Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Kenzie tossed her clothes onto the twin bed in the lake house guest room and pulled on her swimsuit. She might not be swimming, but she could lounge on the dock in the zero-gravity chair with the best of them. Maybe even sleep if her friends would ignore her and not make her join in the conversation.

Not likely.

She turned, catching her reflection in the full-length mirror. Admitting to herself she was in love with Cole had been hard. So hard her nerves still shook. Thankfully, the shaking was all internal, but still ...

She hated that it had taken him announcing he wasn't interested in romance to get her to face her feelings for the man. How dumb was that? She studied her reflection in the glass and knew that most men found her attractive. She was well aware that she wasn't magazine-model worthy—whatever that meant—but she had nice features and great legs, thanks to all of her running and biking. Not that she showed them off—it was also genetic. Her mom had had great legs too. And why did she remember that, but sometimes had to look at her mom's picture to remember what she looked like?

A huff escaped her and she turned to find Lainie watching her with a raised brow.

"Don't ask," Kenzie said.

"You have really great legs, you know that?"

Kenzie snorted, then laughed. "Yeah, I do."

"What were you thinking about so hard there?"

"I said don't ask." There was absolutely no way she was going to admit to Lainie she was in love with Cole Garrison.

Lainie crossed her arms and left that obnoxious brow raised.

Kenzie groaned. "Okay, but if I tell you, you have to keep it just between us."

"Sure. What?"

Kenzie pressed her fingers to her eyelids and let out a slow breath. "I realized I'm in love with Cole."

"You just now figured that out?"

Kenzie whipped her gaze toward her friend. "You knew."

"Of course I knew. One couldn't walk between the two of you without being worried one might actually acquire a chemical burn."

"Ha ha. That's funny." But not untrue. "The chemistry is there, isn't it? I'm not imagining it."

"You're not."

"Do you think the guys on the team know?"

Lainie tilted her head. "I don't know. You two have fought it so hard and so long now that..." She shrugged. "And let's face it. They're guys. They're not always in tune with stuff like that."

She had a point.

"What's going on?" Jesslyn asked from the door.

Kenzie and Lainie turned. Jesslyn looked beautiful, as usual. She carried her five-foot-eight-inch height well, and the bathing suit and wrap she wore complemented her in every way possible. She had her red hair pulled into a stylish ponytail while her green eyes sparked questions.

"Nothing," Kenzie said, "I'm just having romance woes." She didn't want to go into it with Jesslyn, as much as she liked the woman. To be honest, she was a bit intimidated by her.

Jesslyn shot them a friendly smile, but Kenzie thought she caught a flash of hurt in her eyes. If so, it was gone as fast as it had appeared. "Romance woes?"

"I'm just processing. What's up?"

"We're heading down to the dock and the water. You two coming?"

"We are." Lainie paused. "Who's we?"

"Cole, James, Kristine, and that new detective friend of James', Nathan something or other." She paused and a slight smile tugged at her lips. "He's cute. Steph and her guy just got here, with Dixon and Keegan right behind her."

Kenzie recognized the siblings' names. She'd only met James' brothers a few times, but they were fun guys. "Did Dixon bring his horse?"

"Of course." Jesslyn's laugh was genuine, so if Kenzie had hurt her feelings, she seemed to be over it. "He exercised him and put him in the barn. Said once he had Jericho taken care of, he'd join us on the dock. See y'all out there." She gave a little wave and sauntered off, her flip-flops snapping against the bottoms of her feet.

Kenzie let out a breath. "Why does she intimidate me so much?"

"Because she's perfect," Lainie muttered. "Always has been. Even back in elementary school."

"In my head, I know she's really not perfect, but she sure does come across that way, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, but don't judge her. You know her past."

"I do." Jesslyn had lost so much in a fire when she was five years old. She'd been spared only because she and Lainie had been spending the night in this very house. "I'm not judging, I promise."

Lainie linked arms with her. "Then let's go enjoy the rest of the evening."

COLE CHECKED IN ON THE TEAM and received positive reports all around. The team was always invited—even Butler—to join in the fun with the rest of the group since he, James, and Kenzie were regulars, but Buzz and Cowboy had decided to opt out, and Butler would never come because Kenzie was there.

Before he thought about how to fix his massive Kenzie-blunder, he called his dad's number, stepped off the dock, and walked down to the edge of the lake. The sand sucked at his flip-flops, and he kicked them off, hissing when the cold water closed over his toes.

"Cole," his dad said in greeting, "good to hear from you. What's up?"

"I had a question."

"Sure."

"I was talking with Ben King today and he brought up something about Gram and Gramps Garrison."

"What about them?"

"How were they part of some family feud that Kenzie's family was involved in back in the late 1940s, early '50s?"

His father let out a low breath that meant he was thinking. "Well, that was all before your uncles were born, and no one wanted to talk much about it, even though my brothers and I heard rumors and stories. Unfortunately, Mom died shortly after I was born. Your uncle Robert was twelve then, and Dad was overwhelmed with trying to keep up with a newborn and three other boys. From what I understand, if it hadn't been for some of Mom's friends in the church and Betsy King, things would have been really bad."

"I see. And what about her? Kenzie's grandmother? She was Gram Garrison's best friend. Couldn't she shed some light on all of this?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure her mind works that great. She's got to be pushing a hundred."

"Yeah. Okay, well, do you mind doing a little digging to see if you can find out what the feud was about? I'm curious. This is part of my history, and these are my ancestors. I want to know more."

His dad chuckled. "Sure, son. I'll see what I can dig up."

"Thanks."

He hung up, slipped his flip-flops back on, and walked back to the dock. The food smells tantalized his nose and his stomach growled.

Kenzie was fixing a plate of grilled chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and corn on the cob. Everyone had brought something, and most had started with the donuts. He dropped into the nearest chair to wait for the line to die down a bit. And, okay, he wanted to watch Kenzie without her knowing he was watching. He really hoped that wasn't too stalkerish, but he needed to think. Hard.

Like how to apologize for being an idiot.

James sat beside him and popped the tab on a can of root beer. "You okay?"

"Fine. Why?"

"You seem to be a little morose."

"Morose?" Cole chuckled. "Where'd you learn that word?"

"School. Probably a couple of years before you got to that one since I was in the accelerated program."

"Ha ha. Such a comedian."

"Seriously, what's going on?"

"I don't date."

"Um ... yeah, you do. Someone different depending on the day of the week."

"Aw, those aren't dates. They're just hanging out with people I enjoy spending time with."

"That's your interpretation. I'm sure if you checked with any of those women, they'd call it a date."

Cole sighed. "Maybe so."

"Come on, man. What is it?"

"I did something. Then I said something. And now I don't know how to make it right."

"You kissed her and apologized, didn't you?"

"What? No!"

"Then you almost did?" Cole fell silent and James' eyes widened. "You almost did? And then you apologized."

"No. I didn't apologize. I think I did something worse. I made it sound like the moment was ... irrelevant or unimportant." He ignored James' soft groan and kept his eyes on the others gathered on the covered dock, laughing and chatting under the lights strung across the ceiling. Normally, he'd be right there with them, but today he just couldn't join in the fun.

So. Why had he come? He looked at his friend, who'd fallen silent. "Well?"

"Kinda biting my tongue right now," James said. "Give me a minute."

After James had decided to call the lake house his permanent home, he'd made some improvements. He'd extended and covered the dock and put an outdoor kitchen and serving area on one end. The flames from the grill danced in the darkness and the water lapped gently against the sides. A direct contrast to the waves of turmoil battling it out inside Cole's body.

"I need to know how to fix this, James. Without my attempts to do so backfiring on me and making it worse."

"Yeah. One question."

"Sure."

" Was the moment irrelevant and unimportant?"

Cole shut his eyes. "No."

"It got to you."

"It did. She did. Does. From the moment she walked into headquarters and claimed her locker, she's been getting to me. I've known her basically all our lives, but never once thought of her as anything other than Logan's baby sister. But now..." He paused and opened his eyes to look at his friend. "I'm in trouble. And not just because I crossed the line as her supervisor, although I'm ashamed to admit that I sort of did. And then messed everything up even further when I tried to backpedal."

"I know you, Cole. You'd never cross that line. At least not intentionally."

He appreciated the vote of confidence, but still ... "I wanted to offer her comfort and, like I said, fumbled it royally. Unintentionally, true, but there it is. If it was anyone else under my authority and they'd done something like that, I'd call them out on it, tell them to apologize and make it right, and that's the plain truth."

"Then the only way to fix this is to be honest with her."

"I know."

"Great. Glad we got that all worked out." James patted his shoulder.

"Right. All worked out." Cole shook his head and rolled his eyes at his friend. "Thanks for listening even though I don't like your advice."

"My correct advice."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Now that I've solved all your problems, I'm going to get some food before I take the polar plunge in that frigid water. I suggest you do the same. Besides, it takes calories to apologize and do it right."

Cole directed a glare at his friend's back. James' knowing chuckle pulled a sigh from Cole, and he stood. He needed fortification before he talked to Kenzie. He knew that conversation would entail pulling his foot from his mouth while doing his best not to wind up swallowing it.