Chapter 24 #2
She hugged herself and shivered. “Believe me, you have everything you need. Don’t waste it.”
“I’m too focused for that.” He squeezed her shoulder, and she turned for them to resume their walk to their car.
“I’m not focused enough for anything.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t believe that for one second and said as much. She screwed her lips to the side, scrunching up her button nose, the effort of her thinking seeming to take all her physical focus.
Kenya tapped her lip, adding another level to her endearment, but even that didn’t distract him from the fleeting shift in her eyes when he said, “I’m sure you had something special you wanted to do, something that stirred your determination.”
“Maybe I had too much that I wanted, too many thoughts, too much floating around to hold on to.” She shrugged, a slight skip in her step as she walked through the VIP doors and maneuvered down the sidewalk from the stadium.
“But honestly, I really just wanted to—”
“Hey, watch out!” Solomon put his arm out, catching Kenya before she stumbled over an A-frame sign advertising a game-night pizza deal. He pulled her to him, her small body tucked into his arms.
After a moment, she slowly turned toward him, her eyes widening. “They sure do know how to get your attention, don’t they?” She leaned back. “Makes me want a slice of pizza now, actually. What about you?”
He didn’t care about pizza. “Makes me want to kiss you . . .”
She raised a perfectly arched brow. Probably not the response she expected, but maybe it was one she wanted? She pressed closer. “Then what are you waiting for, Doctor?”
He grasped her fingers and caught her arm, until she was against him, his arm around her waist. The warmth he felt in her fingertips must have their source here, at the place he couldn’t take his eyes away from.
Her eyes were lasers, cutting through his defenses and drawing him in so close he didn’t care if he got singed.
She watched him, a faint smile playing on her mouth as she observed his struggle.
Today he would surrender. Her lips were warm against his. Her arms pulled from his grip to wrap around his neck. Her scent mingled with the smell of basil and garlic coming from the restaurant. For a moment she relinquished as if satisfied, but then, in her own surrender, pressed in closer.
He cupped her face to keep her there. Closer. Past his hindrances and limitations. Past his disappointments and the weight of expectations. So close she might hear the stutter of his thoughts, the staccato beat of his heart—wildly, strangely more his rhythm when she was in the room.
Her own chaos like a storm he found peace in the eye of.
They remained locked for those eternal seconds, the swirl of decisions and consequences racing around them like a tempest, yet they stood perfectly at peace in each other’s arms. As if Someone surrounded and held them there.
Oh, God, what will it take to hold her here? In the place where he didn’t have to pretend or perform, where he could just be everything he was and all that he wasn’t.
She backed up. Looked at him in surprise.
Her eyes wild, as if she would run. But then she grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him closer.
An incredible feat considering her petite size, she tilted her head, lips curving into a wicked smirk.
“It’s about time, Solomon. Now, one more before we miss our flight. ”
“WELCOME BACK to work, friend.” Dedra met Kenya in the hallway. Thankfully, she could walk in with real shoes and hoped to retire her orthopedic boot for good. “You’re a fun sight for a Thursday.”
Dedra handed her a rubber-banded pack of letters. “And it’s good to see you coming in here with barely a limp.”
“Mm-hmm.” Kenya’s fingers drifted over the letters she would probably not read anyway. She handed the majority back to Dedra, ignoring the raised eyebrow her friend sent her way.
“I’m guessing your hours of PT have been going well.”
“All the hours and the after hours.”
Dedra gasped so loud a few of their coworkers popped their heads over the cubicles.
Kenya placed a hand over her mouth. “What did I say?” she mumbled through her fingers and peach nail polish.
“It’s what you’re not saying!” Dedra’s voice came through gritted teeth. She practically pushed Kenya down the rest of the hallway as gently as she could and didn’t lessen her momentum until they were behind the closed doors of their office.
“Okay, spill it, Kenya Stewart! This will not be like the wedding, when you shared very minimal details about it before you threw up your life. Sorry, but pun intended. I want every tidbit right now.”
Kenya put her hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay!” She plopped down on a corner chair and reached down to rub her ankle. “You sure you didn’t reinjure my foot in your mad dash to our office?”
Dedra waved any accusation away. “I don’t want to hear it! What I do want to hear is what has been going on between you and that delicious doctor.”
“Dedra!”
Dedra shot a glance through the glass portion of the door and then perched on the other end of the couch. “Listen, my boyfriend and I might as well be an old married couple at this point. Excitement for him is a trip to Buc-ees! I need to hear about something romantic in someone’s life.”
It was Kenya’s turn to raise her brows. “Y’all need to go ahead and get married.”
Dedra sighed and slumped against the seat. “Who are you telling? But I don’t know if I’m really ready to be the wife who cleans her husband’s game after he spends a whole weekend away hunting.”
She set her chin on her hand. “I’m just thankful for this job and the opportunity to pivot if I need to.
I just—wait a minute.” She slapped her hands down on her thighs.
“No, ma’am, you are not going to get me distracted in some attempt to change the subject.
I pushed you into this office not to discuss my supposed love life or even work—we are talking about you and the person who has gotten you to somehow slow down and smell the roses for the first time in God knows how long. ”
“I thought it was my reinjured ankle that caused all that.”
“Honey, if it wasn’t for that ankle, you wouldn’t be blushing over Dr. McDreamy.”
“Oh, he’s that level, huh?”
“Better.”
“I preferred McSteamy, to be honest. Well, in the looks, not so much the character. But I plead the fifth. How do you even know that I’m blushing? Rosy hues don’t exactly show up clearly on darker skin tones.”
“You are not going to plead anything, Kenya Stewart. You know that in about five minutes, your nemesis or our boss is going to stick his or her head into this doorway trying to size you and me both up for the next assignment. But you will not leave this chair or speak about anything else until you give me the details! And yes, I know you’re blushing because, in case you haven’t looked in a mirror lately, your eyes are sparkling, you can’t stop smiling, and you’re actually not talking as fast as you used to. ”
“How does that even count?”
“I told you, stopping to smell the roses.”
Kenya groaned and covered her face, too late to hide what her friend could clearly see.
What could she even say? Was there any point in even going as far as explaining the fake-date scenario when this felt more real than anything she’d experienced in a long time?
She peered through her hands at the expectant face of her friend.
Dedra’s knowing grin made all the moments bubble up that she’d tried so hard to justify away.
But one thing remained clear. Solomon was becoming too much of a fixture for her to ignore.
And she wanted to live in the moment of an evening she wouldn’t soon forget.
She removed her hands. Dedra released a hushed squeal and clapped her hands lightly together.
Kenya exhaled. “So, I met Solomon at work yesterday . . .”