Drake was a lucky man.
Kenzie hefted the suitcase off the bed and left the room. “Coming?” she called over her shoulder.
He wanted to take the heavy bag from her. As a gentleman, he knew better. But he also feared getting slapped by the queen of feminism. Better to leave her alone this time.
She leaned the luggage against the front door when she reached the bottom of the stairs and marched toward the kitchen. What was the rush?
He followed her and watched as she scrawled a note on a piece of paper and left it on the table. “Can we go?”
“Um, sure. Don’t you want to talk to your family first?” He wanted to get her out of here as fast as possible, but where the hell was her fire?
“Nope. I’d rather be long gone before they get home. Please?” She looked him in the eye for the first time since she’d left the shower.
“Of course,” he agreed. “But why?”
“They will make me want to vomit with their gushing oohs and ahhs. It’ll be like prom night all over again.” She switched to a mocking voice, imitating her mother apparently. “Oh, Kenzie, dear, stand next to your mate. Let me get a good picture before you go. Be sure to buckle up. Don’t drink and drive. Use protection. Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “My mother is a pain in the ass when she gets excited, and this adventure would push her over the edge. Plus, my sisters are going to gloat and preen like preteens. I don’t want to be here for the festivities, if you don’t mind.”
Drake smiled. She was so passionate when she wasn’t beating him to death with her obstinacy. “Let’s go, then.” He opened the front door and grabbed her suitcase. He wasn’t going to argue about that right now. And she didn’t comment. She grabbed a short-sleeved sweater and shrugged it on over her tank top.
At the truck, he deposited her bag in the bed and opened the front passenger door. He didn’t touch her as she climbed in this time. He knew if he did, he’d melt and either do or say something stupid. He needed his mind clear. It was bad enough she was going to fill the cab once again with her scent.
When he entered from his side and turned the key, he finally spoke again. “Your job?”
“I took the week off. That was the text earlier.”
“Okay, then. Where to now? Lunch? We can’t leave town until later this afternoon. I have to pick up my brothers. My parents are in the smaller truck without a back seat. No way they’ll all fit. If I force my brothers to leave the gathering early, they will bitch all the way home. It’s a five-hour drive. Trust me, you don’t want to listen to that.”
“Lunch would be good.”
“You lead. I’ll drive.”
Chapter Five
Kenzie sucked oxygen into her lungs. She’d had to be as hasty as possible in the house, or she’d have lost her resolve. It went against every grain in her nature to agree to this farce, but she had to do it. She needed to get this man out of her system, even if she had to sleep with him to prove her point. If she didn’t let this relationship play itself out, then neither of them would ever know how very right she was. He would hound her until she relented. She would clearly suffer until she proved herself right. Her family, who obviously gave this man their address, would not stop badgering her until she gave in.
She knew she wasn’t cut out for mating. No way. No how. She wasn’t wired for it. And anything she might have, could have, or would have done before the incident four years ago when she was just a teenager was entirely destroyed at that time. Now she just needed to get through this week so she could say “I told you so” and return to her life, vindicated, without having to worry about the hunk of sexy man next to her coming around to torture her with his promises for the rest of her life.
She directed him toward an outdoor sandwich shop, and they ordered at the window. She let him pay, though she had to grit her teeth to do so. She didn’t want to owe him anything. His look inferred there would be a scene right here in public if she argued.
The man had a subtle way of demanding compliance at every turn.
They picked a table in the sun, and Drake stared at her while she methodically opened her sub. She lifted her gaze. “What?”
“Are you going to talk to me? You act as though you’re being coerced into something you don’t want, like you’d rather be having a tooth extracted.”
“Aren’t I?”
“I don’t see it that way.” He leaned toward her.
She held her knees still to keep from shaking them up and down in nervousness.
“Kenzie, I’m not trying to pressure you. Have I made you uncomfortable at any point?”