I wrapped my hands around her slim waist, holding her ass against me. "You were destined to come here sooner than later anyway." I kissed her neck, taking in a deep breath of that ocean breeze, realizing it was the same as her scent.
She turned around, her hands clinging to my neck. "I wish it were under better circumstances." The pain was so evident in her eyes; it punched me in the fucking gut. "That doesn't mean I'm not grateful or I don't appreciate this trip."
Kendall couldn't ever be an attorney. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and that was something I really liked about her. When it came to her emotions, I didn't have to dig. If she was upset, I saw it. If she was happy, she showed that too.
But what I saw now didn't settle well with me.
Even her voice had changed, an ache in every syllable she spoke.
"Listen to me …" I gripped her even tighter. "For as long as we're here, I want you to forget about what's happening. Consider this your bubble. No one will find you, and you don't have to hide." I aligned our mouths but didn't kiss her. "And no one can hurt you, not while you're with me."
"It sickens me to know what they're all saying about me, what they think about me." Her chest rose and fell so fast that I could tell she was trying to fight off tears. "Those are the thoughts that haunt me."
I turned her around and lifted her into my arms, moving my back against the pool, waiting for her hands to drop to my shoulders and her legs to circle my waist. "You can't change the way people think, how they feel, the way they react." I kissed her chest, right along her heart. "You can only control what's in front of you." I then moved to her lips, pressing mine against them, stalling there for several seconds. "Being here. Enjoying the escape." My mouth found hers again. "Us."
"You're right."
"Once we know the truth, we'll come up with a plan, a statement will be made, and you'll get an apology-whatever it looks like. But that's when you'll gain back some power, when you can control things from this end."
With her facing the beach, she broke eye contact to look at the water, her eyelids closing, the sound of the waves so prevalent, the perfect soundtrack. "I'm going to try." She finally looked at me. "I promise."
I was going to do everything I could to help her keep that mindset.
But that didn't mean my brain wasn't on fucking overdrive, scheming what I was going to do to the bastards responsible for this.
And how deep I was going to bury them.
"You and your family have something really special here," Kendall said, setting her fork down after taking a bite of her fish. "A private chef." She nodded toward the plate. "A yacht." She pointed at the boat that was docked out front. "Aside from your house in LA, this is the most beautiful home I've ever been in." A hint of a smile crossed her lips. "And, my God, that sky."
The sun was just setting, reflecting across the ocean.
But there was a sight more beautiful than anything she could ever list. "None of it compares to the girl sitting across from me." A blush moved over her cheeks as I added, "You have no idea how gorgeous you are, Kendall. Your humbleness is something I love about you."
"The way you look at me …" She paused, like she was almost speechless. "It sometimes makes it hard to breathe." She lifted her wineglass, and I could tell there was far more on her mind. "You know, when you left me at your house and you went to the studio to talk to the executives, my mind went wild with thoughts. One of the worries I had was if you were going to want to be with me anymore."
I reached across the table, grabbing her hand off her fork and holding it in mine. "What would make you think that?"
She took several deep breaths. "That Celebrity Alert made me look like a whore, someone so unlovable, and when you combine that description with those photos, I thought maybe you wouldn't want to be seen with me anymore."
She'd thought I'd be ashamed of her.
Embarrassed of the way she had been portrayed.
I got up from my chair and moved over to hers, kneeling so our faces would be close. "Never-do you hear me?" I gripped her cheek. "When I made the decision to be with you, I knew what it would entail, how public things would become. With fame comes scandal, and no matter how much you try to avoid it, the media brings it on. I didn't expect this to happen, but that doesn't mean I care any less about you. If anything, it makes me care more."
"I don't understand." She searched my eyes. "Why?"
"Because it's showing me how tenacious you are. Do you know how sexy that is?" I gently kissed her. "You had your ass kicked emotionally, but now, you're ready to kick someone's ass, and I can see that in your eyes."
Her teeth sank into her lip as she stared at me. "Man, I'm positively crazy about you."
"Baby …" I whispered, about to fucking devour her at this table.
But I couldn't.
The chef's assistant appeared to refill our waters, removing some of the plates we were no longer using and the homemade bread. "I hope you've saved room for dessert," he said. "The chef has prepared his own spin on cake balls." He smiled before he went back inside.