Right from the Start

by Jeanie London

  Kenzie glanced between them with a scowl meant only for him.

  “Thank you but there is no way anything is touching my wrist. Period.”

  She didn’t bother arguing but vanished inside, and Will asked, “You have my keys, right?”

  Jason patted his pocket.

  “Then if I can’t get back before you’re done, just lock up and go. Keep your phone on in the morning, and I’ll catch up with you to get the keys back.”

  “Just call, man. I’ll bring them by. If you want, I’ll ditch afternoon classes and help out around here.”

  “Thanks.” Will meant it. Closing his eyes, he willed himself not to fall down. God, he was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. And he was starting to feel sick. Not even the temperature drop of a mountain night was doing a thing to cool him down.

  And he was standing around here like an idiot with only two days left. That’s all the time he had to wrap up everything so Deanne could start moving in and to get the place functional for the walk-through. If he worked around the clock and pulled every guy he could from every job site, he still wouldn’t be finished, even if he hadn’t done the stupidest damned thing imaginable.

  He couldn’t even turn over the ignition of his truck with this hand, and if they put a cast on...

  “You okay, Will?” Jason asked.

  “Yeah.” That single word was about all he could manage.

  Then the door opened and Kenzie said, “We’ll take my car. That’s it over there.”

  The lock rattled then Will had Jason on one side of him and Kenzie on the other, helping him to the car. He sank into the front seat and promptly shut his eyes again.

  Will heard Jason say, “Just wanted to say sorry about the outlet, ma’am.”

  “I appreciated your help,” Kenzie said warmly. “The drywall looks great.”

  Will really liked that about her. Kind. That was the word he’d use to describe her. She cared about everyone who crossed her path. Whether she cared for a few seconds to say a nice word to a kid who’d screwed up, or for a lifetime like she had with her not-at-the-moment loser friend, she genuinely cared about the mood she left a person with.

  She would be the only woman he’d want around Sam. One who would see all the good stuff. Sam might not have found his words yet, but he had a wicked sense of humor and contagious laughter. He might need time and tools to figure out everything going on around him, because it all came at him at once without filters—which would be overwhelming for anyone—but he was the most loving kid. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, like having Sam throw his arms around Will’s neck and hug him with that absolute abandon.

  Kenzie would appreciate those things, too.

  Will must have dozed—no real wonder since he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept all night—because he didn’t remember hearing her door shut or the car take off, but he awoke to the sound of the engine humming steadily.

  “Kenzie.” He didn’t open his eyes.

  “We’re almost there.” Her voice was soft, a familiar beacon in the drowsy darkness. “You doing okay?”

  No, he wasn’t okay. His wrist throbbed so hard he might be sick, and then wouldn’t she be sorry she offered him a ride? “I respect you to make your own choices.”

  “We don’t have to discuss this now.” He heard the exasperation in her voice. And the humor. That was there, too.

  He tried to laugh, but his own voice came at him from a distance. “If not now, when?”

  “Will—”

  “I’d rather talk about us than obsess over everything I could be doing at Angel House if I hadn’t slipped and fell.” One stupid misstep.

  And he had given her a safety lecture about using the heat stripper late at night. She must think he was a joke.

  “I’m going to trip at the finish line.”

  “What exactly does that mean?” she asked.

  “It means that, because of my carelessness, all this work will be for nothing.”

  She didn’t reply, so he turned, forced his eyes open.

  While he’d been asleep, the sun had set and now he could see her in profile, her features glowing in the light of the instrument panel. She had that mildly amused look on her face, the one where she humored him. Not exactly the response he’d been going for. He’d made crazy love to her one night only to need her to rescue him the next.

  That’s exactly what this felt like.

  “I can’t believe this is happening.” He wasn’t sure if he was referring to his wrist or the fact that he wanted to lean over and kiss her. He’d always known getting in the confines of a vehicle with her would be death on his restraint.

  Then again, after last night, his restraint was moot.

  “Okay, then, let’s talk about us,” she said.

  “I liked making love with you.”

  That got a better response. “I liked it, too.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to be with you. It’s just that it wouldn’t be fair. You get that, right?”

  “Fair to whom?” she asked. “Sam? I know I don’t have a lot of experience around children, but I like them. I really do. Especially Sam.”

  How did she even come up with that? Of course he knew she was good with kids. He’d seen her with his son already. “I’m not talking about Sam. He likes you. He’d fall in love with you if he got to know you better.”

  Just like his father had.

  There, he’d thought it. Brought it out into his consciousness. He’d done exactly what he’d sworn he’d never do again. Of course, through the fog of pain, he heard some nagging voice pointing out that the third time might actually be a charm. His common sense countered with, “Three strikes you’re out!”

  “Who’s out?” Kenzie asked.

  Man, he was screwed up. He was confusing what was going on in his head with what was coming out of his mouth. Or was she just messing with him? He couldn’t think past this damned throbbing in his arm.

  “I need an acetaminophen. Got any?”

  “Afraid not. Left my bottle at the office in the first aid kit. How about we ask the doctor for something when he checks out your wrist? Sound good?”

  “Sounds good.” His arm sure didn’t look good. Even looking at the way everything from elbow to fingers swelled made it throb more.

  “Will, who are you worried about being fair to?”

  “You. I told you this.” Or had he only thought that, too?

  “So, you don’t think you can be fair to me because you’re so busy because of your life with Sam. Do I have that right?”

  “And my business, and Angel House, and the city council.” He dragged a hand across his brow. Great. He was still sweating and now he was clammy. Why was he suddenly so cold? Was the air-conditioning on? He reached toward a vent. Nothing.

  “But what if your devotion to your life and all the people in it is one of the things I love about you?”

  That stopped him. He frowned.

  “What if I love the way you love your son, with your whole heart and soul? You’re moving mountains to give him opportunities. And what if I love how generous you are? You could have moved those mountains just for Sam, but you’ve made sure others benefit, too. And not only the people you know at Angel House, but you’re making sure autism gets noticed in the government, so people you don’t even know, people who are dealing with the things you and Sam are, can benefit, too.”

  She made that sound like a lot bigger
of a deal than it actually was. “Kenzie, I had to run for city council to push Family Foundations otherwise we couldn’t get in this building.”

  A hint of a smile played around her mouth. “And what if I love the way you’re so committed to helping people, that you don’t even realize how special what you’re doing is? What if I love that about you, too?”

  “What’s your point?” If she’d made one, he’d lost it in all those words.

  “My point is you’re worrying about all these things being unfair to me, when they’re all the things I love about you.”

  While he was still trying to come up with an argument, he watched her small smile grow until she sort of beamed in that glowing light.

  “I very much appreciate your special circumstances,” she said. “And I respect the fact that I’m not living your life, so I can’t know all the demands. Don’t you think you should give me a chance to find out?”

  That stopped him. He hadn’t actually considered that before. He’d simply made up his mind that he would never put these demands on any woman. Melinda couldn’t even handle Sam.

  But Kenzie wasn’t Melinda.

  And that really wasn’t fair, even to Melinda. He understood better than anyone why she had such a tough time dealing with their son. He hoped that would eventually change as Sam continued to grow his skills and as Melinda made peace with the fact that she wasn’t responsible. She couldn’t have done anything differently to prevent or alter Sam’s autism.

  “Don’t you think that if we have something special, we should at least give it a try?” she asked.

  “You think what we have is special?”

  She glanced away from the road, her gaze as soft as her smile. “Don’t you?”

  That’s when it hit him—she was a mediator, a skilled negotiator. She was using her skills on him, mediating on her own behalf for all she was worth.

  Something about that made him smile, too.

  Then she wheeled into the parking lot, and he could see the emergency room sign illuminating the darkness.

  “I’ll pull through the circle drive and drop you—”

  “Just park in the lot,” he said.

  She frowned but didn’t argue. Once she’d pulled into a space, she tried again. “If you’ll wait here, I’ll go grab—”

  “I’ll walk.”

  And he did. With her arm around his waist to direct him. He walked every damned step even though he felt like his arm might fall off. Actually, he wished it would.

  Of course, he had to swallow what was left of his pride and ask her to grab his wallet out of his back pocket.

  She slipped her fingers into his pocket, taking advantage by feeling up his backside in the process, then sat quietly beside him as he dozed between triage and x-ray and the interminable wait to have his fractured wrist set.

  And sometime during the night, Will remembered what it felt like to be cared for, instead of being the one to do all the caring.

  * * *

  “WHERE IN HELL—” The growl reverberated across the house, startling Kenzie all the way in the kitchen. “Where in hell am I? Where’s my phone?”

  She replaced the coffeepot and carried a mug of steaming coffee into her bedroom.

  Will was sitting up in bed, disoriented and frantic, a man wholly unused to not having life firmly under his control. He looked like a wild man in the midst of her white lace bedding with his glossy black hair askew and stubbled cheeks drawn.

  “Where the hell—” He stopped in midsentence and did a double take when he saw her. “Is this your place?”

  She nodded.

  “Where’s my phone? I have to—”

  “It’s okay. I spoke with your mom last night while you were having your wrist set. She has Sam, and she was going to call Melinda. One of them will get Sam to Guadalupe’s on time this morning. She said not to worry and to call her when you wake up.”

  Kenzie grabbed his phone off her dresser and brought it to him with the coffee. Poor man. They’d drugged him last night, and he appeared to be having trouble shaking the effects. She wanted to ask how he felt, but didn’t want to bombard him with questions. She had no idea how he awoke in the mornings, whether he hit the ground running or needed time to face the day.

  She wanted to know.

  But now was the time to help him regroup. She pointed to the boudoir chair, where the clothes he’d worn yesterday sat in a freshly laundered pile. That had been the best she could do since they’d arrived home so late. “Clothes.”

  He lifted his hand then winced, taking in the sight of the cast. He scowled and thrust his left hand through his hair instead, making the dark strands stand on end.

  “Oh, man. Nothing can ever be simple. Did they mention how I’m supposed to shower with this?”

  She nodded. “And the doctor said when you follow up with your orthopedic surgeon, you might be able to have that cast replaced with a waterproof one to make life a little easier.”

  Her good news didn’t have the effect she’d hoped. The frantic edges were creeping into his expression.

  “Did they say how long I’d have to wear this? I don’t remember.”

  No surprise there. Will had been operating under the assumption he was exhausted last night when he’d actually been in shock. “Sounded like it could be six weeks. I put your discharge papers with the doctor’s orders by your clothes.”

  Blinking, he opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it again, apparently robbed of any response. He closed his eyes as if he might block out reality.

  “The doctor said you were very lucky, Will.” She gave him some good news. “He said, and I quote, it was a miracle the fracture didn’t sever tendons. If that had happened you’d have spent last night in surgery and could have had permanent damage.”

  Will inhaled deeply, an effort from where she stood.

  “If you’re interested in showering, I can grab what we’ll need to wrap your cast.”

  He opened his eyes, and that clear gaze cut across the distance, a gaze with the ability to drop the bottom out of her stomach. To her surprise, he managed that charming smile of his, dimples flashing. “Yes.”

  She whirled and headed out of the room, her heart suddenly pounding hard. And by the time she returned to fit a plastic trash bag over his cast and secure it with duct tape, her pulse still skittered at their closeness, at the sheer maleness of this man all rough-edged from sleep.

  He’d dropped the bottom out of her world, too.

  “Thanks for taking such good care of me.” His voice was a throaty whisper.

  “It’s been my pleasure.” She wondered if he truly understood how much she meant that. When he slipped a warm finger beneath her chin and tipped her face toward his, she thought he might.

  “Am I remembering last night right?” he asked in that gravelly voice. “Did you totally take advantage of me?”

  “I did,” she admitted, not just a little proud. “I seized the opportunity. It’s called gumption.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded. “You were so busy being noble that you left me out of the equation. I wanted to weigh in.”

  He exhaled a small laugh. “A control freak, hmm?”

  “I can’t honestly say I’d argue too hard with that assessment.”

  His gaze settled on her mouth, and she knew right then he was thinking about kissing her. He pulled her onto the bed beside him instead, didn’t let go of her hand, but twined their finger
s together as if testing the fit.

  “I’m not noble, Kenzie. Just wanted to do things right. I’ve been married already.”

  “I know.”

  He arched an eyebrow and admitted, “Twice.”

  She squeezed his hand. She’d known that, too.

  “Melinda mentioned that while she was divorcing me?”

  “You knew we’d met?”

  “It took a while to put two and two together, but yeah. She’d mentioned when she’d first gone to see you.”

  Kenzie wasn’t sure what to say. She’d tried not to judge, had been very well aware that she didn’t have the whole story about this man...and that she had formed so many impressions.

  None of them good.

  But many were based on her own idealistic views about love and marriage. While she still believed in what she taught, Will had helped open her eyes to the bigger picture, to what was really important about love.

  “I was too young to get married the first time,” he admitted. “Way too young. But I tried to do things differently the second time. Did everything different, in fact, and it still blew up in my face.”

  Maybe he had. There were some pretty special circumstances that had surely factored into his second marriage. That much Kenzie knew. “You figure out what the problem might be?”

  “I think so. Maybe. Probably should get a lock on it before I attempt another walk down the aisle. How long are you willing to wait?”

  “For a marriage proposal?”

  He chuckled, so close to her ear the throaty sound rippled through her, sparking that incredible awareness that only he could ignite in her. “I don’t want to wait to have sex. In fact, if I didn’t smell so ripe...”

  His words trailed off beneath the sound of her laughter. Exploring their relationship and waiting for his marriage proposal seemed like exactly the right thing to do. “And I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than have sex with you.” Kenzie tipped her face to his and they sealed the deal with a kiss.

  * * *

  WILL TRIED TO keep the situation in perspective while sitting beside Kenzie in her car as they left her house. The sight of her in contrast to his drowsy memories of the night before helped a lot.