Page 9 of Known By You
Kenny’s energy halted in a way that meant he’d stopped breathing.
Maybe I had, too? Despite the cacophony coming from inside the pub, out here in the chill of the Utah winter, the air fell deadly silent—a bit eerie.
And there it came again—more than a little unearthly. Surreal. Soon, everything would shift into a smear of color and light and mouths would stretch into facsimiles of Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
Or, you know, it’d just keep feeling a little odd.
“Any questions for now? Kenny can get you two outfitted with whatever you need, plus I believe Cookie was planning to help load you up. Car should be ready to go, and we’ll be here on the receiving end Monday.” Bruce glanced between us with a pleasant expression.
“Sounds good,” I said, hoping I was right.
“Mmhhm. Yep. All good. We’re golden, bossman. Just call us the golden egg and the, uh, you know, the other golden thing from the?—”
“Goose?” Bruce offered.
“Harp?” I tried.
Kenny’s mouth flattened. “Whatever. We’re good. Be free and go smolder at your fiancée.”
Bruce clapped Kenny on the shoulder, then shuffled back inside.
The bite of wintry air nipped at my bare arms and hands, but it had nothing on the chill of Northern Germany or even DC. The dry Utah climate helped it not feel like a bone-deep cold, and I greatly appreciated that. Wearing a coat was enough of a barrier here, whereas in much of Europe and the Eastern US, winter was brutal and unrelenting in its quest to burrow down to your marrow and chill you.
Silverton’s cold felt lighter—more manageable even. So I’d enjoy it while it lasted.
When we’d stood there alone for a few seconds, I turned to him with narrowed eyes. He’d been a bit squirrely in terms of his energy and overall dialogue. Plus, he’d asked me out and I’d said no. Some men couldn’t handle closeness with a woman who’d turned them down, though so far that hadn’t seemed to bother him, but I’d rather ask now than have it blow up in my face halfway to LA.
“Are you okay partnering with me?”
His big blue eyes blinked in what had to be slow motion. I shouldn’t have even been able to tell his eyes were blue, but even out here in the dark, I could see they weren’t dark and stormy, but all kinds of clear and light.
He was just so dang handsome. And it was so annoying to be noticing that right after we’d gotten a workbriefing. I didn’t think about people’s physical appearance all that much unless it was to describe them for a report—height, build, guess on weight, skin color, hair color, eye colormaybe, affect, accent, guess at origins… sometimes these things factored into evaluating a potential asset or tracking someone.
Noticing how a man’s blue eyes sparkled was nonsense and not my norm.
“Of course. I’m happy to work with you. It’ll be fun.” He stood straighter and shifted on his feet. “The real question is whether you’re comfortable working with me.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
He huffed, a billow of frozen breath emerging from his lips. “Well, I asked you out a while back, which you maybe don’t even remember, but?—”
“Of course I remember. But that doesn’t make working with you a problem, especially since we never did go out.”
I didn’t miss the small wince he quickly covered. So he did have a little bruised ego about it. I wasn’t convinced he’d noticed at all, let alone cared when I said no, but here he was worried I wouldn’t work with him because of it?
Maybe I’d missed something, but from my perspective, it had all been casual and relatively inconsequential.
Hadn’t it been?
“Right. Perfect.” His eyes met mine and then he glanced toward the pub door. “We should head back in before we both end up with frostbite. I can’t exactly afford to lose any more fingers.”
My small gasp made him chuckle.
“Sorry. I forget you don’t know me well enough to not be offended on my behalf.”
I quirked a brow at him.
He shrugged. “I can’t change what happened, norwould I, really. I lost a few fingers, but in the end, it could’ve been worse.” His expression darkened before he clucked. “So! Let’s get back inside before your sister comes to hunt me down.”
