Page 68 of Too Lethal to Love

A few seconds and a dozen V-Strikes later, he powered down his weaponry. His breath puffed in short pants, not from exertion but from what the amazement etched on Beth’s pretty face did to his heart.

Catching his breath, he motioned to the speaker on the wall next to the door.

She yanked off her glasses and hit the button. “Holy shit, Kane. Are those lasers?”

He smiled at the astonishment in her voice as he pulled off his own glasses and exited the bay. “We call them V-Strikes, but they are a kind of a laser.”

She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. Her other hand covered his heart. “Based on what I just saw, you truly are a superhero.”

He felt the reverence in her words deep down in his core. “Yes. I am, but I didn’t bring you in here to show off.” Although hearing her say it inflated his ego and his heart tenfold.

“You seem kind of excited by that display, and who could blame you? That was out-of-this-world.” She pressed her palm against his chest. “No wonder your heart is racing so fast.”

He gently nudged her away as excitement pounded in other places besides his heart. “As you pointed out, the onlybulletproof part of me is my leg, but I need to prove to you I’m well-protected when I go into battle. A bulletproof helmet covers my head and face. Body armor covers my arms, my other leg, and torso. My neck is even protected by it. I have the fastest reaction time of any soldier out there because I don’t have to pull a trigger. Scarlett engineered us to control our weaponry with our minds. I think, and a chip implanted in the back of my neck works its cyborg voodoo magic, as you call it, and the V-Strike lands where I want it to.”

“Holy shit. My friend really is the biggest genius on the planet.” She brushed her hand along his thigh. “I can’t fathom how this is all possible. I have so many questions.”

“The science behind it isn’t what matters right now.” He snagged her hand and pressed her palm against his steel. “This makes me a human weapon, but it’s more than that. As you know, I can communicate with the team in my head. The technicians at headquarters can see me in the field and give me real-time data as an operation goes down. They monitor my vitals and if I’m incapacitated, they can shoot V-Strikes remotely from my body to keep hostiles away until help can come.”

Blood slowly drained the awe from her face. “That all sounds amazing, but really, really dangerous.”

“My jobisdangerous, but VIPER has more advantages than any other fighting force out there. The chances of me surviving a mission are much higher than not.”

When she didn’t respond, he cupped her face between his hands. “Do you get it now? Do you understand that I’m safer than most people walking around on this planet? That if I die, it’s because someone—that has nothing to do with you—went through a lot of trouble to make it happen.”

“I get it. You’re a marvel of modern science.” She glanced toward the decimated target. “No, make that modernwarfare. You’re nearly invincible.” She bit her lip. “And incredible.”

With a tug, he pulled her flush against him. He smiled at her surprised gasp when his erection pressed into her belly. “Repeat the part about me being a marvelously incredible superhero.”

“No, your ego is already too big.” She grew silent as she traced the muscle of his flesh-and-bone leg through his jeans. “But then again, I’d be damn confident if I could shoot deadly lasers out of my body.”

He hissed as her knuckles grazed his hard cock. “Um, there’s only one thing I can shoot out of that, and if you don’t stop touching it, I’m damn confident my target will be your pretty mouth.”

Instead of using her tongue for a comeback, she licked her glossy lips.

The blood in his cock thrummed at the sexy as fuck sight. “Does that mean you’re about to send me off on a dangerous mission with a huge smile on my face?”

Gloomy shadows veiled her bright eyes. Her gaze fell to the floor as her shoulders slumped.

Shit. Dangerous mission was the wrong thing to say.

He could see an intimate battle between facts and fear raging in her eyes. Could feel it in his soul as deeply as his own clash betweenno regretsandserve first, love later,raged in his head. He’d brought her here to prove he was strong and nearly invincible, and she’d believed him. Her understanding, her admiration for what VIPER had made him into hadn’t only inflated his ego, they’d given an advantage to the side of the battle he wanted, no needed with every breath he took, with every beat of his heart, to be the victor.

No regrets.

The winning mantra pounded in his brain along with hisdetermination. “Beth, tell me that you get me. You are not a black widow.”

“I know,” she whispered.

The slouch of her body said she didn’t. He raised her chin with his fingers. “What can I do to help you make you understand that you’re not?”

“There’s nothing you can do. It’s me that’s screwed up. I’m a woman of science who believes in a foolish curse. Or used to believe. Maybe.” She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “God, Kane, I’ve held on to this for so long. I can’t let it go overnight.”

He cupped her elbows and raised her defeated body. “Yes, you can. I let my demons go in the space of a few days.”

“What demons?”

Memories rushed through his mind in bittersweet lucidity. His mom and dad slow dancing in the living room. The sobs she hid behind her bedroom door when his dad shipped out for months. Her joyous, tear-filled smile when he returned. Leave. Cry. Repeat. He’d grown up watching the cycle until it didn’t repeat any longer and his mom got stuck on cry.

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