MB Saucy Side: Actions Speak Louder (Kenna)

“Is everything okay?”

Kenna doesn’t respond to your question as the front door slams behind her. Instead, she kneels down to scratch behind Antigone’s ear.

You suppress a sigh. After a year of cohabitating, you should be used to being ignored in favor of the shih tzus. Usually, you don’t begrudge Annie and Cass their owner’s affection, but when your fiancée returns from work two hours early and with a figurative thundercloud looming above her head . . . well, sometimes you wish that Kenna would just tell you what was bothering her instead of making you play Twenty Questions with a nonresponsive brick of a girlfriend.

But Kenna doesn’t like to disclose her problems right away. She needs time to ponder and process her own emotional response before sharing things with others. When you first started dating, you interpreted her as sexily aloof. But now, sometimes, in your more vulnerable moments, it feels like she’s shutting you out.

She’ll share what’s upset her, eventually. She always does.

But still.

The sigh you’ve been holding back escapes from your lips as you head back towards the living room. If Kenna needs space right now, then you’ll provide it. As soon as your back turns, however, a pair of strong arms wraps around you from behind, preventing you from departing. Kenna buries her face into your shoulder, her hair silky soft against your cheek.

You reach up to gently touch her cheek. “That bad, huh?”

She nods against your neck.

“Can I do anything to help?”

She nods once more. Your sympathetic “aww” ends with a gasp as she nips your earlobe and then progresses downward—past your jaw and onwards to your neck. Her lips will leave a mark come morning, which Glitch and Sally will no doubt tease you about, but the gentle pressure feels so good that you don’t bother to protest. You just lean back into Kenna’s warm embrace, because sometimes taking care of Kenna means letting her take care of you.

Cassandra paws your leg with a plaintive whimper, complaining over not having received her fair share of Kenna’s homecoming pets. Kenna pauses her nuzzling of your neck to rest her chin on your shoulder, and frowns at the dog.

“Maybe you should let the girls out back,” you suggest breathlessly.

With a speed that she normally reserves for combat, Kenna grabs both Annie and Cass. She marches towards the glass back door in long strides, opens it with her hip, and brusquely deposits the two upon the deck, pausing only to give Cass’s head a brief pat. She closes the door before either dog can squirm back into the house, ignoring their confused barks completely as she stalks towards you with intense eyes.

Then her arms are around you once more, this time from the front, and her lips press against your own in a desperate urgency. You kiss her back with equal fervor, reminding her that no matter how bad her day has been, you’ll always be here.

With a broken groan, Kenna lifts you up so that your feet dangle a few inches above the floor. You’ve seen her lift weights in your shared home gym, of course, but the ease at which she carries you from foyer to bedroom never fails to impress (despite the fact that it happens nearly once a week). She lays you down on the bed gently, reverently, then takes a step back and simply stares. The thundercloud that accompanied her into the house has almost completely dissipated, and in its place settles a small smile that is simultaneously incredulous yet smug.

Incredulous, because she wonders how she was lucky enough to find you.

Smug, because you found her in return.

“Are you waiting for an invitation?” you ask.

What she was waiting for, it turns out, were those very words. The moment after you utter the question, Kenna covers your body with hers, using her forearms to raise herself above over you. She takes in your face, memorizing its every detail in silence, and then smiles that same incredulous yet smug smile.

“I love you,” she whispers.

You lift your head in order to kiss her smile. “I know.”

* * * *

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Bonus, the next day at home:

“You Han Solo’d Kenzie?” Glitch stretches out her hand for a congratulatory high five. “That’s amazing.”

You roll your eyes but still slap her raised palm.

“What was bugging her, anyway?” Glitch asks sotto-voce, so as not to be overheard by Kenna in the kitchen. “Rosy pulled her aside for something after our mission debrief, and then she just stormed out.”

You chuckle. “Kim told her that she was chosen to meet with Chicago’s aldermen to talk about the NPO Program.”

“Is that all?” Glitch frowns. “I know Kenzie hates schmoozing, but storming off home early from work seems like an overreaction.”

“The meet-and-greet falls on the same day she bought us tickets to pet the penguins at the Shedd Aquarium. It’s a limited event that she wanted surprise me with.”

“Ohhhhhhh.”

“Yeah.”

Glitch glances over at Kenna, who’s in the middle of feeding the dogs, and then back at you. She lowers her voice to an even softer whisper. “Can I have her spare ticket?”