’t know ifweare back quite yet.
“Come on in,” I say, and we walk inside my house and over toward my couch. “What was the other thing you proposed to my father?” I ask softly once we’re sitting.
“I asked him to sign VBC over to you today,” he says, and I school my reaction to his words carefully. “I had this idea that we could worktogetherinstead of against each other, that we could merge Bradley with VBC and run this supergroup together. You know…make actual billions together thelegalway. I’ve thought about little else since I had the idea months ago. I thought someday we’d get married, and once we merged our lives, we’d merge our companies.” He shrugs with a bit of sheepishness. “Maybe it was only ever a pipe dream, but I loved the idea of working with you ever since I saw you working on SCS. If I’m the CEO of a development company, I’d rather work with my top competitor than against her.”
Heat pinches behind my eyes again at his words, but that call I got earlier today is enough to give me the confidence that what he’s saying is genuine.
“Say something,” he urges.
“My father called me earlier today. He forwarded the paperwork to me to officially name me CEO, and I signed it earlier today.” I duck my head a little. “I think it might be his way of giving us his blessing, not that either of us really needed it.”
He looks surprised by that.
“He made it sound to me like he was just ready to retire, but he specifically said that he knows I’m ready to take VBC to the next level. I think this might be what he meant by that.” I press my lips together as a tear escapes and rushes down my cheek. He thumbs it away.
“I know it might take time for you to trust me again, and I deserve that. I never should have left. But I hope you can seethat I was just trying to protect you from the illegal things my father was doing. You deserve so much better than getting tangled up with that. Just tell me what it’ll take. I’ll do anything to prove to you that this is genuine.”
I chew my bottom lip as I think quickly. I mean…hehassort of proven that, hasn’t he?
First by trying to protect me from getting involved with his father’s illegal activities, then by basically handing over Newman, and now by getting the ball rolling by talking to my father and extracting his own father from Bradley Group.
It feels like he’s doing what he can to take care of me in the way he will for the rest of our lives together.
All that feels like enough, but the feeling like I’m finallyhomeagain after floundering for weeks seems to be the most overpowering thing right now.
“VanBrad Construction Group. VBC Group. You make me fifty-one percent owner to your forty-nine, and we’re co-presidents. I want full financial transparency from both sides as well as an exit strategy in place before I sign anything, and I will demand a prenup that protects my family business in the event this goes south. We’ll also need a conflict resolution plan as well as a plan to separate work and personal life.” I give him my most intimidating pointed gaze.
