Page 61 of Target Acquired

He frowned. “What’s going on, Kenzie?”

She raised a brow at him. “Nothing. I’m just saying I want to drive myself in case I decide to leave early.”

“If you want to leave early, I’ll bring you back here.”

“Cole . . .”

“Seriously, Kenzie, you have someone who’s tried multiple times to take you out. I really think you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a brief second. “Fine. Just let me grab my bag and the potato salad from the fridge and we can go.”

“Fine. I was supposed to bring a dessert. We’ll have to swing through the donut shop.”

“Donuts are always welcome.”

Her flat tone carried back over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hallway in the direction of her bedroom. “What is her problem?” he muttered. Then sighed. He wasn’t stupid. He knew what her problem was. Him.

He was definitely a problem.

He’d made it a point to let her know that relationships and romance weren’t anywhere on his radar. It had shaken her. Most likely because her mind went to their little moment in the hospital.

A moment that had rocked his world more than he cared to admit. Shame engulfed him. He’d trivialized it when that was the last thing he wanted to do. And yet, he couldn’t let himself fall for her. He refused. And if he apologized for that moment of weakness in the hospital, he might hurt her feelings even further.

Past hurts and treacherous green eyes were never far from the surface of his memories, and if he tried to talk to Kenzie about his conflicting emotions, he wasn’t sure how she’d take it. So when they were in his 4Runner and on their way to the lake house, he turned the radio to his favorite country station and kept his mouth shut the entire forty-five-minute drive.

And so did she.

FOURTEEN

Kenzie tossed her clothes onto the twin bed in the lake house guest room and pulled on her swimsuit. She might not be swimming, but she could lounge on the dock in the zero-gravity chair with the best of them. Maybe even sleep if her friends would ignore her and not make her join in the conversation.

Not likely.

She turned, catching her reflection in the full-length mirror. Admitting to herself she was in love with Cole had been hard. So hard her nerves still shook. Thankfully, the shaking was all internal, but still . . .

She hated that it had taken him announcing he wasn’t interested in romance to get her to face her feelings for the man. How dumb was that? She studied her reflection in the glass and knew that most men found her attractive. She was well aware that she wasn’t magazine-model worthy—whatever that meant—but she had nice features and great legs, thanks to all of her running and biking. Not that she showed them off—it was also genetic. Her mom had had great legs too. And why did she remember that, but sometimes had to look at her mom’s picture to remember what she looked like?

A huff escaped her and she turned to find Lainie watching her with a raised brow.

“Don’t ask,” Kenzie said.

“You have really great legs, you know that?”

Kenzie snorted, then laughed. “Yeah, I do.”

“What were you thinking about so hard there?”

“I said don’t ask.” There was absolutely no way she was going to admit to Lainie she was in love with Cole Garrison.

Lainie crossed her arms and left that obnoxious brow raised.

Kenzie groaned. “Okay, but if I tell you, you have to keep it just between us.”

“Sure. What?”

Kenzie pressed her fingers to her eyelids and let out a slow breath. “I realized I’m in love with Cole.”

“You just now figured that out?”