Kenzi’s joking demeanor melted right along with it. “When you say you don’t talk …”
“I mean we don’t talk—at all.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“Why not?”
He lifted his gaze to meet hers. What he found was open, trusting, and void of any condemnation. In an instant, he knew she had no idea he’d been in prison. Pamela had married them off keeping Nash’s background a secret. All of the trust he’d felt from Kenzi grew from a seed that shouldn’t have been planted. She believed him to be guiltless—a good guy who married women as a job. His stomach turned at the idea of telling her and destroying that look in her eyes.
He couldn’t bring himself to ruin her opinion, because it was the only one that mattered. He couldn’t care less what Harrison the bulldog lawyer thought. And he’d gotten somewhat used to his parents thinking he’d somehow been switched at birth with the spawn of a Hell’s Angel.
“They don’t agree with the path I’ve chosen.”
“Oh.” She stood up tall. “Well, a husband for hire is a strange occupation, but we’re not doing anything wrong.” She stowed the toppings below the counter once again, making sure everything was in its place and restoring order. “We could go meet them, if you want. The next week is pretty busy, but after that we have a little downtime.” She lifted a shoulder as if it was no big deal, but it was a very big deal.
“I can’t just show up on their doorstep.”
“But—”
“They wouldn’t let me in, Kenz.”
A worry line puckered between her eyebrows. “I don’t like the idea that I’ve come between you and your family. I’d like to help make amends.”
He took her hand in his. Her fingers were cold from handling ice cream containers, and he rubbed them between his palms. “Please trust me when I say it has nothing to do with you. Nothing.”
“But I can see that this bothers you.” She smoothed her hand across his forehead and down the side of his face. Her fingers were warmer now, thanks to his ministrations, or perhaps that was his skin reacting to her soft caress.
He wanted to lean into her touch and get lost forever. If he told her why his mother had disowned him, then she would never look at him the same again. “Please, Kenzi—let it go.”
She chewed her bottom lip, her eyes bouncing back and forth between his and the spinning wheels in her head.
He silently begged her not to push it, not to force his hand and ruin what trust there was between them.
“Okay.” She dropped her hand to her side and glanced down the line of dirty dishes. “We have three more flavors to test, and then we need to get ready for the meeting with the executive committee. We’re going to fill them in on the vote and what they need to do to keep the company functioning.”
Nash checked his watch. “It’s almost two,” he said incredulously. “We skipped lunch.”
Kenzi wagged her finger at him. “We didn’t skip it. We had ice cream.”
He liked this side of her, the chocolate-loving side. “And peanut butter.”
“And fruit.”
“And milk. So where does that leave us?”
“Bumpy Road.” She skip-hopped to a freezer and came out with a dark brown container.
“Don’t you mean Rocky Road?”
“Nope.” She popped her lips on the P, drawing his gaze back to them.
He’d successfully kept his thoughts on the PG side of things while she’d touched him, but not thinking about the way she’d felt in his arms was getting harder the more time they spent together. She was shorter than him, even in her heels, but that didn’t mean her body didn’t set against his just right. And her fingers knew the perfect route to take through his hair to set him on fire.
“This is our latest twist on the old Rocky Road favorite. We call it Bumpy Road.”
Icebergs. Penguins. Antarctica.He worked to cool his thoughts. He was basically sitting in a fridge and having to work to cool his temperature after thinking about kissing Kenzi.
