Page 14 of Known By You
Did I think people could be soul-expanding?
Hard no.
“I’ve never met someone who makes me feel that way, that’s for sure. I mean, I love my parents and Jo… she’s probably the closest thing? But we’re still feeling our way back to how to interact in person.”
“You two have lived apart for so long,” he said, almost like he was explaining our challenge to himself.
And for some completely odd reason, I wanted to explain it.
“We have. I left when I was eighteen and she was just twelve. I didn’t mean to leave her, but I had to go, you know? I think she understood that. Or, I always hoped she did.”
She’d cried when I’d left for college, and the first time I’d called to say I wasn’t coming home for Christmas. I didn’t miss every year, but I never came home in the summers like she’d asked.
I’d always felt awful about it—the knowledge I needed to be out of the house forging my own path had helped, but the awareness that I’d left her, even for good reason, had stung.
“I doubt she understood then, but I’m sure she does now. She loves you so much and I’m sure she’s told you, but she’s so happy you’re here.”
I glanced at him to find his blue eyes looking sleepy but bright and pinned on me. He had a touch of scruff covering his face, like maybe he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. Even a little haggard, he was gorgeous.
Eyes back on the road, I nodded. “I know. I’m glad I’m here, too.”
Intuition made me clench my teeth against what I knew would come. Then I thought better of it and jumped to change the subject right as he spoke again.
“Whyareyou here? Did?—”
“So, feel free to nap or whatever, and we’ll stop in a bit for a stretch.”
I didn’t look over at him again, didn’t want to see if my overt evasion disappointed him or didn’t bother him at all. Somehow, either one would be a problem, so best not to take in that data.
Best to keep my eyes ahead, focus on getting through this mission, this stretch of time outside of the familiar, and soon enough, I’d get the go ahead to return to my life.
“Oh, great. Yeah. Maybe I will close my eyes for a bit,” he said, shifting so he faced forward and crossing his long arms. He wore his jacket and in seconds, he’d snuggled down and gone to sleep.
Left to my thoughts, I focused on the road and wondered how many more topics we’d each avoid before this trip was over. The minutes plodded along and soon, the coffee I’d been sipping for the last two hours had caught up with me. As if sensing a shift in the air, Kenny moved, stretching his long arms in front of him.
He’d been still and silent since I’d shut him down. I was fairly certain he’d been fully asleep the whole time, but I wasn’t sure I’d met anyone who could just veritably roll over and conk out like that.
“Hey, how we coming?” he asked, tilting his neck from one side to the other and squinting out at the bright sunlight. We’d left in darkness and now we were in the full desert morning sun.
“We’re almost three hours in, actually. I’m about ready for a pit stop. Thought I’d find a good place sometime soon.”
Standing up sounded heavenly. We could absolutely go farther if needed, but we had all day to make this trek and there was no point in torturing our bodies if we could take it easy. Who knew how challenging the clients would make the return trip.
I was used to human variables in my line of work, but not like this. I’d never had a scenario where I’d be spending days with someone I’d never met. Usually, my job entailed a slow build with someone until they were cultivated as an official Kappa sector asset. Even this little road trip jaunt to Hollywood felt like a kind of dream.
“Sounds good. Happy to take a turn driving if you’re ready to swap out.”
He continued stretching, pulling his knees to his chest and all kinds of things I’d never seen someone do in the small space of a passenger seat. Granted, he and his EMU active-duty counterparts were known for doing whatever it took to get the job done, so I could imagine road tripping without stopping was one of many tasks they mastered. Maybe the key was passenger seat yoga.
“This looks decent,” I said, pulling into a station with a large green dinosaur sculpture. Utah really loved leaning into their paleolithic past, I guessed.
“Perfect,” he said, then jumped out while I did the same.
I rounded the vehicle and came face to face with—well, with Kenny’s butt.
He was bent over, head hanging down and hands braced on his ankles, bobbing slightly, and I was just… staring.
Thankfully, I averted my eyes as though I’d beenchecking the place out all along and had not, in fact, been eying the glorious thickness of his thighs or his very muscular glutes. But honestly, the man was all muscle and athleticism in a way I’d never anticipated. Of course he was fit because that seemed to be the first box ticked at Saint. Incredibly fit? Check. Stupidly handsome? Check, check.
