Page 33 of The Maverick's Homecoming
“Well, you’re doing a great job of that.” She gave him a teasing smile.
“Thank you.”
“So…” She studied his face for a moment. “Back to my original question. How are you doing?” She waited, giving him a chance to reply. When he said nothing, she teased, “You really don’t seem upset about tonight’s loss, at least not right now.”
He chuckled. “Iwasupset at first. Truth is, I was disappointed, and I blamed myself and I was mentally beating up on myself. But then I got schooled.”
“By…?”
“The Titans. They’re proud of how they played tonight. And they should be. I walked into the locker room and every one of them was smiling. They reminded me of the main lesson I’ve learned in the past fifteen years. I don’t have to live my life by my father’s rulesorhis expectations.Iget to decide what matters to me.”
“Wow.” She held up a hand and he high-fived it. “Good for you.”
They grinned at each other. He wanted to kiss her so bad.
Those shining eyes of hers said she knew it, too. “I’ve been thinking…”
“About?” he asked.
“About that kiss last Saturday night…”
He braced himself. He knew she would say it couldn’t happen again.
But the woman was full of surprises. “Our friends-only rule is ridiculous,” she said. “I mean, who are we kidding?”
His breath caught and his heart started racing. Could there be more between them, after all? Or was this the moment she said how she shouldn’t have kissed him, that she couldn’t trust him to keep his grabby hands to himself? Was this where she said they needed to cool it, that they couldn’t be friends, after all?
She met his eyes directly. “I honestly am not looking for a relationship, Finn.”
Uh-oh. This was bad. “Got it.”
“Me and my little girl, we are a family.” She rested her hand on her sweet baby bump. “Just the two of us. I will never count on a man. Not ever again. Do you understand?”
“I do. You’ve made that very clear.”
“I’m not getting married again. Not ever.”
“Kenzie, I hear you. I honestly do.”
“And you and me, Finn, well…” Her words trailed off. The seconds crawled by as he waited for the ax to fall.
When he couldn’t bear it one second longer, he prompted, “Well, what?”
“Oh, Finn. I’m only trying to be honest, to put the truth right out there so we know where we stand with each other.”
“Okay,” he replied in a low, frustrated rumble. “I get it. So do it. Put me out of my misery, damn it. Say what you’re going to say.”
She straightened her shoulders. “Alright then. It’s like this. I don’t want a relationship.”
“That’s fine,” he replied, though it wasn’t.
“But it’s still there,” she added.
He blinked. “What’s still there?”
“That…special something, that energy between us.”
How the hell was he supposed to respond to that? Should he deny the clear truth of it in the hopes that she’d believe him and not ask him to leave?
