Perrin leaned back in her chair, her lunch still untouched. “Kong is special to us.”
She was clicking her nails again in that rhythmic pattern and Katherine wondered if it might be a nervous habit. If so, thegesture suddenly made Perrin a bit more approachable. She was still scary as hell, but maybe a tiny bit less scary than before.
“What do you know of our history?”
“Very little,” Katherine admitted. “I know you were genetically engineered with animal DNA, and that you were raised in a lab until the military shut it down.”
“We were experiments. Treated like lab rats. Our childhood was…” Perrin hesitated, her golden eyes looking haunted for a moment before she shook her head as if to clear away the memory. “Our childhood was not happy. There was abuse and many times Kong interceded on our behalf.”
He was their hero.
“We want Kong to be happy.”
Katherine nodded absently as her thoughts churned in her head. She couldn’t imagine what they must have suffered at the hands of people who saw them as nothing more than objects to be tested and studied.
“You might make him happy.”
So Perrin thought she might help Kong by helping Katherine. She could kind of see the logic, she supposed, even if it was a bit of a stretch. They were just making brownies. Even if Perrin was correct and it was a date, it was only a first date. It felt likePerrin was putting far too much stock in tonight. But if it gave the woman a sense of satisfaction, and made her feel like she was giving back, what could it hurt to let Perrin help her get ready?
“What color do you think would look good on me?”
Katherine had told ORION that she would be finishing up early – not that the AI cared – but, since Kong was picking her up here, she didn’t leave. Instead, she went to the women’s locker room to prepare for her date. Normally, the space was reserved for the female Resurrection soldiers, but all of them were currently in a group therapy session.
After lunch, Perrin had dropped off a bag of clothes. Katherine had explained to Perrin about her wardrobe and how she didn’t have time to shop for something new. Her lunch break was an hour and the majority of that time had already passed. So Perrin suggested the next best thing: she’d get a couple of items together and Katherine could pick her favorite. She’d been a bit skeptical, but it turned out that Perrin had a decent eye for sizes. The jeans Katherine had pulled out of the bag fit, though they were a bit more form-fitting than she usually preferred. There were two tops to choose from. Both were sleeveless. One was a button-down in a dusty lavender shade. The other was cranberry colored with a V-neck and a note attached to it from Perrin that said, ‘This is my pick.’
With a mental shrug, Katherine removed the note and pulled the shirt on. Like the jeans, the top hugged her form a little more than she’d normally be comfortable with, but Katherine was feeling daring tonight.
Perrin’s last bit of advice, before they’d parted, had been for Katherine to wear her hair down. She’d be baking, so she’d have to put it back up eventually, but something told her Perrin would be watching to see if Katherine had followed her advice. She’d make a show of leaving the hub with it down. No biggie. Pulling out the pins, she let the tight bun unravel and combed her fingers through the thick, wavy mass. Her scalp practically sighed with relief.
Thus far, she’d been avoiding the full-length mirror, afraid she’d see herself and chicken out, but she finally turned to have a look. Huh. Not bad. And Perrin had been right, the cranberry color looked great with her complexion. She made a mental note to buy more clothes in that shade the next time she went shopping.
The clock on the wall said she had two minutes until Kong arrived – assuming he was on time – so she stuffed her work clothes in the bag and headed out of the locker room. She’d leave the clothes under her desk for tonight and bring them home with her tomorrow.
“I’m leaving, ORION,” she called out.
Not expecting an answer, she nearly tripped over her own feet when she heard ORION reply, “Good night, Miss Knox.”
Wow. Things really were changing for the better around here.
Chapter Nine
Kong was waiting forher, leaning casually against the side of an open Jeep when she walked out of the hub. Smiling, she raised her arm and waved. He straightened, his entire body seeming to suddenly tense and Katherine’s smile fell. She looked behind her but nothing was there to have caused that reaction but she’d heard that the Beasts’ senses were highly developed. Could he sense something she couldn’t?
If Black Bay had a spy, someone could be creeping around, and that someone could be dangerous.
Concerned, she hurried her step. Reaching him, she looked over her shoulder again as she whispered, “What is it? Is someone there?”
Kong let out a breathy sound that wasn’t quite a grunt but close before he cleared his throat gruffly. “You look nice.”
Huh? “Er… thank you?”
Kong swiped a hand over his short hair. “Sorry. No one’s there. You just took me by surprise is all. I’ve never seen you in jeans.”
She took in his navy blue T-shirt that stretched over the hard muscles of his torso and let her eyes drift down to the dark wash jeans he was wearing. “Me neither,” she said. “You.” Flustered, she shook her head and laughed. “I mean, I’ve never seen you in jeans either.” They looked good on him. Really good.
Kong grinned and motioned to the Jeep. “You ready?”
Nodding, she headed to the Jeep and Kong helped her in before jogging around to his side. The entire vehicle rocked as he climbed aboard. “Do you need to stop at your place for anything?”
