Kenzie felt as if her chair had just dropped through the floor. “I...umm...see.”
“That it?” Suzy asked.
Kenzie managed to nod. “Yes, I guess it is.”
Suzy flashed a smile and rose from her chair. “You two ever get bored with each other, give me a call. Maybe we can work something out.”
Kenzie set her beer bottle down on the coffee table and she and Reese both rose from the sofa. “Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, Reese is my boss, not my boyfriend.”
Suzy’s lips curved into a smirk. “Whatever.”
Anxious to leave before things got worse, Kenzie crossed the room to the door.
“Thanks for clearing things up,” Reese said as he stepped out onto the porch.
Suzy winked at him, flashed him a smile, and closed the door.
They got back in the car and Reese started the engine.
“I don’t think it was Tex Lovell,” Kenzie said as the Rover pulled into the street.
“Doesn’t look that way. Lovell’s motive has pretty much disappeared.” Clearly Tex wasn’t the jealous type, which meant he had no reason to want Craig Bigelow dead. Or at least none they knew about.
“I wonder why Suzy thought we were together,” Kenzie couldn’t resist asking.
Reese flashed her the same smoldering glance she had seen the night of the benefit, heat and need and something more, a combination that made her stomach lift alarmingly. Then it was gone, replaced by his usual distance and control.
He shrugged those wide shoulders. “Woman like Suzy, who knows.”
But Kenzie worried that Suzy Lovell had noticed her attraction to Reese that she worked so hard to hide.
She wondered how much longer she could hide it from Reese.
They were on the highway back to Houston when Kenzie phoned home. Reese listened as she spoke to her grandmother, asking about Griff and her grandmother’s day.
Florence replied, and Kenzie smiled. “We just finished. We’re on our way back to the apartment.”
Her grandmother said something. Reese caught the blush that rose in Kenzie’s cheeks and wondered what her grandmother had said.
“I’ll be home tomorrow for sure, Gran.” She waited a second for Griff to come on the line. “Hi, sweetheart. I’ve missed you.” Griff must have asked about the weekend. “Don’t worry,” Kenzie answered. “We’re all still going to the museum on Saturday, just like we planned.”
The love she had for her son was unmistakable, and Reese felt an unexpected longing. He had wanted children badly. After his bitter divorce, that had changed.
“Your dad called?” he heard Kenzie say. The color leached from her face. “It was nice of him to ask, but you have a playdate with Tommy, remember? His mom invited us over to use their pool.”
Griff must have agreed because she relaxed back in her seat. “I’ll call your dad, explain why you can’t make it. Maybe you can see him next weekend.” Griff said something. “All right, have fun. I love you, honey. See you soon.”
Kenzie hung up and tipped her head back against the seat.
“I take it your ex wanted to spend Sunday with your son.”
She sighed. “I’ll have to tell Griff about the custody suit—or Lee will.”
“How will Griff take it?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t spent much time with his dad since the divorce. Not much before that, either, if you want the truth. I know he wouldn’t want to live with his father full-time.”
“He won’t have to.” Reese changed lanes, passing an SUV traveling slower than the rest of the traffic. “Wilcox will make sure it doesn’t happen.”
