Page 29 of Tenure

She hangs up, and her shoulders relax as she lets out a breath.

“Who do you owe?” I ask, my voice sharp.

“SJ,” she says shortly.

I wait for her to keep talking, but she doesn’t. Exasperation is my new skin colour as I fight to keep from rolling my eyes.

“Whydo you owe SJ?”

“She covered for me.”

She. Okay.I frown. “With who?”

She sighs. “With my parents.”

I nearly swallow my tongue.Right. She still lives at home.

Shit. SHIT.

We’re quiet on the walk to the car. She gets in and looks around, brows knitted together like she’s trying to remember being in it and is drawing a blank.Yeah, honey, you were a goner.I’d had to carry her all the way up to my place.

As we pull out of the garage and into traffic she brings her thumb absently to her mouth and starts to chew on her cuticle. My hand reaches out involuntarily at such a noticeable display of nerves, wrapping around hers and tugging it away from her mouth. Interlacing our fingers, I pull them to my lips, kissing her knuckles before placing our hands on the centre console and giving an extra little squeeze.

“Talk to me,” I say.

She blows out a breath, and I realize how much tension she’s been holding. “You’re not really the easiest man to talk to, you know.”

“I don’t suffer fools well, Kiernan, but you’re a far cry from the idiots I deal with all day. Please.Try me.”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to ask you the things I want to ask you,” she says slowly. “There are rules about this stuff, aren’t there?”

“Unless it’s a differential equation, there are no rules here. Okay? Just . . . fucking ask.” My tone hardens at the end. A demand.Please, talk to me . . .

“What is this?”

Ooookay.She’s blunt.

I clear my throat. “I don’t know.”

“Did this mean anything to you?”

I pause. She’sreallyfucking blunt. “Yes,” I say. And I’m surprised by how much I mean it.

“Do you plan to do it again?”

No hesitation. “As much as humanly fucking possible.”

She tips her head back and looks at me.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

I frown. “Define ‘seeing’.”

“Fucking.”

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