Page 19 of Kai
"First of all--" She strove desperately to keep from spewing. "I am not your responsibility. I am a grown ass woman and have been taking care of myself for years now. Second—it's none of your business who I'm seeing and third--" She closed the distance between them, without realizing it. Lifting a hand, she shoved at him, infuriated even more when he did not budge. "Third, you were the one who hurt me, you arrogant bastard. How dare you come back into my life and think that you can just—just take over! Who the hell do you think you are?"
His hand closed around her wrist, resisting her effort to drag it away.
"You're right." The softness of his voice unsettled her. "I hurt you and don't deserve to be here right now. I have no excuse, the only thing I can do is hope that eventually you will be able to forgive me."
"Let me go."
"We both know that's not possible." He murmured. He felt the galloping of her pulse against his fingers and felt his own heart picking up speed.
"Your girlfriend came to see me."
A frown touched his brow at the change of subject.
"Yesterday, to warn me off you. As if we were in any way involved. I told her what happened between us was in the past and it's over."
"I ended things with her."
His quiet admission had her jolting and staring at him. Even wearing booted heels, she only came up to his chin.
"I hope it's not on my account."
"It's because of me." He opened her clenched fingers and studied the palm. "You always had exquisite hands, soft, with elegant fingers."
Her pulse thundered in her ears as she tugged her hand away.
"Don't patronize me with compliments," she bit out, though her voice betrayed a faint tremble.
"I wasn't patronizing," he replied smoothly, his gaze unwavering. "I was simply stating a fact."
She took a step back, needing the distance to catch her breath, but he mirrored her, closing the space again with deliberate ease. His presence was overwhelming—unrelenting.
"I don't understand you," she said finally, her tone cracking under the weight of unshed frustration. "You act like you care, but you—you left. You tore everything apart."
"Yes," he admitted, his voice low and heavy with regret. "And I live with that every day."
"Don't," she interjected sharply. "Don't try to make this about your guilt. I'm not here to absolve you. I—" She faltered, her throat tightening. "I don't need you."
The words hung between them, sharp and bitter, like shards of glass. He absorbed them silently, his expression unchanging, though something flickered in his eyes—something raw, something deeply human. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper, handing it to her without a word.
"What is this?" she asked, refusing to take it.
"A letter," he said simply. "From me to you. Read it when you're ready."
"I won't be ready," she fired back, though her fingers betrayed her resolve, curling reluctantly around the paper. "This changes nothing."
"I know," he murmured. "But maybe it changes something for me."
Her grip tightened on the letter as she glared at him one last time, then tugged to get away from him.
"Let go." She hissed.
"First, I want you to take something with you. Something I also need."
She knew what was coming and was aware that if he touched her like that, she would be lost. But there was no use fighting. He was physically stronger than she was and the determination on his handsome face warned her that it would be useless to try.
He drew her in slowly, his intense dark eyes holding hers as if daring her to retreat. She was paralyzed, both by the look in his hypnotic gaze and the thundering of her heart. Her mind was screaming at her to resist, but her body was betraying her. She felt lax and yielding and he could tell from the expression on her face that she was no longer resisting.
Heat rose up inside him and grabbed him by the throat. Forcing himself to take it slow, he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck. Linking their fingers, he placed her hand over his heart where he was not quite steady. She expected him to ravish and was shaken when he brushed his lips slowly over hers, back and forth, until she was dizzy. His breath warmed her, heating her from the inside out.
