Page 57 of Aviator
“That’s him!” Kenzie says at a near shout. “The one Kenna was bumping uglies with!”
My face burns as everyone in the immediate vicinity, including reporters who have shown up on the scene and myfather, pivots in our direction. Riley is of no help because she’s guffawing so hard tears are running down her face, and Klaire and Krystal are filming with their phones. Dean is grinning ear to ear. Of course, he is.
“You told your sisters about me,” he growls in my ear.
“Under duress,” I say between my teeth.
“I want to see his house,” says one of the girls.
“Me, too!” says the others.
“Yeah, Ken. Don’t be mean,” Riley adds.
“Traitor,” I tell them.
Dean pulls me into his arms, and his hands slide into my hair, forcing me to look into his eyes. Damn him. He cradles my head, and the nearness of his body makes me melt despite my irritation. He nips at my lips, and my eyes fall closed.
“Please come home with me, Kenna,” he says, his lips moving against my mouth. “I have to thank you properly for saving my life for the second time.”
“’Kay,” I answer and twine my arms around his neck to kiss him more deeply.
I can hear the girls cheering, Riley whooping, and catcalls from the reporters. But I don’t care.
When we get to his house and finally get everyone settled, he does thank me.
Multiple times.
Enthusiastically.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
DEAN
The next morning,the sound of my security system rouses me from a deep sleep. Kenna burrows more deeply into the covers next to me and shoves her cold nose against my shoulder. The two blocks of ice she calls feet press in between my thighs for warmth. I hiss out a breath and feel her lips shape into a smile against my skin. Instead of complaining, I pull her more tightly against me.
“Shouldn’t you get that?” she asks when she hears the doorbell start to ring.
“Nothing in heaven or hell could get me out of this bed with you,” I say, my voice gruff with sleep.
She giggles. “I wish we could stay here all day.”
“If we didn’t have your sisters to entertain, we could.”
She slaps my shoulder. “True, but I want them here. I don’t want any of you to leave my side ever again.”
Then she falls silent. The thought of her going home pierces the cocoon of intimacy we always seem to experience in this room. Like our time on the mountain, there’s a ticking clock on how long she can stay here. The girls have to go back to school soon. They have a home and a life there. And I’m not always a man who can change my ways so easily, that I’ve learned a thousand times over.
The doorbell rings again. This time back-to-back, like someone’s leaning on the damn thing. I’m halfway tempted to tear it out of the wall. The last thing we need is Frank showing up or more reporters. Our story has gone viral several times over now, and the public seems to think it’s juicy as hell. I don’t mind the invasion of my privacy as much as I once would have. Everything seems a little easier, a little more bearable, with Kenna’s sunshine to dull the darkness.
“Seriously, if you don’t answer it, I will,” she mumbles into my shoulder. “They’re going to wake up the heathens soon,” she warns when I don’t move. “Please? It could be the delivery guy with my new phone.”
That has me sighing, and I roll out of the bed and pull on a pair of sweats. She’s been fretting about not having a phone in case Kady tries to reach out. “They better be dying because if not, I may kill ’em,” I mutter under my breath as I stalk to the front door.
“No guns,” she shouts from behind me, but I hear the laughter in her voice reminding me of how I greeted her when she showed up on my doorstep. I don’t get the gun, but it rests behind the door, just in case. What? A man can apparently never be too prepared, considering the number of times we’ve nearly died recently.
I forgot to check the security app, so I’m struck speechless when I open the door to Ford and Callum standing on my front porch. Ford is bigger than I remember—dude must live in the gym—but the hardness that used to make him seem so unapproachable is gone. Callum has always been a bit of a daredevil, but he looks relaxed and even. . . content? I thought I’d never want to see them again. Thought it would bring up too many bad memories. Maybe a part of me always blamed them a little for what happened to Georgia and Penny, but the second I lay eyes on them, it’s like finding a part of me that I didn’t know was missing.
“Guess they didn’t manage to kill you after all,” Ford grunts.
