Page 34 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

rabbed her wrists and moved her hands back to the counter. “You forget that I know you. Sex is always your favorite distraction.”

“I don’t recall you complaining.”

No. No he hadn’t.

It had been her idea to lose their virginity together at seventeen. Who was he to say no to that? He’d had a pulse, and he’d have done anything she asked. He had. It hadn’t been until later that he’d found out she’d gotten word that her father had been killed in an accident, when his rig jackknifed during a thunderstorm. Their first time had been as much about losing her grief for a while as it had been about them.

And now Joan had been victim of a weather-related accident as well. He should’ve seen the parallel sooner.

Xander laced his fingers with hers and kept his voice gentle. “Talk to me. You used to be able to.”

“You were prettier than my therapist.”

“Kennedy.”

She sighed, irritation quickly being chased by resignation across her face. “Fine. I might as well start supper. I need something to do with my hands.”

He had another quick mental flash of those hands on him, but he stepped back as she slid off the counter. She turned her back to him, shoulders stiff, and reached for the bags of groceries. For one last moment, he crowded in behind her, sweeping her hair to the side, so he could press a kiss to her nape. She stilled, hands fisted in plastic sacks, as if absorbing the connection. She’d said there’d been no one serious. He wondered if there’d been anyone at all. She seemed as starved for affection now as when she’d first come to Joan.

“What can I do to help?” he asked.

She tugged a bag over. “Peel these carrots and scrub up the potatoes.”

Okay, not exactly what he’d meant, but he could work with that. He took the bag. “Tell me how you’re really doing being back. I know it can’t be easy.”

The corner of her mouth quirked. “Not even a little emotional foreplay?”

“You were always more a rip the Band-aid off type. You’ll feel better when you talk about it.”

“It should be annoying that you still know me so well.” She pulled a pair of fat pork chops from another bag. “No, it’s not easy. Though I daresay the Ridge in general is more accepting of my being back than my sisters, if for no other reason than I’m a new and interesting topic of gossip.”

“I’ve gotten my fair share of that since you got back.”

“Have a cast iron skillet?” she asked.

Xander pulled one out of the drawer, and she set the oven to preheat.

“Things are rough with your sisters. You’d mentioned a fight the other night.”

“We’re all messed up in our own ways. Adding all our grief over Mom has made things kind of ugly. They were already angry with me, and that’s been bleeding over.”

“Bleeding over how?”

“Pot shots from Athena. Which is entirely to be expected. She’s always had anger issues, and she’ll take them out on the nearest target. I think she may be angrier with me for not coming home when Maggie got pregnant than Maggie herself. Or, I don’t know. Maggie was…is pissed, too, but it’s not her way to let it all hang out there. She represses every damn thing and tries to control every last detail. It’s just been…shitty. To Athena, I haven’t been a participating member of this family in a decade, so I really shouldn’t have a say in anything going forward. I don’t have the right or the basis to say what Mom would’ve wanted. With the house. With Ari.”

“That’s ridiculous. It’s not like you were excommunicated.”

“I think Athena feels like I excommunicated myself. And I sort of did. Not that I think that gives her license to take shots at me. But I know her. It’s part of her grieving process, so I’m not fighting back.” Which was a far cry from the all out wars they’d sometimes fought as teenagers. Athena had usually won those battles. He’d often been the one to deal with the aftermath.

“That’s got to burn. Just sucking down whatever you’re feeling about it.”

She mixed together salt, pepper, garlic powder, and thyme in a small bowl, then sprinkled both sides of the pork chops with the mix. “Not half as much as Maggie’s disappointment in me.”

Xander frowned. “Why is she disappointed? Because you weren’t here during Babygate?”

Kennedy twitched her shoulders. “That’s a big part of it. And she thinks I never grew up. I’ve been running around the world in pursuit of my own selfish, Peter Pan dreams, while the rest of them became productive members of society.”

The snap of defensive temper left him speechless for a moment. “She said that to you?”

---