Page 67 of Kenna's Dragon

Blair

By the time Saturday morning rolls around, I’m more than ready for a couple days away with Kenna.

I haven’t gotten more than a passing glimpse of her at the Bureau since we parted Wednesday night, and there’s a dark, clawing hunger in the bottom of my belly to see her again, have her near me, bask in her scent and her presence.

It’s not rational, I know, and probably another in a long line of mistakes I’m making with her, but there’s no damn force on Earth that could stop me from getting in my car on Saturday morning and driving to her house. When I pull up and see my ember waiting for me, my dragon hisses his approval.

Standing on the front steps, Kenna has a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and aviator sunglasses perfectly framing her full cheeks and bouncy curls. She’s wearing white denim shorts that hug her thighs and a soft green t-shirt with a scooped neckline that shows off acres of her pale, freckled skin.

When I park the car on the street out front, get out, and make my way to her, she props a hand on her hip and looks me up and down.

“What?” I ask, holding my hand out for her bag.

Satisfyingly, she hands it over without giving me any lip.

“I just… thought we might be flying.”

I bark a laugh at that as I settle the bag over my shoulder and take her hand, leading her to the car. “The place we’re going is a couple hundred miles away. You’d want to be pinned in my talons for that long?”

Kenna doesn’t answer, but laughs and slides into the car after I open her door for her. I toss her bag in the back and circle around to the driver’s side. As we pull away from her place, she shoots me a teasing look.

“Maybe I could have ridden you.”

I look over at her, amused. “Ridden me?”

“Yeah. In your full dragon form. I’m sure I could just slap a saddle on you and ride you like a horse.”

I swear to all the gods, the mouth on this woman.

“Nobody’s ever ridden me, ember.”

Well, at least not in the sense she’s implying. In the other sense of the word, however…. She smirks and opens her mouth, probably to make that exact point, but I speak again before she can. “You’ve ridden horses before?”

Kenna nods. “Yeah. My parents have a farm back in Idaho. It’s pretty much impossible to grow up out in the sticks and not end up on a horse a time or two.”

The sudden image of Kenna in tight jeans, a plaid shirt, boots, and a cowboy hat makes me smile.

“Tell me more about it.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Any of it.”All of it.

By the way she’s looking at me, I can tell she isn’t sure where this burning need to know more about her is coming from. And instead of trying to understand it myself, I decide that teasing her a little is much more likely to get me to my goal sooner.

“Humor me?” I ask as we leave her neighborhood and head for the highway. “It’s going to be a long drive, and I’d love to hear more about this rodeo career of yours.”

Kenna shakes her head with a wry smile on her face before launching into a story about how she sprained her wrist once when she tried to vault up into the saddle. It’s followed by another about a classmate of hers who rode a horse to their senior prom, and then another about her own prom date. A boy who apparently passed out on spiked punch before they even got the chance to dance.

There’s an honesty and an openness to the things she shares, along with certain beats of sarcasm and even a slight edge of bitterness when she touches on some details about the place where she grew up. I’m intrigued by the contradiction, but don’t want to pry beyond asking encouraging questions that keep her talking.

The sound of her voice, the irreverence and humor and candor in the stories she tells, all of it lulls me into a calm, mellow satisfaction as I navigate us out of the city.

I’m taking us to a lake house a few hours outside Seattle. It’s surrounded by peace and quiet, trails for walking and towering pines that give it the illusion of being in a world entirely separate from the one we’re leaving behind for the weekend.

The place belongs to Ari and her husband, and though they don’t get away from the city to stay there as much as they would like, they’re always more than generous with letting their friends make use of it. I’ve never gone there myself, but it was the first place that came to mind when I got the idea of taking Kenna somewhere.

Still, the same nagging sense of shame won’t leave the back of my mind as I consider what we’re doing. Coming all the way out here. Spending this time together where no one we know will see us.

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