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And I’m a gonner. I might as well organize my own funeral now because there’s no coming back from spending time with this guy, even if I never make it out of the friend zone.

34

TREY

Idon’t know why, but having take-out at my house with Kenzie makes things feel almost perfect. Sure, there’s a whole lot of tension between us, but at some point, we’ve got to address it.

“These are so good,” Kenzie says. She takes a bite of her taco and her eyes close as she chews. “I can’t believe I’ve never tried these before.”

“They only opened about six months ago. And since they’re so close to my house, it’s easy to run out and grab them. Do you want to watch a movie?” I ask. Even if she’s planning on getting work done while she’s here, I don’t want to start now.

She looks at the small DVD collection I have from my college days and says, “Sure. I picked last time. What do you want to watch?”

I grin. “Star Wars.”

“No.”

“Lord of the Rings?”

“No. And no to Star Trek. If you want to do a Harry Potter marathon, I’m in. I can also do the first two movies of the Hunger Games.”

Nodding, I say, “How about Indiana Jones?”

Her eyes light up and she says, “Absolutely.”

We finish up our food and settle onto the two spots on the couch that aren’t a sinkhole. “What is it about Indiana Jones that you like so much?”

“They were my dad’s favorite movies. I’d spend weekends after a hockey tournament falling asleep to the adventures of Indy.”

“I thought you were going to say you had a crush on Harrison Ford or something.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “Naw, he was a lot like my dad.”

I find the first movie on one of my streaming services and then we settle in. Kenzie sits up and glances around the room. “Where is your not-so-wholly blanket?”

“The one I wore when you first came over?” We both laugh as I remember that. “It’s on the bed.”

She disappears into my room and comes out a minute later, tugging the soft ivory blanket and settling in beside me again. Minutes tick by and I feel like a teenager again, unsure of what I should be doing with limbs and if one of her movements should be seen as an opening to some handholding or something.

I finally get my arm up over the back of the couch, feeling like I’ve just scored the most important goal of my life, when I see her wavering back and forth. Her head droops forward and I can hear a soft snore coming from her.

“Kenzie?” I say softly. There’s no snarky answer or smile. And then she leans over so that her head is resting on my upper chest. I freeze, not wanting to ruin this moment.

Seconds tick by and I’m not even sure what’s happening in the movie because I’m so focused on the woman who smells like honey today and has slowly been capturing my heart. She doesn’t move, only breathes in deeply and snuggles in closer. I wrap my arm around her back, pulling her closer to me. I don’t know what took me so long to figure out that I seriously like this woman, but every moment up to this has made it all worth it.

I’m okay that no work has been done tonight. This is exactly where I want to be.

35

TREY

Aloud buzzing sound causes me to wake up. The TV is turned off, which means we’ve been asleep for a while. Kenzie stirs next to me. It’s not until she sees my face that her eyes open wider. Her gaze drops to the lack of distance between us and she looks confused.

“Did I fall asleep on you?” she asks. “Eww, I think I slobbered here a bit.” She wipes at a spot on my shirt and I laugh.

“It’s all good. I think we were both tired. It’s been a crazy few weeks.”

The buzzing starts up again and Kenzie answers her phone. “What’s up?”