Breaking the Ice (2 page)

They saw him occasionally but it
was uncomfortable for all of them. 

The drive into town took fifteen
minutes and all the action was at the Triple Z honky-tonk.  A town as small as
theirs didn’t have much to do after dark, but the highway passed through to Fargo
and the bar always had business. 

He parked and several of his
friends called out to him.  They went in together and found a table. 
Immediately swamped by the local girls, Diesel found himself looking around for
Kenzie. 

Not seeing her anywhere, he
danced with one woman after another, many of them openly groping him and making
him laugh.  All the LeBlanc boys had a reputation with women, well-earned and
an open joke among the brothers when they were together. 

There were two blondes coming on
pretty strong when he spotted Kenzie and about stumbled during
Cotton-Eyed
Joe
. 

She had
really
grown into
her looks. 

Her long, dark hair was crimped and
had two tiny pigtails in the front, all of it hanging loose almost to her waist. 
Her dark brown eyes were highlighted with eyeliner and she wore lipstick but no
other makeup. 

Wearing a cropped black bar
t-shirt and low hung jeans with heeled boots, she was smokin’ hot.  Full
breasts and nice hips, real nice ass, long legs, and a flat stomach.  There
were four inches of bare midriff showing and a belly button ring sparkled on
her naturally tanned skin. 

Her coloring was likely the only
thing she appreciated inheriting from her folks.  Her father was white but her
mother was full-blood Sioux, of the Lakota tribe. 

She was serving drinks off a tray
to a table of rowdy cowboys who consistently found reasons to touch her.  Kenzie
was smiling but it sure as hell didn’t reach her eyes. 

Once she put down all the drinks
and pitchers, she left the table and he could see her lips moving, like she was
giving herself a pep talk.  She turned and locked eyes with him just as the two
blondes he was dancing with worked their way down his body from the front and
back simultaneously. 

She rolled her eyes, gave him a double
thumbs-up, and a fake smile.  He watched her off and on all night, though his dance
partners kept changing. 

So many men grabbed her ass he
lost count.  She was getting more and more annoyed.  Around midnight, a
particularly drunk redneck put his hands right between her legs.  She grabbed
him by the wrist, twisted it behind his back and had him face down on the table
in less than three seconds. 

Bent over his back, her body was
drawn tight.  So was the tribal tattoo down her spine that ended between two
tiny dimples leading down to her butt.  She said something in Lakota, real loud
and obviously not flattering, then threw his big ass back in his chair. 

Diesel was wondering if he was
the only one who realized she’d palmed a switchblade, closed but ready. 
Picking up her tray, she walked away, and discreetly slid the knife in her back
pocket. 

The owner, Bob Zeller, patted her
shoulder, pinched her chin, and told her to take a break.  He’d owned the bar
for thirty years and didn’t like the roughnecks messing with the female staff. 

Whatever he said to Kenzie
finally provoked a smile and she nodded.  Tossing her hair over one shoulder,
she walked down a hallway to the back of the building. 

Diesel excused himself from his
current partner – he couldn’t remember her name at the moment – and smiled when
she pouted at him. 

“Back soon, darlin’.”  Then he
went after Kenzie. 

Stepping through the back door,
he caught her stretching her back and legs.  She was bent completely in half,
her nose touching her knees.  He cleared his throat and she turned her head to
look at him. 

With a heavy sigh, she stood and
faced him, her arms crossed over her lovely chest. 

“Just wanted to make sure you
were alright, MacKenzie.”

“I’m fine, Diesel.”  She turned
and put her foot on the wall, walking it up until she was almost in a standing
split.  Her face was in agony and she reached down to rub absently at her hip. 

“You sure you should be doing
that?  Looks like it hurts.” 

“It hurts worse if I don’t do it,
Diesel.  I have to hyper-extend it to keep the tendons from locking on me.  Was
there something you needed?”

“Why do you do a job where you’re
on your leg all the time, Kenzie?”  He couldn’t hide his shock when she dropped
her leg and whirled on him.

“Are you fucking
kidding
me right now, Diesel?  You have no concept of my reality and I get that.  What
I do not get is why you are
speaking
to me.  You are a little too
self-absorbed to be worried about one of the Rhodes kids, don’t you think?” 

She shook her head.  “Go play
with the groupies who will hang on your every word and leave me to cope with my
life.  It sucks just fine without you pointing it the fuck out.”  She said
something in Lakota and stormed past him.  “You don’t know shit about me,
LeBlanc.  No one does.”

He couldn’t help but notice she
smelled like pears.

Back inside, she plastered a
smile on her face and served alcohol to drunk cowboys and half-naked women it
was obvious she detested. 

When
Play Something Country
came over the jukebox, Bob Zeller had them turn it up and took MacKenzie out on
the floor.  Bob had been an award-winning dancer before he opened his bar.  It
was obvious he danced with Kenzie a lot. 

Their moves were fast and
complicated and soon tons of people were lining up behind them to imitate the
dance.  When they changed from line dance to couples dancing, Diesel’s mouth
dropped open when they started to salsa…to Brookes and Dunn for God’s sake.

Diesel watched MacKenzie move and
recognized the stirring in his pants.  Lord, the woman could move on ice
and
on the dance floor.  They kept dancing to
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk
and she
finally looked like she was relaxing. 

When she smiled, he realized it
was contagious.  Bob dropped his black Stetson on her head and she pulled it
low over her eyes and worked her body down to the floor and back up again. 

As the song ended Bob hugged her
and said something in her ear.  She put his hat back on his head, and got a sad
look on her face.  He chucked her under the chin and headed over to the bar. 

Kenzie was leaving the dance
floor as
A Woman’s Love
started to play and Diesel found himself
catching her hand, not sure how he’d made it across the room to her. 

He gently tugged her back to the
hard wood and she came reluctantly.  He gathered her in his arms and danced her
around the floor.  She was stiff and nervous with him and he wondered why. 

“Are you and Bob Zeller
together?” he asked bluntly.

“No, Diesel.  Not that it’s any
of your fucking business but he’s like the dad I never had.  One of the few
people I trust.”  She didn’t look at him.  “I dance with him because he’s a good
man, fun, and doesn’t want anything from me.”

He turned her and she finally
made eye contact.  “What do
you
want from me, Diesel?  You have…” she
glanced back at his table, “your choice of seven women willing to do whatever
you want.  I really don’t want to experience their bullshit when you head back
to the real world so I’ll dance this one dance with you.  Then you go do,
whatever
it is you do when you’re here, and I’ll get back to work.” 

Diesel tugged her against him and
when
Come a Little Closer
started, he held onto her.    He danced her
around the dim space and lowered his cheek next to hers, his mouth at her ear. 
“I want to know why you’re so hostile to me, Kenzie.  What is it about me that
pisses you off?”

“Just leave it alone, Diesel.  Take
your dance and be quiet.”

“I’ll be here for a while,
Kenzie.  I’ll be in this bar every night you’re working, getting you to dance
with me until you talk to me.”  The song ended and she met his eyes.  With her
coloring and long hair, she looked wild…beautiful.  “Every night, Kenzie.” 

Then he let her go.

Diesel hadn’t been kidding. 

Every night over the next few
weeks he waited until she danced with Bob, loosened up and relaxed, then he’d
go to her and make her dance with him. 

She refused to talk but he liked
holding her anyway.  She fit him right.

He’d seen her strong-arm a couple
more men who got hands-on with her.  One reached around from behind and groped
her breast.  So subtly hardly anyone saw, she brought her heel up and racked
him in the balls, not hard enough to really injure him, but hard enough to get
his attention and leave him doubled over. 

Another rushed up and grabbed her
ass with both hands.  Kenzie powered back in a scissor motion with her elbows
and caught him on both sides, knocking the wind out in a whoosh, and likely
bruising a couple of ribs. 

Two nights before he was due to
head back to school, he was leaving the bar…frustrated again.  She’d slipped
out again, waiting until he was distracted.  He was thinking he’d never been so
tense for a woman in his life when he saw her truck on the side of the road
with the hood up. 

He pulled up alongside and
watched her go over the engine with a flashlight.  Placing her palms on the
front of the truck, her eyes came up slowly, and she shook her head.  He
watched her take a deep breath as she approached the passenger window. 

“Yes, Diesel?” 

Her expression made it impossible
to tell what she was thinking. 

“What happened?” 

“Looks like a broken distributor
cap.”  She looked at her feet with her hands on her hips.  “I don’t suppose you
have an extra one in your truck?”  He shook his head.  “Of course not.”

“If I did, could you change it?” he
asked jokingly.

“Who the hell do you think made
sure my brothers and sisters got to school every damn day?  Yeah, I could change
it out.  Alright, well, thanks for stopping.  Later.” 

Kenzie stepped back from Diesel’s
vehicle, climbed into the cab of hers, closed the door, and put the hazards on. 
As he watched, she laid down on the seat.

What the hell was she doing?

He got out and knocked on her
window.  She yelled, “I’m fine.  Go
away
, Diesel.” 

He opened the door and bodily
pulled her from the cab.  “If you think I’m leaving you
stranded
on the side
of the road in the middle of the fucking night, you have another thing coming,
MacKenzie.” 

He set her on her feet and asked
her what she needed out of the cab.  With gritted teeth, she reached past him
and grabbed a backpack and her jacket.

Diesel locked her doors and
opened his passenger door, motioning for her to get in.  She stared at him for
a long moment and he could see her frustration.  “Damn it, Diesel.” 

MacKenzie got in and buckled up. 
She tracked him in the headlights as he walked around the front of his truck.  Torn,
as she always was when it came to this particular man. 

When he climbed in, he smiled
gently.  “Where to?” 

She waited a long time to answer
him, considering so many things he wouldn’t understand.  When she spoke, she stared
through the windshield but saw nothing beyond it.  “You’re a mile from here, right?”

He went very still.  “About that,
yeah.”

“It’ll be quicker for me to get
to my truck in the morning.”  It was a ridiculous thing to say and she
regretted her irrational need to hide.  She looked at him and wondered if he
could see the mix of emotions flashing inside her.  He wasn’t moving, suddenly
unsure.  A feeling that was likely very unusual for him. 

“Diesel, I’m a big girl.  Take me
to your place.” 

He had the oddest expression on
his face and didn’t move as he continued to stare at her, his lips slightly
parted in shock.  When a small crinkle formed between his dark brows, she knew
he thought he was misunderstanding her. 

Kenzie had to give him credit for
not jumping all over her offer in seconds. 

“Let me clarify, Diesel.”  She
rolled her eyes, unbuckled, and climbed across the seat to straddle his lap.  His
face was warm, a little bit of stubble on his jaw pricked her palms when she
took his face in her hands.  “You’ve been chasing me for
weeks
.  Snap the
fuck out of it.”  Then she kissed him. 

Well, if his reaction was
anything to go by.

Diesel’s hands landed on her
hips, smoothed over her waist, and slid up her back.  The fingers of one hand
slid into the hair at the back of her head so he could anchor her for his
return assault on her senses.  He devoured her and her hands fisted in his
shirt with a low moan. 

The kiss went on forever, his
body big and hard beneath her, the subtle movement of her hips brought him in
contact with her clit again and again.  On the verge of climax, she leaned
back, almost angry as she said, “Drive, Diesel.”  

Then she climbed off his lap and dropped
to the seat beside him. 

He took a deep breath, eyes wide
as he checked the mirror and tore away from her truck. 

Less than five minutes later, he
drove past the main house to the furthest of the two big barns.  His mom let
her oldest sons convert the second floors to apartments for when they visited. 
Close enough to be convenient, far enough away for privacy. 

Shutting off the engine, Diesel
jumped out and pulled Kenzie through his door to set her on her feet.  He held
her hand, guiding her to the outside stairs, and climbed to the unlocked door
at the top.  Inside, he tossed his keys on a table and shrugged off his
jacket.  She did the same. 

“Can I get you something to
drink, Kenzie?”  She shook her head and leaned against the door.  “Hungry?” 
She nodded slowly and saw the instant he understood it wasn’t food she wanted.