Curiosity overwhelmed me as her expressive eyes reopened. I knew why Denny was here—a new job with pretty amazing potential—but I was still a little mystified as to why Kiera was. All her family and friends were back East. She’d left school and everything she’d ever known to follow a guy she was seeing. Why? I’d never met a woman who would give up everything like that. I knew Denny thought the world of her, and she seemed to think the world of him too, but from all I’d seen in my short life, couples in our age range didn’t stay together long.
Tilting my head, I asked her, “So, Ohio, huh? Buckeyes and fireflies, right?”
That was about all I knew of Ohio. Kiera seemed to be suppressing a laugh, like she realized my knowledge was limited. “Yep, that’s about it.”
“Do you miss it?” I asked, wondering if I’d ever have a girl who would give up her entire life for me. I doubted it. Girls wanted sex from me. Nothing more.
“Well, I miss my parents and my sister, of course. But I don’t know…a place is just a place.” She paused, then sighed. “Besides, it’s not like I won’t ever see it again.”
She gave me a smile laced with sadness, and the green in her eyes darkened to a deep jade. I just didn’t get it. She was clearly suffering from some small amount of homesickness. She missed her family, her friends, her life. The curiosity became too much for me, and even though I knew it would sound incredibly rude, I had to ask what the hell she’d given it all up for. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why did you come all the way out here?”
She seemed a little annoyed by my question, but she still answered it. “Denny.”
Denny’s name rang with reverence. She really had changed her entire life just for him. To remain together as long as possible, even if it was a futile attempt. Or maybe it wasn’t. The way they looked at each other, the respect they showed one another…I’d never seen a relationship like that before.
“Huh” was all I said in response. There wasn’t much else I could say. Good luck with that seemed a little asshole-ish.
She blurted out her next question while I sipped on my coffee. “Why do you sing like that?” Her cheeks flushed with color, like she hadn’t meant to say what she’d just said. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what she meant. I only knew one way to sing. Open your mouth and let it pour out. Was she saying I sucked? Ouch. That wasn’t something I was used to hearing. Most people liked my voice.
“What do you mean?” I asked slowly, bracing myself for a bad review of my abilities.
She took forever to answer me. I didn’t take that as a good sign. She must have hated it. For some reason that thought really bothered me. I could have sworn there had been a moment last night when she’d understood me. Completely got where I was coming from. It had really freaked me out at the time, but maybe I’d misjudged her expression. Maybe she didn’t get me at all.
Swallowing her sip of coffee, she sputtered, “You were great. But sometimes you were just so…” She paused, and I could sense her apprehension. Her criticism of my performance came out in a whisper: “Sexual.”
Relief hit me—she liked it. The surge of good feelings was immediately followed by a good helping of humor. I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. The look on her face while saying a word as innocent as “sexual” was killing me. God, she might be the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
Kiera’s expression darkened and her face turned bright red. I could tell she was mortified as she stared into her coffee, and I did my best to stop laughing. I didn’t want her to think I was making fun of her. I wasn’t. Not really. “Sorry…It’s just, that’s not what I thought you were going to say.” Thinking over my aggressive flirting onstage last night, I shrugged. “I don’t know. People just tend to respond to it.”
By the look on her face, I was pretty sure she knew that by “people,” I meant “women.” I couldn’t resist going in for a little dig. “Did I offend you?”
“Nooo.” She glared at me and I had to bite my lip to not laugh. She needed to work on her stern face, if that was supposed to intimidate me in any way. “It just seemed excessive. Besides, you don’t need it—your songs are great.”
There was no sarcasm or hidden meaning in her words. She was just giving me her honest feedback. I sat back in my chair and simply stared at her in appreciation. It had been a long time since a girl had given me an honest critique. All I usually heard was fluffed-up crap designed to get me out of my pants. Her one small suggestion was refreshing.
She was staring at the table again, maybe embarrassed about her comment. “Thank you. I’ll try to keep that in mind.” She looked up at hearing the sincerity in my voice. Wondering what had happened to Denny outside, I asked her, “How did you and Denny meet?”
A beautiful smile spread over her face as she reminisced about her boyfriend. It made me wish someone would smile over me like that. “College. He was a teaching assistant in one of my classes. It was my first year, his third. I thought he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.” Her complexion turned rosy as she gushed over Denny. I kept my smile even, not wanting her to be too uncomfortable to continue. I wanted her to feel okay talking to me. I had a feeling she’d be easy to talk to. The thought was mildly unsettling. I didn’t talk a whole lot. Not about important stuff.
“Anyway, we just hit it off and have been together ever since.” Her smile widened into a bright, carefree grin. Stunning. With a questioning expression, she asked me, “What about you? How did you meet Denny?”
My grin grew as wide as hers as I recalled it. “Well, my parents thought it would be a good idea to host an exchange student. I think their friends were impressed with that.” My mind froze and my smile faltered as my parents’ pompous expressions entered my head. They got that look whenever anyone asked them about Denny. A look that clearly said, See how great we are? How warm and welcoming? Aren’t we wonderful people?
Shaking the memory away, I returned myself to the present and fixed my smile. “But Denny and I hit it off right away too. He’s a cool guy.” I hadn’t been able to shake off the past as well as I’d hoped, and my dream flooded over me again. I had to turn my head away from Kiera. She didn’t need to see my pain. She wouldn’t understand it anyway. No one did. My father’s voice boomed through my ears as I wallowed in the murkiness of my past. There’s always a price, Kellan. And it’s high time you learned that.