Page 44 of Taking Chances

It was a reminder of my age. Back in my twenties, I’d been able to pull all-nighters with no problem at all. I could stay out on a mission or drink and party and the next day get everything I needed done with just a bit of coffee.

Now, though? If I got less than six hours, I damn well felt it the next day, and given I got maybe two hours of shut eye last night, I was dragging.

Kenz, however, rebounded nicely.

Her skin had a pretty flush to it, and her smile had brightened significantly. At first, I’d thought it was more about me, that after what we’d done last night, after how I’d seen her, that she just looked different to me.

However, after seeing her interact with others, I’d started to suspect it was more than that.

And, hell, maybe it was self-centered or egotistical, but I wanted to think the change was due to me—tous.I liked the idea that finally giving in, finally accepting our connection had somehow helped her. I’d heard people say that a woman in love became prettier, and even though I didn’t think she could get any prettier, I couldn’t deny the change.

We were at her school because she had a class she couldn’t get out of. I hadn’t wanted to bring her here, not with what Pauline had said, but we couldn’t really hold Kenz back forever.

According to Char, he’d looked into it, and it seemed, like we’d expected, the withdrawal of Pauline’s protections had put a target on his back. In fact, he hadn’t shown back up to work, since Tor had stopped in and found a note on his office door from the university stating that‘Grisham Oreando has taken a sudden leave of absence.’

He probably realized he couldn’t show up here anymore, that the carefully created barriers he’d had were gone and anyone who might have known who he really was no longer had a reason to avoid targeting him.

I could only hope that Pauline was wrong, that he might have recognized Kenz as the least of his problems, now. If we caught a break—which would be nice—he might write Kenz off as no longer important.

And seeing Kenz here, back in class, made me want to smile. It made me want this to go away.

I could ignore Lorien, at least for now, if it meant giving Kenz back her life, that she could return to her school, to the art that she loved. I wanted that for her, to see her get the things she deserved in her life.

The class was a life drawing one, and the model was a man who stood in the center, nude. I’d already had to fight my initial desire to toss Kenz over my shoulder and carry her out of the room.

I’d never thought myself to be a jealous man, yet the idea of the girl I loved staring at some stranger naked seemed to hit all my buttons when it came to anger. Why I didn’t care if she was with Char, Vance or Tor but I cared about the hard body in front of us, I didn’t know and didn’t feel the need to examine too much.

Just put a towel on at least!

I shook my head, then forced my gaze to Kenz and her work rather than the naked man in the center of the room. She moved her pencil over the large canvas quickly, the lines light. I rarely watched her draw, since that was more Vance’s area of expertise, but I had to admit, there was something compelling about it.

She had such focus, as though the rest of the world disappeared around her when she worked. I’d bet, after everything she’d gone through, all she’d suffered with, that such a moment of peace was not only welcome but needed. She took her lip between her teeth as her gaze darted between the canvas as the model, as she added light line after light line, changing things as she went.

What she drew came to life before my eyes, and I found myself stunned by her talent. The ability to create something so life-like was an amazing talent, really, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever fully recognized it as such before.

It made me want to ensure she got to continue with it, to follow her dream, to keep at something that was clearly so important to her.

In fact, I allowed myself to fantasize for a moment, to think about a future where she had her own art studio at our place, where she got to work during whatever hours she wanted, where we could go to her shows when she had exhibits.

Normally such distraction would be bad, but at the college here, with Tor and Char both around as well, a few moments of harmless fantasizing was probably okay.

The class wrapped up after about two hours, when the modelfinallyput his robe on and headed through a door at the front of the class, toward what was likely a changing room.

Kenz put her tools away, carefully packing her pencils and sliding the box into the messenger bag that she slung over her shoulder. She took the large canvas and carried it over to a table full of open slots, each one with a number at the bottom. She carefully slid the picture into one of the slots while other students did the same, telling me it was storage for the pieces worked on in the classroom.

Which meant she’d work on it more later?

She walked over to me, her gaze not quite meeting mine. She’d done that since she’d woken up, as if she wasn’t quite sure how to interact with me after what we’d done.

Which I understood. I’d probably feel just as uncomfortable if she wasn’t already being awkward. Somehow, that took some of the stress off me. I didn’t have to worry because she did enough of it for both of us.

“You look mad,” she said, her voice soft as though nervous.

I tried to smile and reassure her. “I’m not mad.”

Shefinallylooked up and into my eyes. “Really? Because you’ve been glaring since class started. I’m pretty sure you made a lot of students nervous.”

I nearly reached up to feel my own face, as if I could make sure she was telling the truth, but then a glance up when the model strolled back in—dressed but somehow still looking just as handsome—made it clear she was probably right.

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