Page 15 of Lone Star Christmas Mission

Cash shook his head. “Not yet. But about twenty minutes after he ended the live feed, Harvin called the cops to give them a location, and they’re heading there now. It’s an old fishing cabin out on Medina Lake. No close neighbors. No one around to hear the shot and report it.”

Harvin had almost certainly factored that in when he’d chosen the location. The man would be doing the same for the one he was setting up for Cash and her. Again, her mind went to all the torturous possibilities the SOB could set up, but that didn’t help her breathing or her nerves.

To settle herself, Kayla ran her right hand over the smooth surface of the table. That gave her a jolt of better thoughts, better memories of when she’d been making it.

“It’s so funny that you bought this piece because I was thinking of you when I was working on it,” she confessed.

He gave her a flat look. “How the heck did you connect me to a table?”

“Not to the table itself but rather the oak slab I used. Wood has its own personality. This one is strong, interesting…and sensual.”

His look got flatter, but the corner of mouth lifted slightly in a smile. So, she had accomplished that at least. “Sensual, really?” he asked.

“Absolutely.” Keeping her eyes fixed on him, she continued running her hands over the surface. “The grain patterning in this wood is called flame because it looks like a fire. Hot, sensual. Hard.”

He fought the smile now. “You know, I can think of a lot of dirty analogies right now.”

“Good.” Because dirty was better than dwelling on the threat they had hanging over them.

Kayla decided to amp up the dirtiness a bit. She caught onto the front of his vest, pulling Cash closer and closer. Until she could reach his mouth, then, she kissed him.

Mercy.

The jolt was instant, and it was scalding hot. So hot that Kayla felt herself melting into the kiss. Into Cash. He didn’t back down either. Didn’t put an immediate stop to it. But he did make a hoarse sound of pleasure, and he hooked his arm around her, drawing her against him.

Of course, it wasn’t skin to skin contact. There were a lot of layers between them, but her body seemed especially thrilled to have his chest against hers. That pressure was delicious, but at the moment, the star of this particular dirty show was the kiss.

Cash deepened it, his tongue brushing over hers. That upped the heat even more and shot a wave of lust-filled need through her. When she’d started this kissing, she hadn’t thought it could jump forward so darn fast, but she was already thinking of more, more, more.

She was thinking about sex.

The kiss raged on, causing her to ache for him, and Kayla moved onto his lap so her center would be against his. The contact was exactly what her body was clamoring for, and she would have definitely kept it up…if Cash hadn’t stopped.

He tore his mouth from hers and took hold of her shoulders.

“Panic attack,” he reminded her.

She managed to laugh. “I’m feeling a lot of things, Cash, but panic isn’t on the list.”

“But it could be,” he insisted.

Kayla wanted to deny that, wanted to tell him there was no possibility of a repeat of what’d happened during their post-sex moments. However, there was a chance that the flashbacks could take over.

“I don’t want to let the past dictate anything else in my life,” she said instead. “I want a fresh start. I want the here and now.”

She brushed her lips over his, but Cash didn’t claim her mouth as he’d done seconds earlier. Instead, he stared at her with that intense gaze.

“You’re saying all of this to me now because you think we’re going to die,” Cash grumbled.

“We might,” she admitted. “And that’s almost certainly playing into this. But I still want that change in my life.”

She was about to add that she hoped the change would include him. But his phone buzzed again, and just like that, the heat and the moment were both lost. Kayla had no idea if or when she’d get another opportunity to finish telling him what she wanted for her future.

Because they might not have a future.

Not if Harvin had his way.

On a heavy breath, he took out his phone, and Kayla saw Ruby’s name on the screen before she moved off Cash’s lap and stood. He stood, too, and he took the call on speaker.

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