He arched an eyebrow and opened his arms. “Come here.”
No second invitation was necessary. I scrambled into his lap, blanket and all,
and burrowed close. His arms wrapped around me, reassuring in their strength.
His heart beat under my ear, strong and steady, chasing away the chill of the unknown. I tucked my forehead under his chin, buried my nose against his throat, and dragged his scent into my lungs. I shared my biggest fear in a whisper. “I don’t know what they did, Kayden.”
His arms tightened, and a kiss was pressed against the top of my head.
“We’ll figure it out, baby.”
Quiet settled between us and I closed my eyes. Bit by bit, my muscles relaxed, releasing their death grip on the tension twined around every limb.
Slipping into the half-sleep state, I lost track of time. A vibration under my hip
brought me back. I shifted off of Kayden’s lap so he could pull out his phone.
“Shaw.” He rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Yeah, she’s here.” A pause.
“Not sure. Why?”
Whatever was being said did not make him happy. He focused on me. “Send
me the address and we’ll meet you there.” He ended his call, but his attention didn’t waver. “We need to go.”
“Go where?”
“Wolf found something.” His earlier emotions disappeared behind a familiar
mask.
“Give me a minute.” It took me a few awkward moments to get to my feet.
Stiff and sore, I shuffled to the bedroom. I dropped the throw to the floor and rummaged through the drawers. I found underthings, an old t-shirt, and a pair of
jeans. I got my underwear and oversized T-shirt on before calling out, “Kayden,
do you have my duffel somewhere?”
“It’s in your Jeep.” His answer came from the doorway.
Spinning around with the jeans clutched to my chest, I snapped, “You need
to wear a bell or something.”
A faint grin broke across his somber face. “I’ll take you back to the safe house after we meet with Wolf.” The grin disappeared, replaced by something grim.
Disconcerted by the change, I asked, “What?”
Instead of answering, he covered the distance between us in no time and
pushed the dangling jeans out of the way. His arm snaked around my waist and
tugged me off balance.
“Dammit, Kayden.” I clutched at his shoulders as my balance tilted. The
oversize T-shirt rode up to reveal the lace edge of my green underwear. “What are you doing?”
The heat of his palm settled just above the huge bruise on my thigh. “You said nothing was broken.”
“It’s not.” I tried to bat his hands away, with no success. “Now, would you let
me go so I can get dressed?”
Instead of acquiescing, he grasped the edge of the T-shirt and lifted it. He traced the marks and I flinched away from his careful touch as goosebumps erupted over my skin. His low, mean curses colored the air. He caged me against
the dresser and used one hand to hold the T-shirt up while the other carefully checked my ribs and stomach. Since fighting him would just make things worse,
I gritted my teeth and held still for his inspection. When he hit particularly tricky, tender spots, I couldn’t stop my flinches or small gasps. He finally stopped and let the material drop back down.
“Happy now?” I asked. “Can I get—”
His kiss cut the rest of my snarly question off. He was careful of my abused
lip, but his gentleness was at odds with the edgy heat, desperate fury, creating something infinitely more delicate and tempting. When he drew back, his eyes were glittering, and his fingers flexed on my hips. “No, I’m far from fucking happy right now, Cynthia Arden.”
“Cyn.” The automatic correction came out on a raspy breath, but my hands
cupped his face as I rose on tiptoe and kissed one of the deep lines bracketing his
mouth. “I’m okay.”
He blew out a hard breath and rested his forehead against mine. “I’ll wait for
you out front.”
His fingers at my hips tightened, then released. He stepped back and left me
to get dressed.
HALF AN HOUR LATER, Kayden parked my Jeep in the parking lot of a small, two-
story strip mall that was a few miles away from the alley I woke up in. Most of
the storefronts were dark, but there was a Chinese restaurant at the end still open
