Page 6 of Too Lethal to Love

“Yes.”All too well.“I also understand guests will be here soon.” She hung her bag on a hook by the door. As if remembering his manners, he removed his hat and handed it to her. A lock of sandy-colored hair fell onto his forehead.

She squeezed the brim of his hat to stop herself from brushing it back. “I need to get ready for the party.”

“Not yet, sugarplum.” He took the hat from her and hung it over her bag. On the hook next to it, he hung hisjacket. “You’re going to tell me what happened back at the bakery.”

She shrugged an arm out of her coat and raised her brows. “Sugarplum?”

He winked and smiled as he slid the coat from her other arm and bunched the faux fur in his hands. “This coat reminds me of the sugarplum candy Gran makes at Christmas. A decadent treat rolled in purple sugar crystals.”

The silly nickname shouldn’t sound so familiar or so sexy, coming from his full lips in that West Virginia twang. Nor should his hat resting on top of her bag look so intimate. The worn black felt glowed under the white lights intertwined with garlands of fresh pine hanging over the doorway. Matching decorations on the stair rail, on the hearth on the adjacent wall, and on the Christmas tree next to the fireplace bathed the room with the scent of pine and a warm glow. The place looked as festive as she’d be feeling if tonight hadn’t gone haywire. “Is the ‘sugarplum’ thing going to go on all night?”

“It will. At least until you tell me what happened.”

She stared at his large hand and studied how it contrasted with the softness of her coat. Hell, all six feet of him was a study in contrast with his warrior-hardened face one minute and his easy, dimpled grin the next. She could imagine him on his family’s farm in West Virginia, riding horses in his cowboy hat and jeans as easily as she could picture him wearing a uniform and shouting orders. Even the rich, earthy scent that clung to Kane, like the land he left behind to join the military would always be woven into his fiber, hinted at a patient side that handled skittish horses and a fierce side that protected what was his.

She avoided his gaze and looked past the living room and into the kitchen. “Tonight is about Scarlett and Chris, not about my drama.”

“You call what happened tonight drama?” He fisted his hands around her coat. “I call it scary.”

His grave tone deflated her denial about the gravity of the situation, but she held on to the one thing she could control. “Please, Kane, let me focus on the party. Nic knows what happened and is looking for clues. You made sure my house is secure, and I appreciate it. I’ll tell Scarlett everything when she gets back from her engagement-moon.”

“She needs to know now.”

“She has enough to worry about with her stepfather. I don’t know everything that went down when she was kidnapped a few weeks ago, but I do know it involved terrorists. I know Project VIPER was almost disbanded. And I know she worries about Chris each time you guys are called on a mission.” Beth cocked her head to the side. “Did I miss anything?”

He held up his hand. Something flashed in his eyes as if her rambling dredged up painful, maybe sorrowful, emotions he didn’t want to address. She’d seen that look flicker before but didn’t have time to search her memory for when and where.

“That about sums it up, sugarplum. In fact, it borders on divulging classified intel.”

“Scarlett’s like my sister.” She fiddled with the tips of her curls that cascaded past her shoulders. “Of course she told me everything she could.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What else is wrong besides the obvious?”

“Isn’t the obvious enough?”

“When you play with your hair, your mind seems to go elsewhere. Based on the pain in your eyes, it doesn’t look like you’re in your happy place.”

His accurate assessment jabbed her in the heart. They’d only spent one evening together, which ended in disaster.And when she met Scarlett and the VIPER boys for dinner, she sat as far away from him as possible. How had he picked up on her nervous tic so quickly? “Please, Kane. Give me a few hours to pretend I’m a normal maid of honor giving her bestie an engagement party. When it’s over, I promise I’ll tell Scarlett and call the police.”

He shook his head. “First, nothing about you is normal, Dr. Beth Parker.”

Oh, buddy, you have no idea just how abnormally screwed up I am.

“And second, no police. If we can’t identify the culprit on the surveillance feeds, the local PD certainly won’t be able to. They’re good, but our technology is far superior to theirs.”

“Fine.” She waved her hand, refusing to admit she agreed with his logic as she stepped around him. “I have to get the cake from the car.”

He clamped his fingers around her arm. “You didn’t bring home the stolen cake, did you?”

“Of course not. I’m stuck with a boring replacement, not the masterpiece I had custom made.” Her lower lip trembled. She captured it between her teeth and stared at the white and green plaid pillows on her red couch until her tears stopped threatening to spill. Scarlett’s night would not be ruined by some creep with a cake fetish.

Kane slid his hand up to her shoulder and squeezed. “Hey, it’s just a cake.”

Beth shrugged him off. “It’s not just a cake. Tonight is my best friend’s engagement party, which I’ve been envisioning since we were kids. I should have had months to plan it, but no, Scarlett needs to get married quickly because she fell in love with a super soldier who might not come home from dangerous missions nobody can talk about. Forgive me if I want to make tonight perfect.”

He flinched as the pained, sorrowful look flared in his gaze again.

“You’re right.” He dropped his hand from her shoulder and stepped back. “We need to make tonight perfect for Chris and Scarlett. They…” His gaze trailed to the door, along with his thoughts. “I’ll go get the cake.”

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