“Yeah.” His voice croaked.
Stone snorted. “Well, from the looks of you, it ain’t good. The sweet innocent Kenzie got skeletons in her closet.” Stone hooked his ankle over his knee and leaned deeper into his seat. Bogs stared at his brother. From the look on his face, he was expecting something juicy, maybe scandalous for her past. It was, but not in the way Stone thought.
“Her mom. She was killed ten years ago. Murdered actually.”
“You serious?”
“Yeah. Wrong place, wrong time scene. Convenience store was being robbed.”
“Shit, man, poor kid.”
“They get the guy?”
“Yeah, did a few upstate.”
“A few?” Stone’s tone was incredulous, which made perfect sense to Bogs. Murderers usually spent their lives behind bars not a few years.
“He was convicted of the robbery but not the murder. From what I can gather he took a plea.” Bogs snorted indisgust. “Fucking prosecutor was quoted as saying, ‘at least he’ll do time’.” Bogs shook his head. “Yeah, that must have been some consolation to Kenzie’s family. She loses her mom and this guy loses two and a half years.”
“What are ya thinkin’?”
“Nothing.”
Stone sighed. “Bogs, man, we can look into it.”
“No.”
He knew what Stone was getting at but for Kenzie, it wasn’t an option, not his girl. He wasn’t going to make her an offer, she’d be guilted by turning down or worse, scarred from taking.
“This stays in this room.”
Stone nodded. There weren’t many secrets between the brothers but there was also no need for anyone else, including wives to know about this. Hell, the guilt was so strong, even Bogs wished he didn’t know. It was something that he’d want coming from her because she trusted him and wanted to share.
He’d just fucked that up.
Chapter Nine
Kenzie packed up her computer into her bag and got the rest of her stuff organized. Bogs had stuck his head in the conference room about five minutes ago, saying they were leaving.
She barely recovered from their lunch together a few hours ago, and now she was about to spend the night with him again. Lunch had started out simple with sandwiches and drinks he brought in. The conversation was minimal but his eyes on her made her squirm in her seat. There was something different about the way he looked at her. The lust was still front and center but there was something else. Curiosity in the way he gazed over her as if he were trying to figure her out. He left and she hadn’t seen him since.
She gathered her things and walked out the door heading to the lobby. The sound of his voice followed by a soft giggle slowed her pace. She crept up quietly.
“Does that line actually work on women, Bogs?”
“They fall for it every time.” He laughed. She rounded the bend and stopped, taking in the sight. He was standing behind Corissa who was sitting at her desk. She was working on the computer and Bogs was standing behind her with his hands massagingher shoulders.
The pit in her stomach turned harshly like a knife stabbing into her and a slow turn. Less than twelve hours ago, he was inside her, and now he was moving on with his next conquest. How humiliating. She watched as Corissa shook her head and laughed again.
They were familiar with each other, making her think this was a repeat conquest. Jeez, did he have a work fuck buddy and she was supposed to be his at-home other woman. Screw this guy. She obviously was a bad judge of character. He wasn’t interested in anything more than sleeping with her.What did you expect? There were few emotions that cut her to the core but being made a fool was definitely one of them, top on her list.
She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. Fine, it was just sex, and it wouldn’t happen again. She ignored the regret that there wouldn’t be a second round with Bogs.
“Hey,” she said, catching their attention as they glanced over. She expected to see guilt on their faces. Instead, Corissa smiled and Bogs kept his hands on her shoulders. Neither one of them seemed affected that she saw them.
“Hey pretty girl, ya ready?”
Corissa glanced up at Bogs. “Aw, you call her pretty girl?”
