Page 31 of Too Lethal to Love

Desire lit his eyes. Somehow, she knew it wasn’t for the seventeen-year-old in the photo in the skintight spandex but for the tortured woman standing before him. She wished she could go back to her teenage self. It wouldn’t have been hard to fall for Kane. The only thing that would be hard would be his body.

His leg.

His cock.

She had a feeling it wouldn’t just be hard, but impossible not to beg for seconds after experiencing the power, no, the wonder of First Lieutenant Kane Darren. Yet, she couldn’t ignore the circumstances that brought him to her bedroom—not just in the one she occupied as an adult, but the one all three boys she needed to visit in the graveyard had kissed her in.

She dipped her chin and closed her eyes. Would falling for Kane be different because he was made of steel?

She glanced at her bed again.

His gaze followed hers. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay on my side of the room.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” She dropped her gaze to the hardwood floor.

He stepped toward her and lifted her chin with his fingertips. “I know you’re shaken about what happened at the liquor store, but you’re safe here.”

“Right, the liquor store.”

The stalker.

Chavez.

She’d been so caught up in thinking about getting her maddening lust under control she’d ignored that a freaking drug cartel was after her because she knew the formula to cure opioid addiction. God, that sounded insane.

Kane lifted her chin with his fingertips. “Talk to me.”

She pulled in a deep breath, not ready to spill the tragic details about her past, but she owed him honesty, even if his commitment to her safety annoyed herandmade her feel special.

“When the stalker started bothering me, I felt insignificant. Like I was just another case to the authorities. Like I was blowing things out of proportion because I was afraid of a man I’d never met. Then, after the cops stopped searching for Danny’s murderer, I felt even less significant, like I was keeping a dirty little secret nobody believed.”

His grip on her chin tightened. “You are the opposite of insignificant. I’m sorry anyone made you feel like you didn’t matter.” He brushed the hair out of her eyes.

And there he went, making her feel special again.

“When the stalking escalated, Scarlett asked her stepfather if he could hire one of the private detectives he used for corporate espionage. Henry had said he’d be embarrassed to ask his contacts to work on such a frivolous case, and it was my fault I was being stalked because I’d gone looking for sex online.”

“That guy is a classAasshole.”

“No arguments there.” She twisted her fingers until her knuckles ached. “I need to tell you something about what gives me nightmares.” She stepped away from Kane and moved toward the curtain. “I don’t just dream about the stalker. I dream about?—”

He pulled her back. “Stay away from the windows. It’s not safe.” He positioned himself next to the frame and spun her to face him, one eye on the street.

“You’re by the window.”

“I’m not the target.”

“You don’t have to look after me in this house. You said it yourself; it’s secure.”

“I’ve been looking after you long before I knew you were in danger.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Superpowers, remember?” His dimples winked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at it.

She grabbed his wrist. “Did Scarlett use her techy magic on that too?” The device tilted enough to see a video feed from her parents’ backyard filling half the screen. Leaves blowing around the steps of her house in Alexandria played on the other half.

His explanation from last night about how he’d gotten into her townhome to check for intruders blared in her brain.

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