He had wanted to ask about her financial situation more than once, but that was another line he knew not to cross.
“About needing your car… I could drive you home in your car, so you’d have it for tomorrow. I can grab an Uber to bring me back here.”
She tensed and pushed him back a space. “Evan, I—”
“Kenzie, I don’t want to pressure you. I sincerely don’t. But baby, I’d like to sleep with you in my arms. And I know you can’t leave Daniel alone. I’m not asking you to,” he said quickly, in case she went there with him. “I know letting me in is hard because of what happened with Bryce.”That prick.“But I”—he didn’t saylove you, not wanting to pressure more than he already was—“miss you when we’re not together.”
“Oh, Evan. I miss you too.”
He at least had that going for him. “Then why can’t we sleep together? I don’t like sneaking around.”
“I know. I just, well…” She looked at her feet. “Okay.”
“I don’t know why—okay?” He blinked. She’d saidyes?At her nod, he dragged her into his arms and spun her around. Kenzie laughed, breathless, until he set her down. “God, Kenzie. I’ve been waiting forever to hear you say yes. Let’s go before you change your mind.”
He quickly packed a duffel bag and locked up then headed toward her car.
“Might as well bring both cars so you can get to work in the morning without having to hassle about transportation.”
He stopped, trying to read her expression. Closed? Resigned? Not happy. “Kenzie, I don’t have to come. I just wanted to be with you.”
“I know.” She threw herself into his arms. “Sometimes I don’t like myself very much.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re so perfect, and I’m still having trouble with us.”
“I don’t have to stay over.”
“No, you do. And it’s not like we need to hide it from my brother.” She looked up at him, chagrined. “He left a box of condoms on my bed and told me to use them until I’m ready to ask you to marry me, to do it right.”
Evan tried not to laugh. What a great kid. “Um, are you afraid I’ll say no?” Because he’d found her, he loved her, and he had no intention of letting go. But he also knew she needed to realize she could trust him with her heart. And no amount of sleepovers could cure that. She had to feel it andknowit.
“I’m afraid you’ll say yes. No, don’t ask me any more questions. And no sex at my place. Just sleeping.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She sighed. “I’ll meet you at home.” She left.
He followed, wondering how she’d react when he gave both her and Daniel a key to his place. Wondering how he felt when she said “home.” Because he no longer thought of his condo as where he hung his hat, but at Kenzie’s—where his heart was.
* * *
Kenzie could feel herself breaking into tiny, stressed-out pieces.
They hadn’t landed the Talon account, and she didn’t know how to tell Lila or Rachel because they needed the money. She’d been banking on that business, and she shouldn’t have. She still didn’t know why Rob had rejected them. She’d nailed everything he’d said he wanted.
Of course, when she’d politely put his hand back on his own knee, that might have had something to do with it. Not exactly something she could tell her business partners, who would go psycho on his ass. Or Evan, who she could easily see beating Rob Talon’s pretty face into a pulp. Satisfying, but it would only hurt Evan when Rob decided to sue.
She groaned. To make matters worse, Daniel was on cloud nine because his new “big brother” Evan now lived with them. He didn’t, but try telling Daniel that. Just because Evan had been staying over each night didn’t mean he’d moved in.
And Evan symbolically giving them the keys to his townhome—one for her and one for Daniel—made it harder to remember why she shouldn’t cave and go for broke. Ask him to stay, to make a family.
So he could one day decide he’d changed his mind and leave?
Stupid thoughts stuck in her mind, a pervasive fear that everything was too good to last.
Evan coached Daniel in soccer without fail. He helped out around the house, continuing to fix everything she’d been putting off forever. And Daniel clung to his every word and action like gospel.
