Page 76 of Karma

He pulled her into his arms and, to her surprise, into a long kiss. “Feeling better this morning?” he asked.

“Much. Thanks to you.”

He met her gaze, his hot stare lingering. “Can’t say I minded.”

She settled her hand on his chest and placed her head against his shoulder. He pulled her close, and they lay together in silence. Liza enjoyed the sense of peace and rightness surrounding her and realized how foreign both sensations were to her.

“We need to talk,” Dare said, breaking the peace.

“I know.” She drew a deep breath and prepared to face reality. “Let me take a shower and pull my thoughts together, okay?”

He nodded. “I’ll jump in after you. If I join you, we won’t get any talking done.”

She grinned, visions of him taking such good care of her last night before takingher.

And, oh, he’d taken her. Possessed her was more like it. She’d come apart, and when she resurfaced, she’d wondered if she’d ever be the same.

Now in the light of day, she knew she wasn’t the same woman she’d been before her life had become entangled with his, and she wondered how she’d cope when he was long gone.

Before Liza and Dare settled in to talk, Liza grabbed her cell phone and locked herself in the bathroom to call her brother. She needed to talk to him in person, and to do that, she had to make sure he’d be around. What she didn’t need was an argument about Brian with Dare, so she chose the most private room in the house.

She dialed, but her brother’s phone rang and rang, and nobody answered. She didn’t even get voicemail on the other end. Same for his cell phone. She’d check in with work later, but she had a hunch they hadn’t heard from him either. If all else failed, she’d have to call her parents, but she dreaded that almost as much as she dreaded the thought that someone wanted to hurt her brother. Through her.

Her stomach cramped as the memory of the guy with the heavy chains and threats came back to her. What if he’d hurt Brian? Her knees went weak, and she lowered herself to a small vanity chair, forcing herself to think. If the guy had given her a message for her brother yesterday, surely that meant Brian had time before whoever he owed money acted or hurt him.

A knock sounded on the door.

“Come on in,” she called.

Dare stepped inside. “Are you okay?”

She clasped the phone in her hand. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

He leaned against the doorframe. “You look upset.”

“No more than I should be, considering what’s going on.” She drew a deep breath. “Are you ready to talk?”

“I am. Are you?”

She shook her head and laughed. “Ready? No. Willing? Yes.”

He stepped forward and held out his hand. She took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

They sat down in her family room, and Liza curled her legs beneath her. “What do you want to know?”

“For starters, why you snuck your cell phone into the bathroom.” He stared at her with those perceptive eyes and the determined gaze she remembered from when they were merely acquaintances. A few short weeks ago, yet it seemed like forever.

“I was trying to reach my brother,” she admitted.

“And you think I’d have a problem with that.”

She shrugged. “Wouldn’t you?”

“I’m going to have to get used to it.”

But he wasn’t there yet. She ignored the kernel of disappointment in her stomach. “Well, I didn’t want to ruin the mood. Anyway, he didn’t answer.”

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning.”

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