Page 52 of Knight’s Salvation

“Sure thing.” The phone disconnected.

Her sister wasn’t happy unless she was surrounded by drama. Mia just hoped she didn’t give poor Brent too much of a hard time and he managed to convince her coming here was a really bad idea. The last thing she needed was her pint-sized sister barging in and raising hell. If Chaya lost her job, it would ruin everything for both of them.

After putting the phone down on the counter, she went back to pulling ingredients from the fridge. Dinner for one again. It had been two days since Zenon walked out the door. No one seemed to know where he was, but no one questioned it either, like he just up and vanished all the time. It felt weird being in his apartment, sleeping in his bed. She’d asked for another room, but Chaos told her she had to stay put.

She found this strange, but again she was given no explanation.

She was chopping vegetables when the apartment door opened and Zenon walked in. He was wearing workout clothes and his head was down.

“You’re back.” She’d been so worried and had missed him so much she wanted to run to him, but knew he wouldn’t welcome it.

He didn’t look up. “Yeah, ah, sorry I bailed. Had somewhere to be.” He walked to his bedroom and closed the door.

What was she supposed to do? Something was wrong, but he didn’t like to be touched, so she couldn’t comfort him. He didn’t like to talk either, so she ruled that out. In the end, she went back to the kitchen and carried on making the dinner, adding a couple of extra steaks for Zenon. He might not want to talk but the guy had to eat, right?

The steak was cooked and she was dishing up the mashed potatoes and salad when she felt him behind her.

“Smells good.”

She turned to face him. His hair was damp and he had on a pair of beaten up looking jeans and a faded Harley Davidson tee that clung to his chest and biceps. He looked good, good enough to eat. He also looked tired. “I’m sorry. I know I’m invading your space. But I was told to stay here…”

His yellow eyes pinned her to the spot and cut off her words. “I want you here.”

Her belly fluttered. Jesus, he was beautiful. “Okay.”

He tilted his head toward their plates. “So we gonna eat?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll just…”

He walked over, grabbed both plates, and headed to the living room. She was glad his back was to her or he would have seen her mouth hanging open. The guy barely talked, had pushed her away time and again, and now he was telling her he wanted her in his apartment. There was no figuring him out, but with a male like him she guessed you had no choice but to go along for the ride and figure out where the hell you were when you got there.

After filling two glasses with juice, she followed. Zenon was already eating when she sat down on the couch beside him. She started to put their drinks on the coffee table, but he reached out and took one before it hit the glass top, downing it in one go. His dinner was gone a few minutes later.

She blinked over at him. “Would you like more?”

“Yeah, that’d be good.”

Mia filled his plate and poured more juice. He drank the second glass like the first then went at his second helping like a starving man. He’d finished before she was halfway through hers.

When she put down her plate and sat back, he turned to her. “You’re a good cook.”

“Thanks.”

“Someone teach you to cook like that?”

“My mother. She loved to cook.”

He was quiet for a few seconds. “So it was you, your mom, and your sister growing up?”

“Uh-huh.” Okay, she was freaking out a little. Who the hell was this Zenon and what had he done with the original?

“You miss having a dad around?”

Where was he going with this? “Is there…is there something wrong?”

He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Shit.” When he looked up, his face was flushed. Was he embarrassed?

“What’s going on, Zenon?”