Page 99 of Runaway Hearts: Seduced by Danger

His grip on my hand tightens ever so slightly, a silent plea for something more.

Can we be something?

But what I want to say isn’t precise enough to voice it.

Are you allowed to have a girlfriend?

“Okay,” he breathes out and stands, pulling me up with him. Our hands remain linked. “We need to pack.”

In silence, we begin folding and packing our clothes into duffel bags. But my thoughts are consumed with figuring out how to ask Kai to stay with me. To leave behind his old life and start something new together.

Silly me.

“Marianne?”

My eyes hook on his, and I swallow. “Stay with me in Nay.”

The words slip out, unguarded. The atmosphere thickens with my daring proposition, every breath heavy with possibility.

Kai studies me, his expression inscrutable.

He leans in, allowing me to count his lashes. “I thought you’d never ask,” he whispers.

The tension that had been coiled tight in my chest unravels. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he murmurs, thumb tracing my jaw line. “I’d love that.”

He takes my hands and places them on his chest. The gesture pulls me closer, his heartbeat a strong, steady rhythm beneath my fingertips.

My teeth sink into my bottom lip as I smile so wide it hurts. “Are we going, then?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

“Wherever you want, whenever you want.”

My eyebrows practically reach my hairline in surprise. Struggling to appear composed, I hear a fly buzzing around us before bursting out into an awkward laugh.

“I love traveling with you,” Kai says, sounding offended.

“Where should we go first?” I finally ask.

He takes a step closer, causing all sorts of vulgar words to run through my mind. Kai isn’t joking around.

“Mexico,” he declares, his intense gaze never leaving mine.

“You just want to get me drunk on tequila, don’t you?”

Yes, please!

“Just a little,” he admits with a smirk. “It’s easy to bribe people there, too.”

Kai is just one step away now. We study each other intently, lost in our own parallel universe. If I focus hard enough, I hear the faint sounds of the black hole that pulled me into this moment.

“It’d be hot,” I whisper, and my heart bolts with anticipation.

“Yes,” Kai responds. “We could have a house on the beach with huge windows so you can read in the sun.”

My eyes close involuntarily as vivid images flood my mind—lazy days spent lounging in the warm sun with a stack of books by my side as if on cue. “Kai...” I breathe.

The dream.

---