MB Saucy Side: Actions Speak Louder (Kent) (Patreon)

“Is everything okay?”

Kent doesn’t respond to your question as the front door slams behind him. He 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 fiancé returns from work two hours early and with a figurative thundercloud looming above his head . . . well, sometimes you wish that Kent would just tell you what was bothering him instead of making you play Twenty Questions with a nonresponsive brick of a boyfriend.

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

He’ll share what’s upset him, eventually. He always does.

But still.

The sigh you’ve been holding back escapes from your lips as you head back towards the living room. If Kent 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. Kent buries his face into your shoulder, his hair silky soft against your cheek.

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

He nods against your neck.

“Can I do anything to help?”

He nods once more. Your sympathetic “aww” ends with a gasp as he nips your earlobe and then progresses downward—past your jaw and onwards to your neck. His 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 Kent’s warm embrace, because sometimes taking care of Kent means letting him take care of you.

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

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

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

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

With a broken groan, Kent swoops your legs from beneath you. You’ve seen him lift weights in your shared home gym, of course, but the ease at which he carries you from foyer to bedroom never fails to impress (despite the fact that it happens nearly once a week). He lays you down on the bed gently, reverently, then takes a step back and simply stares. The thundercloud that accompanied him into the house has almost completely dissipated, and in its place settles a small smile that is simultaneously incredulous yet smug.

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

Smug, because you found him in return.

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

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

“I love you,” he whispers.

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

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Bonus, the next day at home:

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

You roll your eyes but still slap his raised palm.

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

You chuckle. “Kim told him that he 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 he bought us tickets to pet the penguins at the Shedd Aquarium. It’s a limited event that he wanted surprise me with.”

“Ohhhhhhh.”

“Yeah.”

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