Page 33 of Beautifully Broken Control

Kennedy

The waterin the kettle was just starting to hum when the back door opened. “Morning,” Jensen called as she strode in. Her movements were automatic as she hung her purse on a hook, slipped her sunglasses into her bag, pulled on an apron, and headed for the sink to wash up.

There was something comforting about the familiarity. The routine we both had. There was safety in the predictable. “Morning, J.”

She dried her hands on a towel. “You got enough water there for two?”

“Of course.” I poured the liquid over the loose-leaf tea in intricate strainers. Soon, the scent of the cherry blossom green tea filled my senses. I handed Jensen her mug. “Here you go.”

She inhaled deeply. “You are an angel. Never leave me.”

I chuckled. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Thank God.” Jensen blew on her tea. “So, how did Cain do at Hope House?”

My grip on the mug tightened ever so slightly. “He was great. Everyone loved him. Even Anna.”

Jensen’s brows rose. “If he won over Anna, he must have been on his A-game.”

“Well, he made a pretty delicious meatloaf.” There were a million questions I wanted to ask Jensen about Cain. So much about him didn’t add up. And then there was his minor freak-out at me riding my bike home. I would’ve fought him on it, but I’d seen the panic in his eyes. I swallowed a sip of tea. “What’s his story?”

Jensen cupped a hand around her mug and was silent for a moment. “It’s not mine to tell. I’ll just say that he’s been through a lot and didn’t have the best home life growing up.” Something in my chest tightened. “You didn’t like him very much when you first met him, did you?”

I set my mug down on the counter. God, I was the worst kind of snob. Judging someone for simply having money, not allowing their actions to speak for themselves. “I haven’t had the best experiences with people who have a lot of money.”

Jensen studied me. “Whatever happened, I’m sorry.”

That familiar burn of guilt along my sternum was back. I was hiding things from one of the kindest human beings I’d ever met. She didn’t deserve it, but I didn’t know how to tell her the truth. “I shouldn’t have judged Cain on the size of his wallet.”

A wicked grin spread over Jensen’s face. “No, you should judge him on the size of his—”

“Jensen!” We both dissolved into laughter. “What are we? Twelve?”

She shrugged, wiping at tears that had gathered under her eyes. “Gotta find the laughter where you can.” Her expression grew a bit more serious. “I’m glad you’re giving him a second chance.”

“Me, too.” A frisson of something I hadn’t felt in a long time slid through me. A light electrical pulse, a hum beneath my skin. I ignored it and got to work.

* * *

The bellover the door jingled, and I looked up from wiping down a table. Gleaming dark hair, piercing dark blue eyes, and a t-shirt that fit way too well based on the slight uptick in my heart rate.

“Hey, Kenz.”

The sound of my nickname coming out of Cain’s mouth for the first time felt way too intimate, and his gentle smile might as well have kicked me in the stomach. “Hi.” The greeting came out as more of a squeak. I cleared my throat. “What are you doing here?”

“I offered to put in a security system for Jensen.”

My brows pulled together. Jensen hadn’t uttered a word about wanting an alarm to me. “Did something happen?”

Cain shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I offered.”

Pieces came together in my mind. Cain’s overprotectiveness last night. The way he had studied the locks on the door when he dropped me off. “Cain, that’s not necessary.”

He shrugged. “It’s fun for me. And we can’t have you kidnapped by bandits.”

There was a forced levity in his tone that I couldn’t quite understand, but I let him off the hook. Fresh starts and all that. “What do you need to get started?”

The set of Cain’s shoulders seemed to ease a bit. “Just need to unlock the back door so I can grab my stuff out of my SUV.”

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