Chapter 28 Had A Plan
HAD A PLAN
If she had nerves before entering her place of business, they were nothing like what was flooding her body now.
Her fingers were tingling, her knees were almost shaking, her heart was pounding, and there might be a dab of sweat on her upper lip.
Nelson wanted them to walk in holding hands.
She’d told him that was ridiculous and she wasn’t thirteen.
He’d laughed with her, but she could tell he had been serious.
They had a plan and she’d see if he was going to defer from it.
The elevator landed on the top floor, several people got out with them and made their way to their desks.
She and Nelson were side by side until they got to him having to turn. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he said.
Good. He was following her lead. “Just come get me.”
He hesitated as if he wanted to kiss her, but held back. She didn’t want that either. It’d feel like too much of a production.
Even if she wouldn’t have minded it for the moral support.
His family knew what was on the agenda and though there’d be no talk of their marriage, they weren’t going to keep the space from each other anymore.
She wasn’t at her desk twenty minutes before Braylon popped over.
“Hey. All good?”
She smiled and nodded her head. She really did like her boss.
He was helpful with work, kind with his words, and supportive when she didn’t realize how much she needed it.
Nothing had been done enough to trigger gossip so the morning went on as normal.
When her phone went off a little after twelve that Nelson was on his way down, she knew it was time to pull up her big girl panties.
He didn’t get it. No one was going to judge and accuse him of anything.
The woman was always the one who got talked about behind backs. Not just stabbed in the back but right in the breastbone too.
She wouldn’t run to him and whine or cry either if it happened.
He didn’t need to think she couldn’t handle herself, because she could.
She’d accepted all the other changes in her life so far just fine. Kind of.
“Ready?”
Kenzie lifted her head to see him standing there leaning against the half wall, his hands in the pockets of his tan pants, his peach and white striped button-down shirt tucked in, the sleeves rolled up, white sneakers on his feet.
He was much more stylish than any other man she’d been around. More than his brothers who dressed on the conservative side.
Guess it went with his being the fancy one in the family who everyone said he was.
He had eyes on him at all times without even trying.
She pushed back in her chair, opened the desk drawer for her purse and stood up. “I am. I’m hungry. Where are we going?”
“The cafeteria.”
She gulped. She knew that was a possibility. The fastest way to get it out there.
“Got it,” she said.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, his breath blowing over her skin and making her want to snuggle in next to his body. “Like taking a Band-Aid off.”
She nodded her head. If she grabbed his hand, she knew he’d hold it and be her crutch. But she’d told him her thoughts on that and she’d have to stand by it.
“I thought I’d grill steaks tonight,” she said when they walked to the elevator.
He turned and smiled. Slow, magnetic and with a flicker of something more hidden beneath the surface.
She thought she saw it in his eyes, the same hope she felt, the same yearning, but neither of them spoke it aloud.
Could it be they were both afraid?
Though Nelson rarely let on that he was afraid of much.
“I’d like that,” he said. “I’ve got a call at eight, but it shouldn’t take long.”
“We’ll be done long before that,” she said. “And I’ve got some studying to do.”
They were drawing looks with their conversation. Even a few open mouths, but nothing more.
It was starting and wasn’t as hard as she’d thought it’d be. A normal conversation they would have at any other time.
But once they got to the cafeteria, right at prime eating time, she felt her gut fill with enough nervous energy that there couldn’t possibly be room left for food.
“What do you want to eat?” he asked.
“Something light. I’m losing my appetite fast.”
He leaned down close to her ear. There were some eyes fast closing in on them. More with that move.
“Relax. I’ve got you. I always will. No one is going to do or say anything.”
She forced a smile. “Because you like the attention on you.”
He laughed and nudged her elbow with hers. Just one of their usual playful motions. Not practiced. Not staged.
Him being him.
It allowed her to do the same and give it back, her smile not so forced this time either.
“I do like it. More when I’ve got a pretty lady next to me.”
Kenzie heard a snort behind them and decided it’d be better not to look.
She followed him to the line, decided on a tuna melt. Hey, anyone that ate tuna and onions on a date had to be confident. It was like an unspoken rule not to let anything ruin your breath.
Going all in would cause him to laugh since he’d picked on her once about her love for fish.
He wasn’t getting tuna, but went with a salmon special, the two of them making their way to the register and him paying.
They grabbed a table in the corner. She would have put up a stink if he had wanted one in the center of the room.
“I hope you’ve got gum or mints after you eat that,” he said.
“Nope. This way people will leave me alone.”
She was only joking. She had those things in her purse and desk, just like she knew he always did too.
They were eating their lunch in silence. It’s not that they didn’t have much to say as much as she was hungry.
“How many people are watching us?” he asked.
He didn’t lift his head to look around. He was angled to the side in his seat while she faced the room and wished she hadn’t dragged that chair out.
But she told herself it was better than feeling heat on her back while everyone stared. This way, if she caught them in the act, maybe they wouldn’t dare.
Her eyes flickered up with the next bite of her sandwich. “More than I care to admit but not enough I feel like I need my feet to count along with my hands.”
“You probably do,” he said, smiling. “But you can’t see the rest of them.”
“You’re not helping matters any.”
He laughed, the noise carrying without his intention. At least she hoped that was the case.
More people glanced over at it.
“I’m not trying to. We talked about this. By next week when you come in, it won’t matter. It will be old news.”
“I hope you’re right. I don’t want to do this all the time.”
“What?” he asked, the frown filling his face, his hand going to his chest. “You’re going to hurt my feelings if you don’t want to have lunch with me two days a week. Here, want to try this?”
She rolled her eyes. First at his playfulness, then at what was his romantic gesture at attempting to feed her.
“Another time.”
“But you eat off my plate all the time. Why not here?”
She scrunched her nose. “It’s different at home.” When she was stabbing her fork into his food to steal something and making him laugh.
His hand reached out and stole one of her chips. “Not for me.”
She shook her head, glad he was finding humor in this.
It was helping more than she thought it would.
She was trying to loosen up. She thought she was doing a good job of it.
“Hey, how’s the special?”
She looked up to see Braylon and Lily, then West join them.
Dang it. Talk about family support when she needed it the most.
If there was one move that should stop the stares and whispers—at least in her presence—it was having her and Nelson’s bosses at the table. His older brothers.
The one man who everyone reported to sitting right next to her.
Not just sitting next to her, but stealing one of her chips like Nelson had done.