Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Tina left them and Smith refocused his attention on Kenna, whose weeping had subsided to quiet sobs and hiccups. His shirtfront was damp from her tears.
He continued to hold her, running his hands up and down her narrow back in long, soothing strokes. They were both silent now and he felt the tension start to creep into her body as she gradually stiffened in his arms.
Her arms, which had been wrapped around his waist, moved until she had her hands between them and on his chest.
She exerted gentle pressure and he moved back immediately, not releasing his hold, but putting some distance between their bodies.
“Better?”
“I’m sorry.” The quiet apology sounded embarrassed. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“Whatever it was, it felt like it was simmering beneath the surface for a good long while,” he pointed out.
Her chin wobbled and she shut her swollen, red eyes for a few seconds before nodding.
“I think so, yes.”
“C’mon, sweetheart, I have an Uber coming. Let’s get you home, okay?”
“I can’t. Tina—”
“I told her I’d take you home.”
“What? When?”
“She came looking for you.”
“She saw that? Oh God.” Kenna dropped her forehead on his shoulder. “How humiliating.”
“Why?” he asked, one hand sweeping up the length of her back to palm her nape beneath her hair. “It’s okay to let the people who care for you, see your vulnerabilities, Kenna. She’s worried about you. About both of us. She’s not judging either of us. So maybe be kinder to yourself, okay? A little more forgiving of your humanity.”
“It’s never been easy for me,” she admitted.
“Trust me,” he teased, trying to coax her out of this mood while feeling utterly weighed down by his own sadness. “I know.”
A wet, sad little laugh was all he got from her. But it was an improvement on the utter desolation of earlier and he’d take it.
“Let’s get you home, sweetheart.”
“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” It was the third time Smith had asked Kenny that question in as many minutes.
After walking her all the way into her shabby but clean living room, he’d restlessly paced around the place, opening and closing faucets, checking lights, and testing the wobbly kitchen table.
“This place isn’t good enough for you.”
“It’s perfectly fine.” Her sanguine response merely deepened his expression into a scowl and he’d continued to restlessly roam around the small space, meticulously finding every flaw—of which there were many.
Exhausted and emotionally drained, Kenny had sunk down onto the lumpy sofa and watched him. She didn’t have any fight or protest left in her tonight.
That was when the “are you okay’s” started.
If she didn’t know better, Kenny would say that he was reluctant to leave.
“I’m okay, Smith,” she repeated for the third time, fatigue adding an edge to her voice. “You should go. I’m sure you must be tired too.”
He shocked the hell out of her by sitting down next to her. The two-seater lacked even the suggestion of firmness and his weight created a dip in the cushion, which Kenny—caught completely by surprise—slid into.
The unexpected movement plastered her against his side and he shifted to accommodate her, lifting his arm to tuck her close. His cheek dropped to the top of her head.
“I’m tired, yes,” he admitted. “Maybe we could just sit here for a while? Would that be okay?”
She didn’t have it in her to deny him—them—this. She was in need of comfort and companionship. It stood to reason that perhaps he needed those same things too.
“That would be fine,” she whispered.
He sighed deeply and then simply…sprawled, for lack of a better word.
All the tension left his body and he went boneless, man-spreading a little—thighs apart and long legs stretched out in front of him—and taking up way too much of her space.
But Kenny, enjoying how relaxed and warm his hard body was, accommodated. She lifted her legs up onto the sofa and folded them to the side. She had removed the cast as soon as she’d sat down, and her movements were thankfully unencumbered.
One of her arms draped across his flat belly, and her other hand was between them with her palm tucked under her cheek on his chest.
Kenny was too contented to feel in any way self-conscious about this as she drifted into a light doze. Part of her brain was awake enough to register that Smith was fast asleep.
His even breathing stirred her hair and the sound of his gentle snoring was soft and soothing. She’d always enjoyed sleeping next to him. But those moments had been rare for them.
They’d only spent the night together a handful of times before their marriage. And afterward… Well, thinking about afterward would be wallowing, wouldn’t it?
And Kenny was too drained to wallow more right now. She’d already indulged herself enough tonight.
As sleep fully claimed her, her final lucid thought was the sobering and tragic realization that the only place that had ever felt like home to her had always been right here in Smith’s arms.