Keeping Kenzie - Pepper North Page 0,15
ability to handle anything and everything. She almost laughed as she sat down at the table. He could take care of just about any problem or threat.
“I’ll let you explain that smile later, Baby girl.” Osiris dropped a light kiss on the top of her head before pulling a check from his pocket. He set the strip of paper on the table beside her.
Kenzie stared wide-eyed at the amount on the check. “How did you get this? It’s a lot of money.”
“I had a chat with your former employer. We discussed your thirty-nine hours each week and the lack of notice without cause for firing you. He decided to give you the wages he hadn’t paid you yet as well as two weeks of severance pay.”
“What?”
“Use your phone to deposit that in your account. Here’s a pen.” Osiris plucked that out of his pocket as well.
“Do you have anything else in there?” she asked, staring at him in wonder.
“Baby girl,” he said softly as he shook his head. “Deposit the check.”
She heard him bustling around in the kitchen as she signed the check and took pictures as required for online banking. It only took a minute. Turning in her seat, Kenzie watched Osiris move around the kitchen.
His body shifted athletically around the small area as he fixed sandwiches. Osiris might be older than she was, but he was in top physical condition. So fine that she couldn’t decide what her favorite part was. Her fingers definitely wanted to glide over his round buns. Heck, I’d be happy to hold on to those shoulders for dear life!
“Your expression tells me you’re thinking of eating me alive,” he joked, drawing her from her daydreams.
“Maybe just nibbling a bit,” she confessed before realizing what she was saying to him. “Sorry! I’ll stop.”
“No way, Little girl. I want your eyes on me. Just make sure you aren’t stripping the clothes off anyone else.”
“Oh, no. I’m not interested in anyone else.” I really need to filter what I’m saying. Her face heated, and Kenzie knew she was blushing furiously as Osiris walked to the table with a couple of plates and a mound of sandwiches.
“I can’t eat that much,” she protested.
“I can,” Osiris answered confidently as he put two sandwich halves on her plate. “I put mustard on them. I hope that’s okay.”
“I love mustard!” Taking a big bite, Kenzie hummed with enjoyment. She mumbled around the food she ate, “This is good!”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Little girl. I don’t want you to choke.”
He helped himself to one sandwich and took a bite that consumed almost half of the diagonally sliced portion. He chuckled when her eyes widened, but he waited to comment until he swallowed. “Wrangling awful ex-bosses makes me hungry.”
She took a big drink of the milk in front of her before answering, “I feel sorry for the animals in his care. He doesn’t even look to see if they need anything.”
“I took care of that as well.”
“What did you do?”
“I called the main headquarters of the chain. They’re sending an inspector next month to make sure he’s providing a healthy environment. Turns out the big dogs don’t enjoy hearing that the current franchisee doesn’t represent their company well.”
“Thank you! Now I know someone will check in on all the animals. I don’t think Sean will work very hard.”
“He was a fool to fire you. But all the better for me. There are some pets at SANCTUM,” he dangled in front of her.
“Fun!” She took another bite of her sandwich and watched the other half of his disappear. After she swallowed, Kenzie asked, “Are you sure you want me to stick around?”
“I’m not letting you go.”
“I want to stay with you, too. It’s so weird. Something clicked into place for me when you found me in the fire. Not like I’m falling for the hero who saved me way,” she reassured him. “I know there are probably a lot of women who have thrown themselves at you after a fire.”
“Some,” he admitted. “But they weren’t a match for me.”
“That’s it. That’s it exactly! You’re like the perfect pairing for me. It’s like you’re who I’ve always been looking for.”
“I understand that feeling, Baby girl. You clicked for me as well.”
“Can we talk about rules now? I’ve never had rules in a relationship. It scares me a bit.”
“It shouldn’t. Let me get a couple of pieces of paper.” Osiris inhaled another bite of sandwich before standing and getting some paper.
“Daddy’s rules first,”