Page 20 of Fractured

“I remember. Brett’s college buddy.” I smiled and shut my eyes, enjoying the feel of sunshine on my face.

“Yeah…” He grimaced.

That snapped my attention back to his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “He’s a decent guy. He just goes through women way too fast. No offense, but your friend is the third woman he’s brought into the bar in the last month.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn’t want to say anything to offend him, so I closed it. Harper would have to know. It wouldn’t do to let her get close to a manwhore. The last time she’d gotten attached to a dick, she’d been heartbroken for weeks, and that was years ago. As an adult, I didn’t want to see her become any more jaded than her career had already made her.

“I’m not like that.”

“What?”

He glanced at me, his face wiped clean of any expression. “I’m not like that. I don’t go through women like beers on tap.”

This wasn’t good. Kenzo was clearly looking for something he would never find with me. The promise of a great evening loomed over my head, but I couldn’t let him think there was a possibility for something more.

“Kenzo,” I started and regretted it as soon as his eyes lit up at the sound of his name. “I’m not looking for a relationship. I don’t even think I’m capable of being what a partner would need from me. I’m too fucked up.”

It hurt to share a truth I’d never shared with anyone before. I turned my gaze out of the passenger window and caught my reflection in the side view mirror. Something at some point had hit and fractured the glass so I was staring at pitiful pieces of myself. The image scared me a little too much. I’d always thought of myself as separate parts. One part I’d inherited from Lauren. One from Dad. One for who I had always been, and the last for who I would someday be.

Was this my future? The lonely, sad woman who stood too close to the edge of insanity?

Every day that passed took me one step closer, but I could never admit that out loud. Because what if I wasn’t really going crazy and it was all just a product of my phobia?

“That’s fine.”

“Huh?” It was much harder to pull my gaze away from the mirror than it should have been.

“That you don’t want a relationship. That’s fine. I don’t even know if I like you. You literally could be the most boring person in the world, and I’m not about that.” He shrugged like I was the one trying to come onto him.

“Okay.” I tried not to be offended, but how could I not be?

“But I don’t know if I don’t get to know you. I just wanted you to know I don’t sleep around for the hell of it. Been there, done that. And in my thirties, it’s lost its luster.”

“I’m getting whiplash. You don’t care that I’m not looking for a relationship but then hint in a roundabout way that you are?”

He busted out laughing and slapped the steering wheel. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. But not so seriously. I just know a good thing when I see one.” Kenzo cut his gaze to me for such a brief second, I had to wonder if I’d imagined it.

I…had never been a good thing before.

“We’re here.” He parked in a small parking lot that was only big enough to hold five cars. A pier connected directly to the parking lot and carried out well over the ocean.

“Where is here and why are there no people?” In August, this place should be packed.

“This is private property. Don’t worry, not mine. But my buddy doesn’t care if I come here, and he’s never in town.”

“College buddy? Brett?”

“College buddy, but not Brett.” He smirked and climbed out. Once he reached my side, he caught the door as I threw it open and blocked me in with his other hand on the roof of the Jeep.

“Okay, Lilith. Are you ready for your fun test?” His voice was dead serious, and for a second, I had doubts about whatever he would ask me to do. The heat in his gaze did nothing to comfort me either as my stomach knotted in anticipation.

“Yes,” I said in the most pitiful voice I had. And it pissed me off. “Yes,” I said with conviction.

“Perfect.” Then he whisked me out of the passenger seat, and we ran hand in hand under the pier, straight for the ocean. The salt in the air was stronger here as the breeze circled around me. I laughed and kicked off my flip-flops as I ran.

He did the same with his work shoes, and by the time we stood in the water, the bottoms of his dress pants and my jeans were soaked, with sand clinging between my toes and the backs of my calves.

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