But she also knew that she’d just prickled their drama-seeking antennae with that loud declaration.
Hell would be paid.
Though, not as much as what Tanner would be enduring from her brother, if Bas’s expression was any indication.
However, the friendly server once again saved the day, moving around the table with practiced speed and depositing plates at regular intervals, including stepping between her and Tanner to set her food down. He shifted back to let the blonde beauty in—Kels really needed to find out her name because she owed a serious debt of womanhood—then he glared down at her for one more long moment before turning on heel and going down to his end of the table.
If only that end could be a little further away.
Say, Antarctica.
Yeah, he’d fit in with the penguins down there.
Kels smirked, imagining him waddling around and sitting on an egg for months at a time. He was patient, was well used to being still while waiting for that perfect shot. Further that, he’d always been patient. Not just behind the lens, but in bed, then at outwaiting her until she gave up on them as a them.
She’d picked up her taco while thinking those lovely thoughts, chowing down on the carne asada and whitefish varieties she craved on a regular basis because they were just that good, when the memory of how he’d out-patienced her reared its ugly head.
Suddenly the tacos weren’t so tasty.
Cardboard had more on them. And maybe some shards of broken glass.
Or perhaps nuclear waste.
Whatever it was, the memory of Tanner breaking up with her, of his cruel words and her response to them—strike back, strike hard—brought the two emotions that always seemed to be roiling beneath the surface straight to the top of the pile.
Embarrassment and shame.
Cute.
Sighing, she set down the taco and pushed up from her chair.
“Be right back,” she murmured to Bas when he looked up.
His brows drew down. “You okay?”
A forced smile, that really good one she’d perfected. “Yup.” Her shrug was self-deprecating. “Too many liquids.”
He relaxed and turned his attention back to Rachel, who was sitting on his other side, not taking long for his focus to be only her. As it should be. This was their night. But his concern for Kels, checking in, watching out for her—she was lucky enough that it was like that with all the male members of her family. Dev, Bas, and her dad were just really good people, always looking out for the people around them, loving the ones who had a piece of their heart without reservation. Even when Bas had gone through his distant stage, he’d still been kind and considerate and protective.
And she’d never resented the care.
Mostly because being in the spotlight of it didn’t feel like she was stuck in a jail cell, but also because she and her mom gave that same care back. Having been in one relationship that had been on the wrong side of that line, when protection had felt smothering, was a life experience that made sure she knew and appreciated the difference fully now.
Lucky for her, she’d gotten smart and dumped the guy.
Even though the bathroom wasn’t actually her stop, Kelsey didn’t risk drawing attention by going for her jacket as she walked from the table. Instead, she left it and slipped down the hall that lead to the back doors of the restaurant.
There was a tiny patio there, and while it was often packed on summer days and evenings, this fall night was too cold. The chairs were stacked along one wall, the umbrellas collapsed, and the tables were topped with condensation. But it was quiet, and for her rapidly sobering brain—thanks to you for that, memories—it gave her a moment to breathe.
Clear enough to see the stars and cold enough that her breath fogged in front of her, Kelsey leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.
Breathe. Just breathe.
It was going to be fine. Everything would work out the way it was supposed to, and just because she was the single Scott who couldn’t seem to find a person to love her for all her flaws, didn’t mean she was going to die alone in her apartment with her seventy-two cats eating her face off.
Nope.
It’d probably be her seventy-two dogs, because she was much more of a dog person.
Speaking of that, maybe she’d get a dog. A cute little corgi with stumpy legs and a stretched-out body. Then again, dogs were a lot of work and she could hardly complete her own. Then again, again, Heather O’Keith had been bugging her to hire a few more lab assistants and punt off some of her grunt work.
Then again, again, again, she was purposely distracting herself from the real thing bothering her.
Tanner and the fact that she still had it bad for him.
His gorgeous face, the hint of a dimple on his left cheek, the bump on the top of his nose from a basketball injury in high school—and yes, she’d been at the game because she’d gone to all his games—the way his hair always looked a little disheveled, as though he’d just run his hands through it. How he smiled gently when people spoke to him, no matter if it was a stranger on the street asking for the time or Bas telling him a funny work story.
How he’d hugged.
How he’d kissed her.
How he’d taken her virginity—
“You aren’t going to puke, are you?”
Four
Tanner
Fuck, she was going to throw up.
Her face was pale, no hint of the lovely peaches and cream coloration he’d spent way too many nights dreaming about after they’d—he’d—broken things off. Her lids peeled back, and her brown eyes were slightly hazy.
Brown wasn’t the right description of those eyes, the one word could not nearly begin to encompass the breadth of color and depth. More whiskey than mocha, but with hints of espresso running through, and the right one had a perfect gray ring around its pupil. Hell, he figured he knew Kelsey’s eyes better than his own. He’d sketched them, photographed them, stared into them while naked and felt way too many emotions for a boy who’d had nothing and suddenly felt everything.
Her eyes closed again. “I’m fine,” she said, and the tone was almost perfect. If he hadn’t known her so well in a past life, it might have fooled him. Especially when she added, “Just trying to puzzle out a work problem.” A beat, lips curving but lids staying shut. “As one does.”
He leaned against the wall next to her, seeing her stiffen, but Tanner had to give it to her, she didn’t move away, didn’t do anything but stay where she was and keep breathing.
“What’s the problem?” he asked after a few minutes.
“What?”
“The work problem you’re puzzling.”
Her lips tipped up into a faint smile. “Oh, I puzzled that already. We were missing a critical line of code.” She shrugged, as if her solving a work problem was as easy as breathing. And knowing her and how brilliantly smart she was, it probably was just that easy.
“So, now, what’s your excuse for being out here?”
Silence, pretty eyes on his. “Because I can never seem to tear myself away from you.” Her mouth curved into a rueful smile. “Though you don’t seem to have that problem.”
He jerked, opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came. The words stoppered up in his throat, and he could only stare at her like an imbecile.