Page 52 of Too Lethal to Love

“VIPER’s therapist says humor is a common coping mechanism. I’m assuming you have a therapist too?”

“How could I not?”

She drew her lips into a tight line. Instead of pushing her to talk more, he slid his hands inside her coat and tucked them under her collar. When she glanced away, he commanded her gaze back to his with a low growl of her name.

She jerked her attention back to him. The gold flecks in her eyes burned as she decided if she would answer his question. Instead of pushing her to talk, he pressed his thumbs into her tense neck muscles. She melted under his hands. A deep rasp purred from her throat as she dropped her gaze.

He cupped her chin and raised it. “Don’t look away from me, Beth. Especially when I make you moan.”

Before she could answer, he found another knot and applied pressure. This time, she purred. Louder. Deeper.

“That’s it, sugarplum. Eyes on me.”

“Kane.”

The way she said his name, half plea, half reprimand, almost dropped him to his knees. She thought he had two sides? Well, he’d uncovered two sides of her too. The vulnerable side of her needed to feel protected. The frightened side that hid deep beneath herbrighter-than-the-North-Star persona yearned for the connection she’d scared herself into believing she couldn’t have.

The need to bend her over the kitchen table and fuck her until the only thing she feared was never coming under his touch again didn’t just ache; it hurt. And now that he’d sampled the sweetest, hottest treat to ever grace his tongue, there was only one remedy to appease his bone-deep craving.

A tremulous breath shook the coat from her shoulders. “We shouldn’t.”

He slipped the fur from her arms and skimmed his hands down her bare back, down lower to where her dress wrapped around her waist and dipped his fingers under the material. “Tell me why.” He still wasn’t fully reconciled with the reasons he’d denied the chemistry between them, but incinerating the lie she told herself took precedence.

“You…” She fisted his T-shirt. “You know why.”

“I want to hear you say it.” He wanted the woman who opened herself up for him earlier. The one who let him spin her under the Christmas tree. He wanted every part of her she held back. And wise or not, he wanted to give her all of him. Now.

“Kane, please.”

She squirmed against him as if unsure if she wanted to dive in or flee, but he held her tight. “Say it, Beth.”

“We shouldn’t do this because I don’t want you to be number four.” Tears veiled her eyes. “I won’t let you be next.”

“You’ve said that already. Say the other thing.”

Tears clung to her eyelashes. “I can’t because I can’t help believing it’s true.”

He gripped her chin hard enough to leave fingerprints. “Say it out loud. Say it so your scientific brain can hear how ridiculous it sounds.”

She didn’t whimper or even flinch. She just stared at him as a battle between fact and fiction waged across her beautifulface. He hated making her realize that she alone held the power to break her so-called curse. But his Marine Corps training taught him if you wanted to build someone up, every reservation they had about themselves had to be broken down. Every vulnerability and fear admitted. Every lie exposed.

It wasn’t until one was stripped to a raw, truthful state that they could be reborn into the strongest version of who they strove to be.

“Come on.” He brushed a finger over her lips, his voice low but leaving no room for argument. “Say it, Beth.”

“I’m…” She swallowed. Another tear skittered from her eye. “I’m a black widow. Falling in love with me is a death sentence.”

Beth tried to look away from Kane. She judged herself enough for believing in the foolish curse. She didn’t need to see disappointment or pity in his eyes, or worse, watch him walk away from her again.

“Why did you push me away that night in my bedroom when I was having a nightmare?” She dragged her gaze back to his, desperate for answers she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear. “I needed you and then you left me alone when I was scared. Why aren’t you pushing me away after I just admitted my darkest, stupidest secret?”

He backed her to the wall next to the garage door. “Because this time, when you’re begging me to fuck you, you’re awake and coherent.”

Her eyes widened so far they pooled with fresh tears. “I never begged you to fuck me.”

She hadn’t, had she?

“Yeah, you did.” He braced his arms against the wall and caged her in. “And it turned me on as much as it broke my heart because you were so scared.”

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