LITMIR.BIZ

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up front. The worse thing a man can do is to lead a woman on.”

      He nodded. “That sounds fair. But what if they don’t get the hint?”

      She glanced up, met his gaze and grinned. “Trust me. You have a look that lets a woman know when you don’t have the time or the inclination. A woman would be crazy to try and take you on. But then…there are a lot of bold, brazen women out there, so beware.”

      “But if push comes to shove, you’ll be my backup plan right?”

      She didn’t want to think what being his backup plan might entail. Inside the Madaris Building when he had leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, it had taken everything she could muster not to get weak in the knees. She could see women—plenty of them—coming on to him. Yet he hadn’t been interested.

      “You haven’t answered me yet.”

      She glanced over at him and gave him a rueful smile. He was asking a lot of questions and it seemed she was evading a lot of answers. “Okay, if I must, then yes. I’ll be your backup plan. I guess that’s the price of being your best friend, right?”

      He chuckled. “Right.”

      After midnight they returned to his house. Reese couldn’t remember when he had enjoyed an evening more. They had eaten at Sisters, a restaurant owned by Netherlander Sinclair, a family friend.

      The food had been delicious, the entertainment enjoyable. The only drawback was when he had excused himself to go to the men’s room. He was approached by two women who tried coming on to him. He was sure they had seen him sharing a table with Kenna but still were bold enough, thoughtless enough and disrespectful enough to approach him anyway. Taking Kenna’s advice, he thanked them but told them he wasn’t interested. His bluntness didn’t seem to dissuade them. He couldn’t understand how Blade had dealt with that kind of aggressiveness. But for Blade it wasn’t a big deal. His cousin had enjoyed being Houston’s most sought-after bachelor.

      After dinner, Reese and Kenna took in a movie. It was Denzel’s latest and was directed by former actor Sterling Maxwell, a family friend who made a cameo appearance in the movie. By the time the movie ended, it was still relatively early, so they figured they might as well see another movie. Since Kenna hadn’t complained about watching his guy flick, Reese agreed to see a romantic comedy with her. He hated to admit it, but he actually enjoyed it.

      “I guess I’ll spend tomorrow unpacking,” Kenna said once they returned to Reese’s place.

      He glanced over at her. “You can sleep late if you want to. Do whatever you want at your leisure. In two weeks you’ll be working again.”

      He followed her to the kitchen and sat down at the table. She started brewing a pot of coffee and then went to the cookie jar. She was comfortable in his home, just as he was in hers whenever he’d visited her in Austin. Just as he would be once she moved into her place in Houston after it was completed.

      For a brief moment he sat watching her. He couldn’t help but wonder how things would be if they were both married to someone else. More than once someone in his family had taken him aside and told him that it was unrealistic for him to assume any woman would understand and accept the relationship he shared with Kenna. He had been quick to tell them he disagreed. Any woman he married would have to accept Kenna as his best friend. He knew Kenna had the same expectation of the men she dated, so he didn’t see a problem.

      Alyson had been fine with his friendship with Kenna after he’d explained how things were. At least he thought she had been fine with it. But after eight months, she began questioning why Kenna had a standing invitation to spend the night at his place when she didn’t. Why couldn’t Kenna just get a hotel whenever she came to town? At first he’d ignored her, and thought sooner or later she would wise up and stop asking questions. But she hadn’t, and the more she whined about his relationship with Kenna, the more he began putting distance between them. Finally, he’d gotten fed up and ended things with Alyson.

      Reese didn’t know what Alyson had planned for the weekend, but he figured she thought it would be a way to make up for all the mean and hateful things she’d said about Kenna. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a forgiving mood.

      “How many cookies? One or two?”

      He grinned. “Why do you bother asking? You know I can’t eat just one.”

      She put two cookies on a plate and placed a freshly brewed cup of coffee on the table in front of him. “It’s late.”

      His eyes connected with hers. “Am I supposed to have nightmares or something if I eat a chocolate chip cookie past midnight?”

      “Maybe,” she said, taking the chair across from him. “You never know.” She took a sip of her coffee and then asked, “What time do you plan on getting up in the morning?”

      He shrugged. “I have a meeting at a job site at nine, so I’ll probably leave here around eight to get there. Why?”

      “I need to return the moving van and pick up a rental car.”

      “It’s already been taken care of.”

      “What do you mean it’s been taken care of?”

      “While we were in town, Joe took the truck to the rental agency and picked up a car for you. You didn’t see the moving van when we pulled up, did you?”

      “No, I just assumed it was parked in the back or something.”

      “No, your rental car is parked out back.”

      “Thanks. That saves me a lot of time tomorrow.”

      He looked over at her. “You don’t have to thank me. You should know by now I got your back.”

      She smiled and picked up a cookie. “Yes, I know.”

      That was another thing that he appreciated about his friendship with Kenna. She wasn’t hard to please, and over the years she had been nothing but supportive. After he graduated from college, she had supported his decision to go work for Remington Oil for a few years instead of working for Dex right out of college. She’d agreed with his reasoning that since Remington Oil was a bigger company, he could acquire a lot of skill and knowledge that would be valuable when he did make the move to Madaris Explorations. While working at Remington, he’d gotten the chance to travel to a lot of exotic places and meet a lot of interesting people. When he finally did decide to work with Dex’s outfit, his résumé had been impressive and he had a lot more to offer.

      He and Kenna sat at his kitchen table talking while they drank coffee and ate cookies. When he finally looked over at the clock, it was almost two in the morning.

      “It’s late. You need to go on to bed, Reese. You have to get up early in the morning. Thanks to you, I don’t,” she said.

      She was right. Even though he usually didn’t leave the ranch until eight, he made it a point to meet with Joe every morning around six. He would usually be in bed by now but hadn’t been aware of the time, since he had enjoyed sitting and talking to her.

      “You’re right. I need to get to bed. You know your way around this place, and if there’s anything you need, just ask Joe.”

      “I will.”

      With great effort he stood up from his chair. He wasn’t ready to end their conversation. “You’re going to stay up a while longer?”

      “Um, not too much longer. I’m not that sleepy, since I took a long nap earlier. I might check out a movie downstairs.”

      Like her, he enjoyed movies. When he had the house built, Kenna had convinced him to include a home theater in the basement. The room had been built to her specifications and was perfect for movie and sports enthusiasts. Whenever she would come for the weekend, Kenna ended up spending more time there than any other room in the house.

      “Okay. Then I’ll see you when I get home tomorrow.”

      “All

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