Page 12 of Kennedy

“I would never,” Seymour said as he pressed a hand over his heart.

Lewis rolled his eyes. “You definitely would. Have your meeting with Hawthorne. We can talk later.” He turned to Kennedy. “Is that okay? Or did you want to sit down?”

Anything would be okay with Kennedy as long as Lewis was the one doing it with him. He was pretty sure it showed in his expression. He didn’t care. He wanted Lewis to know how he felt, even though he wasn’t quite sure himself yet.

“We can go. I know you have to go back to work, and I can walk you there.”

Lewis’s smile was small, but it was there. “That would be great, thank you.”

“Whatever you need.” Kennedy was pretty sure he’d feel this way for the rest of his life, but he didn’t want to scare off Lewis by saying it out loud. He needed to cool it down, at least until they talked.

Hawthorne clasped Kennedy’s shoulder before gently pushing him toward the door. Seymour and Lewis had a whispered conversation for a few moments before Lewis followed Kennedy, and together, they left the coffee shop.

The day was cold, but luckily, it wasn’t raining. The sun was out, illuminating Lewis’s blond hair. His cheeks were already flushed, and his green eyes sparkled, but he looked worried.

“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you right away,” he quickly said.

Kennedy shook his head. “It’s fine. It took me a moment to realize what had happened because I wasn’t close enough to you to smell you, but I understand.” And now, hewasclose enough to smell Lewis. He knew the man standing next to him was his mate.

His lion rumbled in the back of his mind, satisfied. He’d been pushing for Kennedy to find Lewis, and Kennedy should have listened to him. He’d never claimed to be smart, though. He still didn’t because he felt particularly dumb now that he was with Lewis, as if he’d never been on a first date in his life.

Not that this was a first date. It wasn’t a date at all. They both had to go back to work, but they couldn’t do so without having a conversation about their bond first.

Even though it looked like Lewis wanted to be anywhere but here.

* * * *

LEWIS FELT LIKE A MESS. On the one hand, he was nervous because he had no idea what was going through Kennedy’s mind. Was the man happy to have him as a mate? Did he view him as a complication? It couldn’t be easy for him to have a mate who looked exactly like Seymour after training Seymour for so many months.

On the other hand, Lewis was happy and relieved that he wouldn’t have to keep this a secret anymore. The past few days had been hectic, mostly because of that. He’d been staying away from Seymour so he wouldn’t spill his secret, hiding in the shop just in case Kennedy walked by on the sidewalk and jumping every time a customer walked in. He could stop doing all that now, and even though he had no idea what Kennedy thought of their bond, that was a good thing.

Now, he was nervous for other reasons. Kennedy was walking next to him, a small smile playing on his lips, and Lewis was dying to ask him how he felt. Part of him wished they were already bonded so he could feel it, but they were nowhere near that yet, so he’d have to use his words.

Unfortunately.

That wasn’t something he enjoyed. Talking about feelings gave him hives, which was odd because, between him and Seymour, he’d always been the softest. He had a hard time trusting people, though, and even though Kennedy was his mate, he was a bit hesitant anyway.

“We’re supposed to talk,” he offered as they walked. The shop wasn’t that far, so if they didn’t start, they wouldn’t get anywhere before they reached it.

“We can do whatever you want,” Kennedy said.

He sounded besotted, but Lewis told himself not to read too much into it. It was probably how he always spoke. “I think it would be good if we talked,” he said. “I understand this is probably a disappointment for you, but we’re mates.”

“Why would it be a disappointment?”

Why, indeed? Kennedy didn’t know the history Seymour and Lewis shared. He didn’t know that sometimes Lewis felt like he wasn’t good enough and that he was inferior to his brother. Most of the time, he loved their differences, and he even loved that he was softer and more gentle, but was that the kind of person Kennedy wanted to share his life with?

“Well, you trained my brother for months, and you’re used to spending time with the kind of person he is. I’m nothing like him, and I don’t know what you think of that,” he explained. Kennedy should be the one person who would always put him first, beyond even Seymour. It would take some time to get used to that, but Lewis couldn’t know if that was what Kennedy would do.

“I was never interested in your brother. I thought he was hot, and I still do, but he’s nothing like you.”

Lewis scowled. “We’re identical twins.”

“I realize that. You’re both handsome, but there’s a gentleness to you that I prefer. I like Seymour as a friend, but you? If I’d had you in the program instead of Seymour, Hawthorne and Wallace wouldn’t have been the only ones in a relationship.”

Lewis knew he was blushing, but it didn’t matter. There was nothing he could do about it, and he wasn’t going to run and hide again. He owed it to himself to face the situation and find out what would come out of it.

“I like that you’re not your brother,” Kennedy continued. “And while you’re right that most of my relationships have been with people similar to me, there’s a reason you’re my mate, and they weren’t. I might never have realized that I needed someone different, but Fate did, and she gave you to me. I’m not going to waste that gift.”

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