Smooth Moves

by Marie Harte

  And though she knew she and Bryce were both better off, she still missed his kindness, his laughter. And the intimacy of being with a man to call her own.

  She hated that a tear escaped and could only be glad Daniel didn’t see it.

  She held her sniffles in on the ride home. Only after her brother had left the car did she allow herself to wipe her senseless tears and blow her nose.

  She dialed Lila.

  “Yo.”

  “I’m Brycing again.”

  Lila sighed. “Say it.”

  “He’s gone. I’ve moved on.”

  “And?”

  “And I will date again. Someday.” Nope. Never. She never wanted to experience the pain of rejection from a lover, a true love. It sucked so hard. And especially because those same wounds that scarred her had imprinted on Daniel, possibly messing him up on relationships for life. She needed to talk to him about it, had been planning to for some time. Maybe. If she could do it without tearing up.

  Lila cleared her throat.

  “Yes?”

  “Now repeat after me. Lila is a goddess.”

  “Lila is a goddess.”

  “She is always right.”

  Kenzie smiled. “She is always right.”

  “And I will spring for pizza tonight to show her how much I care.”

  “And I will spring for pizza tonight because I love her. Come over in an hour.”

  Lila hung up, and Kenzie knew sharing a meal would help her friend deal with the loss of her roommate as much as it would keep Kenzie focused on a happy, man-free existence.

  She had more important things to worry about than the cool gray eyes that had so mesmerized her earlier. After fixing herself in the rearview mirror, she left and locked the car. A deep breath later, she felt more herself as she went inside and yelled at her brother to take out the trash. Because broken hearts sucked, but someone still had to take out the garbage.

  Chapter 4

  Kenzie didn’t appreciate being grilled by her brother and Lila over dinner and having to lie her ass off. No, she did not have a crush on Evan. No, she did not miss Bryce. Yes, she did have plans to date again in the near future. And her one truth: yes, she would one day be Lila’s maid of honor when Lila met and married her own MMFA—Moving Man with a Fine Ass.

  Apparently fine asses had their own title now.

  Thursday night blurred into Friday. Kenzie spent the day with the girls working on their newest account. Though Rachel had moved out, Will had been right when he’d said everything would pretty much stay the same. The girls and she still ran Sykes Design. The graphic design studio pulled in enough money to keep the three of them busy and the bills paid.

  And being self-employed allowed Kenzie the flexibility to deal with her too-smart-for-his-own-good brother. Daniel should have been a grade below his current status as an upcoming sophomore. He was a genius when it came to computers, and his hacking skills threatened to get him into real trouble.

  Raising a mini genius wasn’t easy. Though Kenzie was smart, having gotten a degree while raising her brother all on her own, the mothering part hadn’t come naturally. She’d had to study up on that as well, and she’d made her share of mistakes during those first years. Grieving after her parents’ deaths, she hadn’t had time to do anything but suck it up and deal. She’d dated sporadically, not having energy for a man in her life, not with so much else going on.

  Years had passed, and Daniel had grown up. Her boyfriends had never lasted, and none of them had ever been serious contenders for her heart. Until a few years go. When she’d met Bryce. Her one and only.

  She knew now that they wouldn’t have lasted, not when she looked back and saw how many ways they’d been incompatible. But her emotions were taking longer to heal, the betrayal of loving and losing taking its toll.

  So it surprised her to feel so intrigued by Evan, Rachel’s MMFA. Kenzie had seen good-looking men before, been asked out plenty by men with great bodies and entertaining personalities. She didn’t know Evan, but something about him stayed with her. Maybe it was the way he’d first looked at her, with an intensity she’d never before felt. Or that he fit all her perceptions of what she’d consider just her type. Well, apart from the blue-collar job. Not that she had anything against his work, but she’d always been more attracted to academic types.

  Whatever the case, she hadn’t meant to ask him to coffee. His easy dismissal had been polite, kind. And annoying, because she’d wanted to at least get him out of her system. Now she’d wonder.

  “Hello? Earth to Kenzie?”

  Kenzie glanced at Rachel staring at her. Rachel and Lila exchanged a look.

  “What?”

  Lila said, “Daniel told me you guys apologized to Evan yesterday.”

  Daniel and his big mouth. “I thought it was the right thing to do.”

  “Uh-huh.” Lila paused. “I also heard you asked him out, and he said no.”

  “I did not ask him out.” She flushed. “I would have treated him to a coffee, with Daniel, just to say we’re sorry. He could have called the cops on us, and Daniel’s been in enough trouble with them as it is. I was just being nice.”

  “Sure you were.” Rachel smiled. “Will thought he was cool.”

  “Are you always going to mention him now?” Lila asked.

  “Well, she used to mention him all the time before.” Kenzie shrugged. “Don’t think it matters much.”

  “I guess not.” Lila sighed. “I need to rent out your room, but I don’t want to.”

  Rachel grew teary-eyed. “Aw, that’s so sweet.”

  “It’s nice having the house all to myself.”

  “Oh?” Rachel’s eyes narrowed.

  “Yeah, there are no weird noises or smells. And I can use your room as my love nest so I don’t contaminate my bed with boy germs.”

  “Love nest?” Kenzie did her best not to laugh as she sketched ideas for a local organic food company’s new branding logo.

  “Well, I could call it my harem. Did you know in the romance books, reverse harems are now a thing?”

  “Wait. What?” Rachel leaned forward. “What’s a reverse harem? Have I read any of those?” Rachel and Lila, being huge book nerds, regularly swapped and shared books.

  “Yeah, they just called them something else before. Reverse harems are when there’s a group togetherness, but the woman is in the center of it instead of the guy.”

  “So polyandry instead of polygamy,” Kenzie explained.

  “Well, yeah, but not everyone’s about getting married. Just about getting a little some-some. Right?” Lila winked.

  Rachel snorted. “Oh please. If you got as much action as you talk about, you’d be nothing more than a glossy toilet seat getting so much ass.”

  “That is beyond gross.” Kenzie grimaced, thinking the logo needed more curve, more pop.

  “And sadly true.” Lila sighed. “I need a man, ladies. We need to go out and find me one. Oh, and one for Kenzie goes without saying if she’s not going to go after your MMFA, Rach.”

  “Um, no. I don’t think—”

  Lila talked over her. “Come on, Rachel. Doesn’t Will have one decent friend for me or Kenzie?”

  “Oh no.” Rachel shook her head. “The last time we tried to set you up, you scared the guy. Will told me he only has so many friends.”

  Kenzie stifled laughter when Lila glared.

  “Bull. That guy wasn’t scared. He was an asshole, trying to play me while having two other ladies on the side. So sorry I’m not willing to be a stand-in while he tries to do better on his weekends with someone else. And let’s be honest, no one can do better than moi—the Lila Richards.”

  Kenzie nodded. “Will’s friend was clearly deluded.”

  “He’s not Will’s friend anymore. Just a coworker. Thought I should clear
that up.” Rachel took the sheet Kenzie handed her and started working on it. “But back to my MMFA…”

  “Stop! Look, I know you guys mean well, but—”

  “But you called me just yesterday Brycing,” Lila said bluntly. “And you haven’t done that in months.”

  Rachel glanced at Lila. “She did?”

  Lila nodded and made a face. “Yep. Bryce. Bryce. Bryce.” She walked over and smacked Kenzie on the arm.

  “Hey. What was that for?” Kenzie rubbed her shoulder.

  “This is called aversion therapy.” She started smacking Kenzie again. “Bryce.” Smack. “Bryce.” Smack. “Bryce.” Smack.

  “Would you stop?” Kenzie slapped her hand away.

  Rachel laughed like a loon.

  “Well, it’s working, isn’t it? Now when you hear the name Bryce”—Lila tried to punch Kenzie on the shoulder again, but she dodged out of the way—“you’ll think of how much you hated me punching you instead of how much you miss that dickhead.”

  “He was such a tool.” Rachel shook her head.

  “A power tool.” Lila swung wide again. “Like, a tiny drill with tiny bits that do nothing and go nowhere.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  Kenzie had to admit that as annoying as Lila was, she had a point. Kenzie needed to stop avoiding the subject of Bryce, because not thinking or talking about him had made him fester inside, so that anytime his name came up, a well of sadness pooled and filled her with depression. “You make sense, surprisingly. I’m not ready to talk about him right now.” Though she’d shared buckets of tears with her friends for a solid month after the fact. “But I will soon. I promise.”

  “Good.” Lila smiled.

  “But I’m still not going out with Evan. Let me ease back into the dating scene, okay?” She had no intention of making a mistake that would cost Daniel so much. Not again. And her odd fascination with the sexy moving man warned her to be wary.

  “Perfect. We’re here to help.”

  Kenzie stared at their overly innocent expressions and couldn’t help laughing. “You guys look eee-vil. Yes, Lila, with three e’s. Excuse me if I’m not feeling better about your offer.”

  “That’s just because you have no idea when a good thing hits you. But we do. We’ll provide assistance when needed.” Lila’s shark-like grin didn’t inspire confidence.

  “Oh man. Please don’t.”

  “Enough of this.” Rachel waved a royal hand. “Now, minions, we must return to the work at hand. And I for one am not calling Ellie Ruger until we nail down our concept. Because, Kenzie, your interpretation of a loaf of kale with legs needs work.” Rachel pointed to the monitor in front of her.

  “It’s not a loaf.” Kenzie rolled her eyes.

  “A head, then.”

  “Nope. I looked it up. Lettuce have heads, kale have leaves.”

  “Whatever.” Rachel shrugged. “Your drawing sucks.”

  “So does your face.”

  “I hate kale,” Lila muttered, and they buckled down to make kale look appetizing, a new shoe account appealing, and Lila not so pathetic on her dating profile.

  * * *

  Friday evening, Evan made up his mind, tired of dithering. Tired of being “boring.” And frankly, tired of dealing with Smith and his bitching, though, for Smith, complaining about Cash or Reid only twice a day was a marked improvement.

  Sitting in the front room of his mother’s house, waiting for his cousins to show, Evan decided to call Rachel Kim. He drew a deep breath and focused, telling himself to word his request correctly so she couldn’t call him unprofessional. Which he was totally being.

  But he couldn’t stop thinking about Kenzie.

  “Honey, are the boys here yet?” his mother called from the kitchen.

  He and his mother had always been so close, talking, laughing. But lately, she’d been breaking their mother–son dates, going off without him, not telling him about doctor appointments unless he interrogated her about them. He didn’t understand what he’d done to upset her, and if he tried asking about it, she snapped at him. Hell, last week he’d shown up to do some maintenance on the sprinkler system, and she’d griped at him to leave well enough alone. A chore he’d always taken care of no longer needed attention.

  Then again, he’d been visiting on a Friday night to deal with his mother’s sprinklers. Not barhopping, trying to score a date, or hanging with friends. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that.

  His cousins were right. He needed a life.

  “Not yet, Mom,” he yelled back. “They’re coming though.”

  “Huh. About time.”

  While his mom went back to her meal prep, Evan bit the bullet and dialed.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Rachel?”

  “Yeah. Who’s this?” She sounded suspicious. Not that he could blame her with all the telemarketing calls he received on any given day. No-call list, my ass.

  “Well, I’m not a telemarketer, so you can relax. It’s Evan, the moving guy from—”

  “Vets on the Go!” Her voice warmed. “Hi. How are you?” she seemed to purr.

  He thought he heard Will in the background.

  “Fine. Um, I just wanted to ask a favor, but I don’t want to put you out or anything.”

  “Oh, no problem, sweetie. What do you need?”

  “Who the hell is that?” definitely came from Will.

  Evan said, “Your friend, Kenzie.”

  “You want the knife-wielder, not the African goddess, right?”

  “Ah, yeah.” He coughed, feeling the laughter build. Something about her, Lila, and Kenzie made him want to smile. “I wanted to talk to her about Daniel. Nothing bad, but—”

  Rachel rattled off a phone number so fast it took him a moment to jot it down.

  “And in case you didn’t get that, I’ll text you her contact info. Okay? Uh-oh. Gotta go. Bye, Evan!”

  She disconnected in a blink. But sure enough, Kenzie Sykes’s phone number popped up in a text.

  Now unsure what to do with his victory, call her before he chickened out or put her number aside to think on it, Evan decided to go big. He took another deep breath, let it out, and called.

  She answered on the third ring before he had to leave a message, thank God. He loathed voicemail.

  “Hello?”

  Just like her friend, she sounded untrusting.

  “Hi, Kenzie. It’s Evan, the guy who helped Rachel move? You know, Daniel’s phone guy?”

  “Oh, uh, hello.”

  Great, now she sounded even more hesitant.

  He put some energy into sounding nice, pleasant, but not boring. “Well, I was hoping I could take you up on that offer of coffee.”

  Silence.

  He waited a few more seconds then wondered if maybe she hadn’t heard him. “I—”

  “Coffee is good. Nice, I mean. It’s good. I like coffee.” Her words grew faster. “But I just got a new contract, and I’m super busy right now. Maybe I could get back to you?”

  The brush-off. He swallowed a sigh. His own fault for not jumping on her invitation right away. “Oh, sure. Sorry to have bothered you but—”

  “Greatgottagobye.” She hung up.

  He swore. Talk about the perfect ending to his day.

  As if being rejected by a woman he couldn’t stop thinking about wasn’t bad enough, the rest of his day had been awful. The Hillfords had a grown daughter who’d started hanging around to help them, and Smith had shoved Evan toward the chatty woman, hiding in the garage with the excuse of having to move the heavy stuff so their token lightweight could charm the customers.

  So not cool. Especially since the woman had been too helpful all damn afternoon.

  The doorbell rang, and he left his phone in his mom’s reading room, despondent
and needing to get past the feeling. Going out with Kenzie would probably have been a mistake anyway. He didn’t really need a woman in his life. With his accounting work, the moving business, and taking care of his mom, he’d been too busy to do more than fall into bed the moment he got home.

  Now with the accounting aspect of his life slowing down, he had time to relax. But his mother still took precedence in his life. He loved her, and he’d care for her until he took his last breath—with or without the promise he’d made to his father on Evan Senior’s deathbed.

  His mom loved him, supported him, and always tried to give him space. That’s when she wasn’t hammering him to get married and give her grandkids.

  The front door opened before Evan could get to it.

  “Yo, Aunt Jane. We’re here!” Cash had arrived.

  Evan joined the family in the kitchen, where good smells filled the air.

  Reid appeared a moment later looking annoyed. “Thanks for waiting, bonehead.”

  “Hey, you snooze, you lose. I want some of that, Aunt Jane. I’m starved.”

  Evan’s mother smiled, doting on Cash as she always had.

  Growing up the single child of two older parents, Evan had always longed for playmates. Though his cousins had lived close by, Aunt Angela and Uncle Charles had been distant from relatives, an isolated family unit Evan used to envy. Especially since he’d idolized the boys. Though they hadn’t spent a lot of time together, their few get-togethers had always been fun. Cash and Reid had never had to be reminded to include Evan in their play and never treated him as if he didn’t belong.

  His cousins had been everything he’d wanted in a sibling whom, sadly, his parents couldn’t provide. Probably why he’d been so gung ho to join the USMC after seeing his cousins enlist, following in their footsteps. His concession to his parents had been to get a degree in accounting first and thus a commission as an officer.

  Evan had liked the Marine Corps, but he hadn’t loved it. Politics had soured him, and his assignments in the States hadn’t satisfied. Hearing how Cash had been treated had only reinforced that his notion to separate had been a good one. Six years and an honorable discharge later, Evan rejoined his cousins stateside. And he’d taken advanced accounting classes, gotten a kickass job in a prestigious accounting firm, then burned out from too much work.