Page 34 of Too Lethal to Love

Gran tsk’d. “What happened to your mother doesn’t happen to everyone.”

He closed the door behind him and dropped his bag on the bed. “But it happens enough.” Learning about a buddy not coming home and his family struggling was one thing. Jenna dying in his arms while whispering her last words to her husband was another. But watching his mom languish in her room, hearing her cry for his father night after night as she drank herself into oblivion, had broken something in him.

Up until now, the plan he’d made to follow his path to serve and put love on hold had been to protect the nameless, faceless woman he’d fall for someday. Now, she didn’t just have a name and a face, but a heart he couldn’t bear breaking.

“Listen to me, Kane. I only met Beth for a short time, but that’s all it takes for me to know when someone is right for another. If she wasn’t strong enough to handle the kind of life you lead, the universe wouldn’t have put you two together.”

A beep sounded in his head. He glanced at the unit in his arm. “Gran, I’ve got to take this call from Nic. Kiss Livvie for me. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“What’s up?”he asked Nic over the mind comms.

“What’s up with you?”

“Beth found out about the security upgrade and that I’ve been watching, and she’s pissed.”Kane pulled off his shirt. He’d give her space but only planned to get ready for the party in the guest room, not sleep.

“That must have been one hell of a conversation. Do I need to come out there?”

“Depends. Do we have any new information?”

“Ryan and his team are sifting through Jenna’s intel. We should have a report by tomorrow. In the meantime, he’s going to send you a file on Chavez and his known associates.”

“Good.”Kane stepped to a stout Christmas tree on the dresser. His gaze fixed on a silver Christmas ball with “Twenty-Fifth Anniversary” engraved above two intertwined hearts.

Thanks to the enemy sniper who killed his father in combat, his parents never had an ornament like this. Jenna and her husband would never have one either.He couldn’t stop himself from wondering if Jenna’s husband was trimming a Christmas tree or drowning in a bottle like his mother had when the love of her life didn’t come home. If he were to chance a relationship while he was still an active human weapon, would Beth care if he returned to her in a coffin?

Nic snorted on the other end of the connection.“Dude, you still there, or are you bleeding out cause Beth cut off your balls?”

“She’s getting in the shower, so my balls are safe for now.” The sound of water running through the pipes streamed from behind the walls. “What else is going on at headquarters?”

“No sign of Chavez or anyone suspicious in the crowd at the liquor store, but Ryan determined that the store’s interior and exterior cameras were hacked. Someone was watching, and someone’s been trying to hack into my buddy’s security company, specifically Beth and her parents’ account.”

Kane whipped his gaze to Beth’s room. Her parents’ security system was configured for the cameras in the bedroom to come online when the house was vacant. But if someone wastrying to hack into the system, they could override that and see…

“Fuck,”Kane said as he tore across the hall.

Beth adjusted the towel wrapped around her naked torso. “Dumbass,” she muttered. Her argument with Kane had left her blood pounding so hard she forgot to bring her toiletry bag into the bathroom. She couldn’t discern the difference between exasperation and desire right now. Hopefully, a shower would drown the latter so they stopped mingling like reunited lovers and she could think clearly.

Stop thinking about lovers.

He followed me.

Watched me.

Made sure I was safe.

The more she thought about it, the more chivalrous his possessiveness, obsession, or whatever morally gray emotion he thought entitled him to watch her like a stalker sounded, and that was insane. So was the relief she’d felt when he said he hadn’t been with another woman since they’d met.

As she grabbed the toiletry bag from her desk, the bedroom door banged open. Kane stalked into the room likeit was his. His menacing growl sounded over the running water from the shower as he pulled her into the bathroom.

A half squeak, half moan jumped from her throat as she dropped the bag. It hit the tile floor with a thud. The heat in his protective gaze added to the steam wafting from the shower. Desire roared through her as she zeroed in on his bare chest and the VIPER logo inked over his heart.

She’d heard about the tattoo from Scarlett. All the guys on the team had one, but seeing it in person stole her breath.

Or maybe his washboard abs and the intricate tribal-like ink on his right arm extending from his shoulder to his wrist had something to do with her inability to function.

Her gaze snapped back to the VIPER logo. She reached out to trace the black circular snake with the ominous-looking fangs inlaid over a triangle. The tattoo, designed in shades of gray and black, seemed to writhe with the rise and fall of his chest like it sat coiled and ready to strike at the first hint of danger. Once, twice, she ran the pad of her finger over the inky line. She did it a third time, mesmerized by the contrast of the hard muscle underneath his soft skin.

Her eyes flew to his face. Any concern she had for bad guys watching her swirled down the drain. The only person she wanted to see her naked stood before her in glorious, warrior form. The contrast of tension and excitement—like stopping himself from acting on whatever base instincts pulsed in his mind—took monumental effort, compelling her to take control of the situation. She couldn’t go by the window. Couldn’t go outside. Couldn’t make her own decisions about her safety, but she could experience Kane and his fierce beauty.

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