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Even if she was reluctant to speak to him. Even if she was possessed by hostility after the way he’d handled her tame display of passion in the office.
Euphoria raced through him as he fantasized what it might be like to snake his fingers between hers, the feeling of validation when she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
Presently, Kenna’s hands were in her lap, wrists crossed.
“What are you doing over break?” he asked.
Only a few weeks of classes were left after spring break. Every question he posed and move he made were critical. Not a minute more could be wasted.
“It’ll be a miracle if I leave my apartment.”
He caught her sheepish smile as he parked in front of Building F. Kenna made no bid to get out of the car and he did not dare tell her to.
They sat together and hotboxed the forbidden.
A small part of Dayton hoped they would forever remain in those seats. She could say everything or nothing at all while he reveled in the simple pleasure of her proximity until they decomposed and wore away to skeletons.
Reality always seemed to be less romantic.
“Should I expect you at trivia this week?”
“I never miss it,” Kenna said, reclaiming her bag from the floorboard.
As she reached for the door handle, Dayton grabbed her wrist. He’d not intended to lay a hand on her. It was his brain’s automatic response to her departure.
Her head whipped around. “What?”
What, indeed. His aim had been to keep Kenna in the car for a few more minutes but he’d frightened the poor girl. Subtle terror eclipsed her beautiful face. Overly bright eyes and trembling lips.
Yet she did not ask him to let go.
She allowed Dayton to hold her frail wrist in his hulking hand. Her skin burned into his as her pulsethump, thump, thumpedagainst his palm.
He retracted his hand with haste as if the burn had been fourth degree when he realized he still held her. Someone else in her position may have bolted from the car, shouted a slew of obscenities. Not Kenna.
Thumb rubbing her wrist, her gaze locked on him.
“Your eyes,” he said. “I’ve always found them striking.”
She licked her lips and shifted in her seat so that the tips of their noses nearly brushed. Her complexion had gone ashen but she let Dayton see past the fear in the slow shutting of her eyelids and quiet breathing as she leaned closer. Anticipation electrified him and though he angled to meet her lips, he pulled back.
His heart shrank, brows drawn together.
Kenna stared ahead at the glovebox. “Can I have my bike back?”
“It’s in the trunk. I’d unload it for you now, but I’m late for a prior engagement.” He reached across her and pushed open the passenger door. “I’ll bring it by later. Scout’s honor.”
She didn’t know if Dr. Merino planned on setting foot in the apartment but she did not leave anything to chance.
Kenna stashed anything pertaining to her research on him in a corner of Alex's closet. Between hiding things and tidying up, she peered out the window in excess, on edge due to his vague distinction oflater.
He would either show up unannounced or not at all and her nerves were shot at both possibilities.
Inspecting the fridge and the cabinet where they kept their dry food yielded embarrassment when she could not find a single edible item to offer him. Alex's bedtime tea sat in a jar by her electric kettle. It would have to do. Kenna set it to boil and ducked into her room to trade her school clothes for terrycloth shorts and a fitted t-shirt.
The shirt slipped over her head as the teakettle beeped and a firm rapping sounded at the front door. She gathered her hair into a messy ponytail on the way to answer it.
“Hey." Her smile came too easily and did not align with the paranoia-fueled sweep of her home.
