Page 64 of Second Start: Family
“Sorry.”
“It’s all right … I didn’t think anyone else was still around.”
“I saw the light on in here—” He tipped his head toward the road outside. “—on my way home from dropping off Zara.”
“I thought she was going to stay with you tonight. It was all the three girls could talk about — along with the Halloween festival.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, until she got an upset stomach after they’d gone to bed — couldn’t possibly be too much candy — then she wanted her mom and her own bed and she wanted them right that minute.”
Kenzie smiled. “They can be insistent, can’t they?”
“Insistent? I’ve handled enraged bulls who were easier to reason with.”
She chuckled.
He added with a sigh, “Enraged bulls and teenage sons.” Before she could respond, he said, “So what’s your excuse for being up at this hour, Ms. Smith?”
“Final touches.”
“Thought Bexley had a committee for that. Seemed like there was a committee for everything else.”
“Yes, and they — all of you — did a great job. But there were still a few things to put back up on the walls so we’re ready for Monday, since I’m going to the Feltons’ for dinner tomorrow.”
“Need a hand?”
“Nope. Just finished.” She took her jacket off the back of the desk chair, swinging it on, then straightening the chair.
“I’ll walk you to your trailer, then. Assuming you haven’t gotten yourself a shotgun yet.”
She half grinned as she came around the desk and stood in front of him. “Figured with it getting so cold, I’m safe from those rattlesnakes you mentioned until next spring.”
He took the open sides of her jacket in his hands, still at arm’s length, but connected. “If you’re cold now, you’ll need more than this for the next several months.”
At this moment, he couldn’t imagine ever being cold again.
Looking down at her, as she looked up at him, he swallowed. A deep, low slide of his Adam’s apple down, then slowly up.
Her eyes tracked the motion like a touch.
Her mouth…
If she…
She did. Her tongue flicking across her lips’ rounded surface.
He bent toward her. Held for a beat.
She knew he intended to kiss her.
She could stop it. Back away, make a gesture, say a word.
She didn’t.
Her mouth was under his.
At some level he thought he heard a sound. Not a single noise, but an ongoing note.
Defining it couldn’t compete with all his other senses.
