Keeping Kennedy Read Online Free PDF Page B

adults. We respect that. When I was your age, your
father and I had already been living together for years.”
    Kennedy opened her mouth to protest but her
father halted her with a knowing look. “We’re cool with this,
sweetpea.” He gave his only daughter a wink. “Relax and enjoy.”
    His gaze carefully averted from her, Drake
followed Kennedy’s father into her childhood room. The big canopy
bed stood in the center of the room, still adorned with virginal
white lace and pink ribbons. What a travesty.
    This couldn’t be happening.
    She couldn’t do this.
    No way could she sleep in the same bed with
Drake for one night, much less the next six.
    Her gaze suddenly collided with the object of
her discomfort. Instantly and to Kennedy’s supreme annoyance, heat
suffused her.
    No way.
     
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    Kennedy glanced first at the shimmering
lights surrounding the Friendly Corners Country Club, then back at
her faux fiancé. She took a long, deep breath. This reception was
the first of several social hurdles on the week’s agenda. All she
had to do was change the subject when anyone pried too deeply into
her love life, and never let Drake out of her sight.
    Sidney T. Booker was a master of public
relations and Kennedy had learned well under his tutelage. Never
deny anything, keep changing the lead, and always—always—have a
diversion.
    “Okay,” Kennedy began, “remember—stick with
me and play along with whatever I say.” She pulled a serious face.
“I mean it, no improvising. This is my show.” She gave his tall
frame a quick appraisal. When she’d told him tonight was casual,
he’d definitely kept that in mind when making his wardrobe choices.
Criminally faded jeans and a ribbed cotton shirt the color of a
sandy beach. Kennedy frowned. The V neck plunged a little lower
than was necessary, the jeans molded to him a little more tightly
than she would have preferred, but all in all she supposed he would
do. She, on the other hand, had opted for a simple black dress with
a lady-like neckline and a hem that hit just above her knees.
    “Anything else?”
    “Take those sunglasses off,” Kennedy shot
back, annoyed. It was already dark—why did he need sunglasses? This
day had been the pits so far and she didn’t want it to get any
worse. “And try to…to look intellectual.”
    Drake’s brows shot up as he peered at her
over the rims of his confounding eyewear. “Intellectual?”
    Kennedy huffed. “You know, more brain than
brawn.”
    Drake pulled off the sunglasses and tossed
them into the car through the open window. “Gotcha,” he said with
an unmistakably smug expression. “In other words, be my usual
charming and irresistible self.”
    Kennedy opened her mouth to take him down a
notch or two, but a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Oh, wait!”
She jerked the car door open and reached into the glove box. She
shoved aside her cell, resisting the urge to turn it back on, and
retrieved her borrowed ring. She’d forgotten to put it on before
arriving at her parents’ house, but they’d been so excited to see
her that they hadn’t noticed she wasn’t wearing one.
    Details. Kennedy never forgot details. This
was not a good sign.
    She pulled the one-carat solitaire from its
black velvet case and closed the glove box. As she shoved the car
door shut with one hip and she admired the diamond beneath the full
moon’s glow.
    “Nice rock.”
    Kennedy smiled up at him, oddly pleased by
the unexpected compliment. “Thanks.” It was a nice ring. She really
loved it. Too bad she’d be giving it back next week. With a shrug,
she started to slide the ring onto her left ring finger.
    “Allow me.” Taking her left hand in his,
Drake accepted the ring between his right thumb and forefinger.
    Mesmerized by the intent expression on his
incredibly handsome face, she held her breath as he slipped the
ring into place. She shivered when he lifted her hand to his lips
and kissed the spot right next