Page 7 of Too Lethal to Love

Beth stared at him as she concentrated. She still couldn’t place where and when she’d seen that look in his eyes. Although it had lasted less than a second, it managed to break her heart. Abandoning her effort, she sighed. “Thanks. I’ll get the food out.”

“No. I’ll take care of that too.” He placed his hand on the small of her back and nudged her to the stairs. “Go get ready.”

“I got it. The eggnog needs rum and cinnamon and there are certain bowls things go in.”

“And I saw earlier that you have sticky notes on each of them. If the government can trust me enough to attach millions of dollars’ worth of technology to my body, then you can trust me with the food.” He tapped his super leg and winked. “Although I might need some help figuring out the pasta salad goes in the Santa dish labeled ‘pasta salad.’”

She couldn’t help but smile at his sarcasm or those damn dimples. “Fine, but don’t eat anything until the party starts. I want everything to look perfect when Scarlett gets here.” As she turned to leave, her gaze landed on the security console by the front door. “How did you get in my house?” She’d made sure to engage the system before she’d left.

He shrugged. “You have your secrets; I have mine.”

Kane eyed the spread of food on the table in Beth’s brightly lit kitchen like it was a strategic battle plan. Should he group all the snowman-themed dishes together or intermingle them with the Santas, reindeer, and gingerbread men? And what about the lone angel dish?

The security system signaled movement at the front door. Kane checked the video feed. A few moments later, Nic sauntered into the kitchen, a grin on his angular, too-handsome-for-his-own-good face.

“Channeling your inner party planner?” Nic set a case of beer on the counter. “I met one last week I could persuade to help you decorate.”

“Screw you, Romeo. Where do you think the angel should go?”

He tapped his sweater. “By the gingerbread men, of course, so she can get some action tonight.”

Linc pushed Nic aside and stalked into the kitchen. “Who the fuck cares about angels and gingerbread men?” He eyed the cake sitting on the black countertop.A small Christmas tree decorated with scarlet, silver, and gold balls sat next to it. “That doesn’t look like the stolen property on the surveillance feed.”

“It’s a replacement.” The video Nic procured from the shopping center showed a man coming out of the bakery and placing the stolen cake on Beth’s hood. His face was obscured, and the black sedan he’d climbed into had bogus plates, but at least they’d gotten something to work with.

Linc shrugged. “Looks just as sparkly, like this whole damn house. Where are the plates? I’m starving.”

Kane slapped his hand away from the divine-smelling crab dip that bubbled with gooey melted cheese on top. “Don’t touch the food until Beth gives the okay.” The aesthetic of the spread didn’t matter to Kane, but it did to Beth.

Linc held up the bottle of amber liquid in his hand. “I did my job. I brought my cousin’s moonshine that I can’t drink in case we’re needed to take care of whoever fucked with Beth. I deserve some damn food.”

Adrenaline surged through Kane. While the missions they’d completed so far were the get in, get out, quick kind like in Mexico, they could be assigned to protection duty, like the public thought they’d been established for.

Nic waved him off and looked at Kane. “How is she?”

“Shaken, but she won’t admit it.” Kane set the angel down next to a snowman. “Maybe she’ll feel better knowing you got him on video.”

“Piece of cake, pun intended.” Nic snickered at his own joke as he opened a white cabinet and found a glass. “I sent the surveillance footage to Ryan. He’s examining it to see if we can learn more about the mysterious cake stealer before he comes over.”

“Good.” Kane trusted Ryan Bradley, VIPER’s new chief information security officer. He had been instrumental inhelping recover Scarlett from her kidnappers. “Did you tell anyone about what happened?”

“Scrooge over there.” Nic nodded toward Linc as he grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator. “And Chris. He promised not to say a word to Scarlett.”

Beth’s security system beeped another alert. Kane checked the video feed and smiled as he Chris lead his bride-to-be through the front door.

Scarlett took off her coat as she waved from the threshold. “Where’s Beth?”

Kane directed the slim genius in the pretty red dress to the stairs.

She lifted to her toes and kissed Chris’s cheek. Something heavy settled in Kane’s gut as Chris wrapped his hand around her long, blonde ponytail and kissed her like she was the sustenance he needed to survive. The boulder in his gut grew heavier as he watched Chris track his fiancé up the stairs with a lethal blue gaze. With her safety still at risk from the terrorists who tried to kidnap her, Chris didn’t let her out of his sight. When he deployed on missions, a VIPER support team member was assigned to protect her.

How did Scarlett and Chris smile, fuck in the shower, and enjoy life, knowing happiness could end tomorrow?

He thought of Jenna’s last words to her husband.

“No regrets.”

Kane knew from experience regret could consume even the strongest person. Once it gnashed its poisoned teeth into a heart, drank from its soul, and spit it out, nothing but a shell remained.

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