I pulled out of her driveway and drove into mine, while thinking what I would have to do to get invited to dinner at their house later this evening.
Past
Kianna
The storm had stopped, but it had brought an unusually cold night to the farm. Before putting the kids to bed, Ophelia and Kianna lit the fireplaces in their rooms to keep warm.
Kianna lay in her bed, under her thick blankets, and despite being tired from walking back and forth from the village, then helping the kids with their lessons, making dinner, and cleaning up, Kianna couldn’t fall asleep.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the man sleeping in the barn in this cold. There were no fireplaces there, and he probably didn’t have a thick blanket either.
It was okay. He would be okay. He would survive the night, and tomorrow she could hand him a couple more blankets.
Thunder echoed through the house.
Kianna sat up in her bed. Was it going to rain more? The temperature would drop too.
Giving in, she threw her blanket aside. She put on a jacket over her nightgown, grabbed a nice blanket from the linen closet, and headed downstairs.
Kianna walked out of the back door and yelped, almost dropping the blanket.
Devon got up from the bench along the wall. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yes,” she said, hugging the blanket tighter. “What are you doing here?”
He sat back down, his eyes on the dark horizon. “I couldn’t sleep.” He was fully dressed, but his jacket was the same as before—too thin for this crazy weather.
Kianna handed him the blanket. “Here. I thought you might be cold.”
He turned his dark eyes to her. “Worried about me?”
Kianna clicked her tongue. “Not likely.” Why she was being this hostile so suddenly? He had kept her company while she ran her errands, walked to and from the village, lent her his jacket when it rained, and gave her a piggyback ride home after the rain. Overall, they had spent a good day together. With a huff, she sat down on the bench beside him. “Why couldn’t you sleep? Was it because of the cold?”
Devon wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. “I don’t think so. I just lay down and my mind wouldn’t stop.”
Kianna hated how curious she was about him, but she couldn’t stop the words from forming. “What were you thinking about?”
He stared at her and despite the darkness around them, she could feel the intensity of his gaze on her. “This and that,” he said, as if that was a good enough answer.
“I couldn’t sleep either,” she revealed, though she wouldn’t tell him why she couldn’t sleep.
More thunder cut through the sky, bringing in a chilly breeze.
Kianna shivered.
“Here.” Devon scooted closer to her and stretched the blanket over both their shoulders. He tightened it until her shoulder was buried in the side of his chest. “That’s better.”
She glanced up at him. He was so, so close. If she stretched her back a little bit more, her lips would touch his. Frowning, she snapped her head forward and fixed her sight on the horizon.
This wasn’t right. She was a lady. She shouldn’t be pressed to a man she barely knew. To any man, for that matter, especially if he wasn’t her fiancé or husband.
She should move. She should scoot away. She should go back to bed.
Instead, she relaxed beside him and whispered, “Thank you.”
Present
Kenna
The explosion of thunder shook the house.
Cursing, I sat up in my bed. Holy shit, this storm. It hadn’t stopped raining since earlier that day. In fact, it had only gotten worse as the night progressed.
I hated when it rained like that. The flash of lightning and the sound of the thunder reminded me of the nights spent locked up at Slater’s place. If it wasn’t the rain, then the booms I'd heard and the light I'd seen had been the battles Slater raged against his enemies and his subordinates—sometimes, against me.
I tried lying back down. I even put on my earphones and played music loud to drown out the sound. I pulled my blanket over my head, so I wouldn’t see the lightning flashes. But there wasn’t much I could do when I could feel the damn thing.
Giving up on sleep, I threw my blankets to the side and headed downstairs. Staying up and consciously hearing and seeing the rain wasn’t the best idea, but it was much better than being in my bed, trying to ignore it, and only feeling more scared and perturbed in the process.