Page 26 of Off the Grid
The judgment was thick. He was almost surprised she didn’t end the sentence with,How cliché. Leo knelt and put his hand against the soft leather seat in silent apology.She doesn’t understand.Then he looked over his shoulder at McKenzie, unable to halt the grin widening his lips. “A guy who’s into cars is no more or less surprising than a woman who’s into baking.”
Her jaw dropped. Her eyes narrowed. “I’m notintobaking. I’m a French-trained pastry chef with a bachelor’s degree from the Culinary Institute of America.”
Leo shrugged and turned his gaze back to the bike. “Then it sounds like you’re a woman who’sreallyinto baking.”
“I’m the youngest head pastry chef in New York City, thank you very much.”
“Impressive,” he answered with honest admiration. McKenzie released an audible breath, like a deflating balloon. Leo tugged his backpack out from the storage box under the seat and pounced on the opening. “Let me see your eyes.”
She flinched back. “What?”
Clearly, she had some issues about personal space. Leo lifted his hands, palms out. “I just want to shine a flashlight in them to make sure your pupils aren’t dilated. You probably have a concussion, and I want to make sure it’s not anything worse.”
Her brows twitched together and she tugged her lower lip into her mouth, but she nodded. This time, when Leo stepped closer, she let him. He cupped her chin with his fingers, then tilted her head up and held it steady. With his other hand, he clicked the flashlight attached to his key ring on. Her pupils immediately contracted. They were maybe a bit dilated, but not by much, and more importantly, they were the same size. He turned the flashlight off but didn’t let go. “Do you feel light headed or dizzy?”
McKenzie shrugged. “No, not really.”
“Do you have a headache?”
Her right eyebrow arched high, dripping with attitude.
Right, right, the bleeding head wound.“Sorry, stupid question. Are your ears ringing?”
“No.”
“Do you feel nauseous? Like you have to vomit?”
“No.”
“Can you say ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’ five times fast?”
She frowned. “Can anyone?”
Smart-ass.“Just do it.”
McKenzie sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. Pushing her buttons was growing on him. “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Peter Piper pecked a pike of peppered pick— Argh!”
He pressed his lips together and coughed. “I think you’re okay.” Leo dropped his hand and stepped back, but McKenzie’s probing stare held him captive. He didn’t look away. “What?”
“It’s just—” She broke off with a shake of her head and dropped her gaze to the floor. Leo didn’t move. She lifted it back up a moment later. His heart pinched at the shrewd consideration in those eyes, as though she could see right through him. “How do you know all of this?”
The bureau.He wanted the easy answer to roll right off his tongue, but it lodged in his throat, stuck. Maybe if she knew a little more about him, she’d be able to drop her walls. They were in this together now, for better or worse, and it would be so much easier if she could just learn to trust him. Besides, he’d dug into her past and asked about her father, crossing a line he hadn’t known was there. It was only fair she learned a little bit about his past too.
“I was a marine,” he said. McKenzie tilted her head to the side with what seemed like genuine interest. “While I was overseas, one of my brothers was— We were— He—”
“It’s okay,” McKenzie stepped in. “You don’t have to tell me.”
Speaking about those memories was difficult, near impossible, but the more he did, the less power they had over him. Leo kept on, even as his voice caught and the words stumbled. “A bomb went off and he was thrown back in the blast. He hit his head pretty hard, but when I got to him, he said he was fine. He said the helmet caught the worst of it. I believed him, told him to see a medic when we got back to base camp, and then I forgot about it. That night, he fell asleep and didn’t wake up. Internal bleeding, the doctors said. His head injury was a lot worse than any of us realized. After that, I studied what to check for in case it ever happened again. And when I got back home, I took a course in emergency medicine so the next time I was in that sort of situation, I’d at least have a better idea of what to do.”
McKenzie watched him. Her expression froze for a moment, and then every inch of it softened. “I’m sorry, Leo.”
“Wasn’t your fault.” He turned away and hefted his backpack from the ground. For some reason, he’d never been able to stand the sight of sympathy.
“Still, I—” She stopped herself, maybe sensing his disdain, and instead said, “That really fucking sucks.”
“Yeah,” he replied, breathing out a dark laugh. “It really fucking does.”
“So.” She paused and took a deep breath. “What do we do now?”
