Page 59 of The Maverick's Homecoming

“Are you kidding? I should thank you. I’m going to love hanging out with Tom and Ed.”

She kissed him then, a long, slow, deep kiss. “You’re the best.” She beamed up at him.

And then she made herself turn and head for her car.

* * *

For the remainder of that week, Finn couldn’t walk down the street without everyone he passed stopping to clap him on the back and tell him what a hero he was. He thanked them for their kind words and praised the team—their talent, determination and fighting spirit.

That Friday the Titans played at home. They racked up an impressive win. Final score: 38–9.

The crowd went wild.

Much later, when Finn left the by-then quiet locker room and headed for the parking lot, most of the vehicles had cleared out. But Kenzie’s blue Bronco was waiting beside his crew cab.

She stood by her driver’s door in her maroon scrubs, that shining hair in a thick braid, her hands in the pockets of a plaid barn coat, watching him as he came toward her. “We’ve got to stop meeting in parking lots,” she teased.

He kept walking until the toes of his boots were six inches from hers. “Hey.” He touched her cheek, so smooth and soft. “It’s how we roll.”

She reached for him. He pulled her close and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Come to my place,” she whispered. “Ed and Tom have been nagging me for a playdate with you.”

“I was there just this afternoon. We played catch the feather and bat the jingle ball.”

“What can I tell you? You’re a popular guy. And not only with Tom and Ed.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” He claimed a long, slow kiss.

A little later, at Kenzie’s place, she went off to change her clothes. Finn sat on the living-room floor sipping a Bud Light and tormenting the two playful kittens with a string of feathers on a stick.

It wasn’t long before Kenzie reappeared in gray joggers and a big pink shirt. “Mind if I join you?”

He patted the floor beside him. “You need help getting down here?”

She put on a playful scowl. “I beg your pardon. I’m pregnant, not incapacitated.”

“You are beautiful,” he said. “Even when you make silly faces.”

Ed chose that moment to leap into his lap, jump at the feather and then dart off through the archway to Kenzie’s office with Tom right behind him.

“They do make me laugh,” she said.

He set his beer on the coffee table then offered a hand. She took it and he helped her down. Settling in beside him, she managed to sit cross-legged, her baby bump cradled between her thighs.

The kittens came racing back. She rested her head on his shoulder and laughed as they batted at the uncatchable feathers.

Finn thought about how good it was between them, how easy and right. Once again, he considered bringing up the future. He ached to ask her to spend that future with him.

But was it too soon? He didn’t want to blow it.

Better to wait a while, he decided. Better to give her more time to see all the ways he would be there for her and for the baby—for Tom and Ed, too.

Eventually, the kittens ran off again, toward the kitchen this time. Finn got up, set the feather toy on the mantel and held down his hand to Kenzie. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. They turned for her bedroom together, his arm around her shoulders, her hand hooked at his waist. He didn’t realize that Tom and Ed were right behind them until he and Kenzie entered the bedroom and two small balls of fur zipped around them and launched themselves up onto the bed.

Kenzie laughed. “Okay, you two. You’ve got your own bed.”

Reluctantly, Finn let her go. She scooped up both kittens and carried them from the room. Returning a couple of minutes later, she shut the door behind her.

“Do they sleep with you?” he asked, pulling her close again, getting hold of that long braid, giving it a light tug.