K:He told me when we had drinks a couple of weekends ago.
C:Please tell me ‘drinks’ was a typo.
An echo bouncedoff the vaulted ceiling as the front door creaked open. Kenna chucked her phone into her bag, pretending she was wrapped up in reading the nearest book and fighting to ignore the way her pulse flickered in her throat.
Discussing Dr. Merino carried an inherent danger, even with no one around.
“We’re closing in five,” she announced.
The dark, teasing remark that followed from a familiar baritone tightened her shoulders.
“You look awfully busy. I’ll come back another time.”
Her gaze snapped up from the pages and there stood the devil in the flesh, resting his forearms atop the high counter. She willed her features to soften.
“Shouldn’t you be heading home?”
“I wanted to see you.” Dr. Merino’s brow furrowed as if he’d been put off by his own honesty.
Kenna forgot how to breathe, a fish reacquainting itself with water after it had been stranded ashore. She distracted herself by powering down the computer system and gathering her things, delaying her unavoidable addressing of him until she exited through the partition. “I kiss you and then it’s radio silence. How do you suppose I’d react to that?”
Bag slung over her shoulder, she barreled past Dr. Merino toward the double doors. Kenna shoved the metal bar to force one side open.
Neither her speed nor disinterest fazed him.
“I needed some time to process what happened.”
“I don’t have time for this.”
Truly, she didn’t. Her brain was supposed to be warming up for her week of sleuthing, not fixating on the soap opera grade love subplot unfolding between her and Dr. Merino. Their seed of a relationship was just as fictional.
She turned and, met with an empty bicycle rack, chewed the inside of her cheek until the metallic tang of blood spread in her mouth.
The clinking jingle of keys cut through Kenna’s fury.
“Want a ride, kid?”
His original plan in seeking out Kenna had not included stealing her bike, but when he spotted the chained Beaumont City he capitalized on the opportunity. The deed reeked of childish despair.
It was an impulsive attempt to deny the undeniable.
Spring break would prove excruciating. Dayton had come to expect her presence. Not having her around felt foreign. The absence of her company took a backseat to his chief concern: what, or worse yet who, would she be doing during their week without contact?
Several students whispered in passing at the sight of them together but Dayton could not bring himself to care.
Dean Raza had plenty of chances to fire him over the years, and this act brimmed with innocence when compared to his other transgressions.
An earsplitting silence filled the walk from the library to the parking lot. Kenna wasn’t one to fall mute. In his experience, she had no shortage of topics to conjecture on.
Her first comment did not come until they’d departed the university’s gates.
“I told you to stop calling me ‘kid.’” It came out soft, lacking the defensive edge she often employed with him.
“So you did. I’ll work on that.”
He glanced at the clock as he turned onto the main road. Nathan and Charlaine had invited him for dinner at 6:30. He could afford to be a few minutes late with his little prize in tow. Any repercussions were worth the temporary bliss.
Oh, just having Kenna there beside him.