Everything else faded into the background, all the noise and distractions of the past, the rain, the rapidly cooling air, their soaked through clothing…nothing else existed in this moment but Smith and Kenna.
Until another startlingly loud clap of thunder boomed almost directly above them. It startled them both and Smith lifted his head in alarm, immediately aware of the precariousness of their position.
They were standing on wood and metal bleachers in the middle of a fucking thunderstorm.
Not smart.
Kenna was still clinging to him, but she was also blinking at their surroundings in dawning realization.
“How did you get here tonight?” Smith asked her.
“Tina and Harris gave me a lift.”
“Shit,” he glanced toward the carpark and saw Harris jogging toward them.
He lifted Kenna into his arms when he belatedly recalled her cast.
“I can wa?—”
“We need to get to shelter faster than you can walk, sweetheart,” he interrupted her. “I’m taking you home, okay? Harris and Tina are going to want to get their kids home and settled as soon as possible. They’re all pretty soaked.”
It was a half-truth. The kids weren’t wet. They’d gotten them to the cars before the torrential downpour had started. But Harris and Tina were. And they undoubtedlydidwant to get home quickly.
His words silenced her protest and she nodded, dropping her head to his shoulder with what sounded suspiciously like a contented sigh.
Harris reached them when they were halfway to the parking lot.
“Everything okay?” He looked worried and it wasn’t clear if his concern was for Kenna or Smith.
“Yeah, I’ll take Kenna home.”
“Okay…” Harris hesitated. “Kenna, you sure?”
Kenna lifted her head from Smith’s shoulder and nodded.
“Yes, thank you, Harris. Please tell Tina I’ll see her tomorrow.”
“Will do. Drive carefully, bud,” he said, eyes on Smith. “The roads always get a little shitty in the rain. Parts of it flood quite quickly.”
“Will do, thanks.” With Smith’s assurance, Harris loped off back in the direction of his car, and Smith veered toward where he’d parked his .
Neither of them spoke as he slid Kenna into the passenger seat and then rounded the bonnet to get into the driver’s side.
It was only after he’d been driving for a couple of minutes that she spoke.
“That was stupid, wasn’t it?”
He tensed at the words, bracing himself for what was to come.
“Why do you say that?” he asked, ready to defend that spectacular kiss with his life if need be.
“Because nobody with common sense would simply stand in the rain and get soaked.”
Oh. The tension drained from his body as he realized that she wasn’t talking about the kiss.
Yet.
“I don’t know…” he said after a moment’s consideration. “Everybody else freaked out, ran for their cars, and got soaked anyway. You enjoyed the moment and embraced the inevitable. I’m having a hard time seeing that as stupid.”
