Natural Blond Instincts

“I know.”

The air suddenly seemed to crackle, and unsure about that, she stepped back.

Right into her desk.

So did he. Right out of the office.

“’Night,” he said. “’Night.” She didn’t take a breath until he was gone.

LATER IN THE WEEK, Wes needed the files he’d given Kenna and, once again heading toward her office, he wondered what color she was wearing today.

He was really losing it.

“Can I help you?”

Serena. Man-hunting, man-hungry, man-trapping Serena. “No. I’m just looking for-”

“Me?” She smiled slow and inviting. “Well, I’m right here, silly. Right under your nose.”

“Actually, I’m looking for Kenna.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “I just saw her heading toward the elevators. I think she was going to grab lunch.”

For whatever reason, he went after her. He had no idea why, it wasn’t like she was going to have his files on her.

When he got out to the parking lot in the midday heat, he immediately caught sight of her.

She was kicking her car. The back left tire to be exact. The back left flat tire.

“It works better if you fill it instead of kicking more air out of it,” he said.

Whirling, she looked at him, for one moment completely unguarded. Gone was the sassy, confident woman who could drive him crazy with one flash of her cocky smile. Instead, he saw things in the depths of her eyes that took him aback. Things like despair and frustration and a vulnerability he’d never imagined he’d see in this woman who seemed to have everything. “What is it?” He expected her to tell him someone had just kicked her puppy or she owed half a million in back taxes. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Right in front of his eyes she gathered herself, managing to cloak all emotion from him in the blink of an eye. The sweet vulnerability was gone.

“Do you need some help?” he asked.

“I can handle this.”

“So you know how to change a tire?”

“No. But dealing with you takes up too much energy, and I’m fresh out.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t feel like being on, Wes. Please. Just go.”

She didn’t want to be on? Is that what she’d been doing with him all this time? Was he just now seeing the real deal? “Kenna-”

“Look, I’m exactly what you think I am, okay? Just a spoiled brat mooching off her father. So just go away and leave me to my spoiledness.”

“Ah, a pity party. Yeah,” he said when she jerked her head up and glared at him. “That’s what you’re doing, you’re having a good old pity party.”

“Yes, well, some of us are rendered pathetic by flat tires. The some of us who haven’t paid their AAA dues.”

“I know how to change a tire.”

“And that might help…if I had a spare.”

He sighed. Why the hell had he come out here? “I could drive you somewhere.”

“No.”

He nodded slowly, then turned away. If she was determined to handle this alone, then fine. Better than fine. He’d just-

“All right,” she said, accompanied by a loud sigh.

He turned back to her. “All right what?”

“All right, if you’re really determined to be a hero…” She lifted a shoulder. “I guess I could use a ride.”

No, said his brain. God, no. Run like hell and don’t look back.

“Yes,” said another part of him entirely. “Where to?”

“I’ll give you directions as we go.”

HE OPENED the door to his car for her. She’d often admired the forest-green vintage Jag that parked beside her. “Nice.”

“You’ll notice it isn’t black.”

She was not going to laugh with him, not today. “This won’t take long.”

“No problem, as long as we take an extra few minutes to grab lunch.”

That was all she’d meant to do. Get some fast food, anything as long as it was good and fattening with lots of French fries on the side.

And also to make a quick side trip to pay back Sarah at the Teen Zone. She’d meant to do that over the weekend, yet for some reason she’d put it off. But she didn’t want to put it off anymore, she wanted to pay off all her debts, every single one.

She glanced over at Wes, who was looking a little sorry that he’d agreed to this. “I won’t bite.”

“Wasn’t you I was worried about,” he muttered under his breath, and pulled out of the lot. He hit the gas and the car responded like the honey it was. “Where to?”

“A beach in the Bahamas sounds good.” She spoke lightly while her mind raced, trying to remember the way to the Teen Zone. It had been a while since she’d run out of gas in front of Sarah’s place.

“Is that what you do to relax? Hang on a beach somewhere getting sun cancer?”

The last time she’d actually had the time to lie around had been in her childhood, but she had fond memories of frying herself in the sun, all in the name of a tan. “Oh yeah,” she said, tongue in cheek. “I lie around on the beach all the time. Dare I ask? What would your ideal trip be?”

“Something a little more adventurous then sun-bathing.” He downshifted for a red light. Bikinied women and buff men crossed the street, heading toward the beach.

Kenna leaned back and looked out the window at the flawless southern California day. “You’re probably one of those.” She pointed to the crowd. “You’re the guy that buzzes the bathing queens, flinging sand during a vicious volleyball game, or maybe just blocks their view with your surfing techniques.”

He laughed. That he had an adventurous spirit called to her, not that she’d admit it. “Good thing we’re not doing anything stupid,” she said.

“Like?”

“Like dating.”

His jaw tightened. “Yeah.”

They drove in silence for a while after that, though Kenna would have paid to hear his thoughts since hers had left work long ago and were stuck on what she’d just said.

The thought of them going out.

It both made her wince and…yearn. “Um…turn right. Now left,” she said, biting her lip, trying to remember exactly… She pressed closer to the window as the rundown neighborhood came into view. “I don’t know this place very well…”

“I do.” His voice was grim, making her glare at him but he kept his eyes on the road. “What are you looking for?”

“There.” She watched in relief as the Teen Zone came into view. “Pull over there.”

Old, vacant houses. Graffiti on everything nailed down. Wes didn’t look thrilled. “This isn’t-”

“Right here, that house on the corner.”

“Kenna-”

“Hold that thought,” she said quickly, hearing in his tone that he was uncomfortable, that he wasn’t going to let her out of the car, not in this neighborhood. The moment he braked, she opened the door and leaped out, but because she didn’t want him to follow her, she peered back through the open window.

His hair was windblown, his expression behind his glasses edgy and uneasy.