courtesy of his fiancée, and I didn’t want to make him break that confidence.
“I hate that anyone’s hurt her.” The words were out before I could think better of them. Before I could consider what they might mean. There was just something about Kenna that drew me to her. It was a broken strength. Something that said she’d been through hell and had come out the other side stronger and fiercer than ever.
Ford tossed the rag he was using into a bucket on the floor. “She hasn’t had an easy life. None of those girls have. I think that’s why their bond is so tight. The people in their lives that they should’ve been able to count on were never there the way they should’ve been, so they counted on each other.”
I was glad that Kenna had Bell and Caelyn, that they had one another. Still, the anger simmering in my blood at Kenna’s mother and the Abbots wasn’t cooled by that knowledge. The pain she’d endured, whatever it was, had left a nearly impenetrable shell in its wake.
I pushed to my feet, sliding my wallet out of my back pocket and pulling out a twenty. “Thanks for the meal. Tell Bell I said hi.”
“Will do. You want to hit up some rock climbing this weekend?”
I grinned. I’d gotten Ford hooked on the sport, and we went out a few times a month now. “Just name the time.”
“Sounds good. I’ll shoot you a text.”
I gave Ford a chin jerk and headed out. The dusky twilight of early fall meant I barely needed my headlights to navigate the winding island roads. The air was still tonight. No sea wind shaking the trees. I rolled down my windows, hoping the scent of the salt air would calm the twitchiness running through my limbs.
It didn’t help the way it usually did. I gripped the wheel harder, my hands making the leather squeak. Instead of heading up the mountain toward the bluffs, I turned left in the direction of the sea and The Gables.
Paved roads turned to gravel, and I soon caught sight of the grand main house and its miniaturized counterpart. I pulled to a stop outside the guest house. Before I could think too hard about what I was doing, I hopped out of my truck.
I didn’t bother beeping the locks, just strode up the front walk and gave three quick knocks. I held my breath as I waited, straining to hear any sound within. Just as I was about to rap again, I heard soft footfalls coming from the other side of the door. The lock flipped, and the door swung open.
The light from the lanterns that hung on either side of the door hit Kenna in a way that made her look like an oil painting. Her hair was fixed in a low bun at the nape of her neck. Her skin, smooth and free of makeup, seemed to gleam in the low light. But her eyes… They told the truth. They were dull with none of their usual spark, and they were ringed in dark circles.
She gripped the door frame. “Crosby.”
There was no welcoming note in her tone. “Hey, Brown Eyes.” I hoped for a flicker of annoyance in those amber depths, but there was nothing.
She sighed. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on you.” The words sounded bizarre to my ears. I wasn’t her confidante. I wasn’t even sure she’d classify me as a friend. I was more of an annoying acquaintance.
“Why?” The question was devoid of emotion. Even the word sounded exhausted.
“I don’t know. Just bored, I guess.”
Kenna’s eyes gave a hint of something, just a flicker. “I’m not here for your amusement. Go away.”
“Don’t be like that. Invite me in. We can play Scrabble.”
Her lips pressed into a firm line. “I think my idea of Scrabble and yours are quite different.”
I grinned. Now we were getting somewhere. A little poke here or there, and I might just get some life back into those eyes. “Dirty words are always allowed when I play. Think you can handle that?”
Kenna rolled her eyes. “Why are you so juvenile? I will never understand what Harriet saw in you—”
The spark that lit her eyes finally did it. The damn thing just pulled me right in, and before I could think better of it, my lips met Kenna’s. I stole the second half of her sentence and swallowed it whole, my hand slipping under the bun at the base of